In 1979, Rick Warren, recently graduated in theology, settled with his wife Kay in the Saddleback Valley area of Orange County, California.[1] He began to probe the people in his neighborhood to find out what prevented them from coming to church.[2] The answers that emerged were boredom, distance from everyday life, lack of welcome for visitors, insistence on money and inadequate programs for children. It is with these concerns that the church began in 1980, with a Bible study group, with six people, the pastor Rick Warren and his wife, in their condo.[3] The first worship service took place in the "Little Theatre" of Laguna Hills High School on Palm Sunday,in 1980.[4] In 1995, it dedicated a new building in Lake Forest including a 3,500-seat auditorium. [5]
In November and December 2006, Saddleback Church played host to the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. The summit featured 60 speakers, including Senators Barack Obama and Sam Brownback.[8]
In 2018, the church said it had baptized 50,000 people since its founding.[9]
The driveway to Saddleback Church of Rancho Capistrano campus in San Juan Capistrano.
On August 16, 2008, Rick Warren arranged a meeting between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama at Saddleback called the Civil Forum on the Presidency.[10] The format of the forum was structured such that Warren first asked Obama a series of questions; he then asked McCain very similar ones subsequently. It was broadcast live on national news networks and streamed online. Tickets were distributed to the public through a raffle with seats listing as high as $1,000 and the event was sold out.[11]
In 2021, the church was audited for compliance by the Southern Baptist Convention, after ordaining three women pastors that year and thus acting contrary to the Convention's confession of faith (Baptist Faith and Message) which believes that the pastoral ministry is reserved for men.[13] As of February 21, 2023, the church was removed from the SBC membership list due to the hiring of a female pastor in 2022, Stacie Wood, the wife of new senior pastor Andy Wood.[14][15][16] On May 16, the Southern Baptist Convention announced that Saddleback was seeking an appeal to be reinstated in fellowship. In June 2023, when it requested a review of the decision, church representatives present at the annual convention voted 88% to uphold this decision. [17] The church wanted to maintain its affiliation with the California Southern Baptist Convention, [18] but in October 2023, it decided to leave the state convention as well, in a desire to avoid divisions.[19]
According to a church census released in 2023, it claimed a weekly attendance of 30,000 people and 15 campuses in different cities. [20]
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. In 1845 the Southern Baptists separated from the Triennial Convention in order to support slavery, which the southern churches regarded as "an institution of heaven". During the 19th and most of the 20th century, it played a central role in Southern racial attitudes, supporting racial segregation and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy while opposing interracial marriage. In 1995, the organization apologized for its history. Since the 1940s, it has spread across the United States, having member churches across the country and 41 affiliated state conventions.
Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he is director of the Finishing the Task mission coalition.
The Purpose Driven Life is a bible study book written by Christian pastor Rick Warren and published by Zondervan in 2002. The book offers readers a 40-day personal spiritual journey and presents what Warren says are God's five purposes for human life on Earth.
Life.Church is an evangelical Christian multi-site megachurch based in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States of America. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. Weekly church attendance was 85,000 people in 2018. The church is known for its YouVersion ministry, which publishes the Bible App.
Richard D. Land was the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, a post he held from July 2013 until his retirement in 2021.
The P E A C E Plan is a humanitarian development program for churches and an evangelical Christian mission from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest in California in the United States.
Wallie Amos Criswell, was an American pastor, author, and a two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1970. As senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas for five decades he became widely known for expository biblical preaching at a popular level, and is regarded as a key figure in the late 1970s "Conservative Resurgence" within the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission is a 1995 book by Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, United States.
Thomas Kennedy Ascol is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, and president of Founders Ministries. He is currently the senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida, where he has served for 37 years as of June 2023.
The Civil Forum on the Presidency was the venue of back-to-back interviews of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama by pastor Rick Warren on August 16, 2008, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
Elevation Church is an Evangelical non-denominational multi-site megachurch based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Weekly church attendance was 14,000 people in 2023. Elevation has 20 locations. Its senior pastors are Steven Furtick and Holly Furtick.
Wiley S. Drake is a California-based minister and radio host. He was the vice-presidential candidate for the American Independent Party ticket in California in 2008. Drake has drawn controversy for his use of imprecatory prayer. He is the pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park in Buena Park, California.
Mathew D. "Mat" Staver is an American lawyer and former pastor of several Seventh-day Adventist churches who became a Southern Baptist. He is a former dean of Liberty University's law school. In 1989, he founded the nonprofit organization Liberty Counsel, where he serves as chairman. ProPublica called him "a leading Christian legal theorist."
Nelson Searcy is an American evangelical minister and author. He is the founder and lead pastor of The Journey Church, an evangelical Christian church in New York City and Boca Raton, Florida. Founded in 2002, The Journey Church has grown to include multiple campuses across metro New York City and a campus in Boca Raton, Florida. The church continues to grow and innovate and serve the people of metro New York City and beyond. The Journey has been featured in articles in Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. In addition, he is an author of many Christian books on church leadership and numerous resources for pastors and other church leaders. He is also the founder of Church Leader Insights, an organization that provides training and resources for pastors.
First Baptist Dallas is a Baptist megachurch located in Dallas, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1868. The church is considered influential in Dallas and among evangelical Christians in the United States, because of its community involvement through 21 missions.
James David "J.D." Greear is an American Baptist pastor. He is the pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina. Greear has authored several books, including 12 Truths & a Lie (2023), Essential Christianity (2023), Just Ask (2021), What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? (2020), Above All (2019), Not God Enough (2018), Gaining by Losing (2015), Gospel (2011), Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart (2013), Jesus, Continued… (2014), and others. He also hosts Summit Life, a 30-minute daily radio broadcast and weekly TV program. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A, serves as a Council member for The Gospel Coalition, and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2018 to 2021.
Robert James Jeffress Jr. is an American Southern Baptist pastor, author, radio host, and televangelist. He is the senior pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church, a megachurch in Dallas, Texas, and is a Fox News Contributor. His sermons are broadcast on the television and radio program Pathway to Victory, which is broadcast on more than 1,200 television stations in the United States and 28 other countries, and is heard on 900 stations and broadcast live in 195 countries.
Kay Warren is an American author, international speaker, Bible teacher and mental health advocate. She is the co-founder of the sixth-largest evangelical megachurch in the United States, Saddleback Church. Her ministry is headquartered in Lake Forest, California.
Harry Edward (Ed) Litton Jr. is an American evangelical pastor who was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected in June 2021. He also serves as the senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama.
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