Word: warrens
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...secret to Warren's success isn't a mystery. The Southern Baptist has built his Purpose Driven empire with hard work, a knack for inspirational and anodyne messages and, until recently, an ability to publicly distance himself from the kind of controversial politics that have defined other Evangelical leaders, like James Dobson and Pat Robertson. He built Saddleback Church in Southern California from nothing into a congregation of 22,000 members. His first book, The Purpose Driven Life, is the best-selling hardcover in U.S. history, according to Publishers Weekly. And he was the religious leader both presidential candidates trusted...
...figure, it is Oprah Winfrey. It's no surprise, then, that the Reader's Digest executive who oversees Purpose Driven Connection launched O magazine for America's favorite talk-show host during a previous tenure at Hearst. Alyce Alston knows that the greatest asset a celebrity like Oprah or Warren brings to a publication is the power of their brand. And so just as O is all about Oprah, from the cover shot to the features inside, there's a lot of Warren in Purpose Driven Connection. (See pictures of a drive-in church...
...premiere issue features a softly lit, smiling Warren on the cover (though his spokesman Larry Ross is quick to make clear that the cover images will change - "this isn't going to be like O"). Inside, no fewer than seven articles are written by Warren or his wife Kay. Two additional pieces are transcripts of Warren's Inauguration prayer and his August 2008 forum with Obama...
...Even two long features that are ostensibly about other subjects - rebuilding efforts in Rwanda and the Cambodian trial of a former Khmer Rouge official who became a born-again pastor - are really about the international Purpose Driven work that has helped make Warren so popular. The Cambodia article is a solid work of journalism, and shows how Comrade Duch's religious awakening led him to be the only Khmer Rouge leader on trial who has confessed his crimes, an insight that is missing from virtually all of the mainstream coverage of the trial. But the Rwanda story veers toward hagiography...
...pastor's partners at Reader's Digest aren't worried about readers being turned off by a Rick Warren overload. On the contrary, they're counting on his global appeal. "He's a powerhouse," says Alston in explaining the publisher's decision to take on the new title. "Nearly 50 million people read The Purpose Driven Life - that's nearly 20% of America!" The math added up for Reader's Digest, even as the company is preparing to either undergo financial restructuring or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "If we touched just 1% of Evangelicals in America," Alston continues, "that...