Posted on 11/21/2006 2:03:36 PM PST by Between the Lines
The Purpose Driven Life remains number two on the cba hardcover bestseller list. But Purpose Driven the organization is over. Created amid the unprecedented popularity of Rick Warren's book, Purpose Driven ministries has lost its CEO, seen its staff reduced by a third, and significantly drawn back its services. No longer a separate entity, it is being overseen by the staff of Saddleback Church, where Warren is senior pastor.
"Purpose Driven as an organization, in a sense, really doesn't exist anymore," Jon Walker, Saddleback's pastor of strategic communications, told CT.
The most notable change will be to Purpose Driven Church conferences, which have trained more than 300,000 pastors in church growth. Saddleback will still host the annual conference at the Lake Forest, California, megachurch in May. But smaller conferences will be held less frequently. In addition, there will be no more nationwide 40 Days of Purpose campaigns, Walker said, though the program will be offered to churches individually.
Saddleback considers January 2005 to be the beginning of Purpose Driven, which grew as Warren's book sold millions upon millions of copies—25 million to date.
"The success of The Purpose Driven Life and 40 Days of Purpose was a God-sent wave for which we are grateful, and we tried to be good stewards of the blessing," Walker said. "However, it was inevitable that their popularity would crest and then settle into a long-term ministry of support."
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
Remember 'The Prayer of Jabez'?
I consider myself a chump for having attended a local Prayer of Jabez conference. Never again.
Good. Christian fads are a distraction from real Christianity.
Remember 'The Prayer of Jabez'?
Must of been done in by those damn N. Koreans and their counterfit contributions.
Amazing. Yet wholly expected.
This "Christian" fad over. Next!
When will people ever learn?
Saddleback plans to invest more resources in Warren's newest project, his global P.E.A.C.E. plan: planting churches, equipping leaders, assisting the poor, caring for the sick, and educating the next generation. Saddleback leaders hope P.E.A.C.E. can achieve Purpose Driven levels of popularity without the bust.Saddleback, as a fiscal entity/church, has just announced their funeral arrangements."It's two very different things," Walker said. "Purpose Driven was training for church growth. … P.E.A.C.E is more of a long-term missions thrust. There is not a product or a trend or anything that is associated with it. It is a long-term thing."
Ah yes......the corporate model of the body of Christ.
We need to be building up the good, not just fighting the ungood.
Didja know you can buy Prayer of Jabez bracelets? Each little plaque has a word or two of the passage. Kind of like a Protestant rosary.
I was wondering, would discarding the original five purposes of the church for the five new ones of the PEACE plan be tantamount to admitting he has led the church in the wrong direction all this time?
Good riddance I say. My neighborhood started a study with his book, and it didn't take us long to see it wasn't for us.
""The success of The Purpose Driven Life and 40 Days of Purpose was a God-sent wave for which we are grateful, and we tried to be good stewards of the blessing," Walker said."
Eccl. 3:1, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"
The fad driven church --
http://www.issuesetc.org/resource/archives/wilken4.htm
Purpose-Driven Life is over??? Did they lose their purpose? :O)
This thing smacks more of human effort than a "wave of God." Rather than fueled by the Holy Spirit, it appears to have been fueled by organizational management techniques, and it's now hit a wall.
Sadly, gimmicks and fads seem to be a hallmark of the American church. I mean, why depend upon the Holy Spirit when you can depend on gimmicks and fads?
I ran into a person who wanted to write their own book about the prayer of Jabez, but the publisher of the Bruce Wilkerson series threatened them with copyright infringement. Nice to know that whole sections of God's revelation are now the corporate property of certain publishers.
Probably never. People want a wide open easy path. It was offered to them & they couldn't hop on it fast enough.
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