"20 Years and Counting" with Craig Groeschel - Life.Church

“What Kind of Church Will We Be?”

Scripture References

• Acts 2:42-47
• Acts 4

Overview

On Life.Church’s 20-year anniversary, Pastor Craig looks back to the same passage—and even the same sermon title—he used in the garage on opening Sunday. Acts 2 paints a picture of believers who are fully devoted, radically generous, and unashamed to share Jesus. Those three “we will” commitments shaped the first gathering and, he insists, must still shape the church’s future. Looking ahead, Craig outlines four fresh pursuits that flow from the same heartbeat: love Jesus passionately, launch new churches, leverage technology, and keep leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Main Points

We Will Be Intensely Devoted

• Acts 2 says the early believers “devoted themselves” to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer—no casual, cultural Christianity.
• Story: Jerome, a former drug dealer with four fingers, ran the overhead projector in the garage. After coming to Christ he memorized 53 Bible chapters, married Shanana (a former stripper who also met Jesus), adopted three children, funds missions in Sierra Leone, and runs a tech business—evidence of what full devotion can do.
• Craig’s mantra from day one: “We don’t go to church; we are the church.”
  Consumers ask, “Who will meet my needs?” Devoted followers ask, “How can I serve?”

We Will Be Irrationally Generous

• Acts 2 and 4 show believers selling property so “there were no needy persons among them.”
• Moment in the garage: During the very first offering, Craig told anyone in need to take cash from the bucket—setting a generosity culture.
• Decision to give every Life.Church resource away free (prompted by Bobby Greenwald) sparked a giving wave:
  • 185,000 churches downloaded resources last year.
  • The YouVersion Bible App (also free) has surpassed 200 million installs.
  • Today the church is completely debt-free across 24 campuses.
• Foundational belief: “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

We Will Unapologetically Share Jesus

• Acts 2:47—“The Lord added to their number daily.” Craig dreamed of seven salvations a week; day one in the garage seven people raised hands.
• Commitment: every service, every week, Life.Church will invite people to follow Christ.
• Refrain (repeated):

  “We’ll do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.”

• Example of creative risk: buying Google AdWords so that people searching “naked ladies” were invited to Church Online—now 125,000-150,000 unique devices connect weekly, many from Pakistan, Indonesia, and India.

Looking Forward: Four Commitments

1. Remain radically devoted to Jesus and each other.
   Grow bigger and smaller at once—life groups are “the purest form of church.” Everyone still welcome; a place to belong before believing or behaving.

2. Keep launching new churches.
   Alongside funding 10 non-Life.Church plants yearly, six new Life.Church campuses are already in process, with more to follow.

3. Leverage and redeem technology.
   Goal: one million weekly Church Online connections and one billion free YouVersion installs in Craig’s lifetime.

4. Never stop leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
   Life.Church is a “micro church with a mega vision,” still a startup at heart.

Key Truths

• Full devotion turns broken pasts into powerful Gospel stories.
• Generosity accelerates ministry far beyond what cautious budgeting can achieve.
• The church exists for those outside it; methods must bend, message must not.
• Authentic community proves the Gospel to a watching world.
• God entrusts bigger influence to churches that steward resources open-handedly.

Response

• Examine your level of devotion; move from attending to belonging and serving.
• Offer your skills and spiritual gifts to meet needs in your local campus or life group.
• Practice irrational generosity—budget to give, not just consume.
• Share Jesus boldly; use creative means and everyday conversations.
• Pray daily for more salvations and for new campuses and technologies to reach the unreached.

Closing

Pastor Craig reminded the congregation that he and Amy are still living their life-calling: serving the local church that changed their lives. The need outside God’s family is too great for Life.Church to slow down. Hands shot up across campuses as people pledged deeper involvement and others surrendered to Christ for the first time, proving again that “the Lord added to their number daily.”

“We’ll do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.”

Prayer

Craig led two prayers: first, for believers to move from spectators to contributors; second, a salvation prayer for those giving their lives to Jesus—asking for forgiveness, the filling of the Spirit, and a life fully surrendered to Him.

Resources

• YouVersion Bible App