This week I have been attending the "2008 Purpose Driven Community Gathering" at Saddleback Church. In case you recently arrived on the planet, that's the California megachurch where Rick Warren is the founding pastor. You know I subscribe to Proverbs 18:13, so I'll reserve my conference relections for AFTER it's over. For now, what about the Nazareth effect? (Can anything good come from Saddleback?)
The reactions to the "Purpose Driven" model have been all over the map. I'm not getting it - I probably don't agree with Warren about some things he says, thinks, or does. (Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but I am sure I could come up with something if I did some nit-picking.) There is an incredible amount of what he teaches that has been instructive and convicting. I appreciate his labor of capturing biblical truth in simple, memorable language. Listening to him has encouraged me to be faithful and purposeful in the ministry God has entrusted to me. If "you will know them by their fruits," his cherry orchard looks pretty good.
Doesn't the criticism mask a conceit: "Unless Rick Warren thinks, does, and says exactly what I think do, and say, he is unworthy to be your teacher." Isn't this just another way of saying, "Bring in the clones - I alone can teach you, except when you find an exact duplicate of me." Serious measures are called for by factionalism and heresy. I am not hearing that here at Saddleback. So, I am taking my cue from the Bereans, searching the Sciptures and gobbling up all the truth I can find. It's kind of like eating bing cherries off the tree - You savor the fruit and spit out the pits. Sweet!
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