I wrote an article two years ago for Christianity Today about the demise of Purpose Driven ministries, an outgrowth of the ridiculous popularity of “The Purpose-Driven Life.” Murderers and madmen and everyone else know by now that the author of that book was Rick Warren, who recently reinvented himself as a political player. Purpose Driven ministries may be no more, but Warren is bigger than ever before.
Continuing his metamorphosis into the male Oprah, Warren is in talks with Reader’s Digest to publish a magazine inspired by his book, which was, in fact, inspired by another book. Rumors, and this mock cover, from Portfolio:
According to sources familiar with the details, RDA will publish the first test-issue of the magazine, whose working title is Purpose, as early as this fall. Joe Treen, a former editor at People and Discover, will edit it.
Asked about the launch, Treen said, “I’m not allowed to talk about it,” and referred the call to Frank Lalli, editor in chief for international editions of Reader’s Digest, who hasn’t responded to a message. Last week, a spokesman for RDA told me, “There are always things under discussion, [but] we don’t have any such project either about about to happen or about to be announced.”
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Warren had this to say: “If such a project were to happen, we would know about it, but can’t confirm anything of that nature at this time.”
