When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage Saturday at the sprawling religious campus of Orange County’s Saddleback Church, their presence will vividly underline the reach that has made Pastor Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation.
But the joint appearance — one of Warren’s highest-profile endeavors — will also underscore a tension that is central to his role.
Warren has been called perhaps “America’s most influential pastor,” an evangelical megastar who leads the nation’s fourth-largest church, reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS.
That globe-trotting work — and his phenomenally successful book, “The Purpose Driven Life” — have propelled him into the vanguard of a movement that inspires young and socially conscious Christians.
Read it all.
Visits by McCain, Obama to Orange County church underscore Pastor Rick Warren's prominence
When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage Saturday at the sprawling religious campus of Orange County’s Saddleback Church, their presence will vividly underline the reach that has made Pastor Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation.
But the joint appearance — one of Warren’s highest-profile endeavors — will also underscore a tension that is central to his role.
Warren has been called perhaps “America’s most influential pastor,” an evangelical megastar who leads the nation’s fourth-largest church, reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS.
That globe-trotting work — and his phenomenally successful book, “The Purpose Driven Life” — have propelled him into the vanguard of a movement that inspires young and socially conscious Christians.
Read it all.