In an email to his church, pastor Rick Warren shared details on what sent him to hospital last week and rushed into surgery. 

The Purpose Driven Life author and megachurch pastor said in the email he is now recovering well.

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Warren's hometown newspaper, The Orange County Register, published the email, in which Warren also confirms he'll need a second surgery:

Dear Saddleback Family,

By now you may have heard that I needed an emergency surgery early Thursday morning. At about 7 pm on Wednesday evening while at home by myself, I suddenly doubled over in an attack of excruciating abdominal pain. Kay (his wife) was on a plane just taking off from LAX airport for a 10-hour flight to Northern Ireland where she was scheduled to speak at a conference.

Fortunately, my son, Josh, called me at the same moment of my pain, and he rushed over to drive me to an Urgent Care facility, where the doctor administered shots of antibiotics and a painkiller and advised me to get a CT scan the next morning. But as Josh and I were leaving, my body started shaking uncontrollably, so the Urgent Care doctor insisted that we immediately go to a hospital ER.

At the hospital, the staff got my CT scan which revealed that my intestine had perforated (torn) and was releasing infection into the abdominal area. So I quickly had emergency surgery and I am now recovering.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and love. I love you all back! God has been so good to me. FYI. I've been told that I will need a second surgery after Christmas. Bless you all!

Pastor Rick

In a social media post, Warren's wife, Kay, said that he is expected to be released from hospital sometime this week.