Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life (Zondervan), plans to launch a daily radio show starting the first week of April, The Christian Post reported.

Speaking Feb. 12 at a media gathering at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Warren said the 30-minute show, which will be called "Daily Hope," will focus on bringing "hope to a country that is in a discouragement period," and talked of "the deterioration of religious freedom in the United States and around the world."

Warren never before wanted to syndicate his messages or become a televangelist, but he changed his mind regarding a radio show due to the "discouragement" currently being felt nationwide, citing the weak economic recovery, high unemployment, the shooting in Newtown, Conn., and the "coarsening of society," The Christian Post reported.

"People are far more rude now than they used to be," said Warren, who has pastored Saddleback Church for 32 years. "Our civilization is losing its civility. We just don't know how to be nice to people."