is puzzling . I met Dr. Piper at this conference in Los Angeles for African American Pastors and he seemed to be a nice man very humble and an extremely gifted preacher and speaker. In this clip he attempts to explain why he invited Warren to his conference. He mentions something about "picking his brain" I'm not sure what that means or if it's relevant. However I suspect that Rick Warren does provide an element of publicity to the Desiring God Conference and I reckon that some feel that any publicity- no matter what it is or how it comes about- is better than none. However Warren has very little in common with orthodox Christian thinkers, conservative Evangelicals, Reformed Pastors, and Calvinist proponents. He neither believes what most of the guest speakers at the conference believes nor does he adhere to most of the basic doctrines of grace as understood by basic protestant dogma via the reformation. The time alloted at the conference to someone like Rick Warren I feel, could have been given to someone in Reformed circles that would have edified the body of Christ more sufficiently, but I guess it wasn't practical.
Rick Warren is obviously a controversial individual within mainstream evangelical circles. Although popular with the laity and some in the Christian community, among knowledgeable leaders, he is a man of somewhat questionable ideas, beliefs and methods. As a pastor and author, he has made some strange statements about the social and cultural world we live in when confronted by mainstream media. Why John Piper invited such a polarizing figure as Rick Warren
