Craig Groeschel Biography
Craig Groeschel is an American minister, author, and speaker. He is the founder and senior pastor of Life. Church, an American evangelical multi-site church with locations in ten U.S. states.
Craig attended Ardmore High School and later joined Oklahoma City University on a tennis scholarship and was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and received a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.
He entered the ministry as an associate pastor in the United Methodist Church in 1991. He also attended Phillips Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and earned a Master of Divinity degree.
Groeschel was also an associate pastor at First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City during the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.
Craig Groeschel Age
Groeschel was born on 2 December 1967 in Houston, Texas. He is 51 years old as of 2018.
Craig Groeschel Family
Groeschel has not yet disclosed any information concerning his father, mother, and siblings.
Life Church Wife
Groeschel met his wife Amy shortly after his graduation and the two married in 1991. The couple has six children and one grandchild, two sons-in-law: Catie and her husband Andrew, Mandy, and her husband James, Sam, Anna, Stephen, and Joy.
The couple and their family live in Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, where Life.
Life Church Craig Groeschel | Church
Craig, his wife Amy, and a handful of people started Life. Church in a two-car garage in Edmond, Oklahoma in January 1996. Groeschel later told Business Week that he started the process by performing market research on non-churchgoers and designed his church in response to what he learned. His non-traditional style was successful and attendance of Life Covenant grew rapidly, eventually evolving to become (as of January 2019) the largest Protestant church in the United States with 32 Life. Church campuses.
He began using video to deliver some of his sermons when his fourth child was born in 2001, and he was unavailable for the Sunday service. He discovered that the videos were popular with his churchgoers. Groeschel set up a website called Mysecret.tv as a place for people to confess anonymously on the Internet. He also began delivering his services to the Second Life virtual world on Easter Sunday 2007. Craig started the free Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast in 2016.
In 2007 and 2008, Life.Church was named America’s Most Innovative Church by Outreach Magazine. Its innovations include its free resource library with sermons, transcripts, videos, artwork, and a team that develops free software like ChurchOnlinePlatform.com and YouVersion the Bible app, which had been downloaded over 200 million times as of December 2015.
Life.Church was listed on Newsmax’s “top 50 megachurches of America”, with approximately 100,000 people attending weekly as of 2015.
Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
Craig’s podcast brings empowering insights in about 30 minutes or less. Each episode gives you easy-to-understand takeaways you can use to lead yourself and lead your team. You get timely insights from Pastor Craig and his guests to make the most of your leadership potential. Someone also learns to solve problems in new ways, and you’ll be empowered to take your next steps in leading others.
You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, YouTube, and Spotify.
Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast Notes
Groeschel offers downloadable show notes for Episodes 1 and 2 of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast “Six Types of Leaders.” They are an overview of the six different kinds of leaders and learn how to be an even better leader.
Craig Groeschel Books
Some of Craig’s books include:
Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life
The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist
Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World
Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are
Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not
Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most
Daily Power: 365 Days of Fuel for Your Soul
Chazown
WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working
It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It
Liking Jesus: Intimacy and Contentment in a Selfie-Centered World
Fight
#Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World
Love, Sex, and Happily Ever After
Dare to Drop the Pose
Chazown: Discover and Pursue God’s Purpose for Your Life
Going All the Way: Preparing for a Marriage That Goes the Distance
Fight Craig Groeschel
In Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most, Groeschel helps you uncover who you really are―a man created in the image of God with a warrior’s heart―and how to fight the good fight for what’s right. You will find the strength to fight the battles you know you need to fight―the ones that determine the state of your heart, the quality of your marriage, and the spiritual health of your family.
He also uses the Bible, including that of Samson. By looking at Samson’s life, you’ll learn how to defeat the demons that make strong men weak. You’ll become who God made you be: A man who knows how to fight for what’s right.
Words To Live By Craig Groeschel
Examples of words to live by Craig;
- Jesus is first in my life. I exist to serve and glorify Him.
- I love my wife and will lay down my life to serve her.
- My children will love God and serve Him with their whole hearts. I will nurture, equip, train, and empower them to do more for His kingdom than they can imagine.
- I love people and believe the best about others.
- I am disciplined. Christ in me is stronger than the wrong desires in me.
- I am growing closer to Jesus every day. Because of Christ, my family is closer, my body is stronger, my faith is deeper, my leadership is sharper.
- I am anointed, empowered, equipped and called to reach people far from God.
Divine Direction Craig Groeschel
In Divine Direction, Craig shows how the choices that are in your power, if aligned with biblical principles, will lead to a life you’ve never imagined.
It helps you seek wisdom through seven principles. You’ll consider one thing to stop that’s hindering you; how to start a new habit to re-direct your path; where you should stay committed; and when you should go even if it’s easier to stay. The book also includes criteria that will help you feel confident in the right choice, and encourages you with principles for trusting God with your decisions.
Craig Groeschel Salary
Groeschel’s salary is not established since he is also the founder of the church.
Craig Groeschel’s Net Worth
According to wallmine.com, Groeschel owns over 7,059 units of Gulfport stock worth over $108,495 and is worth an estimated $388 thousand.
Craig Groeschel House
On his Facebook page, Craig shared that with his wife, their first house had lots of problems. They did not have money to fix any of them. When they put the house up for sale, they told the realtor that one of the outlets didn’t work. They would run an orange electrical cord to the kitchen just so they could watch TV. The realtor found a light switch and asked what it did. They said they had never figured it out. to their surprise, it turned on the electrical outlet! All that time the power was available to them, and they just didn’t tap into it.
Craig Groeschel Quotes
Some of Craig’s quotes include:
- “Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU.” …
- “May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. …
- “God doesn’t want us to be happy when it causes us to do something wrong or unwise”
- “As you’ll recall, what you believe — about who you are and who God is — determines how you behave. If you believe everybody is going to criticize you, you’ll behave cautiously. If you believe you’re probably going to fail, you’re going to venture out tentatively. If, however, you believe that the one true Lord God is calling you, empowering you, leading you, and equipping you, then you will live boldly. Why? Because boldness is behavior born of belief.”
- “There is no sin too great for God’s grace. There is no habit too big for his healing. There is no label too strong for his love.”
- “We would do well to remember that envy is clearly the flint that ignites evil in our hearts. It apparently signals “I’m available” to demons searching for a cheap date. Envy is as volatile as nitroglycerin, and we cannot carry it inside us without evil exploding.”
