Purpose Driven Church 2016 Trains Global Leaders

During the 2016 Purpose Driven Church Conference, Saddleback members and staff joined pastors from around the world to receive training to be global leaders in the church and ministry––one of our five F.A.I.T.H goals.

Attended by more than 400 of our own staff and members, PDC16 was packed with our own church family, along with 2,600 registered guests coming from all 50 states and 33 nations. The conference trended three consecutive days on Twitter, with more than 1,300 PDC photos shared on social media!

Hundreds of online passes were purchased and nearly 70% of attendees were first-time visitors. To date, we have trained over half a million pastors through Saddleback Church––all remarkable statistics for the historic relaunch of PDC after a decade!

According to Mingo Palacios, Pastor of PD Evangelism, “The Purpose Driven Conference was, and continues to be the most honest dialogue amongst leaders in the local and global Church. Pastor Rick went beyond inspiration and information, welcoming attendees both young and old, into the inner workings of his personal joys, sorrows, successes, and failures as an early pioneering pastor.”

During the conference, Pastor Rick commissioned leaders and pastors to cast off their fears, renew their first calling, and march forward in knowing that Jesus, and his gift of the local church, are the enduring hope for all human kind.

Pastor Rick says the high point for him was hearing the emotions in the voices as they read the PD covenant together as one church. “It was a combo of relief, and fear, and joy, and determination of ‘I will not give up. This is what I’m called to do.’”

Hundreds of people turned to social media to share their experiences, calling PDC16 the “TED Talks for the church,” and “DNA therapy that becomes part of you as you learn the concepts.”

The success of the conference came down to walking in step with the Spirit, Pastor Rick explained. “We just rode God’s wave,” he said. “It was all in his timing.”

Other PDC16 highlights included music by Saddleback’s Worship Team, insightful teachings by Pastor Rick, the testimony of Dr. Satish Kumar form Calvary Temple in India, and breakout labs covering subjects from biblical marketing to planting Purpose Driven Churches.

While the conference was beneficial to thousands of ministry leaders, it was equally valuable to our Saddleback family that experienced firsthand what God was doing through our church. “It’s good to see our church from outside eyes,” says Pastor Rick. “When God finds a church that blesses others, he in turn really blesses that church. At Saddleback, we don’t want to be known by our size. We want it to be known by our love.”

While our Lake Forest campus hosted PDC16 at home, overseas we had over 350 pastors in Zambia and Kenya participate in Purpose Driven training. The need for planting healthy churches has never been greater!

“Churches need a system to install more than they need inspiration,” says Pastor Rick. “They need the ‘how to’s’ of balancing the five principles. PD is just that––the DNA of the body of Christ and the Intel chip of the 21st century church.”

Join Pastor Rick and other leaders at our 2017 Purpose Driven Conference, open for registration now! For more information, visit pd.church/events.