Also included in the first issue are excerpts from Warren’s personal interview with president-elect Barack Obama at the Saddleback Civil Forum in August.
Practical steps for growth and opportunities for service and mission will also accompany the articles and encourage readers to participate in opportunities using the related Web site.
"It is rare indeed to be able to call something 'revolutionary' in our highly-developed world," said Mark Affleck, executive director of Purpose Driven Connection. "This is just that - an entirely new and never-before-seen model for how people can not only discover their purpose in life, but to also interact with others through the online community, small group network and the global PEACE initiative."
Saddleback Church’s PEACE Plan, developed by Warren, is an initiative to mobilise millions of Christians to fight the five global giants: spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease and illiteracy/education.
On a whole, the Purpose Driven Connection platforms will all be “purpose driven”, designed to reinforce the five purposes Jesus identified in the Great Commandment and Great Commission: Knowing Christ, Relating to His family, Growing in Christ, Serving Christ, and Sharing Christ.
The Great Commandments corresponds to the five biblical purposes of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and missions as discussed in Warren’s books The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church.
“We are excited about this new partnership and its unprecedented potential for exponential impact, especially in the 68 countries where local churches have launched the PEACE plan,” Warren said.
Reader’s Digest Association’s Alyce Alston, president of RDA’s Home & Garden and Health & Wellness affinities, calls the project with Saddleback one of the company’s “most important and far-reaching ventures ever – spanning the globe with several of our core communication capabilities”.
“Together we are creating an authentic category-busting multimedia suite that will help millions of people in their daily lives - including those who already follow the purpose driven principles, as well as seekers everywhere looking for greater fulfillment," Alston said.
Since The Purpose Driven Life was released in 2002, it has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and has been read by 19 percent of Americans.
