Wow! The hubris of Rick Warren and other boomer leaders never ceases to amaze me. It's like he lives in a hermetically sealed box and ocassionaly escapes and takes jonts around the world, but frames everything in terms of OC/Wal-mart Christianity.

We will pick on him no matter how much good he does. we pick on Driscoll, we pick on Piper, we are good at being our own critics. If you excell at all you will be picked apart.

Will,
I agree with you. We do like to rip down everyone who God really seems to be using. My normal reaction to Warren is positive, as it was to most of the interview. Of course, like many of us, I'm sick of everything being "purpose driven"...purpose driven latte, purpose driven jaguar, purpose driven purpose!...makes me gag. BUT, as long as it's God's purpose, great.

The only place I can agree with Sam that Warren smacks of great pride is in the sections on baptism. Maybe the figures do back up Saddleback being better than the 1st century church and the best church in the U.S.. But then, its not a competition where other churches, ministering in other environments, lose because they don't have as many "conversions". Those sections rubbed me wrong and seems, even in the midst of (paraphrased) "sending out more missionaries than anyone" to other nations, to not give credit to the global stretch of The Church rather than just Saddleback.

Still, he's human. And hopefully the longevity and stretch of God's use of him is any indicator of his willingness to repent, grow, change, and learn.

I actually found nothing new in Warren's interview, which is refreshing, but what I should consider disappointing is that there was nothing new in the comments section either.
I hold Warren in no high esteem, but neither do I hold him in any form of contempt...am I the only one who sees him just as he is...a man doing the best he can with what he has?
I say give the man a break.

It's not that people hate on those that are successful. I want to like Warren, and I want to like Osteen, I want to like Groeschel. It's just that people with huge flocks have a huge repsonsibility to tell it like it is. There are a few black and white truths according to the Bible, and Warren just seems to want to get along with everyone. He's afraid of offending anyone not matter what their lifestyle, so he waters down the message.

I'll still listen to him because like others, I can still find those moments where he's not being so forthright in his preaching. Unfortunately, there are thousands that are new the The Word, and take what he says at face value.

Steve, Can you give me an example of Warren watering down the gospel? Thanks.

"Always remember that there are two types of people in this world. Those who come into a room and say 'Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say 'Ah, there you are!'"

- Frederick L Collins

I wrote an article after I heard Pastor Rick's prayer for the President's Inauguration, because I was shocked at his praying in the name of ...ISA! ...I just hope you know exactly who ISA is to the Islamic world, which does not have anything at all to do with our Jesus Christ! I had written to Rick telling him not to accept the invitation to go and pray a blessing to the filthy program they had for America. The other night instead, on Fox TV, I heard the whole message on Easter and not once he mentioned the "blood of Jesus", nor a "repentance for the sins"! He willingly avoided using those words because they are offensive to some people or it will scare them away, but let's keep in mind that wothout "BLOOD" there's no remission of sin!

I just hope he will go back to God's Word!

Abel, do tell ... who is 'Isa' in the Islamic world? Because, it is of course, 'Jesus' in Arabic ... just like 'Jezis' in Czech, 'Yesus' in Malay, etc.

Abel, do tell ... who is 'Isa' to the Islamic world? Because, it is, after all ... 'Jesus' in Arabic ... just like 'Jezis' in Czech, 'Yesus' in Malay, etc.

I am a supporter or RW. Yet, I have a problem:

RW says: "We are, without a doubt, the most evangelistic church in America. There are churches that are bigger than Saddleback, but there are no churches that reach more people for Christ than Saddleback. There are no churches that send as many people into the missions field/"

Umm...bragging just a little bit there RW aren't you?

[quote]The other night instead, on Fox TV, I heard the whole message on Easter and not once he mentioned the "blood of Jesus", nor a "repentance for the sins"! He willingly avoided using those words[qoute]

I don't think we watched the same Rick Warren on FOX Abel. The one I watched must of said "sin" 15-25 times. Just as people say that word is not in "Purpose Driven Life", it is, or that RW doesn't preach on "sin" in his church, he does. I know, I went there for more than 20 years. I am keen to hear the word "sin" from RW because of the unfounded criticism such as yours.

I didn't pay attention to if he said the actual word "blood" or not but he most definitely said Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins. That's what the blood does.

"The other night instead, on Fox TV,"

/facepalm

On Larry King live , Pastor Warren said that he is not against gay marriage anymore/he never campaigned against proposition 8 in Califorina. Whoever takes that stance has compromised the entire Bible. Two cities were destroyed for their disobedience in this matter/Sodaom&Gomorrah.
Is he bigger than God? Is his Gospel better than Jesus? He is condemning the "gays" by not telling them the truth. If he can't be "straight" on this issue he cannot be right with God on any issue.
What we plant that shall we reap.

Rick Warren has compromised the truth . It's as simple as that. No excuses, No justification. Just good ole politics at it's best. Rick Warren has conformed to the world in his comments about how he support gay rights, along with his soft shoe sermons.

I think that Rick Warren has figured out how to grow the flock, the second and more important part is how to tell them the truth without losing them. It is almost always painful truth which offends people. Rick works on relationships first and then introduces them to the Gospel, I don't find fault with that.

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