Greg Laurie

1. Early life and conversion: the Jesus Movement origin story

Greg Laurie was born in Long Beach in 1952 and says he came to faith as a teenager during the Jesus Movement, mentored by Lonnie Frisbee and connected early to Calvary Chapel networks; that origin story is central to both his ministry narrative and the biographical film Jesus Revolution ^{[1] [4] [2]}.

2. Institutional role: Harvest Christian Fellowship and affiliations

Laurie has served for decades as senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, which grew from a Jesus Movement Bible study into a multi-campus church and media ministry; his leadership role is the through-line for his radio show, television presence and the Harvest Crusades events he founded in 1990 ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

3. Media and outreach: radio, TV, film and claimed audience reach

Laurie built Harvest Ministries into a multiplatform operation—hosting the syndicated radio program A New Beginning on over 1,200 stations, producing television programs and participating in theatrical and documentary films—and his ministry materials claim annual reach measured in the hundreds of millions to over a billion people and more than one million professions of faith across ministry history ^[2]. The ministry also cites film credits and production involvement, including Jesus Revolution and other faith-themed projects ^{[2] [6]}.

4. The Harvest Crusades: evangelistic scale and numbers

Since 1990 Laurie has led large-scale public evangelistic gatherings called Harvest Crusades, which Harvest-affiliated materials and allied organizations say have drawn millions cumulatively and stadium crowds such as a 2011 Dodger Stadium event of roughly 50,000 attendees—figures his supporters present as evidence of large-scale evangelistic impact ^[5].

5. Public honors and establishment connections

Laurie has been invited into national civic religious moments—he was one of several evangelical leaders at the 2017 National Prayer Service after a presidential inauguration—and has held visible roles such as Honorary Chairman for the National Day of Prayer in prior years, signaling institutional acceptance among parts of the evangelical establishment ^{[1] [5]}.

6. Authorship, messaging and personal history

A prolific author with more than 70 titles to his name, Laurie often frames his teaching around personal testimony and accessible biblical application; his autobiography Lost Boy and related documentary work have been promoted widely by his ministry and allies ^{[6] [5]}. Personal tragedy—his son Christopher died in a 2008 car accident—has also been part of his public story as recounted in ministry biographies ^[1].

7. Critiques, visibility and competing narratives

Despite claims of vast reach, secular reporting and religion scholars have at times noted Laurie’s uneven name recognition outside evangelical circles and cautioned against equating organizational scale with broader cultural influence; a Los Angeles Times profile observed that many religious observers knew little beyond his publicity materials in the 1990s, a reminder that institutional claims and independent reputation can diverge ^[3]. Sources affiliated with Laurie (Harvest.org, ministry bios) understandably emphasize conversions, media reach and production credits, which should be weighed against independent reporting when assessing influence ^{[2] [6] [3]}.

8. What the available reporting does not settle

Public bios and ministry materials strongly present Laurie as a major contemporary evangelist, but available sources here do not provide exhaustive, independent verification of every attendance or reach metric, nor do they catalogue critical scholarship on his theology or political engagements beyond selective public appearances; those are open areas for further reporting and verification ^{[2] [1] [3]}.