35 Facts About Rick Warren

Richard Duane Warren was born on January 28,1954 and is an American evangelical Christian pastor and author.

Rick Warren is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California.

Rick Warren was born in San Jose, California, the son of Jimmy and Dot Rick Warren.

Rick Warren's father was a Baptist minister; his mother a high-school librarian.

Rick Warren was raised in Ukiah, California, and graduated from Ukiah High School in 1972, where he founded the first Christian club on the school's campus.

Rick Warren studied at California Baptist University in Riverside, California and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Rick Warren then studied at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas and earned a Master of Divinity in 1979.

Rick Warren studied at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and earned a Doctor of Ministry.

Rick Warren says he was called to full-time ministry when he was a 19-year-old student at California Baptist University.

Rick Warren co-wrote two books, The Victory Scripture Memory Series and Twelve Dynamic Bible Study Methods for Laity, with Hanks and Wayne Watts.

In January 1980, Rick Warren began a Bible study group with seven people and his wife at their Saddleback Valley condo in Orange County, California.

Rick Warren has been invited to speak at national and international forums, including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard Kennedy School, TED, and Time's Global Health Summit.

Rick Warren has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2005.

In December 2008, President-elect Obama chose Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration ceremony.

Obama defended his choice of Rick Warren, saying that although he disagreed with the minister's positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, there should be room for dialogue on such difficult social issues.

Rick Warren delivered the invocation at Obama's inauguration the next day, which was generally praised for its positive message.

In 2010, Rick Warren was chosen to lead a prayer at the inauguration ceremony of the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.

In June 2021, Rick Warren announced he would be retiring from the senior pastor position at Saddleback, but that he would stay on until his successor is appointed.

In May 2023, Rick Warren was installed as the first honorary chancellor of Spurgeon's College.

Rick Warren taught the material that would one day become the Purpose Driven philosophy of ministry to individual pastors who called or wrote him in Saddleback's early days.

Rick Warren gained experience teaching the material through his participation in the Institute for Evangelism and Church Growth, affiliated with Fuller Theological Seminary.

In 1995 Zondervan published Rick Warren's best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Church, which distilled many of the lessons he had learned while starting Saddleback Church and honed during years of training other pastors.

Rick Warren encouraged churches to reach their community, bring in a crowd, turn attendees into members, develop those members to maturity, turn them into ministers, and send them out on a mission.

In 2004, Rick Warren was named one of the "leaders who mattered most in 2004" by Time.

In 2006, Rick Warren was named by Newsweek one of "15 People Who Make America Great".

Rick Warren has been married to Kay Rick Warren since June 21,1975.

Rick Warren considers Billy Graham, Peter Drucker, and his own father to be among his mentors.

Rick Warren says that, after the event, more than 10,000 people wrote to him about their own struggles within the church.

In March 2014, Rick Warren launched a ministry to educate Saddleback on its role to help people struggling with mental illness at The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church.

Rick Warren said, when questioned on whether religion is beneficial to society, that brutal dictators such as Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot were all atheists.

Two weeks before the 2008 US general election, Rick Warren issued a statement to his congregation endorsing California Proposition 8, which would amend the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, a position consistent with the official position of his church's denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Rick Warren later released a video message explaining that he does not equate gay relationships with incest or pedophilia, but that he opposes the redefinition of marriage.

Rick Warren publicly denounced President Obama's record on religious freedom, saying that Obama was "absolutely unfriendly" to religion.

In December 2008, when Rick Warren was announced to lead a prayer at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January, media outlets criticized the choice, accusing Rick Warren of hate speech because he had written in a letter to his church in October that he believed the biblical definition of marriage between one man and one woman should not be changed.

President Obama defended Rick Warren, recalling that he had been invited to speak at Saddleback, despite his differing views on gay people, and that it was this kind of peaceful dialogue that he wanted to implement in inviting Rick Warren.