LifeChurch.tv

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LifeChurch.tv (also known as Life Covenant Church or simply "Life Church") is an American evangelical multi-site church with multiple locations in five states. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv. According to the church's website:

"We are one church, meeting in multiple locations through the use of video and satellite technology. This enables all of our locations to be connected as one, no matter how far apart they are physically. Each LifeChurch.tv location has the same dynamic worship experience, with its own 'personal touches' including its own live band and campus pastor to lead worship. People who attend LifeChurch.tv find the quality of a large church with the intimacy and personal interaction of a smaller church." [1]

As of February 2007, there were eleven LifeChurch.tv "campuses" located in Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and on the Internet averaging over 19,000 people in attendance each weekend. [2]

In a 2006 survey of American church leaders conducted by Church Report magazine, LifeChurch.tv was ranked the 7th most influential church in the United States. [3] In January of 2007, Outreach magazine named LifeChurch.tv "America's Most Innovative Church." [4]

[edit] History

In January of 1996, Life Church began in Oklahoma City with 40 congregants meeting together "in a two-car garage, equipped with just a borrowed overhead projector and two construction lights purchased at Lowe's for $19.99." [5] From 1996 to 1999 the church membership grew rapidly. During this time, Life Church acquired its first facility (now known as the "Oklahoma City Campus").

In 2000, MetroChurch, a 25-year-old, nondenominational church in nearby Edmond, Oklahoma joined with Life Church, effectively making it a multi-site church.

Following the success of the additional location, the church launched campuses in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2002, and these new campuses began incorporating satellite video teaching into their services.

In 2005, LifeChurch.tv opened two additional campuses: the South Oklahoma City location in the spring, followed by the Mesa/Gilbert campus of the metro Phoenix, Arizona area in September.

In February of 2006, LifeChurch.tv introduced a campus in Fort Worth, Texas. In April, the church established its "Internet Campus," which broadcasts weekly, interactive church services live over the internet. In July, the church also launched a new campus in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[6]

LifeChurch.tv has announced the launch of two new campuses that are to open in early 2007 in northwest Oklahoma City, and Wellington, Florida, for a total of 11 campuses.

Easter Sunday, 2007, LifeChurch will broadcast from their new campus in the online game Second Life. [7] [8]

[edit] Affiliation

LifeChurch.tv is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church. However, in general LifeChurch.tv employs more of a non-denominational approach and does not follow or affirm some of the tenets of the ECC movement. [9]

[edit] External links

• LifeChurch.tv Official Website
• "Intimate Confessions Pour Out on Church’s Web Site" The New York Times, September 2006 [10]
• "High-Tech Circuit Riders" Christianity Today, September 2005
• "Featured Church" Vision magazine, Christmas 2004
• LifeChurch.tv:swerve Blog