Thursday, October 2, 2008

PALM SPRINGS - III

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, spoke at the Tuesday afternoon session of the A/G TRUST SUMMIT here in Palm Springs. God has done amazing things thru Rick. Six years ago, he wrote the book that has sold more copies in history than any book other than the Bible – “FORTY DAYS OF PURPOSE.” The book has also been translated into more languages than any book EVER, except for the Bible … well over 100 languages.

Since the writing of it, Rick has declined a salary from his church and has paid Saddleback Church back every cent they have given him over the 29 years he has pastored there. He and his wife, Kay, now live on 10% of their income and give 90% away. Now THAT is huge integrity.

DOWNLOADS from Rick’s time with us Tuesday afternoon …

* One of the ways you define maturity is by the ability to reproduce – when you start having BABIES (this relates to the mature church birthing other churches).

* There are 18,000 communities in the United States without an evangelical church presence.

* FIVE PHASES OF RENEWAL are:
1 – PERSONAL – getting right with God. When that happens, ministry stops being a duty and becomes a delight.

2 – RELATIONAL – getting right with others. When this happens, gossip goes down, harmony goes up … conflict goes down, unity goes up … confusion goes down, joy goes up.
Two important things happen when you have relational renewal … people sing better (worship) ----- and ------ people hang around after service is over (fellowship). That’s how you know it’s CHURCH and not a PERFORMANCE. People hang out.

3 – MISSIONAL – church ON PURPOSE … settling the question, “WHY ARE WE HERE AS A CHURCH?”

4 – STRUCTURAL – (this is where many churches miss it) --- you can’t put NEW wine in OLD wineskins. As an organization grows, the structure of it must change. The skills needed to pastor 300 people are totally different than those needed to pastor 2,000. It is an entirely different ‘animal.’ It is also the difference between being a ‘shepherd’ and a ‘leader/executive.’

5 – CULTURAL – this is where the church begins to change the climate of a community.

Some good stuff there. The final installment of the Palm Springs trip will be shared tomorrow.

And be blessed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I have seen him on interviews, he seems like such a humble and down-to-earth person. And, like you said, he is filled with integrity. It sounds like you all were very blessed to hear him. I wish I could have heard him. Just out of curiosity I went to his website. He has some interesting ideas on there. Here it is if anyone wants to check it out.

http://www.rickwarren.com/

I hope your trip was good. I imagine being around many others that you have much respect for was wonderful and enlightening.

I used to live not far from Palm Springs in La Quinta. I know the area well...or at least I did. Did you get to do anything while you were there? They have fabulous restaurants in those parts and it is just very beautiful. This time of year it is gorgeous.

PK's BLOG said...

GORGEOUS!? Well == it was nice -- but it was 105 degrees every single day -- even though it was late September. The natives said it was unseasonably warm - but o my goodness - at 8:30 in the morning it was already 90 degrees while I was there.

Anonymous said...

Lol...I love palm trees and the main drag where all of the trees and restaurants are is gorgeous. It is a little ways from downtown Palm Springs. Lol...105 is way too hot, but it's DRY heat, they always say. Whatever... it is like being in an oven. Then, you come home and practically need a winter coat. Ya gotta love it!