Rick Warren

The time for pastors and churches to give lessons on financial stewardship based on biblical principles has never been more critical, say Christian leaders.

Saddleback Church’s Pastor Rick Warren, who has devoted most Sunday sermons this fall on the subject of money as talked about in the Gospel, kicked off his financial series by stressing the severity of the nation’s problem.

“We are now three years into a major recession. There are more people out of work right now than ever in our lifetime. There are more people underneath the poverty line than ever in America. More people are classified as legitimately poor than ever before. There are more people that own a home that is upside down, another words they owe more on it than its worth, than ever before,” he said. more >>

Pastor Rick Warren is now just 40 pounds shy of his weight loss goal. To date, he has lost 50 pounds with Saddleback Church’s 52-week weight loss program, and is now looking to start letting other churches in on the plan.

In a recent video from Saddleback, Warren said starting in 2012 the megachurch will make The Daniel Plan available to other churches looking to implement weight loss programs in their congregations.

Saddleback, inspired by the biblical story of Daniel’s rejection of the king’s food and wine, began The Daniel Plan in January. With the partnership of Saddleback member and brain health expert Dr. Daniel Amen, heart surgeon and TV doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz, and medicine specialist Dr. Mark Hyman, Warren got his congregation moving. more >>

Megachurch pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren spoke at a major adoption organization’s policy summit on Tuesday.

The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute held the policy summit to present findings on “The Way Forward Project,” a year-long effort that coordinated adoption experts from across the world.

“This is one of the first times that Pastor Warren participated in a CCAI event personally,” said CCAI Executive Director Kathleen Strottman to The Christian Post. more >>

In the history of the more than 2,000-year-old Christian Church, megachurches have only been around for about 1 percent of the time, according to one California pastor, yet they continue to grow in numbers and sizes, impacting the rest of the world.

An infographic recently done by the graphic design and statistical research company, Good, attempts to show what the average megachurch looks like. It reveals that 83 percent of the megachurches in the U.S. grew in 2009.

A megachurch is defined by the company as a Protestant congregation with 2,000 or more members. The definition also includes the note that megachurches differ in style, targeting young people with services that are often held in auditoriums and theaters instead of worship halls. more >>

An Oklahoma pastor and leader of a Christ-centered recovery group exclusively for pastors and their spouses is shocked at the lack of pastoral response to the apparent suicide death of a church leader in Texas less than two weeks ago.

After recently hearing about the death of Pastor Kim Hall, who served at Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano for 20 years, Pastor Hess Hester of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa said he felt led to address the problem some pastors may have in sharing personal issues.

Hall was found dead in a hotel room in the early morning of Oct. 22. Plano police, who discovered the body, said they believe he died of a self-inflicted gunshot, according to news reports. more >>

As editor and online facilitator of a website that includes a global community of 80,000 pastors and church leaders registered with the site, Pastor Brandon Cox has read his share of criticisms of today’s Christian Church.

And he’s tired of it.

Two years ago, Cox was recruited by Pastor Rick Warren’s team at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., to help with its already well-developed global online community of pastors. His mission: take the church’s website which is dedicated to equip pastors, Pastors.com, to the next level. more >>