Roaring River

Who is Rick Warren?

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. He and his wife, Kay, began the church in their home in January 1980, with one family.

Now, with 22,000 in attendance each weekend, and over 80,000 names on the church roll, Saddleback is one of America's largest and best-known churches.

In the past seven years, more than 9,200 new believers have been baptized at Saddleback. The church has also started 34 daughter churches, and sent over 4,000 of its members on mission projects around the world.

Rick Warren is well-known as the pioneer of the Purpose-Driven paradigm for church health. More than 400,000 pastors and church leaders from over 125 countries have attended Purpose-Driven Church seminars in 18 languages. Peter Drucker calls Rick "the inventor of perpetual revival."

Rick's previous book, The Purpose-Driven Life, was a New York Times best-seller and sold over one million copies in 20 languages. The sequel is 40 Days of Community.

Winner of the Gold Medallion Ministry Book of the Year, it is used as a textbook in most seminaries, and was selected as one of the 100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century.

In addition, Rick is the author of The Power to Change Your Life, Answers to Life's Difficult Questions, and Personal Bible Study Methods.

Rick is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community that serves and mentors those in ministry worldwide. Over 180,000 pastors subscribe to Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox, a free, weekly email newsletter.

Rick was born in San Jose, California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist College, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Other honors include the Biblical Preaching Award, several honorary doctorates, and Metro Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people in Orange County, California.

Rick and his wife, Kay, live in Trabuco Canyon, California. They have three children, and a dog.

The Purpose Driven Life

The Purpose Driven Life is a blueprint for Christians living in the 21st century—a lifestyle based on God’s eternal purposes, not cultural values. Using over 1,200 scriptural quotes and references, it challenges the conventional definitions of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism. In the tradition of Oswald Chambers, Rick Warren offers distilled wisdom on the essence of what life is about.

Colossians 1:16 “For everything – absolutely everything – above and below, visible and invisible everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.” Written in a captivating devotional style, The Purpose-Driven Life features 40 short, life-changing chapters that reveal God's purpose for your life. Make the rest of your life the best of your life and start right now.