Posted on: Saturday, June 19, 2004
One local church puts own spin on 'marketing' effort
| • | Book gives churches purpose |
Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer
Not all clergy choose to follow the "Purpose-Driven" campaign. One pastor of one of Hawai'i's largest Christian churches, Ralph Moore of Hope Chapel Kane'ohe, said his church went through the program twice — but only by first making it their own.
"I'm too much of an old hippie to preach someone else's sermons," Moore said. "... The president of Purpose Driven Ministries is a friend and when he told me about it, I thought, 'This is the dumbest idea in the world. I'm not gonna have Rick Warren pastoring my church.' "
But then he got his hands on the book.
"I just loved it," he said, and realized it would help people discover a purpose for their lives. "It's really basic values, directional stuff for the church."
However, his church didn't follow the Purpose-Driven program, which, he said, when broken down, is "a marketing campaign."
"Larger churches like us are not going to buy into someone else's material. ... We devised our own deal around it," Moore said, explaining how they changed the angle to "Spirit-driven life." It went so well, they're thinking of going through with another go-round next January.
"I love Rick Warren, and his church is a lot like ours ... though ours isn't as big as his," Moore said, adding that Warren wrote an endorsement for Moore's own book.
Hope Chapel Kane'ohe didn't pay licensing fees, instead purchasing Warren's books at wholesale prices. But the Purpose-Driven people aren't complaining:
"We're happy we did it the way we did and Rick Warren is happy," he said. "He had me write something about using the book, if not program."
