PRNewswire - November 30, 2005

LAKE FOREST, Calif., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Rick Warren and his wife Kay Tuesday opened the historic two-day Disturbing Voices HIV/AIDS conference -- the first-ever symposium designed to address this critical issue around a local church-based strategy -- by challenging the nearly 1700 international pastors and Christian leaders gathered at Saddleback Valley Community Church to break the stigma and set the pace for care and treatment by providing a safe place for persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

"When we hear about all these people suffering from HIV/AIDS, we get mad and ask, 'God, why don't you do something about this,' and Jesus says, 'I'm asking you the same question,'" Dr. Warren said. "We ask, 'God, what is Your plan for this illness,' and He says, "You, the Church, are My plan.'"

Kay Warren set the tone for the day when she said that this conference was intended to be a 'wake-up call and a kick in the butt' to open the eyes of people in the Church to realize that in addition to facing a medical crisis, the HIV/AIDS pandemic also represents a spiritual crisis.

"It is a good thing that God was listening to the cries of His children, because we certainly weren't -- I wasn't," Kay Warren said. "We need to create a place where people in our congregation don't just care about people thousands of miles away, but also care about people right here, sitting in these chairs week after week, telling no one they are ill or that they think they are sick."

Kay Warren explained after reading an article about the African AIDS pandemic in a news magazine three years ago that she could not quiet the conversation in her head about the topic -- no matter how hard she tried.

"When I turned on the television, there was some AIDS statistic scrolling across the bottom of the screen, or some newspaper article about the human toll," Mrs. Warren said. "I could not escape it for the next several days, and I was seriously disturbed by the thoughts running in my head. I began to understand that I was disturbed by the very things that disturb God."

The conference schedule features 54 plenary and workshop speakers bringing medical, humanitarian, political and religious expertise; video messages from Uganda and Rwanda First Ladies; and testimonies from individuals currently living with the deadly virus.

The opening session included keynote addresses from Claude Allen, Chief Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Patrick Purtill, Director of Department of Justice Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives who spoke in place of Ambassador Randall Tobias, U. S. Global AIDS Coordinator, who was ill and could not attend.

Both men spoke not only about the US government's current programs in response to the AIDS pandemic, but also gave personal perspectives on their personal commitment to and involvement with the growing global crisis.

Claude Allen cited sobering statistics, including the current rate of 40,000 new cases diagnosed in the United States, 11 percent of which involve young people aged 13-23 years. "It is important to find a cure, but we will never be able to treat our way out of this pandemic," Mr. Allen said. "The only way is by effective prevention methods in the community. I believe this begins first and foremost at the Church."

According to Patrick Purtill, faith-based providers are often present where the need is greatest and no one else would go. "They extend our reach to people and places the U. S. Government could never get to on our own," he said. "Because of their deep roots in the community they can help nations achieve the kind of sustainability that Ambassador Tobias has been advocating and that the President has been demanding."

The afternoon session included presentations from Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, Senior Scientific Consultant for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), who was one of the first researchers to be published on the topic of AIDS as it burst onto the healthcare stage back in 1981 and Dr. Robert Redfield, Co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland. Jim Towey, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and Pastor Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church and his wife Lynne, echoed the need for the Church to engage locally and globally.

Mr. Towey recounted his days working with Mother Teresa at her Washington, DC AIDS home where he personally cared for people there as they lived and died with HIV/AIDS, and said that he found they not only did the sick and dying need his help, but that through the process he learned that he also needed them. "We have the delusion we are well and need to minister to the sick, but the Lord uses the sick to minister to us," he said.

"When people come to us who are sick, we don't need to ask how or why, but just love them and give them an opportunity for a new life," said Pastor Hybels. His wife Lynne added, "The only institution as widespread as the AIDS virus in Africa is the Church."

Dr. Redfield echoed the critical role the Church would play in implementing sustainable solutions and providing necessary leadership to bring about an equity in global health. "The AIDS epidemic is the ultimate opportunity of our time for the Christian community to become the central key to the solution as we bring forth the ideals of our faith, follow the example of Christ and to redirect the global health efforts in our nation and our world for the benefit of all. There is no better placed to confront AIDS than in the context of the Church," he said.

For more information on Day 2 of the conference and for World AIDS Day activities scheduled for Thursday, December 1 -- including a service of prayer and remembrance, acts of community service and a concluding a public concert featuring Wynona Judd and 11 other headliner bands, visit the conference website at http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/AIDS/Overview.htm .

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

A. Larry Ross 469/774-6362

Whitney Kelley 214/457-1398

SOURCE Saddleback Valley Community Church

Web Site: http://www.purposedriven.com/en-US/Events/AIDS/Overview.htm

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