‘Purpose Driven’ author and pastor Rick Warren continues to win support from Christian retailers

Pastor Rick Warren had a startling revelation the day he baptized 827 adults. As he immersed all those folks he thought, “Wow! Everybody’s fat!” His second thought was, “But I’m fat too! I’m as out of shape as everyone else is!”

That revelation, which he records in the introduction to The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life, became the basis for a new interest in his own health and a doctor-designed plan implemented by 12,000 Saddleback Church members starting in January 2011. Collectively they lost more than 250,000 pounds.

The name of the lifestyle plan is derived from the Old Testament account of Daniel and his friends who chose not to eat the food the king wanted them to eat, but succeeded in remaining healthy with a diet that pleased God.

On sale in stores Dec. 3, The Daniel Plan, “is the biggest release coming from HarperCollins Christian Publishers in fiscal 2014,” said Annette Bourland, senior vice president and group publisher of Zondervan Books.

The Daniel Plan is co-written by Warren, Daniel Amen, M.D., and Mark Hyman, M.D., with the two doctors helping to create and implement the Daniel Plan program at Saddleback. Dr. Mehmet Oz of the Emmy Award-winning The Dr. Oz Show also helped create the plan, but contractual obligations prevented him from co-authoring the book. Others who participated include Saddleback’s Director for the Daniel Plan Dee Eastman and exercise guru Sean Foy.

Warren has had his detractors, however, as some have wondered why he chose the physicians he did rather than professing evangelicals. For instance, Dr. Oz often talks of New Age practices on his television show. Still, Christian retailers, who have been longtime active proponents of Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life (PDL), have voiced support for the new project.

“From the onset, retailers caught the vision of The Purpose Driven Life and understood the consumer demand,” said Londa Alderink, senior marketing director for trade books at Zondervan. “This type of supportive activity—in-store positioning, sale pricing, appropriate stock levels—certainly played a part in the best-selling status of PDL.”

Bookstores ranging from LifeWay Christian Stores to independents such as Baker Book House in Grand Rapids, Mich., have vowed support of The Daniel Plan.

“LifeWay Christian Stores is excited about helping our customers understand and use the innovative products Warren has developed to achieve a healthy lifestyle,” said Marty King, director of communications for LifeWay Christian Resources. 

Sue Smith, manager at Grand Rapids’ Baker Book House, a key independent in Michigan, also supports the launch of The Daniel Plan. 

“PDL was the beginning of an understanding that Christian bookstores could handle such a hot book with huge sales,” Smith said.

That understanding continues with Warren’s The Daniel Plan. 

“We will promote the book, pairing it with Warren’s 10th-anniversary PDL so people can make the connection between the two,” Smith said.

In addition, Zondervan is releasing The Daniel Plan Journal on Dec. 3, followed by a 100-recipe cookbook in April 2014. Apple and Android Daniel Plan apps also will be available this year.

Also included in the array of related products are curriculum kits with a participant’s guide, leader’s guide and DVD featuring all three authors and Foy, who organized the fitness part of Saddleback’s Daniel Plan. The individual pieces are available Dec. 3, with kits available several weeks later. Sony Films, Saddleback and Zondervan also have fitness videos in the works.

Zondervan is offering merchandising kits that include header and shelftalkers for retail endcap displays, as well as a multi-use floor display. The display holds 24 trade-book units and 16 journal units, with a plug that hides a tray that can hold more of the original titles or 12 units of the cookbook. 

Alderink and Bourland see the book placed not in diet or exercise sections of stores, but in Christian Living or Self-Help. 

“My dream is for The Daniel Plan to transform our thinking about health and our value as a person,” Bourland said. “This is not just a book about food or fitness, which are only two-fifths of the book. There is equally weighted importance placed on faith, focus and friends.”

Dr. Amen remembers walking into church one Sunday and experiencing the following: doughnuts for sale for charity; bacon and sausage on griddles; hot dogs being grilled for lunch; and the minister talking about an ice cream social.

“During the service I prayed that God would use me to change the culture of food at church,” Amen said. “Two weeks later Rick Warren called and said he was fat, his congregation was fat—and could I help?”

Between August 2010 and January 2011, the doctors built the program, which launched Jan. 15, 2011.

“Our plan all along was to pilot the Daniel Plan at Saddleback, but to bring it to churches worldwide,” Amen said.

For Dr. Amen, a psychiatrist, the Daniel Plan is about getting the brain right, which, in turn, helps the body and soul get right.

“There aren’t just physical consequences to bad food choices, but mental, emotional and spiritual consequences,” he said.

Bourland and Alderink have fielded questions about why Warren has spearheaded such a book so soon after the death of his son Matthew. Warren, they said, believes that all five Fs of the book—faith, food, fitness, focus and friends—contribute to a mentally healthy life. Warren’s son struggled with negative thoughts and depression, and Warren sees The Daniel Plan as a first step toward mental health.

Alderink said booksellers across the world are responding. Zondervan cites retailers in South Africa, where the number-one health issue is obesity, as especially excited about the release. There also have been numerous conversations about translation rights.

“When I signed up, it wasn’t just to get Saddleback Church healthy, but to change the vision of health for the global church,” Amen said. 

Said Zondervan’s Bourland: “We see the potential of The Daniel Plan to be a movement within the church, much like The Purpose Driven Life.”

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