LAKE FOREST, Calif., Feb. 12, 2020 – Saddleback Church, which was founded by Pastor Rick and Kay Warren, kicked off its 40th birthday celebration on Feb. 9 with the biggest party in the history of the church.
The celebration was the first in a series of events planned throughout 2020 to honor the people that has made Saddleback Church great and to launch an all-new campaign and vision for the next decade of the church’s ministry called “Time To Dream,” which will expand the incredible work of the church even further.
“Saddleback Church is looking to inspire the next generation, a new wave of people willing to make an impact around the world,” said Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life.” “This weekend was only the beginning of celebrating together the extraordinary work God has done through ordinary people for the last 40 years.”
Saddleback Church was founded in 1980 with just six people in the living room of the Warrens’ small apartment. Today, the church has 40,000 members attending 20 different campuses on four different continents around the world.
Locally, Saddleback Church has fed 332,550 people through its various food pantries and served people in pain with over 500 care and support ministries and group stretching from grief care to mental health. In 2019, the church celebrated 50,000 people baptized and the sacrificial giving of more than $1 billion to kingdom causes.
Saddleback Church’s impact also goes beyond Southern California. The Church has sent over 26,000 members on P.E.A.C.E. trips to all 197 countries in the world to Promote reconciliation, Equip servant leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the next generation. Its Celebrate Recovery program, the world’s first Bible-based, 12-step recovery program, has helped 5 million people throughout 35,000 churches and prisons around the world. Saddleback has also become a world authority in Mental Health, HIV/AIDS, and hosted several Civil Forums with world leaders including U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
“I promised God I’d give 40 years to building His Church in Southern California,” Rick Warren said. “I have kept that vow, and God has honored it beyond my wildest imagination. Now it is ‘Time to Dream’ again!”
For more information, visit saddleback.com.
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