Why I Wrote Prophet of Purpose...

As an award-winning journalist who has covered the American religion scene for more than 16 years, I had met and written about Warren on numerous occasions. In the process, I had come to know him as a person of character and a uniquely talented leader. Through these encounters I also managed to earn his respect and trust, and that of his professional staff. Consequently, I was able to obtain something that no other writer has until now: Warren’s personal promise to cooperate as I undertook the research for this book. As a result, I have had a degree of access to Warren, his family, his close associates, and other sources of information that no other writer has obtained. And a number have asked. That access is what makes this book unique and definitive in telling Warren’s story.

In agreeing to cooperate, Warren did not ask for—and I made it clear that I was not offering—the right to edit or approve any of the book’s content. This, therefore, is not an official or authorized biography. Most biographies with that designation that I have read, even though they often contain some privileged information, have appropriately been regarded by readers and reviewers with suspicion. I do not believe that Warren’s interest, the readers’, or mine would have been served by an official authorized designation. The only assurance I gave him was that I would be accurate and fair, and that without his cooperation I could not do the kind of quality work that I would demand of myself. While I count myself a Warren admirer, I am first and foremost a journalist with a passion for truth. In this book, as in all my work, I have strived for objectivity and have called them as I have seen them.

Why a Warren biography now, when so much of Warren’s story has yet to be played out? Admittedly, it would make for a tidier tale if we waited until his life and career were nearer the end. But I believe that “the life of Rick Warren so far” is an important story to tell at this historical moment when the evangelical movement and the nation as a whole stand at such a critical crossroad. As the sun sets on the remarkable era of Billy Graham, American evangelicalism—a movement naturally prone to fragmentation and internal bickering—faces a tenuous future with no apparent successor waiting to assume Graham’s mantle. There are many competing voices clamoring for attention, claiming to speak to and for this influential faith movement of 60 million Americans. Their voices too often are loud and confusing. It is difficult to discern the prophets from the self-promoters. No one knows where it all will lead. But Warren has emerged at the head of the pack.

The book is the product of two years of research and writing that has taken me to California, Texas, and Rwanda. I have been in his home, his church on many occasions, and with him in public and in private meetings. I am thoroughly convinced that millions of readers around the world—Warren’s many fans as well as his detractors—will benefit from this honest, thorough, authoritative, and nuanced treatment of the life of one ordinary man who has been set in an extraordinary place and time with extraordinary gifts, and who is doing his best to complete the course he believes his God has set before him.