Visits by McCain, Obama to Orange County church underscore Pastor Rick Warren's prominence

By Duke Helfand - Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 - Web Link
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August 13, 2008

When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage Saturday at the sprawling religious campus of Orange County's Saddleback Church, their presence will vividly underline the reach that has made Pastor Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation.

But the joint appearance -- one of Warren's highest-profile endeavors -- will also underscore a tension that is central to his role.

Warren has been called perhaps "America's most influential pastor," an evangelical megastar who leads the nation's fourth-largest church, reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS.

That globe-trotting work -- and his phenomenally successful book, "The Purpose Driven Life" -- have propelled him into the vanguard of a movement that inspires young and socially conscious Christians.

But Warren's willingness to soft-pedal political issues once central to U.S. evangelicals, such as opposition to abortion, has opened him to criticism that he has strayed from his calling to spread the Gospel.

It's likely that both fans and critics will be watching closely when Warren plays host to the two presidential contenders at his church complex in Lake Forest, home to 22,000 weekend worshipers.