Things Rick Warren Said...

I really am having a lot of fun on vacation in NY! Despite how much fun I'm having, I found myself spending yesterday's "wake-up-time," (where I either play a video game or turn on the TV), watching the ever-exciting C-SPAN. I have no idea why the TV got stuck on C-SPAN, because I don't think I have ever watched more than 2 minutes of it at one time, ever.

I haven't read Purpose Driven Life, and I'm kind of neutral about Obama's selection of Rick Warren to pray at the Inauguration. I am, however, a bigger Warren fan after I watched this 30ish minute speech that he gave to the Muslim Public Affairs Committee on December 20th. I know it's a long video, but I think if you give it the time, you will be challenged, encouraged, and maybe learn a little bit more about who might be one of the Christian leaders that could step up and lead the Church for the next 15 to 20 years. 



Here's what I thought of the speech:

1) I think it is really cool that Warren got invited to a Muslim event. I think it is cooler that he got a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

2) I really liked how Warren did not back down from his Christian beliefs. I do think he tamed it a little bit, but he was not ashamed to talk about Jesus and the Bible. I am sure that whoever hired Warren to speak at this event told him they wanted an "inter-faith dialogue." What I learned from this speech is that it is important to be yourself. If people already know what you believe, then you should not be ashamed. If people don't know what you believe, you probably should start telling people.

3) I thought it was really cool to hear how Rick tithes 90%+ of his income. He and his wife had tithed an additional 1% a year every year since they got married before they hit it rich with the Purpose Driven Life book(s). I thought he talked about this fact in a very humble way, especially in light of him talking about how a leader needs to have real, not false, humility. This approach definitely challenged me.

4) I really liked when Warren said, "You know what I discovered? When you meet people, you like 'em. It's easy to hate somebody you've never met. It's almost impossible not to like 'em." He said this right after talking about Melissa Etheridge (the famous rocker, who is an outspoken lesbian). Do you think it is a fair statement to say that when you meet people you like them?

What do you all think of this speech? If you don't want to take the time to watch the speech, what do you think of Rick Warren? Do you think he "toes the line" too often or do you think he does a good job of representing what Biblical Christians in the public sphere should be like? Based on this speech alone (since I don't know much else about the guy), I found that I kinda like him.

Happy New Year!