Greg Laurie, Pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship
In a recent interview with the Christian Post, Greg Laurie discussed his new book, Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners: How to Finish Strong in the Spiritual Race, and also shared his thoughts on faith and evangelism.
Pastor and evangelist, Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., will preach this weekend to over one hundred thousand people, mostly youths, during a three-day evangelistic event in Anaheim’s Angel Stadium.
In a recent interview with the Christian Post, Laurie discussed his new book, Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners: How to Finish Strong in the Spiritual Race, and also shared his thoughts on faith and evangelism.
Your new book profiles many “winners and losers.” Can you give us an example of a winner and a loser?
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I would say, perhaps a classic example is Samson, who had incredible potential. He had Spirit that empowered him to be all that people would want. He had superhuman strength and so on. But Samson was a he-man with a she-weakness. His inability to control his passion cost him, and he ultimately lost his life. He could've been a great leader, but instead, in the end, he was a loser in the race of life. A winner would be Joseph, who faced the same sexual temptation that Samson faced, but he overcame them.
We're all going to face temptations, hardships and difficulties, but we have to make a determination to run long, run strong, and run well. In this book, I tried to identify those principles. In Hebrews 12:1, the Bible says that we should lay aside the waste and the sin.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
That verse sums it up just beautifully.
Where would you put more emphasis? Starting or finishing?
The important thing is how you finish the race. The good news is even if you haven't started well, or if you've fallen, you can still go on… Often, the doorway to success is through a failure. Just look at the life of Peter who had so many failures, but he turned out to be a great apostle. In fact, all of the disciples had failures, but they all turned out to follow Jesus as true disciples.
Would you say that sexual temptation is a hallmark of temptation?
When I used to run track and field in high school, I always ran faster when a pretty girl was watching me. Now, I have a better motive than that; the Lord Jesus is watching me. He is the One we are running for. It’s that you don’t want to do something that will cause you to be disqualified in life. There're plenty of losers, and we’ve all known them - those who have professed faith and have fallen away. Why is that? My short answer is yes, but we have a lot to say about it.
Your style is very straight-forward and relational. Has that contributed to your success as a preacher to the youth?
I have never been one for flowery. I would have to let others be the judge.
There're just so many people who need to hear the Gospel. "Get the hay down from the loft so that the cows can get to it." All these great truths that we hold are really not going to help anyone if we can't help people apply it to their lives. Jesus made sense to regular people like you and I. We're here to communicate the truths to them and show them how it applies in their lives. I believe that the sermon begins when the application begins.
It's very important when we speak that we properly develop a text and also show its context. We have to look at the culture and the language. Honestly, I think people are hungry for the Word.
And this is really a book for anyone in the race of life. If you're just getting started, it's a perfect book to help people understand Christianity, but then again if you've known the Lord, you will still take a lot out of it.
Can you describe your spiritual progression as a writer?
Well, I think I've become more comfortable as a writer. I've always been a pastor or a speaker but learning to write is a process. I consider myself the communicator - communicating through multiple mediums, through airwaves and the written page.
This book just sort of came out of my life and my experience. I don't think any of us necessarily like getting old, but I think after 30 years of preaching, I have a sense of what I want to communicate, hopefully.
What has God done in your life?
Well, I would say first off the day that I was converted. I had not planned on becoming a Christian in 1970 on my high school campus, but that was the day that was set aside from the Lord for me to believe and make a commitment to Christ. Probably the other most significant day of my life was when I met my wife. She's been my helpmate, my best friend, and my counselor since that time.
I know this is a very general question, but what does faith mean to you?
Faith is the substance of the things we hope for, but we don't see. Faith is about a relationship with God. I don't always understand everything about God. What I've learned is that the word "oops" is not in God's vocabulary. When I don't understand what's happening to me, I just learn to wait until the story is completed because God has promised. To run the race of life is a commitment that you make. And that’s faith.
How important is evangelism to you?
I believe we are in the last days, and hard times are coming for planet Earth, but I also believe that the Lord is coming back to His people and will catch us up to Him in heaven, and we should all be ready to meet the Lord.
Was Harvest Crusades inspired by Billy Graham and his evangelistic crusades?
I think anybody who's doing evangelism today has been inspired by Billy Graham. I was at his last crusade in New York and had the privilege of sitting on his board of directors, and I've just had a lot of opportunities to speak with him and ask him questions. He's been an incredible encouragement to me.
Some are calling you the next Billy Graham. How do you feel about that?
It would take more than ten people to do what Billy Graham did. They could probably have ten more and still not have enough. I think that Billy has occupied a singular place in American history, and I don't know if any one person will take that mantle, but I am one of many who have been inspired by him to keep the tradition.
What are your plans for the ministry in the next year?
We have a lot of invitations to hold crusades around the country and the world. We're investigating those and already planning for 2007, but my objective is faithfulness - to properly disclose the message. I know that in the process of reaching as many as people as possible, there can tend to be room for compromise, but I am a stickler to detail. I want the message to be accurate and right and Biblical. I put a lot of effort into that endeavor. It's not about big crowds; it's about the message.
Greg Laurie's Harvest Crusades have attracted more than three million people. He holds a minimum of three crusades each summer, and for 2005 he has confirmed events in New Zealand and Ontario and plans for events in Australia, California, and Georgia.
Greg Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, one of the fifteen largest churches in America, and has written dozens of books relevant to youth .
