That's what concerns people like Wendy Kaminer, a liberal author who has written about Warren. Rebranding won't change the fact that he is part of a large, influential conservative movement that threatens the rights of others. "From my perspective," she says, "seeing them gain power is not a good thing."

Take the issue of gay rights. On the one hand, Warren says he and Kay have had dinner with gay couples who are their allies in the fight against AIDS. "I'm no homophobic guy," he says. "I have a church full of people who are caring for gays who are dying of AIDS." But he also says that he would counsel gays and lesbians to adopt a heterosexual lifestyle. "In looking at the hierarchy of evil, I would say homosexuality is not the worst sin," he says. "I just believe it's not the natural way. Certain body parts are meant to fit together. And that's all I have to say about it."

The hell question is another one that comes up when Warren speaks to diverse audiences. Because he does not want to sound harsh, Warren says things like "people who don't accept what Jesus said will end up where Jesus said they'd go." Lynda Resnick, a Los Angeles business executive and philanthropist who got into a debate with Warren in Aspen, came away liking him despite the hell problem. Besides, she says: "I suspect there'll be more people going where I'm going than where he's going. We'll be doing the hora, eating Chinese food, and wearing Indian saris."

Warren understands that religious differences can't be easily bridged. The world's religions "totally contradict each other" and are "mutually exclusive," he says. He wants to avoid doctrinal debates and play down the culture wars to do something about poverty and spiritual emptiness in Africa—and, of course, to get more people to accept Jesus Christ as their savior and the Bible as the literal truth. The church remains his No. 1 cause. As with so many things that touch on religion, what you make of Warren and his crusades may depend on where you stand.

Drucker, Warren's mentor, wrote in 1998 that the rise of megachurches like Saddleback was the most significant social phenomenon of the past 30 years, comparable to the rise of the corporation in the first half of the century. Judging from the political and social debates of the moment, he may have been right. Now that Rick Warren has entered those debates, he may or may not be able to resolve the contradictions that his role carries with it. But there is no doubt that he has shown himself to be his generation's great religious entrepreneur.