Rick Warren, the best-selling author and pastor of one of the largest churches in the country, has been hospitalized. News of his condition broke after his wife, Kay Warren, was forced to pull out of a speaking engagement in Northern Ireland and return to her husband’s side. Rick, the author of “A Purpose Driven Life,” has had to undergo “immediate surgery” for an “intestinal condition.”
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Kay, a leading mental health advocate and well-known public speaker, was due to be the special guest at the “Illuminate” conference in Coleraine, on the north coast of Northern Ireland, before having to pull out. According to the note, Warren heard the concerning news about her husband while “in the air and just a few hours from arrival.”
Encouragingly, the announcement noted that Rick is “expected to recover” from the operation, though it did not give any further details on his current condition, other than confirming that Kay would be “immediately returning to the United States to be with her family.”
“Please keep Rick, Kay and their family in your prayers,” the post continued.
Following the staggering success of “A Purpose Driven Life,” which sold over 30 million copies in the five years after its release, Warren decided not to take a salary from his enormously influential church, Saddleback. To give you an idea of Saddleback’s size, in 2017, weekly attendance averaged at around 22,000.
“I’ve been a volunteer Pastor for the last 10 years now,” Warren said of his humble lifestyle, according to Forbes. “I’m not a professional Pastor, I’m an amateur.”
In his almost four decades of ministry, Rick and Kay have devoted themselves to giving away as much money as possible to those who are in need. They have truly practiced what they preach. “When we got married, we began tithing 10%. Each year we would raise our tithe 1% to stretch our faith: 11% the first year, 12% the second year, 13% the third year,” Rick previously explained, according to BeliefNet.
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“Every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Every time I give, it makes me more like Jesus. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. And so now, we give away 90% and we live on 10%. That was actually the easy part, what to do with the money–just give it away, because I’m storing up treasures in heaven. ”
“I gave it all back because I didn’t want anyone to think that I do what I do because of money. I love Jesus Christ,” he said.
Do pray for the entire Warren family as Pastor Rick recovers from his surgery.