40 days of purpose

Sometimes people get so busy doing things that they forget about what's really important in life. The same can happen with churches.

Pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren has written a new book that outlines how to live "The Purpose-Driven Life."

Along with the book, Warren and his Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., are sponsoring a program: 40 Days of Purpose.

Lynwood Baptist Church in Cape Girardeau is about halfway through that emphasis. Once Dr. Derek Staples, pastor, heard about Warren's new book and the 40 days emphasis, "I knew this would be perfect for Lynwood," he said.

"It's designed for churches to take God's five key purposes for life and use them individually and corporately," Staples said. The key purposes are worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.

Warren's book breaks each of those elements down into daily study sessions. Staples is preaching on each topic as well.

At Lynwood, small groups are meeting and families are doing the studies together each day.

Already, 100 people have joined new Bible study groups at Lynwood and members have signed cards committing to hear all seven of Staples' sermons on the book.

If nothing else were to happen during the remainder of the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, knowing that 100 people joined study groups would be enough, Staples said.

"That's significant enough that more people are coming for the teaching of God's word," he said.

The spiritual emphasis campaign, named Get in the Game at Lynwood, involves teenagers and adults. But even children are able to participate by memorizing Scripture each Sunday. A new verse is introduced in the children's sermon during weekly worship.

Lynwood isn't the only church participating in the 40 Days of Purpose campaign. More than 1,500 churches across the country gathered earlier this month for a live simulcast with Warren to learn about his book.

The California pastor said he wrote the book to answer the question, "What on Earth am I here for?"

People struggle with questions of their existence, significance and intention, Warren said. "Without purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless."

But people don't often understand how to find their purpose because they start with themselves, instead of beginning with God, Warren said. "The purpose of your life is far greater than your personal fulfillment, your peace of mind or even your happiness. It's far greater than your family, your career or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God."

Warren admits he wrote his books about purpose in reverse order. He released "The Purpose-Driven Church" in 1995. People need to know about the purpose-driven life before they can understand how those purposes affect churches, he said.

"The Purpose-Driven Life" isn't another self-help book, Warren said. Those books suggest you find meaning and purpose by examining yourself. This book begins and ends with a relationship with God.

"You must begin with God, your creator, and his reasons for creating you. You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense."

Staples likes that Warren focuses people's attention with this book. The 40 Days of Purpose is about strategic focus, he said. "It has helped us as a church to focus on the things of purpose."

Sometimes families suffer because parents and spouses and children are so busy with activity that they forget why they do those activities in the first place. "This focuses on the essentials," Staples said.

The church will hold a ministry fair Nov. 10 to let members know how they can get involved. A missions event is planned for Nov. 17 and a celebration Sunday will be held Nov. 24 to conclude the campaign. Each of those weeks the church will hold only one morning worship service at 10:30 a.m.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126