Rick Warren says God told him to help fellow church planters

Renowned church leader and best-selling author Rick Warren is worried about the future of churches and wants church planters to shift their focus from church growth to quality. In his monthly extended prayer, Warren says God spoke to him to not just pray but to take action and help his fellow church leaders.

The Saddleback church pastor revealed all these in his recent Facebook post sharing the fact that he's no longer impressed with rapid church growth that most pastors are obsessed with. He likened a rapid church growth to rockets that burn fast and said he'll be more impressed with churches that can sustain growth decade after decade.

Warren may also be recalled saying during a three-day Exponential West conference back in October 2014, "You must be very careful how you build. Some build with gold, silver, precious stones even wood, hay and straw but the day will come when fire will reveal the quality of your work and if what you build survives, you will receive a reward." He also added, "The success of your ministry isn't about size or speed, regardless of those 'large church lists.' God isn't going to judge you based on those things because those are human measurements."

According to the pastor, this was what God told him while he specifically prayed for the pastors and their families. "I don't want you to just pray for these guys. I want you to share with them all the lessons in ministry that I taught you the hard way. It will save them a lot of time and pain," he wrote in his recent Facebook post.

So as a response to what he believes God wants him to do, Warren is relaunching the Purpose Driven Conference which he says will be a three-day intensive learning. During the event that will be held from June 28 to 30, Warren will be sharing about his 36 years of experience as the church planter in Saddleback. The event will take place at his church in Southern California and he said he has invited his pastors and leaders to join in the discussion as well.

Warren believes this conference will help church planters of today.