Saddleback Church

Infobox church
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caption = Worship Center
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denomination = Southern Baptist Convention, Evangelical Christian
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founded_date = 1980
founder = Dr. Rick Warren
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seniorpastor = Dr. Rick Warren
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address = 1 Saddleback Parkway, Lake Forest, CA 92630
country = United States
phone = 949.609.8000
website = [http://www.saddleback.com/ saddleback.com]

Saddleback Church is an Evangelical Christian megachurch located in Lake Forest, California, situated in southern Orange County, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The church was founded in 1980 by pastor Rick Warren. Weekly church attendance exceeds 23,000, making it the largest church in California and the 4th largest church in the United States.cite web | title = 100 Largest U.S. churches | work = | publisher = Outreach Magazine | date= | url = http://outreachmagazine.com/docs/top100_2007_largest.pdf | format = PDF
accessdate =2007-12-18]

History

According to Rick Warren, his call to full-time ministry came as a 19-year-old student at California Baptist University when, in November 1973, Warren and a friend skipped out on classes and drove 350 miles to hear pastor Dr. W.A. Criswell preach at the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco.cite web
title = Interview with a Missions Leader
work =
publisher = Woman's Missionary Union Website
date=
url = http://www.wmu.com/rickwarren/
format = HTML
accessdate =2007-12-18] Rick Warren stood in line to shake hands with Dr. Criswell afterwards.

Saddleback's first public service was held on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980, with two hundred people in attendance at the Laguna Hills High School Theater. Warren's innovative church growth methods led to rapid growth and the church has used nearly eighty different facilities in its 28-year history.

Saddleback famously did not build its first permanent building until it had 10,000 weekly attenders. When the current Lake Forest campus was purchased in the early 1990's, a 2,300 seat plastic tent was used for worship services for several years, with four services each weekend. In 1995, the current Worship Center was completed with a seating capacity of 3,500. The multi-million dollar Children's Ministry Center (housing the "All Stars" children's ministry) and staff office building were completed over the next few years. In June 2008, a $20 million, state-of-the-art student ministry facility called the "Refinery", was completed. The "Refinery" houses the middle school ("Wildside") and high school ("HSM") ministries, consisting of nearly 1,500 students. [ [http://saddleback.com/flash/story.asp Saddleback Church ] ]

"The Purpose Driven Church" (PDC) curriculumcite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = What is PurposeDriven? | work = | publisher =Purpose Driven | date = | url = http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/International/South+Asia/AboutUs/WhatIsPD/PD_Process.htm | format =
doi = | accessdate = 2007-09-01 ] and "

Global Summit on AIDS and the Church

In November and December 2006, Saddleback Church played host to the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church. The summit featured 60 speakers, including Senators Barack Obama and Sam Brownback. The appearance of Obama at the church was controversial because of his pro-choice stance, while Rick Warren and most Evangelicals are pro-life. The controversy was reignited when Hillary Clinton spoke at the 2007 summit. [cite web|last=Ross|first=Larry|title=Press Release: Statement by Saddleback Valley Community Church Regarding Senator Barack Obama as One of Nearly 60 Featured Speakers at the Second Annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church|publisher=ChristianNewsWire|url=http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/864651610.html|accessdate=2007-09-01]

Civil Forum on the Presidency

On August 16, 2008, Rick Warren arranged a meeting between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama at Saddleback called the Civil Forum on The Presidency. The format of the forum was structured such that Warren first asked Sen. Obama a series of questions; he then asked Sen. McCain very similar ones subsequently. Held inside Saddleback's Worship Center, the event is notable as the first time the two Presidential candidates met during the campaign. It was broadcast live on national news networks and streamed online. Tickets were distributed to church members through a raffle with seats listing as high as $1,000 and the event was sold out. [cite news |last=Barboza |first=Tony |title=John McCain, Barack Obama will appear together at Orange County church |date= July 21, 2008 |publisher=The Los Angeles Times|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-saddleback22-2008jul22,0,4225424.story?track=rss |accessdate=2008-07-23 ] [http://saddlebackcivilforum.com/index.html]

See also

* Rick Warren
* Doug Fields
* P.E.A.C.E. Plan
* Purpose Driven
* Megachurch

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.saddleback.com/ www.saddleback.com] - Official web site
* [http://www.rickwarren.com/ www.rickwarren.com] - Rick Warren's official web site
* [http://www.purposedriven.com/ Purpose Driven Church]
* [http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/ Purpose Driven Life]
* [http://www.relevantmagazine.com/politics/ View] all two-hours of the Civil Forum on the Presidency in only 5 parts at RELEVANTmagazine.com
* [http://www.rickwarrennews.com/transcript/ Civil Forum transcript] from "RickWarrenNews.com"