Evaluating 40 Days of Community

I just started reading the Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren yesterday and was amazed to read the following accolades from Bruce Larson on the first few pages of the book:

"Rick Warren is the architect for the church of the 21st century, and this is the blueprint!"

But the Word of God says in Heb 11:10 (NASB): "...for he [Abraham] was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

See also Heb 3:1-4, Eph 2:19-22, Gal 2:18, 2 Cor 5:1. I find that 1 Cor 3:9-15 is probably the most instructive scripture here. It is very clear that we are builders as God's fellow workers, but we are also His field, His building. Paul was like a wise master builder, but he was not the architect and never claims such a thing. The rest is very instructive about how you build and with what you build, all of which the architect is the specifier of. Now, is Bruce Larson actually saying that he thinks Rick Warren has found another blueprint? The question is, could Bruce be right? I think that is a reasonable question we ought to be asking. I cannot answer this yet as I have not read the book. What I do know, however, is that Rick Warren did not write that statement, but why he would allow such a statement to be in his book completely mystifies me. Allowing someone to represent you in that way without correcting them or removing it from your book demonstrates agreement. And allowing yourself to be called the architect which is God's place alone is, dare I say, blasphemous.