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(Columbia) - On Tuesday, 24,000 copies of Rick Warren's best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life," were made available to every inmate in the state's 29 prisons. St. Andrews Baptist Church in Columbia, in coordination with several other ministries statewide, raised money to pay for price-reduced, paperback versions of the book, which addresses mankind's spiritual journey. St. Andrews started its fund-raising in March with help from the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Columbia Metro Association and Lexington Baptist Association. Purpose Driven Ministries prints a $1 paperback version of the book for use in prisons. "Obviously, purchasing 24,000 books is a daunting task,...

The story seemed too righteous to be true. Man kills four people. Man takes hostage and threatens to kill her. Hostage uses faith and the power of prayer to win her release and achieve a peaceful ending to a hopelessly violent situation. Only Ashley Smith, the Atlanta kidnap victim who captivated a nation with a stirring story of spiritual victory over physical adversity, left out one crucial detail.

Last week, in the latest of a series of columns I have written about mega-church leader Rick Warren, I wondered out loud about mixed signals coming from Saddleback Church. I was puzzled, because back in November, Warren had told me he was a proud member of the Council on Foreign Relations and had learned much about the Middle East at the organization's briefings. Yet, when concerned individuals wrote to the church seeking to verify that Warren was a member of a group that for 191 years has attacked the idea of nation-states in favor of world government, they were routinely...

Official state news report quotes 'Purpose-Driven' author criticizing U.S. Syria's Grand Mufti Sheik Badr al-Din Hassoun and Rick Warren California mega-church pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "Purpose-Driven Life," reportedly told a Syrian-controlled news agency the U.S. should have been holding dialogues with Damascus; Syrian Muslims and Christians co-exist peacefully; and the Syrian leadership is responsible for the nation's tolerance and stability. That's according to the news agency SANA, which has issued a number of reports this week as Warren visits Syria and meets various leaders and officials, much to the dismay of many in the U.S. "We at...

Megapastor Rick Warren's Damascus Road experience (Megapastor Rick Warren admits he's in CFR) Posted: November 20, 200 1:00 a.m. Eastern WASHINGTON – Rick Warren, the superstar mega-church pastor and bestselling author of ''The Purpose Driven Life,'' had a Damascus Road experience last week – and like Saul of Tarsus, one of the after-effects appears to be blindness. Warren went to Syria and could find no persecution of Christians. He could find no persecution of Jews. He could find no evidence of extremism. He could find no evidence of the sponsorship of terrorism. Despite the temporary loss of vision that prevented...

Purpose Driven Pastor Rick Warren recently returned from a 48-day trip around the world, launching P.E.A.C.E. Plans and training tens of thousands of church leaders in nations where Warren's name and best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life, are far from foreign. Warren was also one of a still small number of faith leaders, as many Christian leaders had indicated, who spoke at the world's largest AIDS conference in Toronto which concluded late last week. After a good 28 hours of rest upon returning home to Saddleback, Calif., Warren spoke with The Christian Post about his global journey and the ever-present...

Fox News broadcast a one hour special the other day titled: “The Purpose Driven Life: Can Rick Warren Save the World?” Accidentally, while channel surfing from the Red Sox vs. Yankees baseball game on ESPN to various news channels, I got in on the opening segment of the Warren special and was hooked for the whole. Much of the Rick Warren story is widely known but some things came together in this brisk, but largely focused, video presentation. My admiration for Warren soared as a result of this broadcast. If “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God” is “to...

Fast on the heels of their impending merger with Sears, Kmart stunned the retail industry this week by announcing their plans to dump their longtime association with Martha Stewart and replace her with Rick Warren, best-selling Christian author of The Purpose-Driven Life. As part of their endeavor to “revive” their damaged reputation and spur growth, Kmart stores will phase out the Martha Stewart “Everyday” Collection later this year and introduce the Rick Warren “Purpose-Driven” Collection, which will reflect the hugely-successful philosophy of the popular pastor. Featured products in the collection will include a line of men’s Hawaiian shirts with matching...

Cocktail napkins . . . coffee, soda and flavored tea close by . . . and copies of a slim, poetry-size book placed invitingly around the room, like a party favor. Looks like a party. "If I ask you - 'Who are you?' - what would you say?" Linda Graber threw the challenge to the half-dozen women seated around the table. The stories that came back were threaded with good and bad: tales of miscarriages and missed chances, as well as long, good marriages and a new yearning to bring fresh purpose and passion to life. Graber is co-host, along...

Friday, August 26, 2005 12:01 a.m. It is one thing to help 25 million readers find purpose in their lives. It is another when one of those readers is the man responsible for ending what journalist Samantha Power has called "the most clear-cut case of genocide since the Holocaust." Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, was so impressed by Rick Warren's best-selling book, "The Purpose-Driven Life," that he invited the founding preacher of California's Saddleback Church to come to his country. Mr. Warren not only accepted but asked his network of believers to come to Rwanda in small groups to plant churches,...

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 Warren clarifies SBC ties By Greg Warner Associated Baptist Press LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Saddleback Community Church is the largest congregation in the Southern Baptist Convention. But is it really Southern Baptist? Pastor Rick Warren told a group of high-profile journalists in May that the 40,000-member church no longer is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. But he retracted that statement Aug. 20, saying he misspoke. A "transcript" of the interview, which was posted on the website of the widely respected Pew Forum for Religion and Public Life in May, was altered to delete the...

Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life, has sold tens of millions of copies and over 16,000 attend his church, but some critics have gone public with claims that he is not the real deal, as far as Christianity is concerned. Claims that Warren is presenting a watered-down Christianity, to his being a pantheist and practically everything in between, has found their way into writings on the internet, on the radio and even a book. Today's show, with Author & cult expert Richard Abanes regarding his book, addressing these claims is well worth the listen. We started getting email responses...

A commenter, "Phred," on a post below referred to a response to The Purpose-Driven Life, called "The Fad-Driven Church." Not being familiar with this, I did a search via Google and came up with this essay by Todd Wilken, who I gather is writing from a conservative Lutheran prespective. I have to say that Mr. Wilken makes some good points about "fads" in the Church:The Church has something better than any fad. The time has come. Ears are itching. Ears are turning. The Church must take up Paul's charge. Now more than ever the Church must preach the Word and...

In an interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond as follows - in a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last on earth forever, because eventually, God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend...

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, evangelical superstar, Rick Warren in his first live prime time interview since that at heroic hostage, Ashley Smith read his best-seller, "The Purpose Driven Life" to the Atlanta courthouse killing suspect, Brian Nichols. Hours later, Nichols let her go and surrendered to police. What is "The Purpose Driven Life?" Pastor Rick Warren for the hour with your phone calls next on LARRY KING LIVE. He's just back from Africa, a return visit with Rick Warren, who has rapidly...

'The Purpose-Driven Life' has spread the ideas of a California preacher everywhere from the Chinese government to the hands of Fidel Castro. When ex-hostage Ashley Smith appeared on TV and told how she gained her freedom - and her captor's surrender - by reading to Brian Nichols from "The Purpose-Driven Life," her stirring story sent thousands off in search of the book. Author Rick Warren, though, didn't really need her help. His work was already the bestselling nonfiction hardback in US history. Since the book's release in October 2002, people apparently hungry for a clearer sense of purpose and direction...

STATEMENT FROM GRACE TO YOU: John MacArthur on CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown On Wednesday, March 16, CNN interviewed John MacArthur about The Purpose-Driven Life for a special broadcast of NewsNight with Aaron Brown (Paula Zahn substituting). John agreed to the interview because we saw it as an opportunity to clarify some important gospel truths that have been obscured in all the publicity surrounding the book's popularity. John's critical comments about the book were brief but substantive. He highlighted some significant points where the thrust of the book is at odds with the message of Scripture. He pointed out, for...

NEW YORK - Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life," already a multimillion-selling spiritual guide, is even more in demand thanks to the book's role in resolving a hostage dilemma in Atlanta. A man originally arrested for rape, Brian Nichols, was captured Saturday after a 26-hour manhunt at an apartment complex where he had taken a woman hostage. The hostage, Ashley Smith, has said she helped persuade Nichols to free her by reading from Warren's 33rd chapter, "How Real Servants Act," which urges people to consider their talents and their purpose in life. Nichols is now accused of killing a judge...

Excerpt required. In a nutshell: Ashley Smith commented that she read portions of the book "A Purpose Driven Life" to Brian Nichols while he held her hostage.The book moved from #54 on Saturday to #2 yesterday on Amazon's best seller list.

For all of you Rick Warren fans out there, did you happen to catch the interview with the Brian Nichols, ex-hostage Ashley Smith? She was reading "Purpose Driven Life" as part of her devotions and read part of chapter 33 to him and then asked him what he thought his purpose in life was. This was part of the discussion that convinced Nichols to give himself up. We should all have her boldness in the face of trials.