Rick Warren is an American Evangelical minister and author of religious books. He was born in San Jose in California to Jimmy Warren and Dot Warren. His father was also a minister and his mother a librarian. He went to Ukiah High School from where he graduated in 1972. It was then when he founded a Christian club at his school called ‘The Fishers of Men Club’. Warren is highly educated in religion having received a Bachelor of Art degree from the California Baptist University, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1979 and then a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Warren got married to Elizabeth K. Warren in 1979 and has three children and four grandchildren. Warren became a practicing minister when he was just nineteen years old. Warren started writing during the time he was working for the Texas Ranch for Christ. He started co writing books with Billi Hanks Junior and Wayne Watts. The books were called ‘The Victory Scripture Memory Series’ and ‘Twelve Dynamic Bible Study Methods for Laity’.
A big achievement of Warren as a minister and a man of religion includes the founding of the Saddleback Church which has twenty thousand members attending in four different campuses. It is the eighth largest church in America. However it didn’t form a permanent building until it had ten thousand members.
Warren’s most prominent works as an author is a devotional book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’. It has sold nearly 30 thousand copies since it was first published in 2002 making a best seller book of all times and making Warren a New York Times bestselling author. This book is being used to teach pastors world over and to provide help to Christian leaders in guiding them how to lead their churches. According to a survey Christian leaders from over 160 countries have benefited from this book.
Warren also speaks at various national and international forums and seminars. He was titled as ‘America’s Top 25 Leaders’ by U.S News and World Report in their October 2005 issue. In 2006 he was also called as one of the ‘15 People Who Make America Great’ by the magazine ‘Newsweek’. He is also known as one of the ‘15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most’ in 2004 and one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ in 2005 by the ‘Times’ magazine. He has also hosted the Civil Forum on the Presidency featuring the candidates of the elections John Mc Cain and Barrack Obama, who answered his questions on faith and religion. This was shown live on National television.
Some of Warren’s other books are ‘The Purpose Driven Church’, ‘Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions’, ‘The Power to Change your Life’, ‘What on Earth am I Here For?’, ‘The Purpose of Christmas’ and ‘ Personal Bible Study Methods’.
Warren continues to write today and along with writing he focuses on his P E A C E plan and other constitutional issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Warren along with his wife are directors of various nonprofit organizations.