It has been my privilege to be the pastor (and founder) of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., for the past 47 years. I was 22-years old and a recent graduate of Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., when I led our very first TRBC church service here in my home town on June 21, 1956. It has been a glorious journey!
Rick Warren’s first Purpose-Driven Church Conference on the East Coast
Thomas Road Baptist Church is about to launch another historic mission. I am not speaking of our relocation to Liberty Mountain at the former Ericsson property site. While that will indeed be a huge and real mission for us, I am now speaking of Saddleback Community Church Pastor Rick Warren’s first-ever-on-the-East-Coast Purpose-Driven Church Conference that will comprise the entire program of our 2003 Super Conference, Oct. 5-8, in the Vines Center on the campus of Liberty University .
I am praying that God will use this conference to set fires of revival burning across America. We are expecting thousands of pastors and local church workers to register for this conference. Another 7,000 or more churches (including TRBC and Liberty University) will join this Purpose-Driven Church Conference by satellite television and launch a “40 Days Of Purpose” campaign, hopefully involving hundreds of thousands of believers.
Who is Rick Warren?
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. He and his wife, Kay, began the church in their home in January 1980, with one family.
Now, with 16,000 in attendance each weekend, and over 50,000 names on the church roll, Saddleback is one of America’s largest and best-known churches. It’s been named the fastest-growing Baptist church in history, and the largest church in the Southern Baptist Convention.
In the past seven years, more than 9,200 new believers have been baptized at Saddleback. The church has also started 34 daughter churches, and sent over 4,000 of its members on mission projects around the world.
Rick Warren is well-known as the pioneer of the Purpose-Driven paradigm for church health. More than 250,000 pastors and church leaders from over 125 countries have attended Purpose-Driven Church seminars in 18 languages. Peter Drucker calls Rick “the inventor of perpetual revival.”
Rick’s new book, “The Purpose-Driven Life” has sold over 3 million copies. This will be our textbook for our “40 Days Of Purpose” for TRBC and Liberty University.
Rick’s previous book, “The Purpose-Driven Church,” has sold more than 1 million copies in 20 languages. Winner of the Gold Medallion Ministry Book of the Year, it is used as a textbook in most seminaries, and was selected as one of the 100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century.
Rick is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community that serves and mentors those in ministry worldwide. More than 70,000 pastors subscribe to Rick’s Ministry Toolbox, a free, weekly e-mail newsletter.
Spend four magnificent days with us
I believe these four days, Oct. 5-8, will alter the courses of many ministries nationwide. You may read the entire schedule and agenda for Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Church Conference, and, with credit card in hand, register to join us at our 2003 Super Conference website.
Tuition is reduced in half
Purpose-Driven Church Conferences at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. usually require a $300 tuition charge. We are grateful to Dr. Warren for reducing tuition charge for this first East Coast conference ever to $150.
We have been ‘outside the box’ before
Partnering with Dr. Warren in this Purpose-Driven Conference is TRBC’s newest step “outside the box.” However, in our 47-year church history, we have stepped outside the box at least four other times.
(1) TRBC launched our media ministry in 1956, only weeks after the church was founded. The Old-Time Gospel Hour TV and radio ministry now covers much of the world. We also own and operate two local 24 /7 Christian radio stations and one national Christian 24 /7 television network, The Liberty Channel.
(2) TRBC launched our “Outreach to the Fallen” ministries in 1959 when we opened the doors of the Elim Home For Alcoholics and Drug-Addicts. Later, we established our national Liberty Godparent Home ministry to unwed pregnant girls and the Family Life Services Adoption Agency. Other similar need-based ministries have followed.
(3) TRBC launched our Christian education ministry in 1967 when our Lynchburg Christian Academy – pre-school through grade 12 – was founded. Our original vision called for a fully-accredited Christian school system which would allow a 3-year-old child to enroll, progress on through elementary, middle and high school and then proceed through an academically excellent Christian liberal arts university, earning bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. They could do this without ever sitting in a classroom where an instructor or professor was not a committed Christian who believed the Bible to be the Word of God. With Liberty University just concluding 32 years of ministry with 14,000 students from 50 states and 80 nations, the original vision is long since a reality.
(4) TRBC launched our “Salt Ministry” in 1979 with the formation of the Moral Majority. As a result of this “outside the box” endeavor, millions of people of faith now are actively involved in the political arena.
Please help me do it again
I am asking you to prayerfully consider attending this historic Purpose-Driven Conference. Together, we can make a difference in America and worldwide for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. Please visit the Super Conference website and learn all about this exciting new “outside the box” adventure.
