Purpose Driven Life

International bestseller The Purpose Driven Life has touched millions of lives worldwide. Author Rick Warren, founder of the massive 80,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, wrote the book in 2002. It has been on the New York Times Bestseller list ever since. The Purpose Driven Life is actually a follow-up to Warren's previous book, The Purpose Driven Church. Since 1995, The Purpose Driven Church has sold over one million copies and has been translated into 20 languages.

The Purpose Driven Life says that God has planned everything for you already, so you just have to find that purpose in life and strive to accomplish everything that's been planned for you. Warren offers advice to readers on career choices, creative expression, and individual goal-setting. It is not a book about self-discovery so much as it is about discovery of God's plan.

He suggests following God's purposes: worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism to completely make your life a purpose-driven one. The spiritual components of The Purpose Driven Life try to avoid the preachy, but as is typical of most spiritual publications, it does lapse into sermonization at times.

The book is constructed in the form of a 40-day plan, and readers are to read one chapter a day for 40 days. Through this method, the reader is supposed to gain discernable amount of information in a small amount of time. Each page is heavily loaded with scripture, passages, or advice, and Warren encourages his readers to write notes throughout the text as it applies to them.