Purpose-Driven Strife

Conflict over the application of Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven" principles is one of the topics of tonight's ABC News program Nightline. Read more and view an excerpt of Warren's interview with Martin Bashir here. (HT: Chris Rosebrough)

No More Mr. Nice Guy? The Jolly Blogger on Rick Warren

Actually, though he called the post, So Much for Being Nice About Rick Warren, David Wayne is very charitable in what I think is a valid criticism of Warren's approach to helping revitalize Jewish worship:

Like Paul, we can and should love our Jewish neighbors, serve our Jewish neighbors and there is even a place for becoming like our Jewish neighbors in some way. But when we become like them, we must become like them to win them. In this case, Warren is becoming a Jew to the Jews with no obvious intention of winning them.

A Model of Faith

That's what this USA Today op-ed piece calls Rick Warren for his efforts against poverty and AIDS and his being "a uniter not a divider." I found the following noteworthy:

Warren is no liberal. He backed President Bush in the 2004 election and opposes abortion and stem cell research.

But in a refreshing change from today's unhealthy norm, Warren is spending his time and clout not on the divisive issues that have come to define the Christian right--abortion, stem cell research, a supposedly anti-God judiciary and so on--but on a campaign that can bring people together and save many lives in the process.

I find it interesting that Mr. Krattenmaker on one hand lauds Warren's application of Jesus' teaching when it comes to fighting poverty yet portrays those who expend time and energy opposing abortion and embryonic stem cell research in a negative light. Both Warren and the pro-life activist are motivated by the desire to protect and secure the welfare of human beings. Are only those acts of love that are inoffensive to the masses praiseworthy? If so, Jesus is not our example.

"It's Not About Brew!"

Rick Warren has a new publisher - Starbucks! From USA Today:

Coffee drinkers could get a spiritual jolt with their java in the spring when Starbucks begins putting a God-filled quote from the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the mega-selling The Purpose-Driven Life, on its cups.

It will be the first mention of God in the company's provocative quote campaign, The Way I See It. In 2005, Starbucks is printing 63 quotes from writers, scientists, musicians, athletes, politicians and cultural critics on cups for company-run and licensed locations to carry on the coffeehouse tradition of conversation and debate. Warren says the idea of a grande pitch for God as creator came to him after seeing a Starbucks quote on evolution from paleontologist Louise Leakey. Because Starbucks solicited customer contributions for 2006, Warren sent his in. On Tuesday, Starbucks spokeswoman Sanja Gould confirmed that it would be used. The cups carry a disclaimer that the opinions "do not necessarily reflect the views of Starbucks."

Here's the quote:

You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. Focusing on yourself will never reveal your real purpose. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny.

[HT: The Revealer]

Challies Reviews New Book on Rick Warren

Rich Abanes' book, Rick Warren and the Purpose That Drives Him will soon be available. Tim Challies received a pre-release copy and reviews it here.

Purposeful Marketing

I just finished reading Tim Challies' well-researched description of the marketing strategy behind Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life and urge you to make time to do so yourself.
Tim calls the marketing technique (known as "pyromarketing") "brilliant" because it takes advantage of the following factors in the church:

1. Naivete. This approach dupes Christians into becoming marketers, not for a book, but for a marketing approach, and ultimately for a profit-driven corporation. This marketing approach is supposed to work as easily with any product as with what is a supposedly-biblical book. There is nothing inherently Christian about the approach and it has no biblical basis.
2. Ignorance. This approach also benefited from the ignorance of evangelical Christians, that they were not able to see beyond the marketing and see a book that was, in many places, clearly unbiblical and which said little that had not already been said before, either by Christian or secular writers. Were
Christians properly-educated in the Scriptures, this approach would fall flat.
3. Pragmatism. This approach is, at its heart, pragmatic. This is the charge that has long been levelled at the Church Growth Movement, that success becomes the ultimate arbiter of truth rather than the Word of God. In a sense all marketing is pragmatic, especially when it is designed to sell a product.

This is not a caustic, "sour grapes" piece. It's a detailed look at the intersection of commercialism and Christian publishing including quotes from the head of the marketing team working with Zondervan. Regardless of where you fall on the continuum of reactions to Rick Warren, I hope you'll read it.

Forthcoming Book Promises Balanced Analysis of Purpose-Driven Phenomenon

Here's an excerpt from a press release I received yesterday:

Harvest House Publishers has reached an agreement with bestselling author Richard Abanes (The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code, April 2004) to publish a new book about Rick Warren, his Purpose Driven® message, and the ongoing controversies surrounding his multi-million copy bestseller, The Purpose Driven® Life.

Abanes’ new book, Rick Warren and the Purpose That Drives Him: An Insider Looks at the Phenomenal Bestseller (July 2005, ISBN 0-7369-1738-1) offers a fair and balanced look at the various criticisms that have been made against Warren’s Purpose Driven® concepts, examining closely what he really believes about God, faith, evangelism, and “doing church.”

Harvest House Publishers recognized the validity of publishing such a work after learning that Warren’s book, despite its popularity, is now drawing increasingly vocal criticism from some influential Christian leaders who are concerned with what they perceive to be Warren’s attempt to: “water-down” the message of the gospel, ignore important doctrines of traditional Christianity, and rely too heavily on “seeker-sensitive” models for church growth. Are such criticisms fair?

Noted author and researcher Richard Abanes—a former staff member at Warren’s Saddleback church and a well-respected authority on cults and new religions—is in a unique position to answer this question. “I’ve heard Rick preach for ten years and I’ve seen first-hand how his church is run,” Abanes states. “Criticism is a good thing and can be beneficial—if it is accurate. So I just want to help everyone get their facts straight.”

In Rick Warren and the Purpose That Drives Him, Abanes offers a concise history of Warren’s work and an inside view of the man behind the Purpose Driven® message. He then provides a balanced treatment of the most common criticisms and concerns leveled against Warren’s book and ministry, enabling readers to discover the facts that clarify the misconceptions. Also included is an exclusive interview with Rick Warren, who sat down with Abanes to talk about the phenomenon of The Purpose Driven® Life and to answer the questions that so many are asking.

I Want My MTD!

I just got around to reading an article that appeared in Easter Sunday's New York Times Magazine called "The Soul of the New Exurb." What are exurbs? Once small counties experiencing rapid growth "into dense communities of subdivisions filled with middle-class families likely to move again and again, settling in yet another exurb but putting down no real roots." The piece highlights Surprise, AZ and the megachurch of 5,000 that has grown in its midst. If the writer's description is accurate, it takes no stretch of the imagination to see why the authors mentioned in my previous post on "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" believe that the unorthodox theological beliefs of American teens don't differ all that much from those held by adults. Describing Lee McFarland, the church's senior pastor, Jonathan Mahler writes:

McFarland works under the assumption that people don't want to be intimidated by their pastors, that modernity has punctured the myth of the morally superior religious leader. He is replacing the sinner-be-damned fundamentalism that once characterized much of evangelical Christianity with forgiveness. McFarland never talks about transforming your life though struggle, surrender or sacrifice; he talks about being happier by accepting Jesus -- into your office, your kitchen, your backyard, your marital bed, everywhere. "People aren't looking for the elevated holy man who's got all of the answers," he told me one afternoon. "They want someone to be real with them."

There are more false dichotomies in that one paragraph than I know what to do with. Fortunately, we don't have to choose between taking a morally superior stance and telling a fellow sinner that he, just like us, is guilty of sin and in need of receiving God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is exactly because I am under God's condemnation that the message of forgiveness is such good news. The pronouncement of forgiveness through faith in Jesus is not meant to replace the declaration that sinners will be damned but rather, presupposes it. Have we so imbibed the cultural concept of tolerance that we now think it self-righteous to preach the gospel?

The article notes that the church was built on Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven Church" techniques. This included polling residents to find out what kind of music they listened to and why they believed people didn't go to church. The answers to these questions were then used to structure the services. Fuller Theological Seminary professor Eddie Gibbs, author of Church Next, warns: "The danger though, is that you end up with a Gospel that endeavors to meet your needs without challenging your priorities." He notes in his book that "Worship is designed not to make people feel good about themselves . . . but to make them holy" and offers the following caution concerning limiting worship music to sentimental praise songs: "Intimate worship that degenerates into a casual overfamiliarity is both presumptuous and embarrassing to those who see God from a transcendental perspective."