"Rick Warren, author of the top-selling book 'The Purpose Driven
Life' and founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest,
California, made a dramatic announcement on Sunday 17th
April 2005, the 25th anniversary of the church's
founding," reports Dan Wooding, founder of Assist Ministries. In
front of 30,000 people in the Angel Stadium in Anaheim, he said
that he believes in a revival movement in the 21st
Century. He spoke of a new reformation in Christianity and his
vision for a global spiritual revival through the so-called PEACE
Plan. Warren is convinced that this will lead to one billion
Christians being mobilised for global mission by the year 2020.
"This new Reformation," he says, "will predominantly happen through
normal people in small groups."
President Bush excited, says Colson
It was the first time that friends and Christian leaders from
the USA and abroad joined members of the Saddleback Church in such
numbers. Visitors included Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, who
brought greetings from his nation, and Gaddi Vasquez, Director of
the Peace Corps, who read a message from President Bush. Chuck
Colson, one of the Guests of Honour, commented "I knew President
Nixon very well, who would have been excited by the idea of the
PEACE Plan. I also know President Bush well enough to know that
this is exactly the sort of thing he loves: people who stand up and
do what needs to be done without waiting forever for the Government
to address it..."
Facing the giant
Warren presented his PEACE Plan in detail. At the heart is a
progressive vision for mobilising American Christians to help
churches in Third World nations address the enormous problems
against which even governments or the United Nations are helpless.
Through a reformation of the entire missionary Christianity, the
Christian church will be the only force capable of coordinating and
driving the effort to meet the five greatest challenges facing the
world: spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership, poverty, sickness
and ignorance.
The five stones
Based on the story of David and Goliath, Warren explained that
in his vision, hundreds of thousands of small groups will "attack
these Goliaths with five stones, like David, who gathered five
stones as he approached Goliath". These five stones are Planting
churches, Equipping leaders, Assisting the poor, Caring for the
sick, and Educating the next generation.
Millions of changed lives
Wooding reports that Warren, founder of the Purpose Driven
movement, has already changed the lives of millions of people in
150 nations, through tens of thousands of Christian churches. In
1980, seven people met in Rick and Kay Warren's apartment. In the
25 years since then, the church has grown to around 20,000 members.
Over 350,000 pastors and leaders from 120 nations have attended
Purpose Driven seminars, and over 20,000 churches in 28 nations
have held the '40 Days of Purpose' course.
Bestseller results in three missionary Trusts
The book "The Purpose Driven Life", published in 2002, sold 22
million copies - a world record for a non-fiction hardcover
book. Warren and his wife have since founded three Trusts which
channel 90% of the income from the books to world mission,
including AIDS help in developing nations.
4,000 new believers over Easter 2005
A particular highlight of the celebrations on 17th
April were the baptisms in a large heated pool in front of the
stadium. Warren had preached his basic "Purpose Driven Life"
message in 12 Easter services attended by over 30,000 people, 4,000
of whom decided to follow Jesus, according to the report.
Source: Dan Wooding, Assist Ministries and www.saddleback.com
