Ask anyone in the publishing world what's hot right now, and
they'll say “religion.” In fact, 2003 saw religious
book publishing escalate so rapidly that it trumped the growth
of the book industry as a whole by thirty percent. Spearheading
some of this remarkable growth is a jovial, youthful-looking
pastor from Orange County, California, by the name of Rick
Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. Lauded as a
“groundbreaking manifesto on the meaning of life,”
Warren's book has swept the nation with its spiritual
fervor.
Split into forty small chapters, The Purpose-Driven
Life is “more than a book,” Warren declares.
“It is a guide to a 40-day spiritual journey that
will enable you to discover the answer to life's most important
question: What on earth am I here for?” Readers sign a
covenant to commit to reading the book every day, and they are
encouraged to share the experience in a study group, or at least
with one other person. Indeed, Warren places tremendous
importance on human fellowship. “In real
fellowship,” he writes, “people experience
authenticity. . . . It is genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes
gut-level, sharing.”
Some critics of The Purpose-Driven Life claim that
it is teaching Christianity “lite” or view it as
self-help literature thinly veiled in theology. But even a
casual perusal of the book shows that Warren's intention is to
give his readers a dose of hard-core spiritual passion for a
life fully committed to God. “It's not about you,”
the first line reads. “The purpose of your life is far
greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind,
or even your happiness. . . . If you want to know why you were
placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born
by his purpose and for his purpose.”
There is a good deal of traditional Christian proselytizing
in later chapters. “Your mission,” Warren writes,
“is the continuation of Jesus' mission on earth.”
Or, as he puts it later, “Now that you understand the
purpose of life, it is your responsibility to carry the message
to others.” But The Purpose-Driven Life
represents a radical break from what Lynn Garrett, religion
editor at Publishers Weekly, calls “the old
'Health and Wealth Gospel.'” As she explains,
“According to this view, if you're faithful and you pray
and you're one of God's people, he will bless you financially
and in every other way. That is not Rick Warren's message. His
message is that happiness does not come from
self-centeredness.”
Indeed, Warren's creed of self-sacrifice for the sake of God
and charity to others is uncompromising: “The heart of
worship is surrender. . . . God wants your life—all of it.
Ninety-five percent is not enough. . . . God is a lover and a
liberator, and surrendering to him brings freedom, not
bondage.” Later he writes, “One thing worship costs
us is our self-centeredness. You cannot exalt God and yourself
at the same time.”
In the United States, where material gain and individual
self-improvement are the fuel most people run on, it seems that
The Purpose-Driven Life should have been a flop.
Instead, its definition of human purpose as “the wonderful
privilege” of being a servant to God is captivating
millions. But according to Garrett, this isn't all that
surprising. “People are at a point now where they're
hungry for the kind of guidance this book offers. People want a
way to transcend their old lifestyles in order to achieve a
lifestyle that is truly altruistic.” It's hard not to say
“Amen” to that.
THE SPECIAL CAMO EDITION
In the past two years, 250,000 copies of The
Purpose-Driven Life have been sent into the deserts of Iraq
and the foxholes of Afghanistan, as well as to military
installations around the world from South Korea to Germany.
Specially designed to fit into army fatigue pockets, this
military edition also has a camouflage cover. “We see
these eighteen- or twenty-four-year-olds out there, and they
have so many questions on their minds,” Mark McDonald,
president of the Purpose-Driven Life organization, told
WIE. “These guys are watching their buddies get
killed. But there are Biblical answers to issues of war in times
of war, and we want to answer some of their questions: 'If I'm
facing death or I'm around friends who are facing death, what
does that mean? Who am I? What does it mean to die?'”
Reportedly, many soldiers do the “40 Days of
Purpose” studies with a spouse or a parent back home,
communicating their insights from reading the book via email and
telephone.
PURPOSEFUL FACTS
- Number of churches that participated in a live
simulcast of the book's launch in 2002: 1,500
- Number of copies sold since then: 20,000,000
- Number of copies donated to the Pentagon in September
2003: 40,000
- Number of languages in which The Purpose-Driven
Life is licensed for publishing: 58
- Weeks spent on the New York Times bestseller
list: over 100
- Number of churches that have done “40 Days of
Purpose” study groups: 20,000
- Number of denominations represented by those churches:
80
- Attendance at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Orange
County, CA, each weekend: 20,000
- Total number of individuals on Saddleback Church's rolls:
80,000
- Government institutions that have conducted “40 Days
of Purpose” study groups: U.S. Congress, U.S. Military
Academy at West Point, and the U.S. Naval Academy
- Sports leagues that have held “40 Days of
Purpose” study groups: National Football League (Oakland
Raiders, New England Patriots), Major League Baseball (Boston
Red Sox, Kansas City Royals), NASCAR, and the Professional
Golfers' Association
- Number of automobile salesmen in North Dakota who give away a copy of the book with every car they sell: 1