Rick Warren, a superstar pastor in the megachurch movement, will kick off one of the most ambitious book promotions in Christian publishing history today by beaming via satellite a sermon based on his book to an estimated 500,000 people in 1,500 churches worldwide.
The campaign for the book, "The Purpose-Driven Life," is called "40 Days of Purpose" and is meant to be a 21st century form of Sunday school for Christian adults who are fuzzy on the fundamentals of living a God-centered life. And it's only the latest entrepreneurial move by Warren, head of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest.
In recent years, Warren has earned international recognition by training more than 250,000 pastors from 125 countries, launching the pastors.com Web site for those in the ministry, and signing up 60,000 pastors for a free e-mail newsletter, Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox.
Advance sales of the book, an outgrowth of a sermon series Warren has given at Saddleback for three years, topped more than 500,000 copies before it hit retailers Oct. 1.
The publisher, Zondervan, said the figure is the second highest in company history, after Billy Graham's autobiography, "Just As I Am," which was co-published with Harper Collins in 1997.
The early flood of sales stems from Warren's popularity with evangelical Christians and a carefully planned and expensive book launch designed to get the faithful reading a chapter daily for the next 40 days.
Pastors across the nation--and at 52 churches in Los Angeles and Orange counties--will gear their next six Sunday messages to the book's material, with sermon outlines provided by Warren.
They'll have access through the Internet to videos of Warren's services built around "The Purpose-Driven Life" theme at Saddleback, which started two weeks ago.
A national marketing campaign takes in all forms of media, secular and Christian. And a CD, "Songs for a Purpose-Driven Life," features recordings by popular Christian artists.
"The [promotion] budget for 'The Purpose-Driven Life' is two to three times more than any book we'll publish this year," said Greg Stielstra, associate marketing director for trade books.
Warren said his book answers three of life's most basic riddles. The question of existence: "Why am I alive?" The question of significance: "Does my life matter?" And the question of intention: "What is my purpose?"
