Greg Laurie serves as the Senior
PastorThe word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
of
Harvest Christian FellowshipHarvest Christian Fellowship was founded in 1979 by Greg Laurie in Riverside, CA. Laurie is currently the senior pastor of thirty years. Harvest is a megachurch with a congregation of 15,000 and growing. The eighth largest church in America and third largest in California, they are currently...
in
Riverside, CaliforniaRiverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...
.
Ministry
Laurie, who was born in Long Beach, California, became a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
under the ministry of Pentecostal
evangelistEvangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
Lonnie FrisbeeLonnie Frisbee was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s...
. Then, at the age of 19, he had the opportunity to lead a
Bible-studyIn Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...
of 30 people originally started by Frisbee at All Saints Episcopal Church in Riverside, California. The church that formed from this group has grown to become one of the largest churches in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
http://www.sermoncentral.com/articleb.asp?article=Top-100-Largest-Churches2
Laurie holds two honorary doctorates from
Biola UniversityBiola University is a private, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located near Los Angeles. Biola's main campus is in La Mirada in Los Angeles County, California. In addition, the university has several satellite campuses in Chino Hills, Inglewood, San Diego, and Laguna Hills.-...
and
Azusa Pacific UniversityAzusa Pacific University is a private, inter-denominational, evangelical Christian university located near Los Angeles in suburban Azusa, California. It was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900 in Whittier, California. It began offering degrees in 1939...
. He serves on the boards of directors for the
Billy Graham Evangelistic AssociationThe Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is an organization started by Billy Graham in 1950. The main focus of the BGEA is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible...
and for
Samaritan's PurseSamaritan's Purse is a non-denominational evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that works worldwide to assist people in physical need alongside their Christian missionary work. The organization’s president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelist Billy Graham...
.
Publishing and media
Laurie has written several books, including
The Upside-Down Church (1999, co-authored with David Kopp: the book won a
Gold Medallion Book AwardThe Christian Book Award is an annual award given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association to honor Christian content in several categories, including Bibles, Fiction, Children, Inspiration, Bible Reference, and Non-Fiction. Winners are announced each year at the industry's Executive...
in the "Christian ministry' category
in 2000),
Every Day with Jesus (1993), and
Wrestling with God (2003). he has published
Loser and Winners, Saints and Sinners: how to finish strong in the spiritual race. He also worked as a contributing author of study notes for the
New Believer’s Bible and
The Seeker’s Bible: New Testament : New Living Translation (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2000, ISBN 0842339280).
Host of the television program
Knowing God with Greg Laurie and of the syndicated radio program
A New Beginning, Laurie has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, Fox News,
MSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
, and
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
. He also functions as a guest commentator at
Worldnetdaily.comWorldNetDaily is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from a U.S. conservative perspective. It was founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power" and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.-History:In...
, and appears regularly on the
Trinity Broadcasting NetworkThe Trinity Broadcasting Network is a major American Christian television network. TBN is based in Costa Mesa, California, with auxiliary studio facilities in Irving, Texas; Hendersonville, Tennessee; Gadsden, Alabama; Decatur, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Orlando, Florida; and New...
(TBN).
Laurie also founded (1990) and features as a speaker for public evangelistic events called
Harvest CrusadeThe Harvest Crusades are evangelical Christian events held across the United States and in other countries at the invitation of local churches and Christian leaders. Since 1990, they have been attended by over 4 million people in stadiums, amphitheaters, and like venues. Greg Laurie is the founder...
s — large-scale evangelistic outreach projects which local churches organize nationally and internationally. Well over three million people Harvest Crusades in California, Seattle, Oregon, Philadelphia, New York, Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, New Zealand and Australia.
Personal life
Laurie resides in Newport Beach with his wife, Catherine. They have had two sons, Christopher (1975–2008) and Jonathan (1986). On July 24, 2008 his son Christopher was killed in a traffic crash.
External links