Craig Groeschel (born December 2, 1967) is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church, an American

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

multi-site church A multi-site church is a specific church congregation which holds services at multiple geographical locations, either within a specific metropolitan area or, increasingly, several such areas. Characteristic A multisite church is a local church tha ...

with locations in 12

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Early life and education

Groeschel grew up in southern

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, attending Ardmore High School. After high school, he attended

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

on a tennis scholarship and was a member of the

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fraternity. He earned a bachelor's degree in

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. He met his wife Amy at OCU and the two married in 1991. That same year, Groeschel entered the ministry as an associate pastor in the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

. He attended

Phillips Theological Seminary Phillips Theological Seminary is a private seminary affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was established in 1906 and was originally a part of the now defunct Phillips University. History T ...

, which is affiliated with the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

and earned a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

degree. He was an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

at the time of the 1995

Oklahoma City Bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

Pastoral career

In 1996, Groeschel and a handful of people started Life Covenant Church in a two-car garage. He later told ''Business Week'' that he started the process by performing market research of non-churchgoers and designed his church in response to what he learned about people's preconceptions about boring church experiences. Groeschel's non-traditional style was successful and attendance of Life Covenant grew rapidly, eventually evolving to become the largest Protestant church in the United StatesCathy Lynn Grossman
"Multi-site churches mean pastors reach thousands"

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, December 17, 2009. with 44 physical Life.Church locations as of 2022. Groeschel began using videos to deliver some of his sermons, when his fourth child was born in 2001, and he was unavailable for the Sunday service, discovering that the videos were popular with his churchgoers. In 2006, he set up a website called ''Mysecret.tv'' as a place for people to confess anonymously on the Internet. Groeschel also began delivering his services to the

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on Easter Sunday 2007. Life.Church was named America's Most Innovative Church by '' Outreach Magazine'' in 2007 and 2008. Life.Church innovations include its free resource library with sermons, transcripts, videos, artwork, and a team that develops free software lik
ChurchOnlinePlatform.com
and

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the Bible app, which had been downloaded over 200 million times as of December 2015, and hit 500 million downloads as of November 2021.

Personal life

Groeschel is married to Amy and has six children and seven grandchildren. They live in

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. It is a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, located in Central Oklahoma. Its population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States census, a 16% increase from 2010. maki ...

, a suburb of Oklahoma City, where Life.Church is based.

Business

Groeschel served on the Board of Directors of Gulfport Energy Corporation. Groeschel's 2016 compensation was a grant of 3,824 equity shares on June 10, 2016 with a value of $125,006.56 at close of business that day. On December 15, 2017, Groeschel sold 7,059 shares of Gulfport Energy stock for $85,837 according to SEC filings. In November 2019, Gulfport Energy announced Groeschel’s resignation from the board.

References

Bibliography

*''Chazown: A Different Way to See Your Life'' (2006) *''Confessions of a Pastor'' (2006) *''Going All the Way: Preparing for a Marriage That Goes the Distance'' (2007) *''It – How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It'' (2008) *''The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist'' (2010) *''Dare To Drop The Pose'' (2010) *''Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working'' (2011) *''Love, Sex, and Happily Ever After'' (2011) *''Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World'' (2012) *''Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are'' (2013) *''Fight: Winning the Battles that Matter Most'' (2013) * ''From this Day Forward: Five Commitments To Fail-Proof Your Marriage'' (2014) * ''#Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-centered World'' (2015) *''Divine Direction: 7 decisions that will change your life'' (2017) *''Hope in the Dark : Believing God is good when life is not'' (2018) *''Dangerous Prayeres: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant To Be Safe'' (2020) *''Winning The War In Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life'' (2021) *''Lead Like It Matters: 7 Leadership Principles For A Church That Lasts'' (2022) *''The Power to Change: Mastering the Habits That Matter Most'' (2023)

External links

Craig Groeschel web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groeschel, Craig 1967 births Living people Oklahoma City University alumni Clergy from Houston People from Edmond, Oklahoma 21st-century American Methodist ministers American United Methodist clergy Oklahoma City Stars men's tennis players