Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie
Born (1952-12-10) December 10, 1952
Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship, Riverside & Irvine, CA
Employer Greg Laurie Ministries
Title Senior Pastor, CEO
Religion Evangelical Christian
Children 2

Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American clergyman who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California. He is also an author.

Ministry

Laurie, who was born in Long Beach, California, became a Christian in 1970 at Newport Harbor High School under the ministry of evangelist Lonnie Frisbee.[1] At the age of 19, under the ministry of Calvary Chapel Pastor Chuck Smith, he was given the opportunity to lead a Bible study of 30 people. The church that formed from this group, Harvest Christian Fellowship, has grown to become one of the largest churches in the United States.[2] In 2013, Harvest Christian Fellowship celebrated its 40th anniversary.[3] The church has another dedicated campus in Irvine as well as three satellite campuses (Woodcrest, Eastvale, and South Corona—all in California) with a congregation of some 15,000 people, and also houses more than 80 ministries.

Laurie holds two honorary doctorates from Biola University and Azusa Pacific University. He serves on the board of directors for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association[4] In 2013, Laurie served as the Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

Publishing and media

Laurie has written more than 70 books, including The Upside-Down Church (1999, co-authored with David Kopp): this book won a Gold Medallion Book Award in the "Christian ministry' category in 2000.[5] Laurie has written study notes for The New Believer's Bible and The Seeker's Bible. He also wrote the notes for the Start! Bible in the New King James Version, published by Thomas Nelson. Another more recent book is a commentary on the book of Revelation.

His autobiographical documentary film Lost Boy: The Next Chapter has won eight awards at international film festivals in the best documentary category. In 2013, Laurie completed another film, Hope for Hurting Hearts, which features his story of coming through tragedy.

Host of the syndicated radio program A New Beginning,[6] Laurie has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. He is also a guest commentator at Worldnetdaily.com and appears regularly in a weekly television program called GregLaurie.tv on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).[7]

Laurie is a speaker for public evangelistic events called Harvest Crusades, founded in 1990. They are large-scale evangelistic outreach projects which local churches organize nationally and internationally. It has been estimated that more than 4.7 million people have attended Harvest Crusades in California, Chicago, Seattle, Oregon, Philadelphia, New York, Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, New Zealand[8] and Australia.[9] In 2012, Harvest Crusades launched Harvest America a nationwide simulcast from one location to about 2,400 venues. About 37,000 people attended the live event in Anaheim, California and more than 270,000 people watched live, making it one of the largest Christian outreach events in U.S. history.[10]

Personal life

Laurie resides in Newport Beach with his wife, Catherine. The couple had two sons, Christopher, born in 1975 and Jonathan, born in 1986.

Laurie's oldest son, Christopher Laurie, died on July 24, 2008 at age 33 as the result of a freeway collision with a California Department of Transportation sweeper truck. The California Highway Patrol reported that Laurie's son was driving at a high rate of speed at the time of the collision; Laurie had a history of speeding and reckless driving citations at the time of his death.[11][12]

Greg Laurie and his wife have five grandchildren.[13]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Frisbee, Lonnie; Sachs, Roger (2012). Not By Might Nor By Power. Santa Maria, CA: Freedom Publications. pp. 125–126. ISBN 0978543319.
  2. ↑ "Top 100 Largest Churches (2008)". Outreach Magazine 2008. Retrieved 2010-08-03. or "The 2010 Outreach 100 Listings of America's Largest and Fastest-Growing Churches". Outreach Magazine / LifeWay Research. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  3. ↑ christianpost.com. Greg Laurie, Harvest to Celebrate 40 Years of 'Knowing God and Making Him Known'
  4. ↑ Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 2006 Annual Report, p. 18
  5. ↑ Evangelical Christian Publishers Association 2000 Gold Medallion Book Awards Winners
  6. ↑ "Oneplace.com". Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  7. ↑ "GregLaurie.tv on TBN". Retrieved 2012-04-10.
  8. ↑ "US pastor to reap NZ crop". stuff.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  9. ↑ "Greg Laurie Seeks Churches, Venues to Host Harvest America Event". christianpost.com. 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "christianpost.com". Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  11. ↑ Joanne Brokaw. "Christopher Laurie, son of preacher Greg Laurie, killed in car accident". Belief Net. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ Ellyn Pak and Laura Ashbaugh (July–August 2008). "Community still stunned by death of prominent pastor's son". OC Register. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Harvest Church - Greg Laurie Biography". Harvest Church. Retrieved November 28, 2015.

External links

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