Faith


Rick Warren: You Were Created to Dream


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Despite debilitating pain, ‘America’s Pastor’ releases first book in a decade. BY TROY ANDERSON


astor rick warren, author of the bestseller The Purpose Driven Life that sold more than 35 million copies and


is famous for its opening line “It’s not about you,” has a dream to evangelize the world. Warren, 69, retired from Saddle-


back Church in Lake Forest, Califor- nia, last year amid a battle with a rare autoimmune disorder that leaves him in nearly constant debilitating pain. Yet he is leading a coalition of thou-


sands of churches and organizations worldwide to fi nish the Great Com- mission: Christ’s last instruction to his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Warren, known as “America’s Pas-


tor,” is calling on faith leaders and believers worldwide to partner togeth- er to reach this goal by 2033. “Today, I can step out


and take on the biggest goal that you can think of — the evangelization of the whole world, because for 50 years I’ve been taking smaller steps,” Warren recently told Ed Stetzer, host of The Stetzer Church- Leaders Podcast. “If in 1980 I had said,


‘I’m going to go take on completing the Great Com- mission,’ why in the world would I even think that I had any background to do that?” Now, despite a condi-


tion that makes it hard to walk and even move his


58 NEWSMAX | JULY 2023


hands and fi ngers at times, War- ren’s fi rst book in a decade has just been released — Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith (Zondervan Books). “God has al-


PREPARING FOR FUTURE The Bible is full of stories of people whose God-inspired dreams became reality, says Rick Warren about his new book, Created to Dream.


ready prepared his dream for your life,” War-


ren, who was once named one of Time magazine’s 100 most infl uential people in


the world, said in a sermon shortly be- fore his retirement in which he turned over the reins of his Southern Califor- nia megachurch to incoming Senior Pastor Andy Wood. In his new book, Warren notes the


Bible is full of stories of people whose God-inspired dreams became reality, including Noah’s dream of saving the world from the fl ood; Abraham’s dream of being the father of a great nation; David’s dream of building the temple; and Paul’s dream of going to Rome. Warren writes that every dream


takes a predictable path to deliver- ance, allowing people to grow their faith and prepare for their future. The process involves six phases:


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