I have read and heard about Rick Warren as much as most of you have. I have read the Purpose Drive Life, The Purpose Driven Church, done The 40 Days of Purpose, see Celebrate Recovery, I have Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods and we use the 101-401 material. I am familiar with Rick Warren, and I had my opinions about him. I read all about the PEACE plan, I even met his Director for International Initiatives in Seminary. He was working to eradicate malaria in Rwanda. How’d you like to have that on your resume.
In all this, I heard the critics and I agreed with some of what they said. I’m not going to go into all the stuff, you have heard most of it, and you have no doubt formed your own opinion of the man.
My opinion changed when I heard him speak. When I heard him talk about where his heart is, what he has been doing. My opinion really changed when I talked with him. I changed even more when I saw him in a restaurant in the airport later that day. I won’t tell you the whole conversation, but it has made me a fan of Rick Warren.
Pastor Warren invests in people. He invested in church planters both here and overseas. He invests in young guys and in leaders. This really struck me as he took time to listen to me, and when I saw him unexpectedly again, he remembered me and where I was from. He took time to talk, to listen and to care.
You can discuss his programs and you can argue about reports of what he has been up too, what you think about his theology and the like. I just know that after meeting the man, the short time I spent in conversation and hearing him share his heart, I have changed my view. I was impressed with Pastor Rick Warren, and while Iwas once suspicious and concerned with what I have been hearing, that has been put to rest.