The Purpose Driven Life reached #1 on the New York Times Hardcover Advice list, #1 on the Publishers Weekly Religion Hardcover Bestsellers list, #1 on The Wall Street Journal Hardcover Nonfiction list, #1 on the Christian Booksellers Association Bestsellers list, #5 on Amazon.com,and #6 on the USA TODAY top-50 best-selling list. It was named Book of the Year by the Christian Booksellers Association.

More than 10,000 churches representing 80 denominations and a dozen countries have participated in 40 Days of Purpose, a six-week spiritual journey developed by Warren that takes an entire congregation through The Purpose Driven Life and focuses on the question: What on earth am I here for?

Rick is also the author of The Purpose Driven Church, which has sold over one million copies in 21 languages. Winner of the Gold Medallion Ministry Book of the Year in 1996, it is used as a textbook in many universities and seminaries and was selected as one of the 100 Christian Books that changed the twentieth century.

Rick and his wife, Kay, began Saddleback Church in their home in January 1980. The church now averages 18,000 in attendance each weekend and lists 70,000 names on the church roll. At Saddleback, Rick created and pioneered the Purpose Driven Church paradigm of church health, which teaches that the purpose of the church is to help people fulfill God’s purposes for their lives. More than 300,000 pastors and church leaders from over 120 countries have attended Purpose Driven Church seminars, and tens of thousands of churches have adopted the PDC strategy. Peter Drucker, the dean of American management, calls Rick “the inventor of perpetual revival” and Saddleback’s mega-church model “the most significant sociological phenomenon of the second half of [the 20th] century.”

Rick is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community that serves and mentors those in ministry. Currently 110,000 pastors subscribe to Rick’s Ministry Toolbox, a weekly email newsletter, and Pastors.com attracts between 60,000 to 100,000 pastors daily with news, chat forums, sermons, and other resources.

Rick was born in San Jose, California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist College, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Other honors include the Biblical Preaching Award and two honorary doctorates. His other books include The Power to Change Your Life, Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions, Planned for God’s Pleasure, and Personal Bible Study Methods. Rick
and Kay live in Trabuco Canyon, California. They have three children and a dog.