Rick Warren visits Charleston, SC
Rick Warren celebrated with thousands Christians in Charleston, SC last night. It was a beautiful fall evening in Charleston, SC. The weather was great for an outdoor event at Joe Riley Stadium on the Ashley River near downtown Charleston. There was an awesome Praise and Worship period to kick off the event. The event was put together as a celebration for more than 700 small groups from more than two dozen local churches in the Charleston area who just wrapped up 40 Days of Community. The 40 Days of Community is a program outlined in Rick Warren’s book Better Together What on Earth Are We Here For?
This was my first time hearing Rick Warren speak in person. We all listened to his lessons weekly during the six weeks of the 40 Days of Community, but those messages were nowhere near as powerful as last night. Pastor Rick Warren strikes me as a much more humble man than I expected from a best selling author. From hearing him speak last night, I think he would rather keep it that way. I think he would rather be know as God’s servant rather than an author. His message was filled with experiences and ideas that would fire up any Christian. He talked about specific ways to help others around the world in very practical terms.
There was only one question that had me curious about this event other than the obvious message that Rick Warren would deliver. My question was how will Pastor Greg Surratt from Seacoast Church and the other local church pastors make this event about God and not just a Rick Warren fan gathering? Well they did a great job. I believe that the Praise and Worship time before Rick Warren was introduced definitely put everyone’s mind on the right thing, God. It ended up being much like a standard Seacoast church service for me with Rick Warren as the guest pastor for the evening. I don’t think it could have been done any better. By the end of the night I was as fired up more than ever and ready to continue to serve God by serving others with even more passion than ever. What better could have come from this event than for every person in attendance to have the same feeling at the end of the night?
December 30th, 2005 at 1:31 am
[...] Some critics refer to the praise and worship that attracts many teens to a mega church as entertainment or even equate the music to a rock concert. A rock concert was how The Post and Courier reporter referred to the praise and worship leading up to a talk given by Rick Warren during his visit to Charleston, SC in November. Many of these comments come from secular sources, but once in a megachurch service you can often look around and see how many people are lifting their hands and praising God and not the band. Look and you will see some who have tears dripping down their face from being over-filled with the Holy Spirit. Not all megachurch services are filled with the Holy Spirit all of the time as with many church services, but there does seem to be a much more powerful presence of God when you get a thousand plus people joined in prayer, praise, and worship. [...]