Some see emerging technology, changing social norms, or cultural shifts as a threat.

Not Craig Groeschel, and the not the megachurch that he founded nearly 30 years ago in a two-car garage in Oklahoma. They have always seen technology and shifting cultural habits as opportunities, to be jumped on as soon as humanly possible.

In other words, they’re something of the ecclesiastical equivalent of “first to market.”

Life.Church (yes, you read that right – Life dot Church) is the largest megachurch in the country, with 44 satellite campuses in 12 states, totaling somewhere around 85,000 in attendance each weekend. How did they grow so large, and in a relatively short span of time?

Mergers, strategic partnerships, and leveraging technology early and often, whenever the opportunity arises.

The Multi-Site Innovation

Life.Church never struggled for attendance. After only 5 years of existence, Life.Church (then called LifeChurch.tv) had already reached a steady weekly attendance of 5,500 between their two locations (having merged with another church early in the year). One Saturday evening, after church, head pastor Craig Groeschel had to run off to the hospital to watch his wife give birth, and so instead of preaching in person Sunday, a recording of his sermon was shown at both campuses.

And a lightbulb went off over Groeschel’s head.

Getting the technology and tactics right took a couple of years, but by 2003, Life.Church was simulcasting their services across four different campuses, so that each congregation was watching the same sermon, at the same time, in different locations.

And a lightbulb went off over a number of other megachurch pastors’ heads.

Today, approximately 91% of churches livestream their worship services, and the “online congregation” is a common topic of discussion in church offices across America.

It is unclear if Life.Church was actually the first church to simulcast across multiple campuses – but if they were not, they were very early in the game, and certainly the most influential.

Groeschel did not want to be limited by geography, the size of a building, or the number of parking spaces. His vision was to be able to send live video feed of his speaking anywhere in the world, and the team at Life.Church made that dream a reality.

Many others followed suit.

The Bible App

In 2006, Life.Church’s Head of Innovation, Bobby Greunewald was standing in line at a Chicago airport, thinking about how the printing press had revolutionized how people interact with the Bible.

Suddenly, he was struck by an idea: What if he could access the Bible more easily using technology?

“I was a below-average Bible reader that had a desire to not be a below-average Bible reader,” Greunewald says of his moment of inspiration. So Greunewald and Life.Church boldly made a website and put the Bible on the internet.

…a decade and a half after the Bible had already been put on the internet.

“It didn’t work,” Groeschel said of their initial foray into digital scripture. He goes on, however, to explain how they pivoted and made an impact. “As a last-ditch effort, we offered a mobile version of the site and engagement took off. Shortly after, we heard Apple would be launching something called ‘apps’… We asked ourselves, ‘What if the Bible could be one of the first apps in the App Store?’”

A 19-year old on Life.Church’s staff (who is unfortunately not named anywhere we can find) created the first Bible app for iPhones, and the Bible App (now called YouVersion) was one of the first 200 applications available to iPhone users. Today, the app has around half a billion downloads, is available in nearly 2,000 languages, and employs a former Facebook executive to fuel growth.

Free Resources Distribution

Life.Church has a far greater reach than its massive 85,000 member congregation, however. According to the church’s reporting, thousands of churches model just about everything they do off of Life.Church’s instructions and resources.

For instance, back in 2008, Life.Church launched “Church Metrics,” an application that tracks church statistics such as giving, attendance, number of reported salvations, etc. and made it available to churches around the globe. It was widely adopted.

In 2012, over 2,000 churches signed up to use the curriculum, sermons, and administrative/business tools that Life.Church posted on their Church Online Platform. This was only the first year, in which 900,000 resources were downloaded by over 40,000 church leaders around the world. Life.Church offers a program called “In Step” with their free resources, in which “network churches” play Groeschel’s weekly sermons in simulcast, use Life.Church’s kid’s curriculum, etc., essentially cloning the ministry and teachings for their congregation.

In 2013, Life.Church trained 5,700 churches on how to enter the online church space.

These examples, all from at least a decade ago, represent the beginning of their influence.

It sounds shocking to hear of a multi-site church with 44 locations and 85,000 members. Groeschel has a huge impact each week! But it is truly mind-blowing, when you consider the model that they have exported, the network churches that stream all of Groeschel’s content to their congregations, the conferences and training seminars they run, the data they collect and export, and the vast number of strategic partnerships they maintain.

If you go to an evangelical church in America, more than likely, Life.Church is at least partially responsible for how your congregation learns, worships, and organizes itself.

At the end of the day, first to market and aggressive innovation is a high-risk, high-reward, high-consequences endeavor. As we see the fruit, the effects, the complications, and the influence of Craig Roeschel’s bold embrace of technology and aggressive growth, it is up to us to analyze the results and take what lessons we may.

Quick Hits

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• A shocking 95% of Americans report plans to look for a new job in 2024, according to a new survey.
• Amidst an ongoing legal battle, Google is on the hook to delete illegally acquired user data.
• Planet Fitness is the latest brand to have a Bud Light “hold my beer” moment and is ripe for backlash after canceling a Christian woman’s membership over its trans policy.
• UK Grocer Iceland is feeling the heat after removing the “cross” from its hot crossed buns.
• The Supreme Court heard arguments last week concerning the legality of abortion pills.