Rick Warren

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Richard D. "Rick" Warren (born January 28, 1954) , He is the founding and senior pastor of Saddleback Church. He is also the author of many Christian books, including The Purpose Driven Life, and a major (and controversial) figure amongst the Southern Baptists in the United States.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Warren was born in San Jose, California, in 1954, the son of Jimmy and Dot Warren.

He attended Ukiah High School and was a football star(three-year starting linebacker) and also played baseball. He graduated in 1972 and thereafter obtained a bachelor of arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1979) in Fort Worth, and his Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He also holds several honorary doctorates.[1] He has lectured in the cities of Oxford, Cambridge, and at the University of Judaism (for Synagogue 3000), and the Evangelical Theological Society, among numerous seminaries and universities.[2]

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 is also a signer of a statement concerning the global warming initiative.[3]

Warren made the claim that he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a good friend of President Bush and most of the top Generals at the Pentagon in an email to WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah (See Syria controversy, below).

Warren was named one of America's Top 25 Leaders in the October 31, 2005 issue of U.S. News and World Report.[4] Warren was elected 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).[5] Newsweek magazine called him one of "15 People Who Make America Great", an award given to people who, through bravery or generosity, genius or passion, devote themselves to helping others.[6]

Warren has been married to Elizabeth K. Warren (Kay) for thirty years. They have three adult children (Josh, Amy, and Matthew) and two grandchildren. He considers Billy Graham, Peter Drucker, and his own father (who was himself a Baptist pastor and an SBC missionary), to be among his mentors.[7]

[edit] Ministry

Rick and Kay Warren have donated 90% of their income through three foundations: Acts of Mercy, which serves those infected and affected by AIDS, Equipping the Church, which trains church leaders in developing countries, and The Global P.E.A.C.E. Fund, which fights poverty, disease, and illiteracy.[8]

Rick and Kay also are directors of the following non-profit corporate fund streams/assets:

  • Saddleback Church, with an annual budget of US$ 30 million[9]
  • Acts of Mercy, which had US$ 8 million ending 2004[10]
  • Purpose Driven Ministries, with US$ 47 million in gross receipts in 2004[11]
  • The Global Fund
  • RKW Legacy Partners
  • Equipping the Church

Warren no longer takes a salary from Saddleback Church and repaid all of his salary from the last 25 years back to the church, due to the success of his book sales. He now says he "reverse tithes", meaning giving away 90% of his income and living off of 10%.[12]

[edit] Purpose Driven

Over 400,000 pastors and church leaders from around the world have attended a seminar or conference led by Warren and other pastors who share best practices as they seek to be more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. The term Purpose Driven refers to these pastors' attempt to balance the five purposes of Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, and Evangelism in their churches. Saddleback Church also started a non-profit web-site PurposeDriven.com to help communicate and coordinate the community.

Over the years, Christian leaders in 162 countries have used materials which stem from this movement. Through this organization over 400,000 ministers and priests have been trained worldwide in his theology and practical methods. 189,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, the weekly newsletter.[13]

[edit] P.E.A.C.E. Plan

Main article: P.E.A.C.E. Plan

Warren's humanitarian efforts have focused on addressing what he calls the five Global Goliaths:[citation needed]

  • Spiritual Emptiness
  • Egocentric Leadership
  • Extreme Poverty
  • Pandemic Diseases
  • Illiteracy and lack of education

Warren claims that these problems are so large that every attempt by the public and private sector has failed, and that the only organization big enough to take on these problems is the network of Christian churches around the world.[citation needed] On August 22, 2005, Time magazine reported that Warren has been asked by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to help his country become a "Purpose-Driven nation".[citation needed] To implement this, Warren has enlisted over 2,000 Saddleback church members to go to Rwanda in small groups to initiate a national strategy, and the cooperation of 600 Rwandan churches.[citation needed] Business leaders and leaders of parliament in Rwanda are also involved.[citation needed]

[edit] Criticisms

Warren's books have come under criticism from some, like other evangelical teachers, for their content. Some evangelical teachers question the practices promoted in these books, claiming that they distort the gospel or otherwise employ questionable tactics, including New Age teachings.[14] Other common criticisms include objections to the accuracy with which it presents the Christian gospel, the accuracy of their Biblical exegesis, and various allegedly unbiblical teachings.[15] However, there is also a significant majority of evangelical teachers who agree with Mr. Warren.

Warren says he is inclusive beyond his Southern Baptist roots, and welcomes pastors and leaders from all denominations to his training programs.[citation needed] Warren claims to stick to the "essentials" of the faith and focus on "loving people into the Kingdom" of God in an attractive way without compromising the essential tenets of his faith.[16] Many critics, however, contend that Warren does compromise on various doctrinal truths in his teachings, and that he espouses ecumenical teachings.[citation needed] Rick Warren has also come under fire for his appearance at the 2006 Centenary of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, which also had Word of Faith preachers such as Benny Hinn , T.D. Jakes, Kenneth Copeland, and Creflo Dollar as guests.

Warren was also heavily criticized by evangelical Christians when he was the only significant evangelical leader to sign the highly controversial Global Warming Pact, primarily co-signed by non-Christians and liberal mainline Christians. Most evangelicals took this as a sign that Warren had abandoned the conservative political views of the majority of evangelicals, many of whom are skeptical of global warming theories.

However, the outcry from that move would pale in comparison with Warren's monumental decision to invite Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama to speak at an AIDS conference at Warren's Saddleback Church in December 2006. For many conservative evangelicals who had long suspected Warren of holding liberal political views, this was the final straw and confirmed that he indeed did not share the conservative political views of the majority of evangelicals, even though Warren invited pro-life Republican Senator, Sam Brownback also. Fellow evangelical leader Bill Hybels received similar criticism for inviting President Bill Clinton to speak at his Willow Creek Church in 2000. Many evangelicals took Warren's actions as his endorsement for a liberal, secular progressive (which many view as anti-Christian) Democrat for President. Others worried that Obama would take advantage of Warren and use his appearance at Saddleback to his own benefit in the forthcoming Presidential race.

In response to the widespread criticism, Warren issued a statement defending his actions. Warren attempted to justify his invitation of Obama by stating that while he disagreed with Obama on some social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, the two share common ground in their work to fight the AIDS crisis in Africa. Warren made it clear that Obama was only invited to address the AIDS issue and did not mention his views on abortion or gay marriage. However, Warren's statements did little to stop the wave of criticism and the statements themselves actually led to additional criticism. Conservative evangelicals countered by arguing that Obama's solution to the AIDS epidemic in Africa, sex education and distributing condoms[citation needed], was not compatible with their solution to the problem (primarily promoting abstinence outside of marriage). There is no question that in the minds of many evangelicals, Warren no longer shares their political views or speaks for them.[citation needed]

Warren also has been criticized for saying it isnt neccessary to study Bible Prophecy.

[edit] Critics

There are a number of pastors, ministries and authors throughout the world who are critical of Warren and his teachings, including Dr. John MacArthur, who addressed Warren in a chapter in his book, Fool's Gold. Other critics include Chuck Smith, Dave Hunt, Richard Bennett, David Cloud, Berit Kjos, Texe Marrs, and Dr. Noah Hutchings.

[edit] Wall Street Journal

Others express concern over what is described as the divisive nature of Warren's techniques. September 5, 2006, Wall Street Journal writer, Suzanne Sataline, published "Strategy for Church Growth Splits Congregants".[17] Sataline cites example of congregations who have split over purpose-driven growth strategies. Congregations nationwide have split or expelled members who fought purpose driven changes and despite successes elsewhere, the exodus at some churches adopting the purpose-driven approach has been dramatic, Sataline noted.

[edit] 1) Syrian visit

Warren has also drawn criticism for his November 12, 2006 meeting with Syrian President Al-Asaad and the Grand Mufti Sheikh Badr al-Din Hassoun.[18] In response, Christian NewsWire issued a press release entitled: "Purpose Driven Terror? Rick Warren's Syria Trip an Outrage".[19] Critics cite State Department sources and Council on Foreign Relations documents which show Syria's long history of aiding terror.[20] The original story was broken by Joseph Farah of World Net Daily. His original article link to a You Tube video of Warren making the above comments. Notably, Joseph Farah is of Lebanese descent, a country occupied by Syrian military from 1975-2005 (see Syrian occupation of Lebanon). Warren's staff subsequently removed the You Tube video and denied the story and accused his accusers of only reading a Syrian press release. However, audio of the conversation surfaced where Warren is stating the below quote:[21]

"Syria's a place that has Muslims and Christians living together for 1,400 years. So it's a lot more peaceful, honestly, than a lot of other places because Christians were here first. In fact, you know Saul of Tarsus – Saul was a Syrian. St. Paul, on the road to Damascus, had his conversion experience and so Christians have been here the longest, and they get along with the Muslims and the Muslims get along with them. There's a lot less tension than in other places. It's a moderate country, and the official government rule and position is not to allow any extremism of any kind."

[edit] 2) North Korean visit

As of February 27, 2007 Warren has postponed another controversial trip, this time to North Korea, which had been planned for March, 2007. According to Warren's public relations firm (email from Kristin U. Cole of A. Larry Ross Communications):

“As far as we know, the invitation is still on for him to preach at the first outdoor Christian event in that country since 1945. Considering the cold weather at the time of the original invitation for March, Pastor Warren asked the organizing committee (a coalition of South Korean businessmen involved in cultural exchange with the DPRK) to go back and secure another date for the event this summer. This is all the information I have for now.”

It is also possible that the February death of his brother caused Warren to postpone his trip.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

[edit] Criticism of Rick Warren

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