The Story Behind the Story
One of the questions I love asking leaders is their genesis story. I want to hear the story behind the story. So I asked Rick Warren about the genesis of Purpose-Driven Life. For what it's worth, I think it's the best-selling non-fiction book besides the Bible in American history. More than fifty million copies in print.
He said the book traces back to a Saddleback building campaign in the early 90's when Rick and Kay felt led to go public with their personal pledge like King David did when they were building the Temple. He said he felt very awkward about going public, but he knew the Lord wanted him to. To make a long story short, they pledged their entire salary for three years and had no idea how they would be able to pay the pledge. To make a long story short, it was a few weeks later that Zondervan offered Rick a book deal to write Purpose-Driven Church and Purpose-Driven Life. The advance? The exact amount of money they had pledged.
I was so inspired by that. I don't think it's any coincidence that the success of Purpose-Driven Life is really the byproduct of generosity! God has infinitely unique ways of honoring our acts of faith.
He said the book traces back to a Saddleback building campaign in the early 90's when Rick and Kay felt led to go public with their personal pledge like King David did when they were building the Temple. He said he felt very awkward about going public, but he knew the Lord wanted him to. To make a long story short, they pledged their entire salary for three years and had no idea how they would be able to pay the pledge. To make a long story short, it was a few weeks later that Zondervan offered Rick a book deal to write Purpose-Driven Church and Purpose-Driven Life. The advance? The exact amount of money they had pledged.
I was so inspired by that. I don't think it's any coincidence that the success of Purpose-Driven Life is really the byproduct of generosity! God has infinitely unique ways of honoring our acts of faith.
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