DALLAS (ABP) — Rick Warren, heralded as “America's new people's pastor,” will speak Oct. 29 at the Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting. David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance, will also speak at the meeting in Amarillo, Texas.
Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, will speak about his PEACE plan, an effort for churches to lead the way in eliminating social ills like illiteracy, poverty and AIDS. His sermon will be the centerpiece of the meeting, themed “Missions — Together We Can Do More.”
Charles Wade, executive director of the BGCT, said Warren's plan is “very similar to the concerns of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its cooperating churches” for needy people in the world.
“Rick has caught the attention of people around the world with his vision of what local churches can do to make a genuine difference in solving the giant problems facing humanity,” Wade said.
Warren has been called one of the most influential pastors in America by The Economist. Time magazine called him “America's new people's pastor” and named him among the top 25 most influential evangelicals in America.
The Purpose-Driven Life has sold more than 20 million copies. Warren started Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., with one family in 1980. It now serves 22,000 people each week.
Coffey was elected in 2005 to lead the Baptist World Alliance, composed of more than 200 national and regional conventions worldwide. He is the former general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
More than 5,600 congregations including 2.3 million people are affiliated with the Texas convention, making it the largest Baptist state convention in the country.
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