Kay Warren, wife of megapastor and bestselling author Rick Warren, isn't the typical pastor's wife. Coming out of years of traditional pastor's wife work at Saddleback Church, home to some 21,000 attendants each weekend, Warren now finds herself at the forefront of a major evangelical push to fight AIDS and assist those affected, even if it means putting her own life on the line. And she's putting it in writing.
As a pastor's wife, you're not doing the typical role that a pastor's wife plays. What kind of response have you gotten from your church and has that changed over the last three years?Warren: We've been here 26 years and 23 of those years I did just about everything. Over the years since we started Saddleback, I've done everything from stand behind the donut table to pass out bulletins to scrub toilets to taking care of the nursery, church secretary, church pianist, women's ministry director ... I've done all of those things that pastors' wives are usually involved in in one way or another. It's just in the last few years as God has shifted by focus, I've been doing probably a little more non-traditional pastor's wife kind of things.
And so there's been a little bit of adjustment. Some have adjusted very well, very easily and have been very supportive. Others have scratched their heads, like "What is she doing?" But I think overall, people are receptive.
You said at a press briefing at the Global AIDS Summit that "people are bored talking about HIV." Could you elaborate on that?
Warren: I think that people are pretty much one of three things: either they don't know; they don't care at all; or they're just tired of talking about it. I know that Rick and I went to a meeting about two years ago with some high-powered media folks and it was a private meeting. We sat around and talked about world events, world happenings, very stimulating conversation. Then Rick sort of lobbed me a softball to talk about what we're doing with AIDS. And I watched the room full of people, their eyes glaze over. And I said to him as soon as it was over: They don't care. They just don't care. They're bored with it. That was something they talked about in the 80s when it was new, when there was no medication, when they were afraid that the United States was going to be decimated by this illness; they've just kind of moved on. There are other things to talk about.
What was the cause of that?
