Posted on 07/10/2004 5:58:17 PM PDT by Pikamax
How one man's gospel tale became a global bestseller
You've probably never heard of him, but a man in the loud shirt is well on the way to being the world's most influential churchman. Paul Harris reports from Lake Forest, California
Sunday July 11, 2004 The Observer
For one of the most powerful religious figures in America, Pastor Rick Warren looks very casual. Wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt and loafers, he puts his feet up on his office table and cracks a broad grin. 'If I didn't believe in Jesus, I would be a millionaire with a yacht, sitting in the sun on my own island,' he laughs. 'But instead I am a pastor.' Warren, dubbed 'America's pastor' by the media, has written one of the biggest-selling books of all time, generating tens of millions of dollars. He heads one of America's five largest 'mega-churches' and runs a religious network that spans the globe. If his religion were a business, then Warren would be a Wall Street mogul.
His influence is growing all the time. He now plans to deliver a copy of his religious self-help tract, The Purpose-Driven Life, to every US soldier serving in Iraq. 'Copies are already hitting the sand,' Warren said. He is also preparing a trip to Britain next year when he will headline a meeting of the Baptist World Alliance in Birmingham alongside former President Jimmy Carter.
Yet Warren is not a household name. He has crept under the media radar while building his religious empire. He has been a guest at the White House, he ministers privately to some of the most important figures in American industry and was instrumental in helping market Mel Gibson's controversial religious blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ .
The Purpose-Driven Life has sold a staggering 20 million copies worldwide. It is, Warren says, selling a million a month. 'If you took Bill Clinton's book, Hillary Clinton's book, the latest Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code and added them together, you still would not get the same as The Purpose-Driven Life ,' he boasted.
But he turns down many requests for interviews and refuses to appear on television. 'I am America's stealth pastor,' he told The Observer in his first interview with a British newspaper.
Warren sits in a spacious office on the 'campus' of his Saddleback Church in the prosperous Lake Forest suburb of Orange County. He is on a mission that stretches far beyond Saddleback, far beyond America even. That mission is world domination. 'We need a billion footsoldiers,' he said 'If you love Jesus, we are on the same team.'
America's pastor works through a global network of churches which have participated in his '40 Days of Purpose' campaign, an activist programme that goes along with Warren's book. In Britain alone, more than 1,000 churches have already taken part. To that can be added 1,500 in the Philippines, 400 in Singapore and many hundreds across the world. In total, more than 15,000 churches in dozens of countries have carried out the programme. They span all denominations. 'They can be Catholic, Free Church, Lutheran, Methodist, whatever. We don't put a sign up. You won't know they are in our network,' Warren says.
Added to that is Warren's enormous network of pastors who have received training through his classes or internet site. He has now trained 300,000 pastors across the globe. Some 125,000 of them get his weekly email that includes his latest sermon, which they then can deliver to their congregations.
Warren's family has preaching in its blood. His father is a minister and his great-grandfather was a follower of famous 19th Century English evangelist Charles Spurgeon and came to America as a travelling preacher. Warren grew up in the small town of Redwood Valley in California. At High School his real passion was politics. However, while attending a Christian summer camp as a lifeguard he became inspired to join the church for life. He left for a Baptist seminary in Texas.
After college, Warren says, he and his young wife Kay decided that God was calling them to come back to California. They abandoned their desire to become overseas missionaries and spent their last 1,000 dollars on a U-Haul in which to pack their belongings and moved themselves to Orange County to found Saddleback Church, which now boasts huge car parks and a series of 'park and ride' buses to shuttle worshippers to Sunday services in a sprawling complex of buildings.
Each weekend more than 19,000 turn up to hear Warren preach, attending one of five venues on the landscaped site. Saddleback looks more like a corporate headquarters than a church. It has modern offices, a cafe, outdoor theatres and an artificial hill on top of which are three wooden crosses, standing above a re-creation of Jesus's cave-like tomb.
Warren proudly tells of a visit he recently made to a poor township near Johannesburg in South Africa. He was instantly recognised by the pastor of a small church. 'I was amazed. I said, "You don't even have electricity. How do you know who I am?"' The South African pastor told him that each week he went to the local post office, where a government programme had installed internet access, and downloaded Warren's latest missive before delivering it to his flock.
Warren's use of the internet and his focus on pastors rather than congregations has allowed him to bypass the media on his rise to the top. 'I looked at TV and didn't like what I saw. I didn't want to be a tele-evangelist. It was not authentic,' he said.
The book takes the shape of 40 biblical lessons to be considered at a rate of one a day, and promises its readers a spiritual journey that will change their lives. Just like Warren's conversation, it is peppered with biblical quotations. Its message is clear: its readers must become completely dedicated to God. The book's now famous opening line simply states: 'It's not about you.'
Its religious basis, just like Warren's, is that of a strictly fundamentalist Christian. The book makes no attempt to disguise Warren's belief in the book of Genesis, Noah's Ark and the existence of Hell. Warren also believes in the end of the world as described in Revelations. When it comes to such matters of faith, he suddenly takes on a serious tone. 'I accept the Bible as the word of God. I do believe the Bible is literally true. I believe the stories in it actually happened.'
Such a book was not an obvious bestseller, not even in America's Bible belt. But the book has now been on the New York Times bestseller list for almost two years.Warren gives away 90 per cent of his earnings to Saddleback, living on the remaining 10 per cent. 'I still drive a Ford,' he said.
The book and its language have now entered the American mainstream. Attending the unveiling of her portrait in the White House a few weeks ago, Hillary Clinton referred to 'a purpose-driven life' in her speech.
Warren also ministers privately to many influential political people in the capital in both parties, though he won't reveal their names. 'I don't touch politics. I deal with their personal matters,' he said.
He admits he has met President Bush. 'I have been to the Oval Office a couple of times,' he said. Others include figures from business, entertainment and international politics, including two senior members of the European Union and a smattering of African presidents. Warren also worked closely with Mel Gibson to promote The Passion of the Christ, hosting a preview screening at Saddleback that was beamed to thousands of evangelicals on satellite television and included a long interview with Gibson.
And the man who inspired it all is looking far beyond simply enlarging Saddleback. This autumn Warren will roll out his sequel to the 40 Days of Purpose campaign. Called 40 Days of Community, it will involve 15,000 churches which have completed the previous programme. It will send activists into their community to carry out tasks such as feeding the homeless. At the same time, an expected 10,000 more churches are expected to sign up for a re-run of 40 Days of Purpose. 'For me, the 1980s were about establishing us locally. Then the next decade was establishing us nationally. Now we have to go global,' Warren said.
Warren will soon be a stealth pastor no more. 'I never wanted to be a celebrity,' he said. But his huge influence and his church's enormous wealth are putting an end to that. 'I guess I can't really hide away any more,' he said.
The word according to Rick
Don't argue with the Devil He's better at arguing than you are, having had thousands of years to practise. You can't bluff Satan with logic or your opinion, but you can use the weapon that makes him tremble - the truth of God. This is why memorising scripture is essential to defeating temptation. If you have no Bible verses memorised, you've got no bullets in your gun!
Love now, not tomorrow Why is now the best time to express love? Because you don't know how long you will have the opportunity. Circumstances change. People die. Children grow up. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. If you want to express love, you had better do it now.
Always love God, even when he seems distant God is real, no matter how you feel. It is easy to worship God when things are going great in your life but circumstances are not always pleasant. The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain.
Jesus cures death If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but it won't be the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life.
Care for unbelievers God has never made a person he didn't love. Everybody matters to him. When Jesus stretched his arms wide out on the cross, he was saying: 'I love you this much!' Whenever you feel apathetic about your mission in the world, spend some time thinking about what Jesus did for you on the cross. We must care about unbelievers because God does. God leaves no choice.
I see that you haven't the foggiest idea of what sola scriptura means.
Taxes my friend! Did you read about the sale volume? It is a wise decision to give up 90% and keep several million. The fact is, God word is not just profittable for the soul but a profittable business as well.
We can't serve two masters -- money and God. But that part of the Bible is usually not emphasized.
As to your other comment, the Protestants believe that the Bible epxlains itself and that for that reason they don't need Church authority to interpret it for the believer.
That was the whole point of Luter's movement: Instead of depending on the priests and Latin, translate the Bible into vernacular, make the Bible available, and let the people decide, individually, what is true.
Otherwise, ironically, the Protestants seem to be back where Luther started -- providing authoritative (pastoral) expalantion of the Bible, according to the traditions of men! Sounds like running around in circles to me.
As for the word-by-word approach, Warren is a litteralist. That is his doctrinal approach and his tradition. He believes each word as it is written, and that each event described took place. What comments are necessary? Just read the Bible! Right? Wrong! The man who actually believes the Bible litterally writes books on how to interpret the litteral word of God! And there are multitudes of people eating the bait. Now that is amazing!
And you do?
No. I left in part because I was tired of hearing watered down sermons that did not talk much about Jesus, Cross, Sin and Hell. The pastor apparantly did not want to scare anybody away by preaching convicting sermons. You could tell that he would get the sermon from tapes with powerpoint illustrations. I just got tired of his lazyness and failure to preach the word.
yikes.
yeah, i guess the Bible is pretty offensive - might want to keep it out of church to make church a bit more attractive.
Yeah, why not just bring in a bar and dance floor? I guess some churches have pretty much done that.
You obviously have not read the book and don't know anything about the man or his ministry. I've led 2 of the studies at my house and one of my former "students" is now teaching it to another group -- in Spanish.Not only that, but one of the people in my first group last fall became a Christian as a partial result of the course and died unexpectedly in early February. I think that he would probably disagree with you very strongly.
There must be a full moon out tonight -- people are writing all sorts of bizarro things on this thread.
Yes, I do, and it doesn't resemble your description of it at all. If you want to learn what it really means, then ping me and I'll get you more reliable information -- I'm getting ready to go to bed.
"There must be a full moon out tonight -- people are writing all sorts of bizarro things on this thread."
To add one more, an old friend of mine corrected me once when I was lamblasting Jan Crouch of Praise the Lord network. She said, "Someone has to minister to people with big hair."
So are you saying you don't approve of Bible study groups - people getting together to share and discuss their interpretations of the Scriptures? Maybe we should stay out of church since we wouldn't want to hear anyone else show how we can apply the Scriptures to our own lives. We can only make those inferences by ourselves.
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/2003/1-purpose.htm
Secondly, what a classic debating fallacy to attribute to your opponent what they do not believe so as to make their argument easier to refute. Protestants do not even remotely believe what you claim they mean when they say that the Bible "explains itself" or when the take a literalist approach to it. It is hardly inconsistent with sola scriptura to debate the interpretation of Scripture. It is only inconsistent if one of the debaters claims to have more direct and concrete authority from God to do so.
Oh were it so easy that we could all just turn to one human being for an infallible interpretation of God's word. Praise Him that he is not nearly that simple.
Praise God. That is so good to hear. It's been such a source of grief to think that the entire C of E has been going downhill, filled with apostasy, error, and evil, and that the UK in general has been getting less and less religious. It makes me so sad to think that even if I were to go back to the family's little country church in Shrivenham I might hear nothing of Christ but only some ponce preaching about gay unions. I'm glad to hear that there are at least some churches in the UK where the Gospel gets preached.
You are entitled to your opinion.
You are welcome.
Heaven forbid they should dance like David when the Ark was returned.
Praise God. That is so good to hear. It's been such a source of grief to think that the entire C of E has been going downhill, filled with apostasy, error, and evil, and that the UK in general has been getting less and less religious. It makes me so sad to think that even if I were to go back to the family's little country church in Shrivenham I might hear nothing of Christ but only some ponce preaching about gay unions. I'm glad to hear that there are at least some churches in the UK where the Gospel gets preached.
The Bible is so wonderful. I keep it my my bed and open it almost nightly just to read His words. I just go to the New Testemant and pick a page and look for His word and He always has a message. He makes me laugh sometimes with his selction when I realize His wisdom. He knows what is bothering me or what my issue is and His words come out of the pages and fill me with promise and hope. It hit me the other day about how I have been praying for years and years and how He has always been there. It feels good.
I have done a great deal of research on the man, the movement, and the Dialectic process involved. I didn't like what I learned, but like I said you are entitled to your opinion.
I've read your comment, and I understand your point of view, but as I have (fortunately) also been exposed to the 40 Days of Purpose, I must say that you are wrong on this particular issue.
Normally, I might agree with you. ;) (Btw, I'm Protestant, so that says something.)
I can tell by your post that you have not read his book. I read about half, my wife went through it. It was good, inspiring, and impels one to lead a life as though he/she were a 1st century apostle of Christ himself. It really gets you thinking about how you are directing your life--for yourself? Or for compassion and active demonstration of love for others?
sola scriptura is not relevant in this case, this is mere commentary on how to CARRY OUT Christ's teachings in a practical way in our modern world. I'm confident that Christ Himself would find nothing wrong with the book, nor the program carried out by participating churches.
Get yourself to a good Protestant church once in a while and just sit in the back, and judge for yourself. You've managed to take complete offense by something I'm sure is in line with your own beliefs. We're not your enemy. Don't attack us.
Again, your points are well taken, but you just happen to be wrong on this particular issue. READ THE BOOK AND THEN COMMENT, PLEASE.
Btw, I didn't complete it. I'm not the greatest Christian, by far. It was far too "touchy-feely" for me, but I'm slowly learning to open up, which I'm only now realizing that, to be a Christian, one must open up to others in order to help them, and myself. I've got a long way to go...used to think that I could get right with Christ through 100% logic/reason, do it alone, privately, not attend church and relate with others, but in the end, compassion for others and fellowship with others is a requisite. He even said so. And that's how I was introduced to this whole 40 Days thing.....
Again, we're on the same side. You shouldn't have taken a free shot at us Protestants, it was wrong.
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