Over the past 6 years of living in the heart of Orange County where Saddleback Church resides, I have witnessed countless OCRegister.com articles reporting on Rick Warren, ran across many people who have come to my church after attending Saddleback, and have conversed with many people who have read his bestseller “The Purpose Drive Life”. I’ve even been to Saddleback Church for a few concerts, a college worship night and even a sunday service that Mr. Warren taught at. And, I’ve read the well-known book too.
Personally, I would never encourage anyone to attend Saddleback or to read “Purpose Driven Life”. But, Mark Cahill takes it a step further in a recent video about Rick Warren, explaining that in 1993 an Agent introduced Rick Warren and said:
“You are going to hear about him because he is going to change the way that we do church.”
Should we want Rick Warren to change the way Church is done and how has this played out since 1993 with Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Church” movement?
You can watch Mark’s strong response to this comment at the video excerpt HERE. Mark Cahill was speaking at a Worldview Weekend Conference, which has a passion to see people “think and live like a Christian”. The Christtian Worldview Network features daily news, information and columns by Over 50 of America’s Premier Worldview Writers, including Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., Norm Geisler, Brannon Howse, Alistair Begg, Os Guiness, Ken Ham, Chuck Herring, Josh McDowell, Ravi Zaccharius, Michael Youssef, D. James Kennedy, etc. It addresses the following: The importance and practical benefits of a Biblical worldview; How we know the Bible is true; How we know Jesus Christ rose from the dead; How we know Jesus Christ was God in human form; Going to college without going astray; doctrine is not boring but a strong mooring; exposing the most popular lies of today’s pop-culture world, Why are so many students leaving the church and not returning?; Understanding the dangers of today’s prevailing postmodern worldview; How to use the moral law to evangelize like Jesus did; Training the heart and mind of a child to follow Christ; Testing our worldview against the Bible; The difference between true and false converts, Building a Biblical worldview verse by verse and more.
Mark Cahill is the author of the popular books One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven, commended by Bill Bright & David Noebel, and One Heartbeat Away: Your Journey Into Eternity. Mark addresses over 45,000 people annually, equipping and challenging the saved to go out and reach the lost. His ministry has been commended by Dr. Bill Bright, Ray Comfort, Dr. David Noebel of Summit Ministries, and many other Christian leaders. Mark’s greatest passion is for the entire world to know Jesus Christ, leading him to boldly witness to everyone he encounters-including Tigers Woods, Michael Jordan, Vanilla Ice, and Geraldo Rivera. www.markcahill.org
Rick Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., in 1980 with one family. Today, it is an evangelical congregation averaging 22,000 weekly attendees, a 120-acre campus, and has more than 300 community ministries to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and those with HIV/AIDS. He also leads the Purpose Driven Network of churches, a global coalition of congregations in 162 countries. More than 400,000 ministers and priests have been trained worldwide, and almost 157,000 church leaders subscribe to Ministry Toolbox, his weekly newsletter. His previous book, The Purpose Driven Church is listed in “100 Christian Books That Changed the 20 th Century.” Forbes magazine called it, “The best book on entrepreneurship, management, and leadership in print.” http://www.rickwarren.com/
Popularity: 62% [?]
December 17th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Would you be willing to share why you wouldn’t personally encourage anyone to read The Purpose Driven Life or attend Saddleback Church?
December 18th, 2007 at 10:42 am
Wow…I really don’t know what to say. While I don’t necessarily agree with certain aspects of Warren’s book like how many translations he used, just saying, “The Bible says,” and other vague inconsistencies like that, I’m not all fired up about Mark Cahill’s attack on him.
Mark 9:40 says, “for whoever is not against us is for us.” I didn’t know it was Biblical for Christians to attack people who are spreading the gospel.
I do not need to defend Rick Warren and believe me I am not doing that. However, when we begin to attack the words and actions of other believers who are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we are treading on thin ice, and we ought to tread carefully and humbly lest the ice break way and we find ourselves in a worse position than the first.
† > me
Respectfully submitted,
Mark
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I believe in Rick Warren because he has a Social Security #, several successful businesses, commercially successful books, and I’ve seen him interviewed on TV.
Although there are sources of historical information related to Jesus of Nazareth’s existence, it is a bit harder for me to believe in him. But, I guess that I believe both of them exist(ed).
February 2nd, 2008 at 6:31 am
The problem with Rick Warren is that he doesn’t seem to be preaching the gospel; at least not in his public appearances. Examples include his book, “A Purpose Driven Life”, his appearance last week at Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, and his appearance on Comedy Central. Particularly painful to watch was his appearance on Comedy Central with Stephen Colbert. Mr. Colbert is obviously not a believer, and although he was trying to be funny, he nevertheless asked some very pointed and valid questions. He gave Rick Warren a perfect opportunity to answer these questions and present the gospel publically. However, instead of answering any of the questions, Rick told Mr. Colbert that God would be happy with him (i.e. with Mr. Colbert) if he would just be himself. In what way does this resemble the gospel? Does this tell Stephen Colbert or his viewers anything about how to be saved? I think not. A Purpose Driven Life is the same way–if you don’t already know the gospel, you can read the whole thing and know next to nothing about *why* you should want to follow Jesus or why it would be necessary. Also, there are a number of faulty uses of scripture in the book, as well as positive quotations of questionable people in the book (such as a positive quote from a female erotic writer). I would not label Rick Warren as a heretic, but I sure have to say that he is missing out on some very grand opportunities to present the true gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is hanging on his every word.