Admiration

As I write from vacation, I had the opportunity to attend Rick Warren's church - Saddleback - yesterday. It is not only a beautiful campus, but Rick is a model of what true devotion looks like. My friends I'm visiting, Nancy and Bill Wilder, have been members there for many years and she gave me some insights about Rick and ministry.

I have great admiration not only for the scope of what they do, but for the quality of what they put out there.

Here are a few of my observations:

• God-sized vision! Rick's vision, like my own pastor Keven Myers, was big from early on. God gives us a role in a big vision! I know my own is much bigger than anything I could ever achieve without God's help and blessing. I asked Nancy, as a longtime church member, if this expansive campus was built all at once, or came together slowly over time. What surprised me is that Rick painted a vision of this campus, its scope of ministry, and how it would function many years ago, in a small bible study that met in someone's home back in 1980. It became a reality just as he envisioned.

• Perseverance Pays Off! Before this expansive, gorgeous campus was built, the church was turned down 133 times for property! Rick never got discouraged or frustrated, he kept knocking on doors until one opened. When the campus it was built, it was literally in the middle of the desert. Since then, a whole town has sprung up around it. The land was purchased in 1983 for $1.2 million donated by a handful of inaugural members. Over $47 million was donated in the 1990s to build the existing 10 southern California campuses.

• Character Rules The Day. Rick's book, The Purpose Driven Life, changed HIS life dramatically. Within months of its publication, Rick shared that he made tens of millions of dollars. The first thing he did was paid back every bit of salary the church ever paid him. Then he began tithing.....90%! He lives in a modest home and drives a 14 year old car, because his focus is reaching the world for Christ. That's where he chooses to put his resources. (Rick trivia - he began as a worship pastor, and it's beautiful to see him worship on stage with his team!)

• Meet People Where They Are! I was shocked at the scope of the ministry in terms of bringing the message to people no matter how open (or not!) they are to Christ. They have a huge outdoor pavilion are with seating and pipe the message in on movie screens because some people won't even come into a church! The stories of God touching those people on the lawn seating are truly miraculous. There are huge outdoor "TENTS" which are more like giant pre-fab conference centers with all kinds of themes - Spanish speaking, Gospel music, rock music lovers, the list goes on. They are numbered, with their "theme" posted right under the number, and spread strategically all over the campus.

I learned some interesting things about Saddleback ministry:

1.There are 27,000 weekly worshippers at 10 campuses.

2.Over 7,500 small groups meet weekly.

3.They have baptized 46,000+ to date.

4.The vision is global - they are raising $71 million to make a massive
overseas push in the coming years. (The campaign is called Daring
Faith.)

5.Each ministry is represented in a kiosk area outside, so you can
visit after a service to get more information. I visited the "First Time
Visitor" kiosk when I was there.

6.They have 38 different kinds of support groups to offer comfort,
encouragement, hope and strength to help people navigate through
challenging circumstances. Some of those that caught my eye are
Active Duty Families, Families with Incarcerated Loved Ones,
Separated Women & Men, and Depression support.

There are a bunch of pictures of the campus, Nancy and I, and some cool parts of the ministry on my Facebook page, I invite you to check it out.

More to come from Cali, tomorrow I meet my brother for the first time. You KNOW there will be a story there!

Until we meet again, Praise Crazy!