Book Review: Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him by Richard Abanes

September 5, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton

This review was dug up from the lost files of the A-Team Blog. Through all the chaos of the interview, it never got posted…

As my recent interview with Richard Abanes has made clear,
there is a lot of controversy surrounding Rick Warren and the Purpose-Driven
Life ministries. Richard Abanes takes aim at the critics in his new book Rick
Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him.

He begins with an introduction to some of the positive
impact PDL has had, including helping a woman effectively handle being
held hostage in her own home. Then Richard Abanes transcribes his interview
with Rick Warren. Warren was asked about that start of his ministry,
his P.E.A.C.E. plan, postmodernism, and orthodoxy. While maintaining the
personal aspect of their friendship throughout the interview, Richard managed to
ask Warren some of the tough questions that have been asked by critics.

The rest of the book is broken up into six chapters. The
first two chapters offer the biographical background of Rick Warren and the
beginnings of his ministry. I have not read George Mair’s “unauthorized”
biography of Warren, and though Richard doesn’t state so, I suspect these
chapters are meant to correct the false information in Mair’s book. Chapter
Three positively presents Rick Warren’s views on theology and church ministry,
based largely on the huge database of Warren’s sermons made available to
Richard for his research.

Chapters four through six deal more directly with the
specific criticisms against Warren. Richard goes point by point through
arguments using sound reasoning and Warren’s own material to dissolve the
problems.

For the most part, Richard’s research on what he deals with
is thorough and well done. With the exception of at least one critic (Greg Koukl), I
think he handled the critics fairly. In most cases, I think he effectively
answered the criticisms that he attempts to deal with. That being said; there
are some criticisms that Richard didn’t deal with- specifically in the areas of
Scripture and of the 40 Days of Purpose church program. The book leaves the
impression that there are no outstanding criticisms left to deal with, when in
fact there are and they’ve been completely ignored.

Being a member at Saddleback, Richard Abanes provides a very
personal and stimulating look into the life and ministry of Rick Warren. It is
a quick, yet substantive read. Through studying this issue and reading
Richard’s book, I feel as though I’ve met Warren and had some (but certainly not all) of
my concerns about PDL dealt with. My hope is that those who’ve hurled
accusations against Rick Warren (often in an un-Christ-like manner) will read
and take seriously the work that Richard’s done. I hope as well that Warren
will correct some of the mistakes he’s made in his use of Scripture and
presentation of the Gospel.