A Picture of a Thousand Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But, what if you could take a thousand words and turn them into a picture? What would that picture teach us? Well, when it comes to comparing the content, center and subject of "Purpose-Driven" preaching versus Christ-Centered preaching these 'word pictures' tell us a lot.

Below, I've taken some of Rick Warren's sermons and created 'word clouds' of them. Word clouds display the most used words in the largest font size while the least used are in the smallest font size. Word Clouds provide us with a visual means of determining what something is really about by isolating words and themes and prioritizing them.

For the sake of comparison, I have also taken a couple of sermons from the Rev. William Cwirla, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Hacienda Heights, CA.

The differences between the two sets of sermons are startling! One set of sermons is focused on Jesus Christ and in the other set Jesus is practically missing (even though one of the sermons is an EASTER SERMON!).

If you want to get the FULL IMPACT of the differences between the two sets of sermons then take the time to read the full texts of all four. I've provided links to each sermon for that purpose.

Rick Warren's Sermon Word Clouds

Sermon 1 - Embracing the Vision: God's Vision for the Rest of Your Life preached on Easter Sunday 2005.

Sermon 2 - Conquering Complaining: How to Enjoy the Rest of Your Life

Bill Cwirla's Sermon Clouds

Sermon 1 - On the Road to Emmaus

Sermon 2 - Rejection, Denial, Despair

What do you think of the differences between these sermons? Does it even matter?

HT: Paul McCain

Comments

[Bill]

Jeff said: "Most of the people doing the bashing are, in fact, pastors who haven't been able to grow their church over 50 people in 10 years (that's not legalism - just pointing out the fact that they're not really qualified to judge excellence in pastoral leadership) or basement bloggers who probably don't serve or tithe (you know, the kind of people who hop form church to church, constantly being "offended" by something)."

Bill:
1) The last I heard John McArthur's church had more than 50 people and John McArthur's megachurch is not the only one to call Rick Warren an apostate, proving that you can build a megachurch without being seeker sensitive.

2) From the way you talk you would call the prophet Isaiah a basement blogger since he opposed the church in Isarael and probably never attended church. As a matter of fact the church leaders (Israel's leaders) put him to death. Just to remind you that those that you call basement bloggers are serving by calling Rick Warren an apostate, that's their service to christianity.

[wilson]

It shouldn't be surprising that the message of the Purpose-Driven movement is different to Biblical Christianity. Still, the word clouds are a handy way of finding out what the sermons are really about.

One thing I just remembered a day or two ago is what the PDL book says about itself: "A groundbreaking manifesto on the meaning of life."

"Groundbreaking" refers to something new, something that's never been done before. Bob DeWaay is spot on when he says that the PD paradigm has redefined Christianity and interestingly the Purpose-Driven Life book unashamedly admits it.

The fact is that Christians don't need a groundbreaking manifesto on the meaning of life. We already have it. It's called the Bible. Read it.

[wilson]

“In answer to your inquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.” - William Booth

[Bill]

Wilson wrote: "The fact is that Christians don't need a groundbreaking manifesto on the meaning of life. We already have it. It's called the Bible. Read it."

Bill: Good point, this is very critical here. Somehow Rick Warren (and others before him and after him) strongly believe that christianity as it used to be (preaching expository sermons from the bible and administering the sacraments) would not work any longer. The way preaching has worked for centuries needed change according to Warren and others, seeker sensitive preaching was required in order to replace traditional biblical preaching. New bible translations are a must according to Rick Warren, the King James version that worked very well for centuries was all of a sudden obsolete, the same can be said of work for word translations like the NASB or the ESV. Somehow we needed paraphrase bible versions like the Message.

The fact is Rick Warren is reinventing christianity. The question is , is it biblical what Rick Warren is doing? And the answer to this question is crucial. If what Rick Warren is doing is biblical, then we shouldn't criticize him and the body of Christ should unite with him. If what Rick Warren is unbiblical, then he needs to be denounced as a false teacher, as somebody that's bringing in a new gospel.