Global Summit on AIDS & The Church Calls for Public, Private and Parish Sectors To Unite in Response to Worldwide Pandemic: Pastor Rick and Kay Warren Host More Than 1,700 at Event Featuring International Dignitaries, Political Figures and Inter...( LAKE FOREST Calif. Dec 1 -- The ...),Health

LAKE FOREST, Calif., Dec 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The third annual Saddleback Global Summit on AIDS & The Church concluded yesterday with a challenge from Dr. Rick and Kay Warren to the more than 1,700 attendees for the Church to lead with love in the global response to HIV/AIDS.

"People with HIV/AIDS need to have the invisible God made visible to them -- that is our purpose," Mrs. Warren said. "There are many things we don't know about this epidemic, but what we do know is that individuals living with this disease need at least six things: acceptance, hope, support, to know people care, a family and our presence."

Dr. Rick Warren emphasized that his church did not do this conference for a cause, but rather for a person, Jesus Christ. "If you want to know how much Jesus loves people with AIDS, just look at the Cross -- He loved people so much it hurt.

"You can't change the world by yourself, but you can change the world for somebody," he added. "It all comes down to whether you accept the world's or Jesus' response to AIDS. The world's response is A.I.D.S.: Avoidance, Intolerance, Distance and Superstition. But Jesus' mandate to respond to people with AIDS is for us to replace each of those with H.O.P.E.: Help, Openness, Presence and Education."

The two and-a-half-day event featured more than 90 international speakers, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; Her Excellency, Mrs. Jeanette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda; Her Excellency, Mrs. Maureen Mwanawasa, First Lady of Zambia; Ambassador Mark Dybul, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator; Dr. Peter Piot, UNAID Executive Director; Dr. Robert Redfield, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland at Baltimore; and Pastor John Ortberg from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Florida., among others representing significant government, business, medicine and faith organizations.

Jay Hein, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, brought greetings to Pastor Ric
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