Rick Warren
Born	(1954-01-28) January 28, 1954 (age 70) San Jose, California, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Pastor, Author
Spouse	Kay Warren
Website	www.RickWarren.com

Richard Duane "Rick" Warren (born 1954 in San Jose, California) is an American evangelical minister and author.^[1][2][3] He is the founder and senior pastor of the Saddleback Church, a megachurch in Lake Forest, California. As of January 2009 it is the eighth-largest church in the United States.^[4] He is also a bestselling author of many Christian books, including his guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church, which has spawned a series of conferences on Christian ministry and evangelism. He is perhaps best known for the subsequent devotional, The Purpose Driven Life, which has 30 million copies in print, and is one of the best selling non-fiction books of all time.^[5]

Warren holds conservative theological and political views.^[6] Though maintaining traditional evangelical positions on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, he has called on churches worldwide to also focus their efforts on fighting poverty and disease, expanding educational opportunities for the marginalized, and caring for the environment. During the 2008 presidential election, Warren hosted the Civil Forum on The Presidency at his church with both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. President-elect Obama later sparked controversy when he asked Warren to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration, which took place on January 20, 2009.^[7]

Biography

Early life and education

Warren is the son of Jimmy and Dot. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a high school librarian.^{[clarification needed]} He was raised in Ukiah, California, and graduated from Ukiah High School in 1972. His sister Chaundel is married to Saddleback pastor Tom Holladay. His brother Jim C. Warren died in 2007.

Warren received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, California; a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1979) in Fort Worth, Texas, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.^[8]

Career

Warren says he was called to full-time ministry when he was a 19-year-old student at California Baptist University. In November 1973, he and a friend skipped classes and drove 350 miles to hear W.A. Criswell preach at the Jack Tar Hotel, in San Francisco.^[9] Rick Warren stood in line to shake hands with Criswell afterward.^[9] Criswell focused on Warren stating "I feel led to lay hands on you and pray for you!”^[9]

Warren held Saddleback's first public service on Easter Sunday in April 1980, with 200 people in attendance at the Laguna Hills, California High School Theater. Warren's church growth methods led to rapid expansion with the church using nearly 80 different facilities in its 28-year history.

Saddleback did not build its first permanent building until it had 10,000 weekly attenders. When the current Lake Forest campus was purchased in the early 1990s, a 2,300-seat plastic tent was used for worship services for several years, with four services each weekend. In 1995, the current Worship Center was completed with a seating capacity of 3,500. A multi-million dollar children's Ministry Center and staff office building were completed over the next few years. In June 2008, a $20 million student ministry facility called the "Refinery", was completed housing the "Wildside" middle school and the "HSM" high school ministries, consisting of nearly 1,500 students.

Warren has worked to shift the evangelical movement away from an exclusive focus on traditional approaches to social issues such as abortion and marriage equality, to broader social action instead. Warren's five-point plan for global action, the P.E.A.C.E. Plan , calls for church-led efforts to tackle global poverty and disease, including the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to support literacy and education efforts around the world. In February 2006, he signed a controversial statement backing a major initiative to combat global warming, thus breaking with other conservative, high-profile evangelical leaders, such as James Dobson, who had opposed such a move. Polls have indicated that most evangelicals are skeptical of global warming theories, especially related to human culpability. This decision by Warren remains one of his most controversial and criticized moves.^[10]

Warren has been invited to speak at national and international forums including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, TED, and Time’s Global Health Summit. He was named one of "America's Top 25 Leaders" in the October 31, 2005, issue of U.S. News and World Report.^[8] Warren was named by TIME magazine as one of "15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004" and one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" (2005).^[11] In 2006 Newsweek called him one of "15 People Who Make America Great".^[12]

In August 2008, Warren drew greater national attention by hosting the Civil Forum on the Presidency that featured senators John McCain and Barack Obama at the Saddleback church. Warren said the goal of the forum was to “restore civility in our civil discourse.”^[13] The forum marked McCain and Obama's first joint appearance as the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees and was broadcast live on national television. During the two-hour event, each candidate took the stage separately for about an hour to respond to Warren’s questions about faith and moral issues including abortion and human rights.

Warren publicly supported California Proposition 8, which amended the state consitution to read, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." After the measure passed, Warren's Saddleback Church was targeted by protesters.^[14]

In December 2008, President-elect Obama chose Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration ceremony. The decision angered pro-choice and LGBT advocates and led to criticism of both Obama and Warren.^[15] More controversy ensued when it was announced that Warren would be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service on January 19, 2009, the day prior to the inauguration.^[16]

Political and social views

In a conversation with atheist author Sam Harris in Newsweek magazine, Warren spoke out against evolution and in favor of creationism. He also said that brutal dictators such as Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot were all atheists, when questioned on whether religion is beneficial to society. ^[17] Asked about the difference between himself and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, Warren claimed that "it's a matter of tone". ^[18] In 2005, during the Terri Schiavo controversy, Warren stated that withholding feeding to Schiavo, a woman in a persistent vegetative state, was "not a right to die issue". He then called Michael Schiavo's decision to remove her feeding tube, "an atrocity worthy of Nazism", ^[19] and while speculating about Michael's Schiavo's motives, put forward the idea that Schiavo wanted Terri to die because, if she regained consciousness, she might have "something to say that he didn‘t want said". ^[20]

Personal

Warren has been married to Elizabeth K. Warren (Kay) for 30 years. They have three adult children (Amy, Josh, and Matthew) and four grandchildren. He considers Billy Graham, Peter Drucker and his own father to be among his mentors.

Warren no longer takes a salary from Saddleback and has repaid all of his salary from the last 25 years back to the church, due to the success of his book sales. He says he now "reverse tithes", meaning giving away 90% of his income and living off 10%.^[21]

Ministries

Warren and his wife are directors of the following non-profit organizations:

• Saddleback Church
• Acts of Mercy
• Purpose Driven Ministries
• The Global Fund
• RKW Legacy Partners
• Equipping the Church

Purpose Driven

Purpose driven comes from the teaching of Warren, and came into use as a paradigm taught to pastors and other Christian leaders worldwide to help them be more effective in leading their churches. The teaching is embodied in Warren’s best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Church, first published in 1995. Over 400,000 pastors and church leaders from around the world have attended a seminar or conference led by Warren and other pastors who seek to be more effective in fulfilling the Biblical Great Commission and Great Commandment.^{[citation needed]} Purpose Driven refers to these pastors' attempts to balance the five "purposes"; worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism in their churches.

Christian leaders in 162 countries have used materials which stem from this movement.^{[citation needed]} Warren says his organizations have trained 400,000 pastors worldwide.^[22] Some 189,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, the weekly newsletter.^{[citation needed]}

Others express concern over what is described as the divisive nature of Warren's techniques. Wall Street Journal writer Suzanne Sataline cited examples of congregations who have split over the growth strategies and congregations that have expelled members who fought changes. She wrote, "Warren acknowledges that splits occur in congregations that adopt his ideas, though he says he opposes efforts to expel church members."^[22]

Bibliography

• The Purpose Driven Church (ISBN 0-310-20106-3)
• The Purpose Driven Life (ISBN 0-310-20571-9)
• Answers to Life's Difficult Questions (ISBN 0-9660895-2-9)
• The Power to Change Your Life (ISBN 0-9660895-1-0)
• What on Earth Am I Here For? Booklet (ISBN 0-310-26483-9)
• Personal Bible Study Methods (ISBN 0-9660895-0-2)
• Purpose Driven Youth Ministry (ISBN 0-310-21253-7)--Doug Fields

See also

• Celebrate Recovery

References

External links

• Rick Warren's website
• Rick Warren's ministry podcast
• Purpose Driven Church website