Subscribe to feedJohn Piper has invited Rick Warren to speak at the 2010 Desiring God National Conference. Like many, I am a bit concerned by this. I am not overly fond of Rick Warren. But here’s the thing – I trust John Piper. His preaching is solid, his mastery of Scripture is solid, his devotional life seems solid, his walk seems solid, etc. He is not a perfect man. He makes mistakes. Inviting Rick Warren could prove to be one of those mistakes. But I trust John Piper and if Piper decides to invite Warren, I may not like it, but I will trust Piper’s choice and will be interested to hear what Warren says.
Update:
Here is Piper explaining why he invited Warren. I may be re-evaluating my view of Warren.
Hi Chris. Can you help me understand why you think Rick Warren speaking at DG may be a mistake?
My own exposure to Warren leaves me feeling that this is a man without depth. He always comes across as somewhat superficial or acting without thinking things through as he ought. His teachings come across as far too pragmatic, emphasizing how we get results without saying enough about how we grow in Christ or focus on Christ to lift up Christ.
That is my impression of him. I’m not dogmatic one way or another about Warren, largely because I have not taken the time to learn more about his teaching. I’ve seen things his church has done, I’ve read some things by him, and I’ve dug through the occasional interview but I’ve never tried to really examine the breadth of his teaching. The snippets I see bother me, and he has bothered me more and more over the years, so from that I am concerned whenever Warren is raised as someone to view as a strong teacher of Scripture or as a faithful example to learn from.
I suspect my opinion of him will not be changed when I’ve listened to his sermon from the Desiring God conference, but at the least I’m willing to take a closer look at Warren since Piper seems to appreciate him.
Hi Chris,
My first thought when I heard that Warren would be at DG was, “Well, forget going there.” But I like your perspective. Thanks.
Thanks for your honesty. Maybe the exposure you have had to Warren has left that impression because of the context in which it was found…maybe not. It would appear we all have something to learn from another in the body of Christ. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” I’ve yet to find a minister who has perfected their kingly, priestly, prophetic ministries. One is typically done well while the others suffer, and so it is with teaching. I rarely find a deeply theological and still pragmatic teaching. We are of the same body and need to practice discernment but humility and be receptive to what the Lord would have us learn without setting up psychological (spiritual!) barriers. Thank you for your thoughts Chris.
After watching Piper’s comments on Warren, I’m amazed at Warren’s views on some things and will have to do a serious re-evaluation.
John Piper explains himself very well during this interview on inviting Rick Warren to DG2010. I will make one very simple observation, this should be a tremendously interesting conference!