TORONTO — Evangelist and best-selling author Rick Warren and Richard Feachem, who oversees billions in AIDS spending, said this week that they'll team up to channel more money to faith-based groups in Warren's global church network.

The Rev. Warren, founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., claims a network of 400,000 churches of various denominations with similar social concerns. Feachem directs the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which was founded to channel AIDS funding to worthy projects. He has raised nearly $10 billion from donor nations and private groups to fund prevention and treatment efforts in 131 countries.

Together, Warren and Feachem represent a mix of money and influence, and their agreement is typical of the off-stage brokering at the 16th International AIDS Conference.

Feachem says his organization has long sought to fund more faith-based groups, but too few apply, though in many countries, they provide as much as half of all medical services.

Harnessing the power of local churches, Warren says, can put a major dent in HIV, the virus that infects more than 40 million people worldwide and has killed 25 million. "The church is the biggest network in the world," he says. "I can bring you to 10 million villages in the world that don't have a doctor, don't have a post office, they have nothing but a church. But it's already on the ground, and we don't have to hire staff."

Warren is a master at getting his message across. His latest book, "The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?," has sold more than 20 million copies. His newsletter goes out each Wednesday to more than 200,000 pastors around the world.

He says he decided to tackle AIDS four years ago after his wife, Kay, realized the magnitude of the tragedy. His mega-church has begun working in Rwanda to fight poverty, disease and corruption.

Feachem cites Zambia as an example of how a partnership between the Global Fund and faith-based groups might work. Through the Churches Health Association of Zambia, the fund provides $145 million to Christian, Muslim and Bahai groups for AIDS, TB and malaria services.

The association's director, Simon Mphuka, says the Global Fund works well with religious groups, which provide 60 percent of the rural medical care in Zambia. But he said some groups "spoil the good work that they do" because they don't understand that telling people not to have sex until marriage isn't enough for AIDS prevention.

Warren says he believes the only way to stop AIDS is to "save sex for marriage" and train men to respect women. "Everyone knows this is a women's pandemic driven by behavior in men," he says.

He says he won't dictate to others. "Let's everyone do what they can do," he says. "I don't insist a Muslim change his belief to mine before I'll work with him."