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Historical Biography on Craig Groeschel 1 Running head: HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 1 Historical Biography on Craig Groeschel Osvaldo A. Alvarado Southeastern University HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 2 Historical Biography on Craig Groeschel Historically, there have been several men and women who have impacted both the world and church in very significant ways. Names in this list include: Billy Graham, Dorothy Day, and William J. Seymour (Carter, 2010). Craig Groeschel is chosen because he focuses specifically at how modern technology impacts the church, and, based on this, illustrates how the church can use technology to reach the world. Background Groeschel is the founder and lead minister of Life.Church, one of the largest churches in America. He is married, has six children, and lives in Oklahoma (“Life.Church | Who we are”, n.d.). He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing at Oklahoma City University, and a Master of Divinity at Phillips Theological Seminary. Groeschel was serving as an associate pastor at a Methodist Church in Oklahoma City during the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (“Craig Groeschel”, n.d.). Groeschel became an associate pastor at the Methodist church, when the then senior pastor, Neil Harris, was impressed with many young men that would come to church to hear Groeschel. One Sunday, about three rows of young men were filled. When Pastor Harris discovered the young men came because of Groeschel, he hired him on the spot (Hinton, 2016). While at the Methodist church, Groeschel led a successful Friday night young adults program, drawing many young people to receive his guidance and influence. His program was so fruitful; the Friday night attendance reportedly would be larger than the Sunday services. He was interested in starting a Methodist church first, but the denomination turned him down, stating he was not “seasoned” to pastor his own church (Hinton, 2016). HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 3 He started Life.Church in 1996: then called Life Covenant Church, in a Dance studio with 40 people attending (Hinton, 2016). When the growing church he founded finally found a location of their own in 2001, Groeschel ensured that the building itself would be welcoming to his target audience. He was not interested in a traditional looking church building. Attendance at the new location eventually swelled, making a second location imperative. The first satellite location for the young church was established then (Hinton, 2016). Life.Church is still part of the Evangelical Covenant Church (Byassee, 2010). The pioneering model (at the time) of using a videotape of his sermon for the satellite location happened by accident. Groeschel would normally preach six times on the weekend: first at the main location, and later he would preach at the satellite location. Soon, his wife Amy was due to give birth on a Sunday evening, and the church leadership decided to show the video of the sermon earlier that day so that he could be at the hospital with his wife. The leadership team noticed the satellite location did not react negatively and everything flowed as if it was a live sermon experience (Hinton, 2016). Hinton includes a short video featuring Craig Groeschel personally sharing some of these background details (Hinton, 2016). The Impact Satellite Churches Hinton (2016) reports that, after 20 years, the church has 24 locations, with an estimated attendance of 70,000 people. When they first started in 2001 with the satellite concept, only a few churches in America were experimenting with that option. Today, Life.Church uses live video streaming instead of video tapes. HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 4 YouVersion Bible App In 2008, the church offered a free Bible app, called YouVersion (Hinton, 2016). YouVersion is more than a Bible reading app, it allows for engagement in various ways. For example, the user can choose from a myriad of Bible reading plans. The app tracks the progress to completion. The app allows for notes and highlighting, among other interesting features (Robison, 2015). Another way the user can operate the app is to share their notes with other people in their region who also have the app and allow for interaction with others (“YouVersion”, n.d.). Today, more than 270 million people use the Bible app and it is available in 1,074 languages (“YouVersion”, n.d.). The Bible App for Kids Life.Church uses their financial resources to bless churches and families. This is evident with The Bible App for Kids. The app has free videos, curriculum, the Bible in storybook form, and various activities. Parents can use an aspect of the app to disciple their children during the week. Churches have access to a free two-year course with video episodes and activities, for ages two through kindergarten (“The Bible App for Kids”, n.d.). Church Online Groeschel claims that Life. Church was the first to offer an online experience of worship and spiritual fulfillment. It was launched in 2006: in 2015, 5 million computers interacted with Church Online (Hinton, 2016). In a video interview with Randy Robison, Groeschel personally shares how the online church allows for interaction that “cannot happen in a physical church building,” (Robison, 2015). He also states that this way they can present the gospel in Muslim countries that do not allow Christians to do gospel work. HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 5 Open.Life.Churh Life.Church gives away Groeschel’s sermons free to registered pastors. This includes access to full video sermons, outlines, artwork, small group follow-up questions, worship sets, and other useful content (“Life.Church | Who we are”, n.d.). This same app gives resources for youth and children ministries. Church Metrics Under Groeschel’s leadership, Life.Church offers tools for church administration. Church metrics track attendance performance and giving, it offers reports, and it also organizes different campuses or ministries (“Open.Life.Church”, n.d.). Church Online Platform This resource helps churches offer their own church services online. It offers live chat and note taking for users watching the local church service online. This resource also allows for YouVersion integration. Viewers who connect online can share their devotional reading and questions (“Features | Church Online”, n.d.). Develop.me This software app helps develop employees by keeping track of trainings and performance review. Employees can also see and track their own growth and development through the app interface (“Develop.me”, n.d.). Leadership Podcast Groeschel personally teaches and equips churches on many practical subjects, like hiring people and sharpening communication skills, as well as creating an empowering culture (“Life.Church | Who we are”, n.d.). HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 6 Books by Craig Groeschel Groeschel has written ten books. Some are written to go hand-in-hand with a sermon series. It (2008), was written to help the pastor be a great leader. The book has great questions like, “Why do some leaders and organizations have it and some don’t?” Groeschel then lists seven qualities that are often present in great leaders and organizations: vision, focus, camaraderie, innovation, humility, outreach and abundance (Groeschel, 2008). Philosophy Bobby Gruenewald is on staff at Life.Church as Innovation Leader. His role is to explore new ideas, finding out what the trends in today’s culture are, and leverage them for the global church. He oversees every groundbreaking app, ministry, and tool that Life.Church offers to other congregations and the world. His areas of oversight include: YouVersion, Open Network, Church Online, Creative Media, Spaces & Places, and Communications. He is also a contributing editor for Outreach Magazine. Gruenewald was asked by Outreach Magazine to interview Craig Groeschel on matters regarding philosophy. Gruenewald asked Groeschel what his early years in traditional church taught him. Groeschel states that he feels the United Methodist Church put constraints and restraints on his ideas; causing him to think inside the box. He was not allowed to start a satellite church with the UMC, so he led a Friday night ministry to young adults instead. Groeschel adds, “Every time our church hit a plateau, God had to help me think in a way different way” (Gruenewald, 2015). Groeschel explains that, from the moment he started the church in 1996, he wanted people to feel “comforted and confronted…” He adds, “Twenty years later, the church looks a lot different, but our values are the same. Each week we help people feel welcome, and each HISTORICAL PAPER ON CRAIG GROESCHEL 7 week we unapologetically present the gospel, inviting people to turn from their sins and become disciples of Jesus” (Gruenewald, 2015). Groeschel also views the current attendance numbers as nothing when compared with the amount of lost people. In the October 2015 interview, Groeschel states one weekend they broke a record of 100,000 people in their services, while their usual numbers hover around 70,000. “Honestly, those numbers don’t seem so big to me, because they’re so small in comparison to those not yet reached…We still have so much yet to do” (Gruenewald, 2015). Instead of giving struggling churches advice on what to do, Groeschel prefers to challenge the church to think differently. For churches that have reached their limits on outreach, a good question to ask is: “How is your “evangelistic passion for the lost”? (Gruenewald, 2015). Performance is important for Groeschel and Life.Church. “We believe that where performance is measured, performance improves” (Gruenewald, 2015). Groeschel is thinking biblically. In Luke 9:1-10, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to do practical ministry. The scripture records Jesus giving the disciples power to cast out devils and cure diseases. The passage states that, when the disciples returned, they reported to Jesus what happened. Jesus then took them with him to a different town.
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