Challies, Piper, and Warren

I don’t usually link to, or re-post other’s blog articles. However, upon first hearing about Piper’s invitation to Rick Warren for this year’s Desiring God Conference, I have had a deep uneasiness. However, I’ve been reluctant to express my easiness because I do see a very hardcore element emerging in the Young Reformed movement that seems to me to be rather isolationist, exclusive, and arrogant. I think that the movement is good, and the vast majority of those in it are solid and Godly people, but when John Piper indicated that his reason for inviting Warren to this year’s conference was because of his fear regarding this trend within the Young Reformed and Restless movement- I just couldn’t bring myself to agree that this was a suitable reason for inviting a man like Warren to a conference like Desiring God. I found myself sharply disagreeing with John Piper. However, it is his conference, and he can do whatever he wants.

My tiny hometown of Dripping Springs, Texas experienced the tragedy of watching First Baptist Church burn to the ground, and at the end of the day it was determined that one of the members of the church had deliberately set fire to the church, and burned it to the ground. The building was set on fire on September 5, 2007 -but the congregation had been heating up for several years before the flames broke out. What had happened was that a group of men sought to take what was a Godly church and shove it in the direction of the Purpose Driven/Seeker Sensitive model. The end of this situation was a congregation destroyed and a building left in ashes.

I have had a lot of time to reflect deeply on what I’ve seen from Rick Warren’s ministry, and I think most of the Purpose Driven model is hateful both to God and man. With this personal conviction, I agree with Tim Challies assessment of the situation and gladly link to his thoughts here.