Born on January 28, 1954, Rick Warren is an American author and pastor who practices evangelical Christianity. In Lake Forest, California, he founded the evangelical Baptist megachurch known as Saddleback Church. He has been the executive director of the mission alliance Finishing the Task since 2022.
Rick Warren grew up in Ukiah, California, after being born in San Jose, California, to Jimmy, a Baptist minister, and Dot Warren, a high school librarian. After graduating from California Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts, Warren went on to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1979 to receive a Master of Divinity, and finally Fuller Theological Seminary to get a Doctor of Ministry.
In 1980, Rick Warren established Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, starting as a small Bible study group that soon expanded into a sizable congregation with an average of around 20,000 members every week. In order to emphasize church growth through the five objectives of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism, he created the Purpose Driven philosophy of ministry. He wrote two highly significant books, The Purpose Driven Church in 1995 and The Purpose Driven Life subsequently, the latter of which sold over 30 million copies. In addition, he co-founded the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a church-based humanitarian initiative, and he has given speeches at TED, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations, among other important international gatherings.
Rick Warren has been active in social and political causes throughout his career, occasionally causing controversy. He has openly criticized same-sex unions and backed California’s Proposition 8. He has prioritized communication while working with many faith communities. In addition to his many accolades, which include Time’s 2005 list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” Warren has been actively involved in mental health and humanitarian causes after the passing of his son.
Rick Warren
The son of Jimmy and Dot Warren, Rick Warren was born in San Jose, California. His mother was a high school librarian, while his father was a Baptist minister. Raised in Ukiah, California, he formed the school’s first Christian club while attending Ukiah High School, where he graduated in 1972.
He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, California. After that, he attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he graduated in 1979 with a Master of Divinity. He also obtained a Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.
Rick Warren Ministry
Rick Warren claims that while attending California Baptist University at the age of 19, he received a call to full-time ministry. He and a friend went 350 miles and skipped classes in November 1973 to attend a sermon by W. A. Criswell at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco. After waiting to shake hands, Warren said to Criswell, “I feel led to lay hands on you and pray for you!” as he turned to face Warren.
He started writing novels while working at Billie Hanks Jr.’s ministry center, Texas Ranch for Christ, while he was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Together with Hanks and Wayne Watts, he co-wrote two books: Twelve Dynamic Bible Study Methods for Laity and The Victory Scripture Memory Series.
He and his wife started a Bible study group at their Orange County, California, condo in the Saddleback Valley in January 1980. Two hundred individuals attended the first public service of Saddleback Church, which Warren conducted on Easter Sunday in the Laguna Hills High School Theater in April 1980. Warren’s church growth strategies caused it to grow quickly; throughout the course of its 35-year history, the church has used about 80 different facilities. Nearly 20,000 individuals attend the church every week on average.
Rick Warren confirmed in 2005, at the Baptist World Alliance’s Centenary Congress, that the Southern Baptist Convention’s decision to leave the Alliance was a mistake since fellowship with other churches shouldn’t be hindered by theological differences.
He has received invitations to speak at both domestic and international gatherings, such as Time’s Global Health Summit, Harvard Kennedy School, the Council on Foreign Relations, the African Union, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the United Nations, and TED. Since 2005, he has been on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Warren garnered more national recognition in August 2008 when he hosted the Civil Forum on the Presidency at Saddleback Church, which included Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. The forum, which was shown live on national television, was the first time McCain and Obama appeared together as the presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.
Rick Warren was selected to deliver the invocation at President-elect Obama’s inaugural event in December 2008. Both Obama and Warren came under fire for the decision, which infuriated LGBT and pro-choice activists. Obama justified his selection of Warren by stating that there should be space for discussion on such challenging social topics, even though he disagreed with the minister’s views on abortion and same-sex marriage. The announcement that Warren will be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service on January 19, 2009, the day before the inauguration, sparked even more controversy. The next day, he gave the invocation for Obama’s inauguration, which was well commended for its upbeat tone.
The Purpose Driven Connection, a quarterly periodical offered as a component of a multimedia bundle, was launched in January 2009 by Rick Warren and the Reader’s Digest Association. The partners declared in November 2009 that the magazine would stop after the fourth issue was published since it had not attracted enough paying members.
He was selected to lead a prayer during Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s inauguration in 2010. He has been on the latter’s Presidential Advisory Council ever since.
Rick Warren declared in June 2021 that he would step down as Saddleback’s senior pastor, although he would remain until a replacement was chosen. He was appointed executive director of the mission coalition Finishing the Task in January 2022. Warren continued to serve as a founding pastor but resigned as lead pastor in August of that year.
He was appointed Spurgeon’s College’s first honorary chancellor in May 2023. He promoted women’s ordination at the annual Southern Baptist Convention the next month, following Saddleback Church’s excommunication from the Convention for employing a female pastor.
The Purpose Driven Life
In the early days of Saddleback, Rick Warren was contacted by or wrote to individual pastors, teaching them the concepts that would eventually form the Purpose Driven philosophy of ministry.
Warren’s involvement with the Fuller Theological Seminary-affiliated Institute for Evangelism and Church Growth gave him experience instructing the subject.
His best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Church, which was released by Zondervan in 1995, summarized many of the lessons he had learned while founding Saddleback Church and refined over years of mentoring other pastors. The book begins by recounting the “Saddleback Story” and then argues for using what Warren referred to as a “crowd to core” approach to church growth in order to create a church around five purposes: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism.
He urged churches to go out to their community, attract an audience, convert those who attend into members, nurture those members into ministers, and then send them out on a mission.
In 2004, Rick Warren led a seminar or conference that drew almost 10,000 churches from different denominations.
Rick Warren PEACE Plan
Kay and Rick Warren established the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a church-based humanitarian development initiative, in 2003 at Saddleback Church.
Recognition
Rick Warren was one of the “leaders who mattered most in 2004” that Time selected in 2004. Time named Warren one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” in April 2005. U.S. News & World Report named Warren one of “America’s Top 25 Leaders” in October 2005. Newsweek named Warren one of the “15 People Who Make America Great” in 2006.
He became a New York Times bestselling author in 2006 after The Purpose Driven Life sold over 30 million copies.
Personal Life
Since June 21, 1975, Rick Warren and Kay Warren have been wed. They have four grandchildren and three grown children. Among his mentors are Peter Drucker, Billy Graham, and his own father.
Following the success of his book The Purpose Driven Life, he declared in 2006 that he had decided to “reverse the tithe”—that is, to stop receiving a salary from the church and instead donate 90% of his income to three foundations.
Matthew, Warren’s youngest son, struggled with mental illness since he was a little boy and died by himself on April 6, 2013. He claims that over 10,000 people wrote to him about their personal church issues following the event. Warren started a ministry at The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church in March 2014 to inform Saddleback about its responsibility to support those who are dealing with mental illness.
Books by Rick Warren
- The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life
- The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message And Mission
- The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?
- Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions
- The Power to Change Your Life
- What on Earth Am I Here For? Booklet
- Rick Warren’s Bible Study MethodsÂ
- The Purpose of Christmas
- Words To Love By
- God’s Great Love for You
- God’s Big Plans for Me
- The Lord’s Prayer
- The Purpose Driven Life: 100 Illustrated Devotions for Children
