1/3/2010 8:07:02 PM
Lake Forest – Evangelical pastor Rick Warren’s plea for donations to fill a $900 000 deficit at his Southern California megachurch brought in $2.4m, Warren announced to cheers during a sermon at the church on Saturday.
Warren said the amount raised after the appeal was posted online on Wednesday included only money parishioners brought in person to Saddleback Church by New Year’s Eve. More was arriving by hand and by mail, he said.
“This is pretty amazing,” said Warren, who made the announcement by bringing out 24 volunteers each holding a sign for $100 000.
“I don’t think any church has gotten a cash offering like that off a letter.”
The pastor said he planned to talk about what he called his church’s “radical generosity” in the rest of the weekend’s sermons. He said the total came from members, and the donations were all under $100.
“We’re starting the new decade with a surplus,” he said.
“It came from thousands of ordinary people. This was not one big fat cat.”
*Dramatic rise in expenses*
The posting on Warren’s website read: “With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated.”
Warren said the church had largely managed to stay within its budget during the year, but “the bottom dropped out” when Christmas donations were down.
The letter cited the church’s accomplishments in 2009 and detailed how the donations would be used, including the church’s food pantry, homeless ministry, counselling and support groups.
Warren made similar pleas after Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Asian tsunami, raising $1.7m and $1.6m from Saddleback parishioners.
Warren is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling “The Purpose Driven Life”.
He was named the top newsmaker of the year for 2009 by the Religion Newswriters Association, gaining attention with his invocation at the inauguration of President Barack Obama and comments in the aftermath of California’s Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage.
He founded Saddleback Church in 1980 in Lake Forest, about 105km southeast of Los Angeles.
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Source:Â http://m.24.com/content/FullArticle.aspx?aid=32443046-7b11-46cb-840f-2dfd45f68862&cat=World&sh=WorldÂ
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[DTW: you would think that Rick Warren in good conscience would give back $1.5m considering that his church did not need that much, they only needed $900,000.]
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hector
Because he is a Christian? Actually you are right he doesn’t have to give it back because he is not a christian so he does not have to be honest, or decent, or caring, he can just pocket it and not think twice.
[Edited: 27 Jan 2010: By pocketing the money I do not mean Rick Warren has stolen the money and stuck it in his own pocket, I meant 'pocketed it for his ministry'.]
why should he give it back. I dont see a problem. He asked, people gave. Pure democracy to me. maybe u should ask to, and probably get 2 million
well u know what. You are right. sometimes or many times we forget who we really are. thats a shame. So many scammers in the name of Christ.
I just wonder if there are any discerning Christians in Rick Warrens church, to see where all the money has gone. Pobably not. Deborah thanks for this post.
No thank you Elmarie for letting me know about it ;)
Yolandi
You are spot on re the Mark Driscoll and Rick Warren co-op. Mark Driscoll is always alsked to reconsider his position and association with certain people and beliefs.
And regarding John Piper -I have been watching this one for a while. I mentioned a while ago on this blog that I think he has lost the plot. Since then I have found some interesting stuff he has written that leaves one wondering how much of his feet are dangling in RCC ‘holy’ waters.
Can you post the link to the face book discussion?
Yolandi
Now that is interesting.
Another thing that is interesting is, do you realise why students who study theology end up clueless and their parents financially broke to pay for the classes? Because in the time it took you to write those notes and for Driscoll to come up with ‘inspiration’ you could have just quoted 3 verses from the bible where God is the FATHER.
God is NOT male and female.
Hello everyone I havent been able to send alot of msgs because Ive been so busy but I did part take in a facebook discussion..Debs I still need to reply to you :) But Id like everyone to please go on facebook and look for Pastor Mark Driscol’s page and look for an update on him congratulating Rick Warren.. I stirred up a big debate by asking him why he would support a man that quotes 4 known new age mystics and fully endorses them in his book the purpose driven life. Many people attacked me others urged Driscol to rethink his association with Warren … In my opinion where there is smoke there is fire..and somewhere somehow driscol is taking Piper and other leaders down with him.
I befriended Driscol a while back or well I use to have a teacher / student relationship with him .He helped me with a series of notes I was doing on the sex of God i.e is God male or female for a theology class. I found his help inspiring but a short while after that he became arrogant and I just got this feeling something in his theology had suddenly changed…He didnt reply to his so called fans on facebook and esp those asking pressing questions about salvation… http://www.facebook.com/pastormark?v=feed&story_fbid=231166389670
Deborah
Do you know that Rick Warren is on the religious advisory board of The Tony Blair faith foundation???
found on this link:
http://www.tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/pages/who-we-are
I have 3 words for this one “One world religion”
Blessings
Elmarie
Elmarie
Oh really…
Wonder why Rick didn’t just ask Tony for the money he needed for his church. They do after all pretty much own the world.
Elmarie, I think you will do well at my new “News Desk” set up with “Bobs Your-Anchor” :)
Yes I had the same thoughts, or maybe Tony was in need if some money. he he lol.
I love your idea of “Bobs your anchor”
Blessings
Rick warren worries me this guy is head of the council of forgein relations …Hes a pastor and he heads up a big illuminati type group.. I worry when I see him infiltrating Piper’s teaching…Pastor Roger Oakland sent a news letter a year ago showing his pdl book in comparison to an occult book written a few years before and it read the same on almost every page. Now that worries me even more…
Yolandi
Just explain that again…. you said:
Who’s book was being compared to who’s book?
Chris Rosebrough is very uncomfortable with this. He has posted another think along episode and he is asking for feedback. I think he is doing important work here:
Seeker-Driven Think Along Program
Thats the thing Ive been looking for it in my email for days now and I cant find it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But its been bugging me in the back of my head.. I need to scan Oaklands website and look for it but I remember reading it with my mother at the time and we were alarmed by his new age teachings my mother went as far as burning the book along with my Harry Potter collection.
Yolandi
You mean Rick Warrens book was New Age? I know Roger Oakland’s facts presented his book “Faith Undone” is brilliant – his book exposes New Age teaching not promotes it.
Here is a link about what Prof Johan Malan has to say about Mr Rick Warren http://www.bibleguidance.co.za/Engarticles/RickWarren.htm
Blessings
lol just found this one as well.
http://www.bibleguidance.co.za/Engarticles/Rick.htm
Rick Warren Tells Passive, Fake Christians to Find Another Church
By Lillian Kwon|Christian Post Reporter
Church|Mon, May. 24 2010 08:14 PM EDT
Pastor Rick Warren has a message for the some 20,000 people who attend Saddleback Church: If you want to remain a passive Christian, find another church.
During his weekend sermon, Warren laid out a plan for Saddleback’s next “Decade of Destiny” in which he’s anticipating exponential growth. And the plan has no room for fake Christians, he indicated.
“Let me just be honest with you as somebody who loves you. If you passively just want to sit around in the next 10 years and just waste your life on things that won’t last, you probably want to find another church because you’re not going to really feel comfortable here. Because if you’re in this church, I’m coming after you to be mobilized,” said the renowned southern California pastor.
Saddleback celebrated its 30th anniversary last month and in preparation for the megachurch’s next decade, Warren took the congregation back to the first church in the New Testament for a look at what “real Christianity” is all about.
“There are a lot of things done in the name of Christianity in the church that Jesus Christ would disavow,” he lamented. “There’s fake Christianity, there’s phony Christianity, there’s pseudo-Christianity.
“I want us to look at the real deal. What does it mean to really be a follower of Jesus Christ?”
Preaching on Pentecost Sunday – the anniversary or birthday of the first church – Warren said that just as a child is born with its entire DNA, all the DNA was in the body of Christ when it was birthed more than 2,000 years ago.
Unfortunately, the churches and Christians he sees today in the 21st century are a far cry from how they were in the first century, he noted.
Aligning Saddleback with the DNA of the original church – which grew from 120 believers to dominating the Roman Empire within 300 years – Warren directed the congregation to adopt and strengthen eight characteristics of real Christianity as found in the book of Acts.
They include: supernatural power through prayer, using everybody’s language and every communication channel for mission, mobilizing everybody from kids to seniors, life-changing truth, loving support or fellowship, joyful worship, generous sacrifices and exponential growth.
“Real Christianity uses everyone’s gifts,” said Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, as he rejected passive and consumer Christians.
“Everybody’s a minister,” he stressed. In the original church, there were no audiences. Rather, everyone was a contributor and participator which led to the tremendous growth of Christianity.
Over the next 10 years, the megachurch will be launching Saddleback worship services in every city in Orange County and in other cities across the country and the world. The Lake Forest, Calif., church also plans to become the first church in history to send someone to every nation in the world to share the Good News.
“We’re going to sing until the whole world knows” is the theme song for the next decade, Warren said.
“If we went back to New Testament real Christianity, not the fake stuff … do you think we could reach more people for Jesus?” he posed.
“Without a doubt. We’d reach more people in the next 10 years than the 30 years combined.”
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100524/rick-warren-tells-passive-fake-christians-to-find-another-church/index.html
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