This week’s issue of Advance, our twice-monthly, free e-newsletter, features an interview with Jeff Sheler, author of Prophet of Purpose. Here’s an excerpt:
How does Rick allocate his time between church responsibilities and other initiatives?
Rick has felt called from the very beginning of his ministry to be the pastor of one church for his entire life and he has never lost that vision. He's stuck to it very carefully. He still sees himself primarily as the pastor of Saddleback Church. That remains his number one priority. But over the years, he and his staff have learned to have less of Rick Warren. When The Purpose Driven Life took off, and certainly after starting the P.E.A.C.E. plan, Rick found himself being pulled in directions that he had never been pulled before, in terms of demands on his time and his energies. Initially that did cause some problems for him and his staff. After a while, they got together and sat down and really hashed it out. His staff told him, "Rick, you've got to let go of some of this."What would the pastor of a church of 100, of 1,000, and of 10,000 learn most from Rick Warren?
Warren has been in all of those positions. Right out of seminary he captured a vision of building a church for the unchurched: people who hate going to church. So he did research in order to learn about his target audience: their needs, their motives, the reasons why they stayed away from church. His first service had about 120 people, but each step of the way he continued to learn, he continued to do research, continued to try new methods. He was willing to let go of ideas that didn't work, and willing to try something new. He was eager to learn from others. He didn't have a lot of pride in 'this is my idea and we're sticking with it." He was willing to use other people's creativity and to recognize his own strengths and weaknesses. That's a useful attitude for a pastor of a small church or a large church.
Other headlines from this issue of Advance:
- SAGE: Wisdom from Those Who’ve “Been there, done that.”
- More Americans Choose Internet over TV
- US Teens Prefer Texting over Talking
- OneHundredX Adds New Board Member
To read more, check out the full version of our newsletter online.
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Stephanie Plagens is the Publications Manager for Leadership Network.
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