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. 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. In 2013, Harvest Christian Fellowship celebrated its 40th anniversary. 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 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. 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, 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).

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 and Australia. 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.

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.

Greg Laurie and his wife have five grandchildren.

Publications

• The Seeker's Bible : New Testament : New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers. 2000. ISBN 0-8423-3928-0.
• Every Day with Jesus : First Steps for New Believers. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers. 2004. ISBN 1-4143-0075-1.
• Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners : How to Finish Strong in the Spiritual Race. New York: Warner Faith. 2005. ISBN 0-446-50015-1.
• Wrestling with God. S.l: Multnomah Pub. 2006. ISBN 1-59052-894-8.
• Let God Change Your Life: How to Know and Follow Jesus. U.K.: David C. Cook. 2011. ISBN 978-1-4347-0207-4.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]