News Bits

1. Rick Warren, bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback church, is on the cover of the August 8 Time magazine. This Saturday he'll be interviewing McCain and Obama. Here's more from the Zondervan blog:

... Warren will be interviewing Barak Obama and John McCain on the nationally televised Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency Saturday, August 16, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. PST.

“This will be an historic event. Never have the two candidates been interviewed by a pastor in a church. It will be a great day for all churches, showing the importance of the local church being at the civil table,” said Warren in an email sent to fellow pastors.

Warren confirmed that, at the candidates’ request, this two-hour event will be held in a non-debate format and open to all media. Questions will be posed exclusively by Warren, and each candidate will converse separately with Warren for approximately one hour, beginning with Senator Obama as determined by a coin toss. This historic forum will be the only joint campaign event prior to each party’s national convention.

For more information, visit the Saddleback Civil Forum website (http://www.saddlebackcivilforum.com/).

2. Releasing October 7, Anne Rice's next book, Called out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, is the autobiographical account of her return to faith. The Publishers Weekly review states, "The author finally reclaims her Catholic faith in the late 1990s, describing it as a movement toward total surrender to God. She writes beautifully about how through clouds of doubt and pain she finds clarity, realizing how much she loved God and desired to surrender her being, including her writing talent, to God."

What a great story this will be to read. Kudos to Anne for writing of her journey, and even more kudos for keeping on the path.