Rick Warren and the Purpose That Drives Him: An Insider Looks at the Phenomenal Bestseller

by Richard Abanes

Millions of Christians and non–Christians have purchased The Purpose–Driven Life, inspired or intrigued by Rick Warren’s teachings and his way of “doing church.” Now, bestselling author Richard Abanes—a former staff member at Warren’s church—takes a balanced, positive look at the controversy over the “purpose–driven” concepts, offering Christians will find help understanding the issues. The general reader will come away informed about—even inspired by—the story of a man and what his God is doing through him.

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

Richard Abanes is an American playwright, composer, lyricist, author, singer, and actor. He has had a life of diverse accomplishments in each of these fields.

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing and a little disturbing. I have more issues with Warren *after* reading this book than I did before. In the end, there is a reason this book was written. The author thinks that the reason is that Rick Warren has been unfairly criticized (and this may frequently be true). Alternatively, perhaps the greater reason is because Warren has meddled with things that should have been left alone (thus provoking well-deserved reproach). I was surprised that this book, intended to persuade me of the former, led me to think more and more that it was actually the latter.

Some odds and ends:
- This is a work of hagiography. The portrait of Warren here is nearly Messianic; it's definitely Apostolic!
- Nobody gets it right without Warren: "[Warren's purposes] are already present in most, if not all, churches. But they are not present in a balanced way."
- The writing is occasionally terrible: "The doctorate Warren earned by the end of 1979 at Southwestern would officially mark his attainment to an extremely important foundation of biblical knowledge, one especially critical to his capacity as the founder of a new church."
- I'm just going to leave this here: "He is now known as a modern Martin Luther, whose ideas have spawned a new reformation."

It is unfortunate that this book was written.

[Edit:] Just to be clear, the bulk of my complaint here is against the present author. While I certainly have differences with Rick Warren, and while this book may have inadvertently added to them, the real frustration is definitely with Abanes.

[Alexander Furusa dube · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing for sure, if we are outside of Christ, we have very little purpose. That is one thing that I got reminded on a lot from this book. I have a real responsibility to share the gospel and to live out a life that points others to Christ. I was created for service.