Rick Warren

Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author.[1][2][3] He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Forest, California.

Warren was born in San Jose, California, the son of Jimmy and Dot Warren.[4] His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a high-school librarian. He was raised in Ukiah, California, and graduated from Ukiah High School in 1972, where he founded the first Christian club on the school’s campus.[5]

Warren received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University in Riverside, California; a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1979) in Fort Worth, Texas; and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.[6]

Warren says he was called to full-time ministry when he was a 19-year-old student at California Baptist University. In November 1973, he and a friend skipped classes and drove 350 miles to hear W. A. Criswell preach at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco.[7] Warren waited afterwards to shake hands with Criswell, who focused on Warren, stating, “I feel led to lay hands on you and pray for you!”[7]

During his time at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Warren worked at the Texas Ranch for Christ, a ministry facility of Billie Hanks Jr., where he began writing books. He co-wrote two books, The Victory Scripture Memory Series and Twelve Dynamic Bible Study Methods for Laity, with Hanks and Wayne Watts.[8]

In January 1980, he began a Bible study group, with seven people and his wife, at their Saddleback Valley condo, in Orange County, California.[9] In April 1980, Warren held Saddleback Church’s first public service on Easter Sunday at the Laguna Hills High School Theater with 200 people in attendance.[10][11] Warren’s church growth methods led to rapid expansion, with the church using nearly 80 different facilities in its 35-year history. The church now averages nearly 20,000 people in attendance each week.[12]

Warren has been invited to speak at national and international forums, including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, TED, and Time’s Global Health Summit. He has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) since 2005.[13]

In August 2008, Warren drew greater national attention by hosting the Civil Forum on the Presidency, featuring senators John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback Church.[14][15] The forum marked McCain and Obama’s first joint appearance as the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees and was broadcast live on national television.

In December 2008, President-elect Obama chose Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration ceremony. The decision angered pro-choice and LGBT advocates and led to criticism of both Obama and Warren.[16] Obama defended his choice of Warren, saying that although he disagreed with the minister’s positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, there should be room for dialogue on such difficult social issues.[17] More controversy ensued when it was announced that Warren would be the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service on January 19, 2009, the day prior to the inauguration.[18] On January 20, 2009, Warren delivered the invocation, which was generally praised for its positive message.[19]

In January 2009, Warren and the Reader’s Digest Association partnered in the launch of the Purpose Driven Connection, a quarterly publication sold as part of a bundle of multimedia products.[20] In November 2009, the partners announced that the magazine had not drawn enough paying members and would cease after publication of the fourth issue that month.[21]