"Life with a Purpose"
Transcript of TVShow #1

TV Show #1
Broadcasted in the Spring/Summer of 2005

Hello and welcome to "Life with a Purpose"
with Dr. Diane M. Hoffmann
Presented by the Link School of Ministries…

Following the recent big blow up of the book "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren in March 2005 all over the national and international biggest television broadcasting stations, it is quite natural to pick up on the aftermath about the meaning of life.

(If you'd like to buy a copy of the book for yourself, I'll be giving you a link below after the show.)

You will recall the news story about Bryan Nichols who shot and killed a judge, during his court process, and then a guard and someone else during his escape, ending up in the parking lot looking for a place to hide.

A woman who happened to go out to the convenience store late that night was captured by him as a hostage where the rest of the story unfolded until she reported him to the authority when she was able to get out of the house a couple of days later.

During the time she was held by the fugitive in her house, she shared a chapter of a book she happened to be reading at that time. You can read the whole story at
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/111/31.0.html .

The book was the one I mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, and several days of coverage ensued as a result of the media interviewing the author as well as many other evangelists - Christians and non-Christians, on the "purpose of life" as it touches people in society today.

The purpose of this topic being discussed in this series of TV shows is that literally millions of people have bought and read the book in the past years and now, with this story, millions more went and bought it as well.

But there are many concerns raised by some of the issues covered in the book. And this is the point from which we pick up with this series of TV Shows on "Life with a Purpose" …

The "concerns" discussed begin with the question of many in the world today, "What is my purpose in life?" or "What am I here for?".

In his book, Rick Warren identifies 5 "purposes" for which he says we are here or for which we have been created, placed on this earth:

1. For worship.
2. For fellowship.
3. For discipleship.
4. For ministry.
5. For evangelism.

This is wonderful for Christians.

The problem with the above, however, is that non-Christians cannot relate to this.

As a matter of fact that is one of the problems with the book "The Purpose Driven Life" -- it is written for a Christian audience.

However, there are a lot more people asking the question "What am I here for?" who are not Christians. Those who have become Christians - and by Christians I mean true born-again Christians - no longer ask that question because they have attained the knowledge of the 5 purposes mentioned above and they understand that.

So my concern and the purpose for this series of TV shows is to reach those who may have read the book and found it not to be relevant to their lives and to reach those who may not have read the book but are still asking that famous question "Who am I and what am I here for?".

To those folks, the above 5 purposes really don't make sense - unless they are predisposed to receive this teaching or they are ready to become Christians. Which was the case with Bryan Nicholls, in spite of what has been said about the scenario that took place when he took that woman hostage and she read him from the book.

Apparently she was on chapter 33 at that time and read him that chapter which he was open to receive. But not all people are pre-disposed to receiving such a message. His background in the church had made him familiar and this really picked up from where he had left his faith earlier in his life.

But for people who are not at that stage in their lives, the above 5 purposes really don't mean anything. As a matter of fact many people who read the book did not get anything out of it and put it down before reaching the end. Some interesting comments can be read on amazon.com in the review section.

But to these non-Christian folks, the 5 purposes mentioned above may be better understood by the following interpretation of each:

1. To know and love God (for worship).
2. To learn to love others (for fellowship).
3. To grow up spiritually (for discipleship).
4. To serve him (for ministry).
5. To carry out a mission (for evangelism).

Except that #4 and #5 would be a problem to them at this time also. This is one of the concerns that I've talked about earlier for which I have chosen to run a series of programs.

Other concerns, we will talk about in the next show.

'Till then, the tip of the day is: "Read the Bible"

The quote of the day is: ""The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

Have a great and wonderful week!.

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