Saddleback Church's Rick Warren Hosts Conference 'for Radicals Only'

More than 2,000 pastors from all over the world are meeting this week at for four days of learning and worship with pastor Rick Warren.

The conference, dubbed Radicalis—which means “from the root” in Latin—seeks to remind both up-and-coming and seasoned pastors about the early teachings of Christianity and how they can use its methods in leading their churches.

Saddleback billed the event, in its second year, as being "for radicals only"—for church leaders willing to reach back to the tenets that were held at the genesis of the Christian faith.

“Radicalis is a conference about getting back to the roots of our early Christian heritage, our early basic beliefs, and rediscovering for this generation what it means,” said David Chrzan, Warren’s chief of staff.

Fifteen different conference tracks are being offered over the course of the gathering's four days, with participants splitting into topic groups that include "Radical Youth" to "Radical Recovery" to "Radical Pastors' Wives."

“Every generation has to rediscover the purposes of God and put them into their context,” Chrzan said. “As one generation goes on, another rediscovers it, and they have to put that into practice—how does that relate to their generation—so you see very much a mixture of both young and old pastors here.”

The Tuesday morning kickoff saw Warren and his wife, Kay, address the audience, touching on topics that included foster children and AIDS. Chrzan pointed out that that Rick Warren, who came out of a family  lineage of pastors, knows the trials and triumphs church leaders face.

“He has a real heart for pastors,” Chrzan said. “He knows what they struggle with, what they go through.  So when he can turn around and empower them to help lead their people, he considers that, and we as Saddleback considers that, as a great investment of our time.”