HELP!!! Hillary keynote Speaker at RICK WARREN"S church!

[Thad]

Hillary gets standing ovation at Rick Warren's Church
'




Hillary Clinton speaking today at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. (WND photo)
LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Within days of introducing a $50 billion plan to combat AIDS, Sen. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation at one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches after addressing its "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" today.

If the Democratic presidential frontrunner's aim was to make inroads into the heavily Republican evangelical electorate, her appearance at Saddleback Church with pastor and "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren apparently didn't hurt.

Saddleback Church member Cindy Logan told WND after Clinton spoke to some 2,000 conference attendees that as a Republican, the senator's visit was "a little bit of a challenge for me," but she, nevertheless, was impressed.

"I saw a softer side of her that I hadn't seen before," Logan said, adding she thinks it's quite possible some minds were changed about the New York Democrat.

(Story continues below)


"She was very articulate. I liked her approach," Logan said. "I liked the fact that she's been to Africa, she's been with people who have been affected by AIDS, and she's here because of her heart for people. And I appreciated that."


Hillary Clinton at Saddleback Church today (WND photo)

Logan emphasized, however – as did Warren before introducing Clinton – that all of the leading presidential candidates, both Democrat and Republican, were invited to come and speak. Democrats Barack Obama – whose appearance at last year's summit drew controversy – and John Edwards sent taped messages addressed to the summit, as did Republicans John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

"She's a presidential candidate," Logan said, responding to opposition by some Christian leaders to Clinton's visit. "And as a presidential candidate, she has her voice. And she may be the future leader of our country, and so as that person, I think she deserves to be on stage. I think all of them should have been here."

Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, believes it was "a mistake to invite [Clinton] to speak at an evangelical Christian church on AIDS or any other issue, because her political stances are contrary to biblical teaching."

"What Saddleback is doing is helping raise her profile as a legitimate presidential candidate in the eyes of evangelical Christians, and I think that is a huge error," Wildmon told Reuters.

'I wanted to be here'

Warren and Clinton engaged in laughter-filled banter prior to her speech, with the Saddleback pastor asking in jest, "Before you speak, I have just one question, why did you show?"


Hillary Clinton greeted by Rick Warren before her speech at Saddleback Church in Orange County, California (WND photo)

"Well, first you asked me, and second, in a burst of enthusiasm, I said I would," she said to laughter from summit attendees.

"I have been looking forward to this. I really have," Clinton told Warren. "I know what this church is doing; I understand the commitment that is here and this conference which you're holding that is attracting people literally from all over the world.

"I wanted to be here," she added. "I thought I needed to be here, to share my thoughts, to have a better idea of what it is you're achieving far beyond the boundaries of Saddleback."

Clinton said, "The commitment you have demonstrated, both to our faith in God and to doing his work here on earth is exemplary. And that is one of the many reasons I wanted to be here today."

'The sustaining power of prayer'

Clinton, raised in the United Methodist Church in suburban Chicago, began the speech telling the largely evangelical audience of her Christian commitment.

"My own faith journey is approaching a half century, and I know how far I have to go," she said. "But I have been blessed in my life, starting with my family, and in the church of my childhood, to be guided every step of the way."


The senator pointed to a number of significant influences on her faith: "A mother who taught Sunday School and a mother who made sure that my brothers and I were there the moment the church doors opened; a father who kneeled by the side of his bed every night of his life to say his prayers; a minister of our youth fellowship who took it as part of his mission to show this group of white, suburban, middle class kids that there was a bigger world outside; a prayer group that formed for me shortly after I came to the White House, a group of extraordinary women, both Democrats and Republicans, whose love and support sustained me."

Clinton said she's often asked if she's a "praying person."

"I've always responded that I was fortunate enough to be raised to understand the power and purpose of prayer," she said.

"But had I not been," the senator quipped, "probably one week in the White House would have turned me into one."

"It's wonderful to know that the sustaining power of prayer is there for so many of us," she said.

Clinton said one of her favorite passages of the Bible is the book of James' admonition that "faith without works is dead."

"But I have concluded that works without faith is just too hard," she said. "It cannot be sustained over one's life or the generations. And it's important for us to recognize how, here in what you are doing, faith and works comes together."

Clinton commended Saddleback Church for living that out.

You understand that, or as Rick might say, 'creed and deed,'" she said. "And what extraordinary and important work your faith supports, fighting against spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, illiteracy and diseases – like AIDS – around the world."

'Substantial opportunity'

Burns Strider, Clinton's senior adviser and national director of faith-based outreach, told WND the senator's visit to Saddleback is one of the most important recent stops on her heavy campaign schedule.

"This is something we have been talking about and working on for a number of months now," he said. "We've been very focused on this opportunity to come together with people of faith and then talk about an issue that has real common ground, and that's about ministering to those with HIV/AIDS and eradicating it."


"Obviously coming to Saddleback, being with Rick and Kay Warren and all these leaders brought together, it's a substantial opportunity for anybody," said Strider, who now is part of a United Methodist congregation in the D.C. area.

The evangelical community is not a monolith, he emphasized.
Strider says he's convinced Sen. Clinton's faith is genuine.

"What I find and know about the senator is very real and very honest," he said. "You know, there's a life of works and deeds. ... There's an amazing connection there between what Senator Clinton believes and the way she carries it out. I do find it authentic."

Universal access

In her speech, Clinton discussed her AIDS plan, which calls for at least $50 billion to provide universal access to treatment, prevention and care for global HIV and AIDS by 2013. It also includes $1 billion per year toward the goal of "stamping out malaria deaths in Africa altogether by the end of her second term."


The proposal would provide health insurance for all HIV patients in the U.S., and promote "evidence-based" prevention programs, which typically has meant condoms and needle-exchanges rather than encouraging abstinence.

Asked about Clinton's plan, Warren told WND in a brief interview prior to the speech that he could not take a position on it because he had not seen it yet.

After hearing the plan's main points described, he pointed to the "three-legged stool" metaphor illustrating the balancing of government, private sector and church. Government, he said, plays an important role in paying for medications, such as anti-retrovirals used to treat AIDS that could cost $10,000 to $20,000 a year per person.

"The church is never going to have that," Warren told WND. "Churches are poor around the world. But they have the people.

"We bring the manpower," he said. "Even if you've got the meds, you can't get them to the people unless you have a network."

He pointed, as an example, to the relief effort after the tsunamis in South Asia killed more than 225,000 people in 2004.

"All these resources went to the coast, and they sat there and rotted, because they didn't have a network to distribute them. If they had used the church, we have more boots on the ground than anybody.

Warren said that while he's favor of government paying for the drugs needed to combat AIDS he's not in favor of government prescribing the prevention programs.

"That's a spiritual issue," he said, "and that's my issue."

[Brother Price]

I don't know what to think of Warren. I disagree with what he is doing, in opening the pulpit to politicians, but it seems so iffy to me. I don't know.

[TRIPLE E]

Originally Posted by Thad

Hillary gets standing ovation at Rick Warren's Church
'




Hillary Clinton speaking today at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. (WND photo)
LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Within days of introducing a $50 billion plan to combat AIDS, Sen. Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation at one of the nation's most influential evangelical churches after addressing its "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" today.

If the Democratic presidential frontrunner's aim was to make inroads into the heavily Republican evangelical electorate, her appearance at Saddleback Church with pastor and "The Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren apparently didn't hurt.

Saddleback Church member Cindy Logan told WND after Clinton spoke to some 2,000 conference attendees that as a Republican, the senator's visit was "a little bit of a challenge for me," but she, nevertheless, was impressed.

"I saw a softer side of her that I hadn't seen before," Logan said, adding she thinks it's quite possible some minds were changed about the New York Democrat.

(Story continues below)


"She was very articulate. I liked her approach," Logan said. "I liked the fact that she's been to Africa, she's been with people who have been affected by AIDS, and she's here because of her heart for people. And I appreciated that."


Hillary Clinton at Saddleback Church today (WND photo)

Logan emphasized, however – as did Warren before introducing Clinton – that all of the leading presidential candidates, both Democrat and Republican, were invited to come and speak. Democrats Barack Obama – whose appearance at last year's summit drew controversy – and John Edwards sent taped messages addressed to the summit, as did Republicans John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

"She's a presidential candidate," Logan said, responding to opposition by some Christian leaders to Clinton's visit. "And as a presidential candidate, she has her voice. And she may be the future leader of our country, and so as that person, I think she deserves to be on stage. I think all of them should have been here."

Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, believes it was "a mistake to invite [Clinton] to speak at an evangelical Christian church on AIDS or any other issue, because her political stances are contrary to biblical teaching."

"What Saddleback is doing is helping raise her profile as a legitimate presidential candidate in the eyes of evangelical Christians, and I think that is a huge error," Wildmon told Reuters.

'I wanted to be here'

Warren and Clinton engaged in laughter-filled banter prior to her speech, with the Saddleback pastor asking in jest, "Before you speak, I have just one question, why did you show?"


Hillary Clinton greeted by Rick Warren before her speech at Saddleback Church in Orange County, California (WND photo)

"Well, first you asked me, and second, in a burst of enthusiasm, I said I would," she said to laughter from summit attendees.

"I have been looking forward to this. I really have," Clinton told Warren. "I know what this church is doing; I understand the commitment that is here and this conference which you're holding that is attracting people literally from all over the world.

"I wanted to be here," she added. "I thought I needed to be here, to share my thoughts, to have a better idea of what it is you're achieving far beyond the boundaries of Saddleback."

Clinton said, "The commitment you have demonstrated, both to our faith in God and to doing his work here on earth is exemplary. And that is one of the many reasons I wanted to be here today."

'The sustaining power of prayer'

Clinton, raised in the United Methodist Church in suburban Chicago, began the speech telling the largely evangelical audience of her Christian commitment.

"My own faith journey is approaching a half century, and I know how far I have to go," she said. "But I have been blessed in my life, starting with my family, and in the church of my childhood, to be guided every step of the way."


The senator pointed to a number of significant influences on her faith: "A mother who taught Sunday School and a mother who made sure that my brothers and I were there the moment the church doors opened; a father who kneeled by the side of his bed every night of his life to say his prayers; a minister of our youth fellowship who took it as part of his mission to show this group of white, suburban, middle class kids that there was a bigger world outside; a prayer group that formed for me shortly after I came to the White House, a group of extraordinary women, both Democrats and Republicans, whose love and support sustained me."

Clinton said she's often asked if she's a "praying person."

"I've always responded that I was fortunate enough to be raised to understand the power and purpose of prayer," she said.

"But had I not been," the senator quipped, "probably one week in the White House would have turned me into one."

"It's wonderful to know that the sustaining power of prayer is there for so many of us," she said.

Clinton said one of her favorite passages of the Bible is the book of James' admonition that "faith without works is dead."

"But I have concluded that works without faith is just too hard," she said. "It cannot be sustained over one's life or the generations. And it's important for us to recognize how, here in what you are doing, faith and works comes together."

Clinton commended Saddleback Church for living that out.

You understand that, or as Rick might say, 'creed and deed,'" she said. "And what extraordinary and important work your faith supports, fighting against spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, illiteracy and diseases – like AIDS – around the world."

'Substantial opportunity'

Burns Strider, Clinton's senior adviser and national director of faith-based outreach, told WND the senator's visit to Saddleback is one of the most important recent stops on her heavy campaign schedule.

"This is something we have been talking about and working on for a number of months now," he said. "We've been very focused on this opportunity to come together with people of faith and then talk about an issue that has real common ground, and that's about ministering to those with HIV/AIDS and eradicating it."


"Obviously coming to Saddleback, being with Rick and Kay Warren and all these leaders brought together, it's a substantial opportunity for anybody," said Strider, who now is part of a United Methodist congregation in the D.C. area.

The evangelical community is not a monolith, he emphasized.
Strider says he's convinced Sen. Clinton's faith is genuine.

"What I find and know about the senator is very real and very honest," he said. "You know, there's a life of works and deeds. ... There's an amazing connection there between what Senator Clinton believes and the way she carries it out. I do find it authentic."

Universal access

In her speech, Clinton discussed her AIDS plan, which calls for at least $50 billion to provide universal access to treatment, prevention and care for global HIV and AIDS by 2013. It also includes $1 billion per year toward the goal of "stamping out malaria deaths in Africa altogether by the end of her second term."


The proposal would provide health insurance for all HIV patients in the U.S., and promote "evidence-based" prevention programs, which typically has meant condoms and needle-exchanges rather than encouraging abstinence.

Asked about Clinton's plan, Warren told WND in a brief interview prior to the speech that he could not take a position on it because he had not seen it yet.

After hearing the plan's main points described, he pointed to the "three-legged stool" metaphor illustrating the balancing of government, private sector and church. Government, he said, plays an important role in paying for medications, such as anti-retrovirals used to treat AIDS that could cost $10,000 to $20,000 a year per person.

"The church is never going to have that," Warren told WND. "Churches are poor around the world. But they have the people.

"We bring the manpower," he said. "Even if you've got the meds, you can't get them to the people unless you have a network."

He pointed, as an example, to the relief effort after the tsunamis in South Asia killed more than 225,000 people in 2004.

"All these resources went to the coast, and they sat there and rotted, because they didn't have a network to distribute them. If they had used the church, we have more boots on the ground than anybody.

Warren said that while he's favor of government paying for the drugs needed to combat AIDS he's not in favor of government prescribing the prevention programs.

"That's a spiritual issue," he said, "and that's my issue."

That doesn't surprise me since their church wants Christians to unite with Moslem's.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayA...ion=theuae&col

[tv1a]

That is a gross misrepresentation of Warren. The letter is a response to finding common ground so the extremists on both sides are neutralized.

In order to put this in perspective, one must see the whole as late as a few months ago, Warren was on Larry King. He stated he is a firm believer in salvation. Now his interpretaion of salvation is not as accurate as some would like, but he stated people who do not live for Christ are not going to heaven.

What Warren bashers are failing to see is his philosophy of winning people through common ground. Warren believes one doesn't have to have the same faith system as he to be able to work together to combat aids, world hunger, and other social problems.

Our church had a community thanksgiving day dinner, and we had people from other denominations come to our dinner to help us serve the community. Baptists, charismatics, methodists, believe in what we are doing and want to support us. We let them. Our resources are limited. Social problems are everyone's concern. The Bible says if you do it to the least, you do it unto ME. God expects his people to be involved in combatting aids, feeding hungry people, clothing the naked.

Warren is not looking for one religion. He is looking to amass an army that is willing to drop thier agenda at the door and serve the less fortunate. As a result, people will see the love of Christ and respond.

Originally Posted by TRIPLE E

That doesn't surprise me since their church wants Christians to unite with Moslem's.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayA...ion=theuae&col

[Weary Pilgrim]

Warren is showing the early signs of becoming a Universalist. It often starts in guise of benevolance.
As noble as these efforts might seem at first glance,It's obvious Warren is slowing making a turn to the left.

[Thad]

For Rick Warren to have a woman who unashamedley supports partial birth abortion and gay marriage in his pulpit for ANY reason is a Travesty.
No excuses for that and yes i agree, i think he is taking on liberal leanings.

[revrandy]

So Hillary's against Abortion now???

Like the rest of us Christians!!

If she's not what is she doing standing behind a pulpit???

Any church that would let her and anybody else who supports abortion is abominable at best!! and Certainly not Christian....

[Thad]

Originally Posted by revrandy

So Hillary's against Abortion now???

Like the rest of us Christians!!

If she's not what is she doing standing behind a pulpit???

Any church that would let her and anybody else who supports abortion is abominable at best!! and Certainly not Christian....

Randy,

Quite a few Oneness Pastors & Leaders have attended his seminars and conferences over the years gleaning ideas and church growth methods.
A few of the names took me by surprise ("conservative")


.

[BoredOutOfMyMind]

Originally Posted by Thad

For Rick Warren to have a woman who unashamedley supports partial birth abortion and gay marriage in his pulpit for ANY reason is a Travesty.
No excuses for that and yes i agree, i think he is taking on liberal leanings.

Thad, this is your announced canditate for President in 2008.

[Thad]

Originally Posted by BoredOutOfMyMind

Thad, this is your announced canditate for President in 2008.

you think?? Ooh okay
I recall you stating that you supported her healthcare plan