Jump directly to the Content

Comprehensive Health Plan

Capital Punishment. Last Rites. Cape Fear. After Death. Hell Fire. Apocalypse Now. 911. Endorphin Rush. The latest movies?

Nope. Labels from Rick Warren's collection of hot sauces.

"Listen to this one," he says with a grin, reading from a label. "There is a point where pleasure and pain intersect, a doorway to a new dimension of sensual euphoria, where fire both burns and soothes, when heat engulfs every neuron within you. Once that line is crossed, once the bottle is opened, once it touches your lips, there's no going back. Pain is good."

Sounds a lot like ministry.

Rick Warren has known "the intersection of pain and pleasure" as pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, a church he founded in Orange County, California, in 1980.

Despite the rapid growth of Saddleback, Warren writes in The Purpose-Driven Church (Zondervan) that "the key issue for churches in the twenty-first century is church health, not church growth." Leadership editors Ed Rowell and Kevin Miller, and photographer Bill ...

March
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Creating Uncommon-Unity
Creating Uncommon-Unity
Jesus' interaction with his disciples teaches us about true community.
From the Magazine
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Should the Bible Sound Like the Language in the Streets?
Controversy over Bibles in Jamaica, the Philippines, and Germany reveal the divide between the sacred and the relatable.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close