Pastor Craig Groeschel Teaches Dealing with Criticism, How to Create New Neural Pathways, His Daily Routine and More

Show Notes

The pastor of the largest Protestant Church in America, Pastor Craig Groeschel shares his daily success habits, how he spends the first 3 hours of the day, the importance of finding great people early on, developing strength through systems, how to build a great family while simultaneously growing a great organization, the importance of saying “no,” how his first remote location didn’t actually work, how he is proactively retraining his mind by intentionally creating new neural pathways, how he deals with criticism on social media, why he has 2 phones and much, much more.

FUN FACT – Life Church was started in 1996. https://www.life.church/

FUN FACT – Life Church did own the overhead projector.

Who is Pastor Craig Groeschel? Meet the founding father of Life.Church, a father of 6 children and a devoted husband

Pastor Craig Groeschel is best known as being the founding pastor of Life Church, however he appears to be equally as proud of having been married since 1991 to in the incredible Ms. Amy Groeschel. Together Pastor Craig Groeschel and Amy have six kids together and they even have three son-in-laws. Pastor Groeschel’s daughter Catie is married to Andrew, Mandy is married to James, and Anna is married to Luke. Pastor Craig Groeschel and Amy also are the proud grandparents of McKenna and Cole.

Starting Life.Church in a two-car garage

Pastor Craig Groeschel and Amy chose to found Life.Church with the tools they had available to them, thus they started the nation’s largest evangelical church in their two-car garage in the town of Edmond, Oklahoma. During the month of January 1996, Life Church was born. However, since starting their church in a two car garage, Life Church has grown to now include 33 campuses as of April of 2019. According to Pastor Groeschel, Life Church is still focused on its founding mission statement: to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. With Pastor Groeschel leading the way, Life Church has become famous for being one of the most resourceful and technologically advanced churches on the planet. Pastor Craig and his team is bolding using technology as never been to spread the Gospel throughout our now 24/7 digitally connected planet. Life Church demonstrated the power of teaming up timeless truths with state-of-the-art technology by launching the planet’s first completely online church experience during 2016.

The YouVersion Bible App that changed the world

In 2008, Life Church blew the world away when they made their YouVersion Bible app available to download for free. The YouVersion Bible app created by Pastor Groeschel’s team is now the world’s most downloaded Bible app in the history of humanity.

Experiencing Mission-Focused Exponential Growth

In part, Life.Church has experienced exponential growth for the following 20 reasons.

Implementing a systems-based approach to wowing first time visitors and existing church
Using cutting edge technology to reach humanity
Staying laser-focused on their mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ
Allowing Pastor Craig Groeschel to consistently put out high-quality research and biblically-based sermons that he personally 12 and 20 hours creating each week to create.
Preaching and teaching the Word of God in a way that is incredibly challenging, yet entertaining.
Playing positive secular songs that are uplifting as people are arriving at the church. Playing the secular songs allows those that are not believers to feel more at home and welcomed before the praise and worship service starts.
Teaching leadership to a world that needs more leaders.
Systematically creating a church experience that the modern world loves
Taking a hardline stance on adhering to Biblical truths.
Hiring the best locally-based praise and worship musical talent available
Relentlessly training and equipping their local campus pastors with the tools needed to lead and succeed.
Building on-trend minimalist church facilities that feel relatable and comfortable to the people in the community who are familiar with shopping at a retail store, visiting the mall or going to a local trendy sushi bar as opposed to decorating and designing the church with expensive, ornate and super detailed stained-glass windows, and hand-carved wood pews that people cannot relate to.
Creating and then methodically giving away the world’s best Bible app known as the YouVersion Bible app.
Sounding like a professional secular concert during the praise and worship portion of the service. The sound quality and production value of all of the Life.Church praise and worship services is on par or ahead of the sound quality that you would find within many secular and pop-music venues.
Obsessing over the guest experience. When my kids have attended Life.Church they always return praising the experience that they had at Life.Church. Kids are honest, and brutally honest and my kids honestly love Life.Church because of their systematic obsession with doing everything with a spirit of excellence.
Teaching from the Bible consistently. Craig Groeschel does not shy away from using the controversial, declarative and unchanging word of God to hammer home his points.
Although the messages are delivered via video by a Pastor who is not physically present with the congregation at the time that the congregation hears the message the message feel very personal.
Promoting upcoming sermon series to the point that you can’t wait to watch the upcoming sermon series.
Putting friend invite cards (they look like business cards) in every seat during every service and encouraging everybody to invite at least one friend each week.
Volunteers waving at cars that drive by the campus locations while wearing Life.Church branded apparel and t-shirts. If you live in a city where a Life.Church is located it is nearly impossible to not know it because the congregation can often be found wearing the on-trend, and well-produced Life.Church apparel.

Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel’s calling to reach the lost

Since first launching Life Church in that two car garage in 1996, Life.Church has created massive momentum, an exponential increase in attendance while encouraging and helping hundreds of thousands of wonderful people to enter into a sincere and real relationship with their Lord and Father, Jesus Christ. In order to reach millions instead of hundreds with the life-changing message of Salvation, Pastor Craig Groeschel has chosen to be the leader when it comes to creating a world-wide church. Pastor Craig has built the world-wide Life.Church by embracing and mastering video-based teaching, completely online church serves, multiple-site locations, custom mobile app creation, and systems-driven excellence.

The best-selling author, Pastor Craig Groeschel

In addition to being the pastor of the largest evangelical church on the planet Life.Church, Pastor Craig Groeschel is also a New York Times bestselling author of multiple books about subjects such as: living in the world of social media, finding your purpose, how to determine the right direction for your life, how to have the most healthy marriage possible, and more. Pastor Craig Groeschel’s latest book, Hope in the Dark attempts to answer the tough questions that we all as humans face, while also dealing with how to deal with all-consuming and overwhelming pain, and the incredible power of faith, even when you are at the true bottom.

Pastor Craig Groeschel’s books

Daily Power – This book provides readers with a daily devotional that has been designed to help Christians to develop the diligent, pursuit of Jesus that is needed to truly release His (God’s) power in your life on a daily basis. This devotion comes complete with 365 devotions that have been written by Pastor Craig Groeschel himself. These small and doable daily devotions are written by Pastor Groeschel to help deliver both strength perspective for the daily situations that people on the planet deal with including how to improve your marriage, how to uplift and encourage your workplace, how to help your family to become the best it can possibly be, how to resist even the toughest of temptations, how to stay focused on and how to pursue your dreams, how to deal with the infinite possibilities that life throws at us and how to make those critical daily decisions that we all have to make.

During this book, Pastor Craig Groeschel also takes that time needed to share his personal experiences as a husband, son, spouse and parent. Pastor Craig Groeschel also shares the wisdom that he has learned over the years when it comes to designing the life that you want to intentionally live. Each one of Pastor Groeschel’s powerful devotions includes scripture, a brief reading of the Bible, and then a small, doable and simple prayer that will help you to better connected with God. This book provides readers with easy-to-understand and simply told stories that you will be able to relate to. Throughout this devotional Pastor Craig makes sure to remind and challenge readers that it takes both daily practice to grow to the next level.

Divine Direction – In this book, Pastor Craig Groeschel reminds us that the choices which we choose to make on a daily basis will ultimately add up to our success story or lack thereof. Pastor Groeschel’s book boldly asks readers what your life would truly look like if you were an expert in the field of making the right choices on a consistent basis.

Liking Jesus – In this book, Pastor Craig urges you to invest the time needed to sit down and really rediscover what it feels like and looks like to be “like Jesus.” Pastor Groeschel also pushes you to get to a place of being true, authentic and transparent, while having a healthy self-image and genuine compassion for other people.

CHAZOWN – This book has been revised and updated, however in both the original and the updated version this book encourages you that you are unique, that no one else on the planet is like you and that you were put on this planet for a specific purpose and that your life is part of God’s big plan. Pastor Craig Groeschel shares in the pages of this book that he believes God is not hiding his vision for your life and that HE (God) wants you to know and embrace this vision for your life.

Love, Sex & Happily Ever After – In this incredible page-turner, Pastor Craig Groeschel answers that questions about what you and your spouse need to be doing if you want to have a marriage that thrives and doesn’t just survive. Pastor Craig then writes about the specific action steps that you need to take if you want to create a marriage is about more than just that initial romance and infatuation that will naturally greatly diminish over time.

Dare to Drop the Pose – This book is written to specifically address why most people feel compelled to fake it so much? Pastor Craig then challenges readers by asking them directly why most people spend so much of their time and life trying to please everyone else on this planet and so little of their time actually trying to please the Creator of the planet.

From This Day Forward – Pastor Craig Groeschel and his wife Amy Groeschel teamed up to write this book to share with you and I the specific decisions that you are making on a daily basis that will ultimately determine the overall satisfaction with your marriage in the long-term.

The Christian Atheist – In this orange-covered book, Pastor Groeschel really challenges readers to take a second, to pause to ask themselves the question: Am I putting my whole faith in God, but still living as if everything was up to me? This book is a great read for anybody out there who has found themselves feeling overwhelmed as a result of trying to be the best they can possibly be, yet still falling short on a consistent basis.

IT – This book is Pastor Craig Groeschel at his best. During the pages of this book, Pastor Craig combines his unpredictable and witty sense of humor with candor that is rarely scene today. This book was written to share with believes how they can actually obtain It, get It back and guard It.

Weird – This book gives Pastor Groeschel an opportunity to share why by default most people on this planet are now stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted and what you can do to escape this new dystopia that most people call normal. Pastor Craig throughout this book also goes on to explain why many relationships are usually strained, and in most cases are just merely surviving.

Soul Detox – In a world with ever eroding standards of conduct, dress, ethics that is now on the verge of being shock-proof, Pastor Craig Groeschel shares why YOU and I must fight the soul pollution that is now threatening your faith, your overall health and your ability to witness to others. In a world where the constant antics of the Kardashians, Post Malone and Charlie Sheen are no longer viewed as offensive, this book is needed.

Alter Ego – Throughout the pages of this book, Pastor Craig Groeschel shares why as a culture we often find ourselves placing false labels and self-deception at the altar of God’s truth. This book was written to help you discover who YOU really are when it comes to being both the sons and daughters of our almighty God.

Fight – Throughout the pages of this book, Pastor Craig Groeschel challenges you to become the man that God called you to be and a man who knows how to actually fight for what is right.

Pastor Craig Groeschel, Leadership Expert

Throughout his career, Pastor Craig has preached and taught millions of people tried and true leadership principles via his podcast, his books, leadership conferences, and his pulpit. Over and above having written numerous best-selling books and having recorded podcasts that have been listened by millions of people throughout the world, Pastor Craig Groeschel decided to begin hosting his leadership podcast in 2016. His podcast has gone on to become a favorite for many of America’s business leaders.

The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast

If you are looking for a podcast that will bring you practical, powerful and empowering take-aways and insights then you will love The Craig Groeschel Podcast. In approximately 30 minutes or less per podcast, Pastor Craig provides you will easy-to-implement and understand principles and concepts that you will be able to use to lead both yourself and your growing team.

The Leadership Speaker

Each and every week as the founding pastor of Life.Church Pastor Craig Groeschel speaks to well over 80,000 people at the various Life.Church locations, however he also speaks at leadership events, workshops and conferences all around the world. If you are looking for a world-class speaker who knows what it is like to start from the bottom and to build the world’s largest (something) church, then I would highly recommend that you would check out consider inviting Pastor Craig Groeschel to speak at your next upcoming event.

What is the History of Life Church?

Over the years Life Church has gone through a variety of name changes. Over the years, the church has been known as LifeChurch.TV, Life Church, and Life Covenant Church, our today the church is simply known as Life.Church. As of the time that I am writing this (2019), Life.Church now has 33 church locations that are located within 10 states, however the majority of the campuses are located within Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The church was originally founded and started under the name, Life Covenant Church in Oklahoma City. The original 40 congregant used to meet together for their services in a “two-car garage.” The two-car garage that would go on to become the world’s largest evangelical church was founded using a borrowed overhead projector, and just two construction lights that were purchased at Lowe’s for just $19.99. During the years 1996 to 1999, Life.Church was able to grow its membership rapidly. In fact, during this time, Life.Church as able to build its first facility (now known as the “Oklahoma City Campus.” During the year 2001, a local church by the name of MetroChurch (which was over 25 years old at the time) decided to merge with Life Church. With the merger of the two churches, MetroChurch chose to change and the two churches Life Covenant Church and MetroChurch agreed to become “Lifechurch.” The two churches decided to combine their two churches under the direct leadership and management of Pastor Craig Groeschel. Throughout its history, Life Church has created an incredible track record when it comes to reaching people. During the very early years of the merger of the two campuses, Pastor Craig would actually travel between the two campuses in order to deliver actual live messages and sermons to two congregations. However, this meant that for a period of time, Pastor Craig was actually giving five sermons each Sunday, because there were multiple services being given at both locations. Overtime, Pastor Craig Groeschel discovered that it was important for him to deliver power messages and that it was less important to be physically present at each service. Thus, overtime Pastor Craig Groeschel began to utilize the power of the internet and video technology to virtually be share his messages at church campuses that he was usually not physically at including Tulsa, Stillwater,etc.

Pastor Craig Groeschels’s Expansion Throughout the Bible Belt and Beyond

During Spring of 2005, Life.Church chose to open an additional campus in Oklahoma City, which is now known as the South Oklahoma City Campus. Later that same year, Life.Church chose to introduce a campus in Fort Worth, Texas, which was the first campus for Life.Church to operate outside of Oklahoma. During April of 2006, Life.Church went on to create its “Internet Campus,” which now broadcasts on a weekly basis, while also providing praise and worship content to people throughout the world via the internet.

The Leadership Speaker

As of the time that I am writing this, August of 2019, Life.Church now has 33 physical campus locations throughout the United States in addition to hosting and managing their online church. Pastor Craig Groeschel has also chosen to now make his sermons and bible studies available (free-of-charge) to other churches.

Where Are Pastor Craig Groeschel’s Church Campuses Currently Located?

Currently Life.Church now has 33 campuses located throughout the United State and the following states: Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New York, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Florida, and Arkansas.

Pastor Craig Groeschel biography, lifestyle, children, grandchildren and net worth.

Pastor Craig Groeschel is the pastor of Life.Church who believes that God gave him a vision for a new and unique kind of church which he faithfully launched in 1996.
Pastor Craig’s stated goal is to lead people to become entirely devoted followers of Christ.
Pastor Craig Groeschel was born during the day of December 2nd 1967 in southern Oklahoma which means that as of the time that this content is released, Pastor Craig is 52 years old.
As of 2016, Pastor Craig Groeschel started a free podcast that he hosts about leadership which has now been listened to by millions.
Pastor Craig met his dream woman and best friend during his time at college and the couple dated until they eventually married in 1991. Pastor Craig Groeschel attended Phillips Theological Seminary, which is actually connected to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and he went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from the school.
Pastor Craig Groeschel started his career in full-time ministry as an associate pastor at the First United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma during the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

Where does Pastor Craig Groeschel live?

Pastor Groeschel and his life live in Edmond, Oklahoma, which is a suburb of Oklahoma City that has an estimated population of 91,950 people as of 2017.

What social media platforms is Pastor Craig Groeschel active on?

Pastor Craig Groeschel chooses to be consistently active on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The YouTube channel that he created which is named “Life.Church” was created during January 9th of 2007. As of the time that I’m writing this, Pastor Craig has 376 followers and has written 8,728 tweets, meanwhile he also has 421 followers on Instagram and has made an incredible 2,538 posts.

How did Life.Church start?

During January of 1996, Pastor Craig Groeschel founded Life.Church as Life Covenant Church. Pastor Groeschel started in the church with only 40 church members / congregants who chose to meet together “in a two-car garage, equipped with just a borrowed overhead projector and two construction lights purchased at Lowe’s for $19.99.”

What religion does Life.Church consider itself to be?

Life.Church is an American evangelical church with 33 campuses spread throughout the United States and located within the following states: Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New York, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Florida, and Arkansas.

What does it mean to be an evangelical church?

People who consider themselves to be “Evangelicals” believe in the concept and the experience of being “born again” when they receive salvation. Evangelicals choose to believe that the Bible is God’s revelation (a surprising and new fact that was not known previously, especially a concept, truth or fact that was made known in a dramatic way) to the planet earth.

Pastor Craig Groeschel Quotes:

“Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU.” – Craig Groeschel

“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.” – Craig Groeschel

“May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.” – Craig Groeschel

“May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.” – Craig Groeschel

“And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“God doesn’t want us to be happy when it causes us to do something wrong or unwise” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

Most of life’s battles are won or lost in the mind.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“All people end up somewhere in life, but few end up there on purpose.” ― Craig Groeschel

“Becoming obsessed with what people think is the quickest way to forget about what God thinks.” ― Craig Groeschel

“Our thoughts are either focused on what’s eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Don’t worry when you meet opposition for obeying God. Worry when you don’t have opposition, because you’re probably not obeying God.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“Bitterness never draws us closer to God. Bitterness is a nonproductive, toxic emotion, usually resulting from resentment over unmet needs.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“The problem is that many bitter people don’t know they are bitter. since they are so convinced that they are right, they can’t see their own wrong in the mirror. And the longer the root of bitterness grows, the more difficult it is to remove.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Shame usually follows a pattern—a cycle of self-recrimination and lies that claims life after life. First, we experience an intensely painful event. Second, we believe the lie that our pain and failure is who we are—not just something we’ve done, or had done to us—and we experience shame. And finally, our feelings of shame trap us into thinking that we can never recover—that, in fact, we don’t even deserve to.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“When we look at other people comparatively and competitively, we’re not seeing them as our brothers and sisters. We’re not loving them more than we love ourselves, and we we’re definitely not seeing them as God sees them.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“As you’ll recall, what you believe — about who you are and who God is — determines how you behave. If you believe everybody is going to criticize you, you’ll behave cautiously. If you believe you’re probably going to fail, you’re going to venture out tentatively. If, however, you believe that the one true Lord God is calling you, empowering you, leading you, and equipping you, then you will live boldly. Why? Because boldness is a behavior born of belief.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“When you accept the fact that your true identity includes being an overcomer, you will never settle for less than a miracle.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“God can and will break the labels that have held you hostage.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“There is no sin too great for God’s grace. There is no habit too big for his healing. There is no label too strong for his love.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“Being in the wrong place never helps you do the right thing” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Just as we are what we eat physically, we are also what we consume spiritually.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Belief overflows to behavior. First we need to change what we believe. when we truly change what we believe, we’ll gladly change how we behave.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“When happiness becomes our standard for judging truth, things that make us happy give us permission to do some things that otherwise would be considered wrong.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“When we live by faith, we believe that God has everything under control. But if we start to worry, how we live says the opposite.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“We would do well to remember that envy is clearly the flint that ignites evil in our hearts. It apparently signals “I’m available” to demons searching for a cheap date. Envy is as volatile as nitroglycerin, and we cannot carry it inside us without evil exploding.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Don’t settle for a normal life. Not when you can enjoy the wonderful weirdness of being who God created you to be.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“No matter what I feel, I hold the assurance that God never leaves me.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“When something goes wrong, what’s the best course of action? To change your direction. The word repentance means to stop going one direction (your own way) and turn toward the right direction (God’s way). Your past may be a part of who you are, but it certainly doesn’t have to define your future. Or if you feel stuck and unable to change directions and move toward God, think of this transformation another way. The Bible says that God is the Potter and we are his clay (Jer. 18:2-6).” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“If we’re honest, most of us are doing okay.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you don’t know the purpose of something, all you can do is misuse it.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“the strongest man is not the one who lifts the most weight but the one who has the most faith.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Normal people live distracted, rarely fully present. Weird people silence the distractions and remain fully in the moment.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Sometimes what we think will make us happy is the opposite of what God wants for us.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“Love keeps no record of wrongs, but bitterness keeps detailed accounts.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“If you don’t handle the hurt properly, their sin becomes a catalyst for your own.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“It’s time to get healed. It’s time to confess. Falling for the bait doesn’t make you the worst person in the world. You were snared. You were hooked. But you don’t have to stay that way. Now is the time to deal with the shackles that keep you enslaved. Today you can leave the prison that sexual immorality has created from your past mistakes. Hear your Father’s voice call out to you above the noisy clamor of our culture. He says, “I love you. You’re free to go now. Sexual sin has no hold on you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We reflect God’s character the most when we give freely of ourselves with no strings attached, no secret motives, no hidden agenda.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The longer we view ourselves through a distorted lens, the more likely we are to believe a distorted truth.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“…If we believe that God wants us happy above all else, rather than acknowledging that our role is to serve God, we wrongly believe that God exists to serve us. God becomes a a means to our end: happiness.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“To be fully alive, you need time with God to recharge.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Good intentions center around us. We say, “Here’s what I would like to be different about my life.” Good intentions are me-centered. God intentions, on the other hand, are centered on what our Father wants for us. Our intentions tend to focus on what we think we want, but God intentions focus on what he knows we need.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Sex joins two people spiritually and emotionally as well as physically. This is its purpose-to bond a couple together. Sex connects and fuses people together.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Every family possesses at least one off-the-charts challenging person. If you’re tempted to tell me that yours doesn’t, then I hate to be the one to break it to you, but maybe you are the one!” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” — Martin Luther King Jr.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“My pastor used to say you’re either coming out of a tough season, in the middle of a tough season, or heading into a tough season.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“David cuts through all the many needs, wants, and desires that may have been bouncing around inside him and essentially says, “If I could have only one thing, I want to be with God, to be in His presence, to know that he is always with me.” Whether in good times or bad times, David knew the thing he needed most: to feel God’s presence close by, intimately, through worship.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you pour everything you have into this life, this world, which is temporary and fading, you’re jeopardizing your relationship with God, the only thing that’s eternal.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. St. Augustine” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“We were created not for earth but for eternity. We were created not to be Liked but to show love. We were created not to draw attention to ourselves but to give glory to God. We were created not to collect followers but to follow Christ.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“This is God’s universe; we just live in it. He doesn’t owe us anything. We owe him everything. What did you make? Nothing. He made everything. For everything you have, you owe him.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“But just as your body needs sleep, your soul needs time to rest in God. To learn more about Him. To talk to Him. To worship and praise Him. To fellowship with other brothers and sisters.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“He knows every hair on your head, and he sees every tear you shed.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You care because God gave you this unusual blessing: a burden to make a difference.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We compare our behind-the-scenes with other people’s highlight reels.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Remember, to get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done. But to get what you once had, you must do what you once did.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Rather than experiencing the richness of a dynamic, intimate relationship with the righteous One, you put God in a little box that you can check off your to-do list each week. By settling for rules and religion and feeling pretty good about how much you’re doing for the church and those less fortunate, you become blinded to legalism and self-righteousness.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“If you want your ministry to have ‘it’, more important than anything else we’ve discussed, you must have ‘it’. When it has filtered through your heart – the rare combination of passion, integrity, focus, faith, expectation, drive, hunger, and God’s anointing – God tends to infuse your ministry with ‘it’. He blesses your work. People are changed. Leaders grow. Resources flow. The ministry seems to take on a life of its own.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“Wherever you are, be all there.” ― Craig Groeschel

“The best thing you can do for your kids is to show them God working in you on a daily basis.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God’s blessings, however, aren’t always bigger, better, and beautiful. In fact, I truly believe that God gifts His chosen leaders with a very unusual blessing. You might even call it a weird blessing because most of the time we call it…a burden.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Feelings are much like waves. We can’t stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf. —Jonatan Mårtensson” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“He puts us here to make an eternal difference.

He puts us here to show everyone around us how much He loves them.

He puts us here to be His hands and feet, His body and His heart.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“In our culture, the water temperature increases daily. Without realizing it, we slowly become acclimated to a toxic environment full of poisonous influences. As the water temperature rises, we keep pretending we’re soaking in a hot tub having the time of our lives, never dreaming that we’re scalding our souls. As we become scarred and desensitized to what is right and wrong, good and evil, life-giving and life-draining, we lose sight of our first love. We move away from God one degree at a time.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“If someone has been trying to show you something about yourself and you continue to fight it, maybe it’s time to acknowledge that you might be deceived.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“If God does what you think he should do, trust him. If God doesn’t do what you think he should do, trust him. If you pray and believe God for a miracle and he does it, trust him. If your worst nightmare comes true, believe he is sovereign. Believe he is good.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“Someone said it’s not wrong to have things. It’s wrong when your things have you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“How can you tell when the devil is lying? His lips are moving.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Godliness with contentment is rare.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“First, we’ll look at practicing the power of being present. Which sounds a lot cooler, hipper, New Age, and Zen than I intend, because what I’m talking about, as you’ll see, is simply a fundamental awareness of God’s presence in each moment of our lives. The second area is one you may know but don’t practice regularly: taking a Sabbath. Notice I said “taking” instead of “observing” the Sabbath. Knowing how to rest, to unplug, to unwind is as much a spiritual discipline as prayer or fasting. As weird as it may sound, God commands us to rest. It’s not an option to keep going at the pace, intensity, and speed at which most of us live our lives. Busyness will remain the standard for many people for years to come. But we’re called to a different standard, a way of prioritizing our time that may seem weird to everyone around us. When we follow Jesus, we’re about our Father’s business, not about the world’s busyness. Check your watch. It’s time to get weird. Chapter 2 NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. — HENRY D” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“A man with nothing to fight for quickly becomes a frustrated man, often without a clue as to why.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Inspire them to want so much more than what’s normal.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Jesus never criticized prayers that were honest, only those that were long and showy.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“From the outside, everything looked good. But God doesn’t look at the outside.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Be who God called you to be. Live for the an audience of ONE.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“But if we’ve honestly done everything we can, by definition we can’t do anything more.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Most of us are living at a pace that is not only unsustainable; it’s also unbiblical.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“No matter what sin you find yourself in, turn to God. Let Him forgive, heal, and restore.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When you feel this burden, you might be frustrated, wondering why no one else cares as much as you do. The reason why you care and others don’t could be because God has aimed it directly at you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You have enough time to do everything God wants you to do.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“For years I played the what-if game. Maybe you’re acquainted with this pastime. The rules are simple: Rule #1: You’re only allowed to think of worst-case scenarios. Rule #2: You’re never allowed to win this game. You can only lose. Rule #3: The more you play, the greater your losses.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“God is not calling us to go to church; he is calling us to be his church, the hope of the world.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“I’ve heard it said, “If the Devil can’t make us really bad, then he’ll try to make us really busy.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God put you on earth with a divine assignment- something prepared in advance for you to do. I’ve found that the things that make us sad, the things that make us righteously angry, or the things we care about that others don’t are often a key that unlocks our reason for living. It’s our burden.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you’ve messed up big – like me, like Isaiah – congratulations! You’re at the top of God’s talent-scouting list.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“While it’s easy to believe the worst, God wants you to believe the best. He never promises a trouble-free life of leisure, but he does promise never to leave you and always to love you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“We may claim to believe in God, but we don’t want to believe so much that it makes us different.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Weirdly enough, the more we give away, the richer we become.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“In fact, if our kids are successful in every normal way, they can still miss God’s main mark.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Normal people attempt countless goals with limited success. Weird people focus on just one God-given objective with tremendous results.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Suffocate the flames of envy with a blanket of gratitude.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Weird makes you truly sexy in a way the world can never know.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Who do we believe in more? Ourselves or God? Our actions and decisions will reflect that.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“While some consider God’s standards as too confining, a true believer sees them as loving and freeing.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We become weirder parents when we fall more and more in love with Christ.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“There’s nothing cool about turning against God. There’s nothing fun or cute or right about compromising who God wanted you to be.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“..we’re not changed by the promises we make to God; we’re changed by believing the promises God makes to us.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Once we acknowledge that God is the main character, only then can we even begin to get to that place where we’re no longer tempted to let our emotions drive us. We” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“the only combination that works for marriage is to make God the One and your spouse the two.” ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“If you honestly want to change, surround yourself with people who will help, people who believe you can do it.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“She asked God to use this experience to help my heart break forever for those who don’t know Christ.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“But have we reached a point where technology and social media can hurt us as much as they help us?” ― Craig Groeschel, Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:4) ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Will we trust that God is good even when life is not? Our response to pain and challenges determines so much about our future. If we decide to trust, we will grow in our faith, deepen in our intimacy with God, and be conformed to the image of Christ. But if we allow our hearts to drift, we’ll wake up one day drowning in doubts, buried in burdens, and feeling far from the only one who can help us heal.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“The way we respond to challenges determines the stories we’ll tell one day. Your decision to trust God in life’s storms may be one of the best ongoing choices you ever make.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Without someone speaking into your life and keeping you on track with the things you believe, you have a tendency to drift into habitual sin- and you recognize this about yourself.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“A Christian who met a total stranger who also followed Christ would have an instant bond: We belong to the same spiritual family. Just like Michelle, the girl on the plane, felt an immediate bond with me because of Christ, so should we with other Christians. When we as believers are committed to Christian fellowship, we are known and needed. We each have certain gifts and roles to play. Without us, the church is incomplete. When we use our God-given gifts in relationship with fellow Christians, we experience the deep satisfaction of being a part of the larger body of Christ.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“If you delegate tasks, you create followers, if you delegate authority , you create leaders” ― Craig Groeschel

“Better a little with God than a whole lot without Him. Better to have fewer houses, cars, appliances, clothes, toys, and bills than to have the whole world and lose your soul. Better something paid for that’s used and enjoyed and shared and worn out than something nice and shiny and new that won’t be paid for until 2019 and that you’re too stressed to enjoy. Better a little with the fear of the Lord than more of what everyone else has. Better than normal, instead of normal is best.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Rather than continuing on the normal sexual path toward pain, emptiness, and idolatry, you can allow God to heal you, change the way you think, and place deliberate safeguards in your life to protect you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Each time you think something good, speak it. Never rob someone of the blessings of an unspoken treasure.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“But God does give us responsibility, and it takes biblical faith to do those things in dependence on God.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“When you reach out to God humbly, you’ll find that He’s already reaching out to you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Failure is an event, not a person.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“God decided that this time in history was perfect for you to glorify Him and make an eternal difference. So God gave you unique gifts, talents, passions, and experiences to propel you into your life purpose.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I’m convinced normal people miss the majority of God’s blessings because they’re too busy to notice them.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you’re not ministering and using your gifts in the church, then something God wants done is being ignored.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“She said, “Right now, while we have this time, I’m not going to do any of that other stuff. I’m going to seize this moment and simply enjoy being with Jesus while I can.” Mary made a deliberate choice. She wasn’t being lazy and using company as an excuse to get out of helping her sister with chores. She was choosing to focus on what mattered the most.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Again, so many people think that they wouldn’t be going through their struggles if God were really with them. But that’s simply not the case. Having Jesus in the stern beside you doesn’t mean the storm won’t rock your boat. It just means the storm won’t sink you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“When something small loudly demands all our attention, its noise often drowns out the whisper of what’s enormously important.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We aren’t designed by God to seek the image of others; we are designed to seek him. When we spend time on social media focusing on how well others present their lives, we are, to use one of my father’s baseball analogies, taking our eye off the ball.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Young people today are deeply passionate and crave authentic life based on truth. They’re hungry to make a difference. They’re willing to take a stand for whatever they believe, even to die for a cause. When they sell out to Jesus, they’ll pursue a standard of righteousness that is greater than anything you and I ever saw growing up. Don’t water it down. Don’t lower the standard. And don’t just settle for raising it-raise it higher. Believe in your children. Talk with them. Speak well of them. Encourage them. Pray for them. Celebrate the victories with them. Affirm their growth. We can raise a generation that, although they’ll make mistakes, will sell out completely when Jesus grips them. They’ll give Him everything. They’ll make you proud by being even weirder than you are.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Will you have the courage to obey the voice of God?” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Rather, we are who God says we are: his children. We are forgivable. We are changeable. We are capable. We are moldable. And we are bound by the limitless love of God.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“Instead of drifting away from God, you’ll be firmly anchored, able to swim against the tide, offering living water to all you meet.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“It simply means that within every man, God has planted a divine desire to fight for righteousness.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Limited Resources + Increasing Passion = Exponential Innovation” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, and starvation, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“Paul wrote these words: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:12–13).”― Craig Groeschel

“Being involved and being committed are miles apart. In our world today, most people are relationally involved, but few are truly committed.” ― Craig Groeschel, Love, Sex, and Happily Ever After: Preparing for a Marriage That Goes the Distance

“Nothing outside of a living relationship with Christ can ever fill the emptiness inside.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. —RALPH WALDO EMERSON” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Your best decision is the next one that will help you be the person God created you to be.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“What do you do when you’re in the valley? You remember what God has done. When he comforted you. When he guided you. When he answered your prayer exactly the way you wanted him to. And when he didn’t do what you wanted, but sometime later you realized it was exactly what you needed. And you dare to believe that what he’s done before, he will do again.” ― Craig Groeschel, Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not

“But their minds were made dull . . . a veil covers their hearts” (2 Cor. 3:14–15). Notice this: a veil that first covers the face eventually covers the heart. It begins as just a superficial covering, a temporary attempt to cover up a problem rather than addressing it head-on. But left unchecked, the hidden problem will become a serious spiritual condition.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“When we think about the kind of person we want others to remember us for being, it’s much easier to work backward from our deaths” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“..you might not have strong faith unless you push-through some honest doubts. In order to decide to trust, you have to let yourself doubt.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future. The people you’re hanging out with today are shaping the person you will become tomorrow.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“We live aware of God moment by moment. He is not part of our lives; He is our life.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I realized that day that blessings come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“And the church does not exist for us. We are the church, and we exist for the world.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“The answer isn’t more time but a greater awareness of the time we have.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I will do today what I can do to enable me to do tomorrow what I can’t do today.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“I’m asking God to give you a Popeye moment. A moment when God blesses you with a divine burden: something that bothers you so deeply, you’re moved from complacency to action.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Be different.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Training is an active, dynamic process lived out daily in all areas of life- not a rote exercise in memorizing verses and going to church every week.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God, I’m so sorry. I’ve been living my life for myself. I made everything about me. I’ve been trying to be the hero of my own story. I’ve been squandering the gifts you gave me. Even when I have used your gifts, I’ve tried to use them for selfish gain. That was my choice and my fault. I accept the responsibility for all that I’ve done. And I repent, God. Please forgive me. You promised in your Word that if I confess my sins, you’ll be faithful and just, you’ll forgive me of my sins, and you’ll cleanse me from my unrighteousness. Remember me, God. Show me all of the pillars in my life, the things that have been keeping me from being your man. Then please give me the strength to push them down. My life isn’t about me anymore. I surrender my heart to you, Lord. I want to be your man, telling your story. Your Word says that you adopted me as your son. Thank you that I am not what I have done but that I am who you say I am. Please make my outward life show other people that I’m your man. Father, teach me how to live my life in a way that pleases you, that brings you the glory that only you deserve. Show me how to be the man you created me to be. I am your man. Show this world what you will do through me. Here I am, Lord. Send me. Use my life as you see fit. Show me what battles to fight. I am your man. Thank you so much for all the ways you’re going to use me to accomplish your purposes in this world. Thank you for making me a warrior. In Jesus’ name, amen.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Never before have so many people had so much and felt so dissatisfied. No wonder we often feel so dissatisfied. No matter how much we have, it can’t compare to what others appear to have.” ― Craig Groeschel, Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“We don’t even know how to rest anymore.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Knowing when and how to rest is knowing when and how to acknowledge your limitations and your dependence on God.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I’m asking God to bless you with something that unsettles you, disturbs you, and upsets you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“if you could do only one thing in ministry, what would you do?” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“It’s critical to God that we think about how we live, how we spend the present time with which we’re gifted each day.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Pride is always born of our insecurities. When we don’t know who we are in Christ, we use pride to try to fill that void.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Rather than worrying about work, schedules, and deadlines, I felt at peace with God. He was in control. The world at large would not crumble because I turned off my iPhone. This is how it’s supposed to be. For the first time in who knows how long, I felt like myself. Fully alive. Fully present. And fully aware of God’s goodness.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“On the other hand, when you do something for someone else, there’s often a greater, deeper satisfaction.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Put him first. Seek him with all of your heart, and he will add everything that matters. Be still and know that he is God.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice” (James 3:14”) ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“If we don’t fear God, it’s because we don’t know God.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Just because opportunities present themselves doesn’t mean you should accept every one of them. It’s not realistic, and it’s also not wise.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The best explanation I can give you is this: it is what God does through a rare combination of these qualities found in his people: • Passion for his presence • A deep craving to reach the lost • Sincere integrity • Spirit-filled faith • Down-to-earth humility • Brokenness” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“Don’t be afraid to be weird for being wise.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Having more of this world never fulfills. Only more of Christ does.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“When I’m focusing on what’s important to God, I live differently. I invest my time differently.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“He desperately wants you to know Him. So many people believe in God, but they don’t really know Him. And because they don’t really know Him, they are lukewarm. The truth is, if you truly knew Him, you couldn’t be lukewarm or halfhearted. If you remain lukewarm, maybe it’s because you don’t know who God really is.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Not only did he unleash his emotions through rivers of tears, but for several days he denied his body food so he could pray and seek the God of heaven.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We are far from perfect but willing to be different.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God created men to have the heart of a warrior, placing a desire within us to stand up and fight for what’s pure, for what’s true. A man has a warrior’s heart. You have a warrior’s heart. You itch for a fight. That’s God’s design, not ours. That doesn’t mean that men should be aggressive, alpha-bully punks. (Nor does it mean that women can’t fight for what’s right as well.) It simply means that within every man, God has planted a divine desire to fight for righteousness.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Most of us think we’re too busy or too important to rest for a day.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“His famous, soul-stirring “I have a dream” speech will still give you chills and break your heart today. Decades later, long after his life on earth tragically ended, the legacy of his burden lives on, improving lives for generations to come. All because one man allowed his burden to birth a dream.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You don’t believe He knows what’s best for you: that rest will make you more productive and more spiritually healthy.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I’ve identified four specific kinds of toxic waste that can poison our minds: (1) pessimism, which usually produces chronically negative thoughts; (2) anxiety, which usually manifests as fearful and worried thoughts; (3) bitterness, which pollutes our thinking with discontented and envious thoughts; and (4) criticism, which pumps destructive judgmental thoughts into our minds.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“God calls you to stand. Your enemy wants you to fall. So as God’s warrior, there are only two acceptable actions. You’re either standing or you’re getting back up. Even if Satan trips you, you’re not down forever. Get back up. Never stay down.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“In some ways, negative self-talk can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just as an athlete is more likely to make the shot after visualizing making it, she’s also more likely to miss it after visualizing a miss. Your words, whether externally spoken or internally absorbed, shape your future.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“The entire time we playing, the current had gently moved us downstream with the tide. We were drifting the whole time and never realized it until we couldn’t find our way back.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you allow your enemy to steal your faith, he can destroy your life and ultimately kill your relationship with God.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Behind every great story there’s always another story.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“For many of us, it’s just one thing standing in our way of completely following Jesus.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“As we become scarred and desensitized to what is right and wrong, good and evil, life-giving and life-draining, we lose sight of our first love. We move away from God one degree at a time.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Our minds are so cluttered with endless to-do lists that there’s no room for us to experience the joy in being alive today.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working\

“And as you come to know Him, you’re becoming like Him. The more you are like Him, the more different you will be.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“In order to decide to trust, you have to let yourself doubt.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Earth is not heaven. It was never meant to be. No new car, new house, new living room furniture, new kitchen appliances, new clothes, new hair, new baby, new vacation, new job, new income, new husband, or new anything will ever satisfy us, because we were not made for the things of this world.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us know the one thing we lack.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Most of all, we remain focused on our Rock that never moves.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If God has done what you think he should do, trust him. If God doesn’t do what you think he should do, trust him. If you pray and believe God for a miracle and he does it, trust him. If your worst nightmare comes true, believe he is sovereign. Believe he is good.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Sunday is God’s day, and he was committed to honoring it. Just because he was in Paris to compete in the Olympics didn’t justify changing his lifelong commitment.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Make sure that the person you’re in the room with is the most important person in the world when you’re together.” ― Craig Groeschel, Daily Power: 365 Days of Fuel for Your Soul

“Face your fears by remembering the power of God’s cleaning truth. To change the way you are, change the way you think.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“… maybe we should think about whether some imperfections might be a good thing. Maybe we should consider whether we’re trying too hard to smooth all the rough edges.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“Extreme measures bring extreme results. If you want a normal life, do what normal people do. If you want to know God intimately, walk with Him daily, and please Him in every way, you’re going to have to do what few do. Absolutely nothing.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God wants to renew our hearts and minds and to send us into his world as lights shining in the darkness. Like Peter, we can become convinced of the truth: namely, that we are not our sins. And we’re also not what others have done to us.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“God loves you so much that he’s searching the wild, dark night to save you. He’s moving all his furniture and tearing up the carpet simply to reach you. God is watching every moment of every day, waiting for you to return home, and when you’re yet only a dot on the horizon, he’ll sprint toward you, his arms flung wide and a joyous grin lighting his face.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Once a broken bone heals, it is often strongest at the point of the fracture. In the same way, God can take the shame of past failures and amazingly redirect their outcomes toward your future success.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“A lie believed as truth will affect you as if it were true.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Renew your mind by washing it with truth: God’s Word.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds’ (2 Cor. 10:3-4). The Greek word translated as strongholds is ochuroma (pronounced oak-EW-ROH-muh), which means to fortify, lock up, or imprison. This is what our enemy tries to do to us. He lies to us until we’re convinced that we’re stuck and can never escape our problems.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“You’ve never really know what it’s like to trust God to provide for you today, because you’ve got today provided for. And probably tomorrow too. Maybe even into next winter, with all the food socked away in that extra freezer in the garage.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Ironically, we often fail to see that whenever we compromise ourselves to please others, we tend to lose their respect.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The fear of God is the only cure for the fear of people.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“One works hard to prop up an illusion that sucks the life out of them, and the other works hard to make their home a place that restores them, nurtures them, and gives life to others.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“He is the God who loved you so much that His Son stripped Himself of all heavenly glory to live as an impoverished Jewish carpenter so He could shed His blood, suffer, and die for the forgiveness of our sins.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Instead of having just good intentions that are me-centered,you can have God intentions that are God-centered. And when God puts something into you, you can be certain it will come to pass.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Is there something that those who are closest to you have been trying to tell you? Maybe you have an addiction, a hang-up, a weakness, a blind spot. If more than one person who loves you has been trying to help you see something that needs to change, maybe it’s time to listen.” ― Craig Groeschel, Daily Power: 365 Days of Fuel for Your Soul

“Teach your kids by modeling what you claim to believe.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“But I can please God” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When it’s clear that we have a commitment to God that comes before anything else in our lives, most people will respect us even if they don’t share our faith.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Normally, we’re never satisfied.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The current of normalcy will pull you away from God at every opportunity if you let it.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“All couples fight, but healthy couples fight fair. Unhealthy couples fight dirty, with below-the-belt jabs, sucker punches, angry accusations, and bitter grudges. Healthy couples fight for resolution. Unhealthy couples fight for personal victory. ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“If you want to be different, if you want to be better than normal, then you must live differently.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Where your money goes, there your heart follows.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“My friends don’t think they’re rich, because they know someone who’s richer.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Paul’s one thing was committing to forget about the past, to forge ahead into the future.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“We’re living for Likes, but we’re longing for love.” ― Craig Groeschel

“If you catch yourself wondering why you want more of the world and you’re not satisfied with God, it’s because you have a spiritual problem.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You release the pain of the past and press on. It’s a new day, and God is doing a new thing. He wants to take you to a new place, to transform you into a new person.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be. — Henry David Thoreau” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Pause for a moment and prayerfully consider your response: What breaks your heart?” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“My point is when the odds are fifty-fifty in an area of your life that matters, you change your behavior.” ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“Like a sneeze, sin feels good at first, but it leaves a huge mess.” ― Craig Groeschel

“To get rid of a spiritual problem, we need to pull it up by its spiritual root. To pull up roots, we’re going to have to be willing to get our hands dirty, to make some sacrifices that provides long-term benefits instead of short-term, refinanced gains. God is willing to help us, to provide the tools we need to weed out those areas where our desire for money is spoiling our fruit of the Spirit.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Feelings are much like waves. We can’t stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“It’s the small choices no one sees that result in the big impact everyone wants.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“A man without a cause from God is often just an angry man who doesn’t know where to direct his pent-up energy and aggression. A warrior with a cause from God directs that warlike energy for a cause greater than himself.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“The challenge is that many believe heaven is the default destination when, in fact, the opposite is true.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“Though Satan makes strong men weak, God is in the business of making weak men strong. Your past isn’t the most important thing. Your future is.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“And there is nothing you can do to make God love you less. Love is not something God does. It is who God is. And because of who he is, God loves you. Period.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Life has trained many of us to think of love as temporary and conditional.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“What is it that makes you so angry, bothers you so deeply, that you’re compelled to act?” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If the seed doesn’t get planted, it can’t become a toxic thornbush. We must guard our minds and our hearts, starting with our eyes.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God says happiness is contentment with what you already have, with what He provides you, with what you can share.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You can’t build a foundation of sin now for a life of purity later.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Although we’re made right with God by faith, and not by works, the effectiveness of our prayers is often tied to the holiness of our lives.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Many people may be heartbroken, but not enough to take action.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Rather than complaining about inconsequential little irritations, I’m asking God to get right to the root of the problem, to eradicate the dry rot and fix the cracks in my foundation. I need Him to show me how to love Him and how to love His people. Even the ones I don’t like – even myself.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“When I ask God to change my actions, that honesty about my own inconsistent behaviors forces me not to be so hard on other believers. Humble acknowledgment of the plank in my own eye gives me more patience with the specks in everyone else’s (see Matthew 7:1-5). Instead of pointing the finger at others, let’s allow God to examine us.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“You must long for God more than normal. You must be willing to live to give, not live to gain.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When did we, as Christ followers, start to think that the church exists for us? When did we forget that we are the church? And that we’re here for the world?” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Reality ground my expectations into microscopic particles.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Wisdom is all about the simple, often tiny, obvious things, done consistently, one at a time.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“But don’t ever forget: adultery is also biblical grounds for forgiveness, healing, and restoration.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When we front a fiction, we are destined for loneliness.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Instead of seeking to serve one another, we wrongly believe that there’s one person out there who exists solely to make us happy.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist

“Wise people put as much distance between themselves and sexual temptation as possible. They not only get away but also plan their escape route.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Someone said that if you’re lonely at the top, it’s because you didn’t take anyone with you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“You can make excuses or you can make progress. But you can’t make both.” ― Craig Groeschel, Daily Power: 365 Days of Fuel for Your Soul

“We don’t need more time. We need to use the time we already have differently.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God promises you a way out. Find that way out, and take it.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Or maybe they just accept that it’s wrong in God’s eyes, although not in their own, and they’ll worry about sorting it out later.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I think God eventually changed my heart simply because I clung to my desire for Him, even though I wasn’t sure how to follow through on that desire.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“But the truth is, we find time for what’s important to us.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Weird people love well.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“What matters is the one thing I do know for certain: God is with me.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The problem with thinking “we go to church” is that it gives us a consumer mindset: I’m looking for a church that meets my needs. I need a good church that will help me.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“When you believe marriage is your answer, you’ll often give something that eventually hurts you both.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Fueled by faith and passion for our true priorities we’re going to drive against traffic in order to find rest, refreshment, and time for what matters most in life.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The simplest definition of prayer is communicating with God. That’s it. Did you miss it? Let me say it again. Prayer is simply communicating with God. That one uncomplicated thought began to revolutionize my whole prayer life. What is communication? It’s transferring a thought, feeling, emotion, or idea to another person. So prayer is giving God my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas, by whatever means works. It doesn’t have to be formal. It doesn’t have to be long and dry. It’s simply communicating.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“It’s the things no one sees that result in the things everyone wants.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“The Bible consistently and directly indicates that when we give generously, we’re serving, honoring, and glorifying God. After all, generosity is fundamental to God’s nature.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Whatever’s on your mind is also on God’s heart.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“And because God has entrusted you with such riches, you can use these resources to make a profound difference in countless lives.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“He taught me that I could be a thinking person and still believe that God’s word can stand the test of time and criticism of man, that science confirms Scripture, and that you don’t have to duck hard questions. I learned that I didn’t have to defensively protect God or His Word, but that I could truth both.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“The road to committed faith is paved with personal abandonment and self-denial. Life ceases to be about us, and it begins to be all about God.”― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“So if it seems like you’re doing something different from what everyone else is doing, and if sometimes that feels hard, this is a good thing, not a bad thing.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“He’s for you and wants to help you be the person He created you to be.”― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Sincere doubts handled properly, can become a gift.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Sticks and stones can bruise your body for a few days, but words can scar your soul for life.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Bad decisions can pile up to make a wall between you and what God wants you to do.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“We can give away all that He entrusts to us in the same spirit of generosity.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Since we can’t change what we can’t identify, ask God to show you any areas of your life that may be harmful to you, offensive to the people around you, or displeasing to God himself.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“God loves to use people whom others believe are unqualified.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“To step toward your destiny, you might have to step away from your security.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“You don’t have to have the faith to finish; you only have to have enough faith to start. Just” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“What one promise do you need to claim? Find it. Don’t give up. Cling to it.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God has put more in you than those around you can see.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“If you had a friend you refused to talk to, eventually you couldn’t keep calling that person a friend anymore.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When it comes to the church what has your answer been? Has it been no? Has it been, “Well, maybe, if I have time”? Or has it been an unconditional yes? Imagine how your life might change if you were willing to say to your church and to God, My answer is yes. Anything. Anywhere. Anytime. Use me as your church and for your glory.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist, Session 1

“When dealing with overly critical people, try to see past the arrows to the struggles that launched them.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“You have no idea what God might set into motion through one single word of encouragement.”- Craig Groeschel

“Let the wind of God’s comforting, guiding Spirit life you above temporary problems. With His help, you can soar to new heights of maturity and confidence.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Endurance is critical if you want to succeed spectacularly at anything God sets before you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“When you give, you will be blessed. When you give, it will be given back to you.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“If you’re a follower of Jesus, He has given you abundance so that you can care for others, not so you can stock up on capri pants for next summer or afford a leather interior in the new SUV. As long as you don’t own the responsibility of being blessed with resources so that you can give to those around you, then you can stay focused on getting more for yourself.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“You are who God says you are, not who people say you are. Don’t try to base your life on the unstable foundation of human opinions, but instead, build on the unshakable truth of God.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“We must discern what God calls us to accomplish rather than mindlessly adding on everything presented to us.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Failure is an event, never a person.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Even though I’m upset, angry, confused, frustrated, disappointed, and impatient, I will remember who God is. The Lord is still in charge. And he is good. He is righteous. He is true. He is faithful.He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever present. The world may seem upside down, but the Lord is still there. He is sovereign, and he has a plan—a much bigger plan than I can see right now. I have to respect that he is God and I am not. His timing is not my timing. His ways are higher than I’ll ever understand. He is supreme in all wisdom, and he knows the end from the beginning. I’m just a person, his creation.He has everything under control.” ― Craig Groeschel, Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not

“I can promise you this: If you really, sincerely, genuinely want God back, He hasn’t moved. He’s still there, just like always, ready to bear-hug you again, just like in the old days.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“These people were different. Passionate, godly, sincere, authentic, transparent, hungry for Christ. It was instantly recognizable, too obvious to miss.” ― Craig Groeschel, It: How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It

“If we take a risk, we might not succeed, but if we avoid all risk, we guarantee we won’t succeed, and we miss so much of what God wants us to learn.” ― Craig Groeschel, Dare to Drop the Pose: Ten Things Christians Think but Are Afraid to Say

“Being consumed by what people think of you is the fastest way to forget what God thinks of you.” – Craig Groeschel

“Your life is too valuable, your calling too great, & your God too awesome to waste your life on what doesn’t matter.” – Craig Groeschel

“God is not calling us to go to church; he is calling us to be his church, the hope of the world.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you want to reach people nobody is reaching, you’ve got to do things nobody is doing.” – Craig Groeschel

“Lord, use me today, use me for your glory, make me bold, stir me up, give me eyes to see the needs of those I work with, give me a heart sensitive to those who are hurting, give me a prompting of the Spirit to minister to those who are around me.” – Craig Groeschel

“You are not a victim of your thoughts. You have the power through Christ to take them captive. As a result, you will find what you are looking for. You can believe the worst or think the best. You can find reasons to worry or reasons to have faith. You can live pessimistically, or you can possess life-changing faith.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“We find our lives when we give them away.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“In order to honor God with your wealth, you first have to admit that you are rich. Most people won’t do that. It’s not normal.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When you glance back toward your shoreline, where are you in relationship to where you once were with God? Hebrews 2:1 says, “We must pay more careful attention … to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“God’s highest agenda is not our immediate happiness. I believe that God is much more committed to our eternal joy, our spiritual growth, and the condition of our hearts.” ― Craig Groeschel, Hope in the Dark: Believing God Is Good When Life Is Not

“In God’s economy, you may even harvest a crop in places where you didn’t plant seed. When you’re generous, you will be blessed, whether it comes to you materially, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, or some other way. God obviously cares much more about what happens in our hearts than what happens in our bank accounts, more about our attitudes than our credit scores. Giving generously changes you. It frees you up, undermines the power that money and possessions can have over you, and it makes you more like Him.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“He blesses us so we can be different.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Everything that we allow into our minds, hearts, and lives — everything that we spend our time and money on — has an impact on how we grow, or don’t grow, spiritually.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Let God create in you His masterpiece. He will make you truly different and joyfully weird.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Deciding you should get divorced because you’ve run out of love is like deciding you should sell your car because it has run out of gas. No reasonable person would ever do that. You simply put more gas in your car and go on. If your marriage “love low” light comes on, pull over and start putting love back into your marriage. Once you’ve filled it back up, then you can go on. SOWING” ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“1. Seek God. 2. Fight fair. 3. Have fun. 4. Stay pure. 5. Never give up.” ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“The second admission my young adult friends made is that they know their obsession is distracting them from God. Again, let me ask you to be honest. Do you think more about what God says in his Word or what people say on your feed? How much time do you think about God versus what to say online? Work hard to tell the truth. No matter how tempting it is to ignore him, if God is trying to get your attention, don’t shake him off.” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered Worl

“When we’re afraid, our Father spots us and makes sure we can lift the load we’re carrying. He grips our hand and helps us push through whatever we face. Because God is with us, we have nothing to fear.” ― Craig Groeschel, Daily Power: 365 Days of Fuel for Your Soul

“More important, it’s because God is our only true source of life.” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“Full-time lover of your world; part-time lover of God” ― Craig Groeschel, Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working
“I knew we’d been out there on the water a long time when the sun began its colorful descent to meet the horizon.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“When you glance back toward your shoreline, where are you in relationship to where you once were with God? Hebrews 2:1 says, “We must pay more careful attention … to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Probably no one thinks, “You know what? I’m tired of pursuing God.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“I pray that by faith you’ll have the courage to start a discipline that changes the direction of your story. I pray that by faith you will stop something that hinders your story from being what God wants it to be. I pray that by faith you will have the courage to stay the course and be faithful where you’ve been planted, even when it would be easier to throw in the towel and just walk away. And when the time is right and God calls you, I pray that you will find the faith to go, even when it would be easier to stay.” ― Craig Groeschel, Divine Direction: 7 Decisions That Will Change Your Life

“Now, if you want to pray together about something specific, you might want to organize your thoughts by writing them down. Sharing these written prayer requests with your spouse can really deepen your relationship.” ― Craig Groeschel, From This Day Forward: Five Commitments to Fail-Proof Your Marriage

“Perhaps you’ve experienced a similar kind of disorientation — you thought you knew where you were in relation to something (or someone), only to look up and have no idea where they went.” ― Craig Groeschel, WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working

“he made us to be warriors so that we’d fight our fears, learn from our mistakes, and live to fight another day.” ― Craig Groeschel, Fight: Winning the Battles That Matter Most

“Our family has agreed to increase the percentage of what we give each year. Instead of increasing our standard of living, we’re increasing our standard of giving.” ― Craig Groeschel, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist

“Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. Mother Teresa” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“We might impress people with our strengths, but we connect with people through our weaknesses.” – Craig Groeschel

“To step toward your destiny, you have to step away from your security.” – Craig Groesche

“Most leaders are trying to figure out the right strategy. The best leaders are obsessed with empowering the right people.” – Craig Groeschel

“Failure is not an option. Failure is necessary…We try. We fail. We learn. We adjust.” – Craig Groeschel

“Ask yourself this question: at the end of your life, is it really going to matter how many Likes you got?” ― Craig Groeschel, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World

“Life is uncertain. Eternity is not. Unforgiveness cannot be allowed to last another day. Are you holding a grudge? You will never be more like God than when you forgive. Let it go. Kill the root of bitterness. Let the hurt go and set yourself free.” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Contrast toxic religion with the pure gospel. Religion is all about what I do. The gospel is all about what Jesus has done. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus. Religion highlights my efforts to do what is right. The gospel highlights what Christ has already done. Religion lures me to believe that if I obey God, he will love me. But the gospel shows me that because God loves me, I get to obey him. Religion puts the burden on us. We have to do what is right. A relationship with Christ puts the burden on him. And because of what he did for us, we get to do what is right. Instead of an obligation, our right living is a response to his gift. Giving Christ our whole lives is the only reasonable response to such love. There’s nothing more we need to do. Nothing…” ― Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World

“Tragically, many people have this faithless, wishy-washy mindset, which causes them to lose the battle in their minds before they ever fight it in the world.” ― Craig Groeschel, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are

“When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.” – Craig Groeschel

“The decisions you make today will determine the stories you tell tomorrow.” – Craig Groeschel

“God will often give you more than you can handle so you can learn to depend on Him rather than on yourself.” – Craig Groeschel

“Never let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you want what NORMAL people have, do what normal people DO. If you want what FEW people have, do what few people DO.” – Craig Groeschel

“The pathway to your greatest potential is straight through your greatest fears!” – Craig Groeschel

“Get out of the boat. Face your fears. Fail. Learn. Adjust. Try again. And watch God do more than you can imagine.” – Craig Groeschel

“If your vision doesn’t compel, move or stir people, your vision is too small.” – Craig Groeschel

“You are not who others say you are. You are who God says you are.” – Craig Groeschel

“It’s not easy to trust in a God you can’t see. That’s why so many want God to prove himself so we can trust him. In reality, God wants us to trust him so he can prove himself.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you show me who you are being influenced by I will show you what you are becoming.” – Craig Groeschel

“Most of life’s battles are won or lost in the mind.” – Craig Groeschel

“The key to success in any organization is identifying, developing, and empowering the right people.” – Craig Groeschel

“Our greatest priority as Christian parents is to gradually transfer our children’s dependence away from us until it rests solely on God.” – Craig Groeschel

“Obedience is our responsibility. The outcome is God’s responsibility. As we learn to trust him with our future, trust him with those we love, trust him as our provider, and trust his sovereign plan, that gives us the foundation to step out in faith. We can trust that he’ll always be faithful.” – Craig Groeschel

“The difference between where you are and where God wants you to be is equal to the pain you’re willing to endure.”- Craig Groeschel

“If you are not ready to face opposition then you are not ready to be used by God.” – Craig Groeschel

“You can have control. You can have growth. But, you can’t have both.” – Craig Groeschel

“We don’t recruit volunteers; we release leaders. Volunteers do good things but leaders change the world.” – Craig Groeschel

“Passion creates motivation, which leads to innovation.” – Craig Groeschel

“There is no sin too great for God’s grace. There is no habit too big for his healing.

“There is no label too strong for his love.” – Craig Groeschel

“Back in the beginning, we didn’t plan on doing church in more than one location. When we outgrew our facility and couldn’t add more services, we refused to accept that a single building would limit our calling to reach more people.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

“Offer God what you have and trust Him to give you what you need.” – Craig Groeschel

“You see, religion alone can only take a person so far. Religion can make us nice, but only Christ can make us new. Religion focuses on outward behavior. Relationship is an inward transformation. Religion focuses on what I do, while relationship centers on what Jesus did. Religion is about me. Relationship is about Jesus.” – Craig Groeschel

“Years ago, when we were financially strapped, other churches were interested in using our messages, videos and kids’ curriculum. While it was normal practice to sell these resources, we felt called to give them away. To be honest, at the time, this was scarier than I can describe because we were having a hard time making ends meet. After we started giving freely, we believe God blessed the church more freely.” – Craig Groeschel

“True loyalty is proven not proclaimed.” – Craig Groeschel

”Failure is an event, not a person. You are NOT a failure!” – Craig Groeschel

“It’s almost impossible to live the right life when you have the wrong friends.” – Craig Groeschel

“Rather than just reacting to the waves of things that come, ride them with deliberate intention.” – Craig Groeschel

“All people end up somewhere in life, but few end up there on purpose.” – Craig Groeschel

“Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU.” – Craig Groeschel

“When focus increases, options decrease.” – Craig Groeschel

“What you pray for reflects what you believe about God.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t insult God with safe living and small thinking.” – Craig Groeschel

“To reach people that no one is reaching you have to do things that no one is doing.” – Craig Groeschel

“You can’t change in your own power. If you feel overwhelmed by something bigger than you, let the one who is bigger than all things be the power you need in your weakness.” – Craig Groeschel

“Gentleman, God created you with the heart of a warrior. Until there’s something you’re willing to die for, you can’t truly live.” – Craig Groeschel

“The fact is, you can’t marry the best when you’re dating the runner-up. While you’re searching for Mr. Right, don’t settle for Mr. Right Now.” – Craig Groeschel

“When you accept the fact that your true identity includes being an overcomer, you will never settle for less than a miracle.” – Craig Groeschel

“You want to make a big bold difference in this world? Then pray big, bold prayers.” – Craig Groeschel

“Scripture teaches us that we should trust God and not lean on our own wisdom or understanding. To do this, we have to strive to know God intimately, walking by faith and not by sight. This may not be easy at first, but it starts with simple obedience.”

“Reputation shows who people think you are. Character shows who you really are.” – Craig Groeschel

“Whenever there’s anxiety, it’s a signal alerting you, it’s time to go to the One who cares about you, it’s time to seek God in prayer.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

“Dealing with criticism is a part of any type of leadership. It comes with the territory, especially when you are doing something new and different. I try hard to keep an open and soft heart. In other words, if there is something to learn from legitimate criticism, I want to learn it. On the other hand, there are some people who simply won’t ever like what we do. I try to remind myself that our church isn’t for everyone.” – Craig Groeschel

“Reaching new people is one of the most important things we will do as a church. From the very first weekend we met, and in every gathering since, we’ve invited people to become followers of Christ.” – Craig Groeschel

“If your character is not strengthening, your future is weakening.”- Craig Groeschel

“Be careful not to blame yourself if someone rejects Christ. If you do, you might be tempted to take credit when someone accepts him.” – Craig Groeschel

“You are only as strong as you are honest.” – Craig Groeschel

“The clearer your vision becomes, the easier it is to guard what God calls you to do.”

“The truth, you have what you need. Watch out for excuses. Whenever you’re tempted to whine about what you don’t have, remember that God has given you everything you need to everything he wants you to do.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t worry when you meet opposition for obeying God. Worry when you don’t have opposition, because you’re probably not obeying God.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you’re not dead…you’re not done.” – Craig Groeschel

“Being in the wrong place never helps you do the right thing.” – Craig Groeschel

“God doesn’t want us to be happy when it causes us to do something wrong or unwise.” – Craig Groeschel

“I believe Christians often perceive obedience to God as some test designed just to see if we’re really committed to Him. But what if it’s designed as God’s way of giving us what’s best for us?” – Craig Groeschel

“Your brain does not understand what you are capable of. There is way more inside of you than you can imagine.” – Craig Groeschel

“To step toward your destiny, you may have to step away from your security.” – Craig Groeschel

“Sometimes God guides by what He withholds, rather than what He provides.” – Craig Groeschel

“Envy is when you resent God’s goodness in other people’s lives and ignore God’s goodness in your own life.” – Craig Groeschel

“Just as we are what we eat physically, we are also what we consume spiritually.” – Craig Groeschel

“God can and will break the labels that have held you hostage.” – Craig Groeschel

“Integrity starts from the inside out, not the outside in.” – Craig Groeschel

“When we love deeply, love makes us do things we wouldn’t otherwise do.” – Craig Groeschel

“You can’t walk on water until you get yourself out the boat.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t resent, fear, or judge the next generation, believe in them.” – Craig Groeschel

“Belief overflows to behavior. First we need to change what we believe. when we truly change what we believe, we’ll gladly change how we behave.” – Craig Groeschel

“When we generally make healthy choices about food (or wise choices about life), we tend to move in the right direction, living as we believe God wants us to live. If we make an intentional exception for a special treat or for a diversion, that might not be a big deal. But if we step off the best path, we’re tempted to detour into more unwise choices. In that case, your decision does matter.” – Craig Groeschel

“Our God specializes in making weak men strong. That resonates deeply with the heart of men. I am thrilled to see them responding well already even though the book has barely been out.” – Craig Groeschel

“Pride is such a big issue for us. We will drive 27 miles completely lost before we ask for directions because we want to think we can handle it ourselves. I work with men all the time that get into dark situations and maybe they are battling with an ongoing addiction. I will always tell them, “Look, you are a smart guy. If you could have gotten out of this by yourself, you would have done it a long time ago. You simply can’t. You think you are strong enough to handle it, but you are not. What you really need to do is admit openly that you are weak and you are vulnerable in this area and that is when God’s strength can be made perfect through you. If you are going to try and fight with your own strength, that is very limited. God’s strength is everything you need.” – Craig Groeschel

“If we want to be better than normal we must move from good intentions to what I call God intentions.” – Craig Groeschel

“The longer we view ourselves through a distorted lens, the more likely we are to believe a distorted truth.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t blame yourself for the declines, because one day you will credit yourself for the increases.” – Craig Groeschel

“To those of you who are leading LifeGroups, I want you to know, you are the heroes of our mission.” – Craig Groeschel

“Respect is EARNED but honor is GIVEN.” – Craig Groeschel

“A keystone habit leads to other positive habits and disciplines. These positive traits start a chain reaction that produces other positive outcomes. The presence of these important habits help you become more faithful in other areas of your life. On the other hand, the absence of these key disciplines can impact you negatively.” – Craig Groeschel

“God has blessed me with more than I need. I’m rich. I will not trust in riches but in Him who richly provides. Because I have more, I will give more and do more.”- Craig Groeschel

“The things closest to the heart of God are often the most offensive to the Pharisees.” – Craig Groeschel

“Bitterness is a nonproductive, toxic emotion, usually resulting from resentment over unmet needs.” – Craig Groeschel

“We will do anything short of sin to reach people for Christ.” – Craig Groeschel

“The things that make us sad, the things that make us righteously angry, or the things we care about that others don’t are often a key that unlocks our reason for living. It’s our burden.” – Craig Groeschel

“God had to do something IN me before He could do something THROUGH me.”

“Most of us could stop doing something that’s hindering our passion for Jesus and effectiveness in following him.” – Craig Groeschel

“God’s will is clear about many things. We’re to be holy. I like the metaphor that his Word is a lamp to our feet. A lamp may help guide my next one or two steps, but it’s not a crystal ball into the future.” – Craig Groeschel

“You don’t have to know what to say or what to do; just listen to the one who sent you.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you don’t know the purpose of something, all you can do is misuse it.” – Craig Groeschel

“The New Testament is peppered with “one another” reminders. While Scripture says to love another, encourage one another, offer hospitality to one another, be kind to one another, many people are content tolerating one another, if not ignoring one another.” – Craig Groeschel

“Good things are not necessarily God things.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t build your ministry on what you’re against. Build your ministry on what you’re for.” – Craig Groeschel

“Our thoughts are either focused on what’s eternal, life-changing, and true, or lost in the details of our temporary, selfish, false beliefs.” – Craig Groeschel

“We don’t have eternal life because we’re good, we have it because God is good.” – Craig Groeschel

“Some decisions are obviously much more inconsequential than others. For example, let’s say you choose the blue shirt over the red one; not much is likely to change. Red meat over white meat once a week won’t likely make a huge difference in your health. But if you believe that grilled chicken is healthier than a cheeseburger, your lunch choice might cause you to pause; especially if you know that the cheeseburger also comes with fries and a large chocolate shake.” – Craig Groeschel

“We need to step into certain uncertainty. Without faith it is impossible to please God.” – Craig Groeschel

“Because God loves us, he gives us the freedom to make choices. That’s good news if we choose wisely. But it also gives us the capacity to sin.” – Craig Groeschel

“Don’t worry when you’re being persecuted for God, worry when you’re not.” – Craig Groeschel

“God has given you every thing you need to reach every person you need to reach.”

“I’d argue that people today aren’t rejecting Christ so much as they’re rejecting the church.” – Craig Groeschel

“Twenty-nine years ago, I came to faith in Christ after a gentleman from the Gideon’s International gave me a free copy of the New Testament Bible. I started in Matthew and read all the way to Ephesians 2 when it finally clicked for me. After reading about salvation by grace through faith, I cried out to Jesus for his forgiveness and surrendered my whole life to Him. At that moment, I became a new person.” – Craig Groeschel

“God could have programmed us as robots to do whatever he tells us, but then we’d never have the freedom to love and worship him.” – Craig Groeschel

“Unfortunately, the Bible won’t tell you directly, “Thou shalt take the new job in marketing…” or “Thou shalt go directly from undergraduate school to honor me in graduate school.” While the Bible doesn’t speak to some of our specific decisions, it does speak to every decision about who God wants us to become.” – Craig Groeschel

“Without being legalistic, we should be careful and wise in all decisions we make.” – Craig Groeschel

“As it goes with leaders, so it goes with the whole organization.” – Craig Groeschel

“Not taking risks ultimately leads to failure.” – Craig Groeschel

“Be yourself. Authenticity trumps cool every time.” – Craig Groeschel“

To be great at a few things and experience it, you’ll have to say no to many things.” – Craig Groeschel

“Honor, publicly, results in influence, privately.” – Craig Groeschel

“How bad you want something determines what you will do to get it.” – Craig Groeschel

“If you are not offending some Pharisees, you are not being effective.” – Craig Groeschel

“The younger generation can smell fakes – Authenticity trumps cool.” – Craig Groeschel

“Boldness is behavior born out of belief.” – Craig Groeschel

“As an organization changes your mindset as a leader also has to change. This becomes the lid to you organization. Whenever my organization starts to settle I believe I have to lift my lid, my capacity I have to think and act in a different way to achieve different results.” – Craig Groeschel

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – Craig Groeschel

“The Bible is the best and most important tool in discerning direction from God.” – Craig Groeschel

“God’s Word instructs us, teaches us, guides us, encourages us, convicts us, and helps conform us to the image of Christ.” – Craig Groeschel

“Because my life was changed by God’s Word, I love every organization that helps people know him through his Word.” – Craig Groeschel

“With prayer, you may be able to start one discipline or habit that will overflow into many more positive, God-honoring traits.” – Craig Groeschel

“Personally, I hate flossing. So this is the first discipline I quit when I am stressed. But if I stop this one important habit, then I might be tempted to cheat on my eating plan, stay up too late, or skip my Bible reading. If I stay faithful in doing something that I don’t enjoy, I tend to believe that I’m disciplined. Therefore, I eat better, go to bed on time, and stay in God’s Word.” – Craig Groeschel

“In each big decision, we’ll always make them by faith.” – Craig Groeschel

“As we’re growing closer to God, I ask people to decide when God wants them to stay planted exactly where they are.” – Craig Groeschel

“God often guides by what He doesn’t provide.” – Craig Groeschel

“Those who have it stick with what brings it.” – Craig Groeschel

“The more I looked, the more I found Christian Atheists everywhere.” – Craig Groeschel

“What you fear reveals where you trust God the least.” – Craig Groeschel

“The things we worry about the most are the hints we trust God with the least.” – Craig Groeschel

“When we place our discontent egos on the altar of gratitude, we develop contented altar egos filled with thanksgiving.” – Craig Groeschel

“I was a full-time pastor and a part-time follower of Christ.” – Craig Groeschel

“Tragically, many people have this faithless, wishy-washy mindset, which causes them to lose the battle in their minds before they ever fight it in the world.” – Craig Groeschel

“For my whole life, I pursued normal. One of my biggest goals was to “fit in.” – Craig Groeschel

When I started studying scripture, God led me away from normal to a life of “weird.” – Craig Groeschel

“One girl was making fun of me and told me I should meet another girl who was equally as weird (and “overboard for God”). That’s how I met my wife, Amy. We’ve committed to a life of weird.” – Craig Groeschel

“To reach people no one lese is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

“You’ll probably overestimate what God wants to do through you in the short run.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

““Put me in a room full of lost people, and I come to life.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

“Well, to put it simply, because “normal” isn’t working—at least certainly not in the culture we live in/ Finances: normal is debt, worry, tension, fear. Normal is broke. Schedules: normal is overwhelmed, overworked, stressed, burned out. Relationships: insecurity, betrayal, fear—unfortunately, normal marriages struggle and often end in divorce. Careers: normal to feel stuck working for a paycheck in a job you don’t like. Normal to feel empty—longing for something more, something better. According to Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14, most people are on the broad road with the crowd. They find comfort in the crowd. But those on the narrow road—the different—are the ones who truly find life.”” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

“The most common response I hear to the question, “How are you doing?” is “Busy.” Everyone is busy. But busy doesn’t equal importance. Busy doesn’t necessarily equal productivity. Most of the time, normal people faced with an invitation to do something ask themselves, “Can I do it?” A weird person might ask, “Should I do it?” Weird people know that you can do more by doing less.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel

How does Pastor Craig Groeschel prepare for a sermon?

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “You gotta be creative. Every time I read the Bible, David always beats Goliath. Every time. Christmas it’s the Virgin, Easter it’s an empty tomb. Got to be creative, and it’s, like…Can we change it? Nope, we can’t change it, so, every year…And, just to give you insight into my world, it takes me, from start to finish, from concept to research, to digging into the text, to illustrating, to personalizing, to checking with other people to make sure I’m not omitting a group of people, to finalizing, to internalizing, it’s about a 12-16 hour process, sometime it will drift up to 20 hours.” – Pastor Craig Groeschel – Watch the sermon at the 16:50 mark where he shares this information – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kag18xv6aMA

Learn more at: https://openblog.life.church/pastor-craig-groeschel-how-i-prepare-for-a-sermon/

Step 1 – The Researching, Gathering and Outlining Phase

Pastor Craig starts his writing process by gathering copious amounts of information and then researching in an incredibly intense way. His goal is to try to learn much more about the text or the topic that he will ever actually share during his sermon. Then once he has gathered enough information to become an expert on the topic he then produces an outline. He then is very intentional about highlighting the material in yellow that he wants to emphasize and then he actually highlights that material in green that he’s not sure he wants to keep or not.

Step 2 – The “You” Phase

Once Pastor Craig Groeschel has built an outline that is constructed of foundational spiritual principles, he then intentionally shifts into what he calls the “YOU” phrase. It is during this phase that he actually pretends as though he is talking with you and that you might be saying to yourself “Who cares?” or “But, not in my case!” During this portion of his process he focuses exclusively on how you will hear the content that he is presenting. Pastor Craig knows that “knowledge” itself will rarely move people to actually take action. In fact, he knows that more often than not, it is emotion that will move people to actually implement that they are learning and to take action. Pastor Craig’s goal is help you to establish an actual emotional connection with the knowledge and the truth that is being taught during his sermons. It is during this portion that he thinks deeply about how he can pull the emotion out of the scripture and the stories that are being told. He thinks intensely about how soft he is going to speak, how loud he is going to speak and when the right time is to insert a passionate plea and those always important, well-timed pauses.

Step 3 – The “Feedback” Phase

At this point in his process, Pastor Groeschel then moves into what he calls “The Feedback Phase.” At this point, Pastor Craig actually sits down and shares the message with people who are in the office with him to get their feedback before he preaches the sermon. Pastor Craig is aware that he is a caucasian male who is in his 50s and that he has been Christian for 30+ years at this point. Thus, he seeks to gather feedback and perspective from people who are at different stages in their life, people with differing world-views and from people who don’t share his exact same perspective.

Step 4 – The “Final Touches” Phase

During the “Final Touches” phase, Pastor Groeschel focuses on editing the finer nuances of his message while making sure to optimize the overall flow and the interest of the message being presented. Pastor Craig works hard to wrap up this phase of his process by Wednesday at noon. He then works hard to insure that he does not look at or touch the sermon again until Saturday. During Saturday he fills his schedule with two hours of praying and then trying to load the message deep into his cranium, his core and his heart. Then on Saturday, Pastor Craig delivers the sermon. He has written, “then it’s time to preach God’s Word like it’s the most important thing that I will ever do. And I trust God to do what only HE can do in the hearts of people.”

What podcast does Craig Groeschel host?

Craig Groeschel hosts the Leadership Podcast which is focused on providing listeners (like you) with approximately 30 minute practical leadership advice and lessons. During each and every one of Pastor Craig’s easy to understand episodes he gives you actionable items and takeaways that you will be able to use and implement right away in your life and with your team.

What is the compensation for Craig Groeschel?

Despite leading the largest evangelical church in the world, by all accounts pastor Craig Groeschel and his wife Amy have chosen to live below their means and to live a modest lifestyle. Pastor Craig Groeschel has become known as the pastor who gives away his church’s resources and intellectual property for free and who has chosen to have no access to the church’s checkbook.

Pastor Craig Groeschel Facts:

Pastor Craig Groeschel grew up in southern Oklahoma and attended Ardmore High School.
Pastor Craig Groeschel decided to attend Oklahoma City University where he was offered a tennis scholarship.
Pastor Craig Groeschel was a member of the fraternity by the name of Lambda Chi Alpha. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Oklahoma City University.

References, Interviews and Articles featuring Pastor Craig Groeschel

1. Julie DelCour, “Public Chapel to Open At Site of OC Church”, Tulsa World, June 22, 1995
2. “Seven Questions With Craig Groeschel” – DaveRamsey.com

Pastor Craig Groeschel – https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/speakers/profile/craig-groeschel

1. “Mega-church pastor Craig Groeschel says men need to learn how to fight.” – ReligionNews.com
2. Emily M. Bernstein, “Terror in Oklahoma: The Displaced; Its Building Is Shattered, But Church Survives”, The New York Times, April 24, 1995.
3. America’s Most Innovative Church – https://outreachmagazine.com/interviews/13347-craig-groeschel-life-church-at-20-years-part-1-of-2.html

Newsmax’s Top 50 Megachurches in America

1. The Decline of Evangelical America – https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/the-decline-of-evangelical-america.html
2. Stephanie Simon, “It’s Easter; shall we gather at the desktops?”, Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2007.
3. “107: Craig Groeschel on How to Hope in the Dark” – Win Today with Christopher Cook
4. “An Interview with Craig Groeschel, Author of Weird” – MichaelHyatt.com
5. “Pastor Craig Groeschel Shares Personal Struggle with Addiction in “Bad Advice” Sermon Series” – Christian Post – June 22, 2016
6. “How Craig Groeschel Stays Healthy Relevant and Passionate in Ministry” – CareyNieuWhof.com

“Leadership Podcast”. Life Church. Retrieved 2016-06-21.

Bill Sherman, “Message in the medium”, Tulsa World, August 21, 2004.

“Can a Christian Get a Tattoo?” – Life.Church’s Youtube Channel

Craig Groeschel identifies ‘spiritual problem’ behind ‘sinful’ pursuit of perfection – https://www.christianpost.com/news/craig-groeschel-identifies-spiritual-problem-behind-sinful-pursuit-of-perfection.html

1. Megachurch Spends Years on Innovations, Then Gives Them Away for Free(Christian Post, June 7, 2013)
2. “Podcast #457: The Leadership Lessons from the Pastor of One of America’s Most Innovative Churches” – April 16th, 2019
3. Neela Bannerjee, “Intimate Confessions Pour Out on Church’s Web Site”, The New York Times, September 1, 2006.
4. “Thousands of evangelical Christians confessing on-line”, Catholic News Agency, September 4, 2006.

William C. Symonds, “Earthly Empires: How evangelical churches are borrowing from the business playbook, BusinessWeek, May 22, 2005.

YouVersion Bible App Tops 100 Million Downloads; Releases Series of Infographics (Christian Post, 7/9/13)
Carla Hinton, “Oklahoma’s Life.Church founder says he is never one to “play it safe.” – The Oklahoma – April 8th, 2018
Lillian Kwon, “Life.Church Named Most Innovative Church”, The Christian Post, January 16, 2009.
“America’s 25 Most Innovative Churches of 2008” at Churchrelevance.com.
“Leadership Team”, Life Church, retrieved February 20, 2010.
Leadercast – Pastor Craig is the Senior Pastor of LifeChurch.TV which provides leadership, training and guidance to his church congregation. Pastor Craig Groeschel believes that he was called to launch a new and different kind of church and that is exactly what he has done since 1996. Pastor Craig Groeschel frequently speaks at church conferences and has written several best-selling books including: Fight: Winning Battles That Matter Most. Pastor Craig and his wife Amy have chosen to live in Edmond, Oklahoma. – https://now.leadercast.com/authors/craig-groeschel
Cathy Lynn Grossman, “Multi-site churches mean pastors reach thousands”, USA Today, December 17, 2009.
Cathy Lynn Grossman, “Pastors debate video’s pros, cons”, USA Today, December 16, 2009.
Lillian Kwon, “Innovative Church Leaders Move Into the Neighborhood”, The Christian Post

Audio Transcription

The pastor of the largest Protestant church in America, Pastor Craig Groeschel shares his daily success habits, how he spins the first three hours of his day, the importance of finding great people early on when building something, developing strength through systems, how to build a great family while simultaneously growing a great organization. The importance of saying no, how is first remote location actually didn’t go very well. How you proactively retrains his mind by intentionally creating neural pathways, how he deals with criticism on social media, why he has two phones and much, much more.

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Welcome back to another exciting edition of the thrive time show on your radio and podcast downloads.

On today’s show, we’re interviewing a pastor who has led a team that has now created the largest Protestant church in America. They started this church in a two car garage equipped with a borrowed overhead projector because that’s the key to success. There is disease that borrowed overhead projector. That’s the thing. He went onto cocreate six kids to one up me. He created cocreated six kids. Hopefully on today’s show we can ask them how that’s possible and he also created the world’s most popular Bible App called the you version Bible App with over 350 million downloads and he’s also the best selling author of the new book. Hope in the dark, believing God is good when life is not. Pastor Craig Groeschel, welcome onto the show sir.

Dr Z dot. I’m glad to be on with you. Thank you for having me.

Hey, I gotta ask you this because you are a manual. I think you have so many things going on. You get the book going on. You have the 30 campuses going on. Every time I turn on youtube, you’re there. Your pot gear leadership podcast. One of our core of the clients I coach a company called master machine. They love your leadership podcast. They were just talking about this morning. You appear to be everywhere, so I want to ask you, what time do you wake up everyday and what are those first three hours of your day? Typically look like?

Uh, the, the latest I’ll get up at 6:30 sometimes I’ll be in the office as early as maybe five in the morning. That’s maybe one day a week, a possibly to the uh, the first three hours a day. It’s kind of boring, but what I try to do is get to the office as fast as I can. So I just, I, I eat, I come up to the office and I do a five minute kind of brain training where I’m focusing my brain meditating. I do my, a youversion Bible reading, uh, spend a few minutes praying and then I kind of attack the day and try to. I tried to spend the early part of the morning before other people get in doing study time because the office heats up around 8:30 or nine. And so I’m most creative in the morning and that’s when I’m knocking out the kind of stuff that I study. And so I wish I could tell you there was more secret fun stuff, but that’s about it. It’s pretty boring

when you are meditating or, or training your brain. This is what I’m picturing Z and maybe I’m, maybe I’m getting this wrong, but I picture something where it’s like I’m training my brain. Is that how you do it or what are you?

That’s so weird because that’s exactly what it’s like.

What does that look like for getting someone out there wants to know like, okay, do you think it’d be a fly on the wall? Are you standing upside down on your head or you levitating rocks with Yoda? What are you doing?

I’m sitting back in my chair, leaning back with my feet up on the desk, listening to listening to an APP and having some guy tell me to focus on my breathing and stuff like that.

Really? Yep. Okay. Now. Okay. So now you have built this, this, this church, this overnight success or this overnight. It’s happened overnight. By the way, this just happened overnight and you started in 1996. That would mean I was 16 years old at the time and now here we are 2018, I’m 37, so I mean you’ve been doing this for a long time. A lot of entrepreneurs out there that are starting with, with nothing. Just like how you started that, the, the church, which is what intrigues me about your story so much. Can you talk to us about starting a church with approximately 40 people in a two car garage equipped with a borrowed overhead projector? Where did you start? What did the process look like of starting the, what will we do? What we now know is life church?

Well that’s pretty close. The only thing that’s not accurate is they actually donated to the overhead projector. So we did own that.

Oh,

honest to goodness was the extent of it. Everything we had was borrowed from God bringing his keyboard and we had borrowed green self back chairs from a Sunday school class that uh, I would not wish on anybody. I think the, uh, you know, anytime anybody starting anything, she is incredibly difficult. You second guess yourself the whole time. That, to me, it’s always about trying to find the right people early on and, and, and that’s what’s really, really, really challenging to do. Um, when it starts growing and, and things start to make it, it gets really chaotic and that’s when you have to kind of start putting systems in place and such. And so, so we had some kind of early success. We had someone write a, um, an article on us and we boomed up to 164 people first fell back down to about 80 people because we just didn’t, we didn’t have the right systems, we weren’t able to track.

People weren’t able to follow up with them. And so, you know, you kind of have to grow at a healthy pace. There is, as you guys know, as entrepreneurs, you can, you can grow too fast, you can not have enough cash or whatever. And so we just, little by little we tried to do the next right thing and we went from a, a little two car garage to a, a elementary school. And then we bought a 10,000 square foot bike factory and made it into a church. And then three years later I managed to get a real building out of the ground

about you. What I can tell, it appears as though you have a good relationship with all six kids and you have your relationship with your incredible wife. Who, by the way, uh, I don’t know if you’ve seen you because you think you’ve tricked her into marrying her, marrying you. She’s a true man. I’ve heard you talk about that before. I mean, don’t go see it and make sure she doesn’t see an optometrist like Dr. we’ll give her just a little blurry when you’re going, when you’re starting a church. I did it wrong. I didn’t start a church. I started a business and I did it wrong. I didn’t do this. So this is me looking back at it in hindsight. But I, I put every second of every day into starting dj connection. I got to work at four or five in the morning every day. I would finish work in at seven or 8:00 at night. And then I got to a place where I was pretty positive. My kids didn’t know my name and then I thought, why am I sleeping on this couch? Can you talk to us about the balance? How have you been able to balance your schedule? What does, how do you do that? How do you get it all done?

Well, so we were really, really, really do honestly have a super strong marriage. Things or things are really healthy. Um, and we haven’t had any real marriage, you know, massive marriage problems. But I will tell you, I have not always gotten it right in the early years. I had a wake up call. I was, I was a lot like you, my daughter one time said to me, my oldest daughter, she’s, I said, I’ll see you tonight when I get home. And she said, Daddy, you don’t live here. This isn’t your house, you, you live at the office.

And so that’s, it really

was like that. Uh, the, the advantage that I had is kind of an. Andy was all in with me. So there was never, it wasn’t like I was building something that she felt like was bad or competing with the marriage. She was invested with me and it’s in the later years we have to work really, really, really, really hard to keep things leveled out as you know, you’ve got a lot of kids, you know, you can have two kids and I can wear you out with, with the schedule. And so it’s just the, you know, the old what everybody teaches is you have to put the big priority places, um, and in, in first. And that’s what we work really, really, really hard to do. Um, we’ve been kind of religious with a date night doing one almost almost every single week. We fight really, really hard for one full day off and try not to compromise that.

And then we have to just be really, really intentional with our kids because there are so many of them and they, as they get older, they get more complicated. But it’s, there’s, there’s nothing, there’s not a trick to it, there’s nothing easy about it. It’s just, it’s intentionality. And it doesn’t matter if you have no kids and you’re working somewhere, if you’re, if you’re not intentional, uh, you will be overwhelmed and I mean you’ll, you’ll do myself. I spend hours on social media or playing games and life will take over and w we have to fight against the normal trajectory to have something that’s really different.

Oh, it’s a pastor of a church. I bet he never says no to anything that’s got all these people and answering the phone and, and his schedule, you know, people to call him up. And, and because I’m struggling with when you know, when to say no when to say yes. Can you address that in your life and the transition you made from probably saying yes a lot more to probably saying I would think. Maybe know some more now.

Well, in the early years I had to say yes. Most of the time it was the right thing to do. There wasn’t anybody else to delegate to. And so I had to do most of it today. I don’t want to sound weird, but my default answer is no. You know, in invitations to go places, this is almost always a no, you have to be pretty special even to get in front of me, for me to consider saying yes to it. Um, it just was so many moving parts. You know, the, that all your entrepreneurs will realize this to grow any organization, come on now you have to say no to other things and say yes to only the things that you can say yes to. As we grow, we’re going to do fewer and fewer things to add more and more value, but if you don’t say no to other things, then you’re going to keep other people from rising and being invested. And so it’s, it’s actually selfish and saying too many yeses not only will hold you back and holds you down, but it’s gonna. Hold your organization back. So we, we grow with strategic. Yeah,

coauthor of the best selling Amazon bestselling book. Start here. Why is that such a knowledge bomb that you grow through nose and saying yes to only your best will? Yeah. You have to say no to the good thing so that you can make room for the great things. In a pastor Craig, he does a phenomenal job talking about this. You got to allow yourself the ability to say yes to these great things. You know what I want to do? I want to create a new neuropathway new neuro one and I’m going to go ahead and bring it back. Bring it back.

Come on now to say no to other things and say yes to only the things that you can say yes to that. As we grow, we’re going to do fewer and fewer things to add more and more value.

Yeah.

As we grow, we’re going to do fewer and fewer things to add more and more value.

As we grow, we’re going to do fewer and fewer things to add more and more value, new neural pathways. As we grow, we’re going to do fewer and fewer things to add more and more valued, fewer and fewer thing to add more and more value.

I know the listeners and I want to just play that back over and over and just marinate Rotisserie, slow rotisserie. You know when you get some good meat and you just marinate on it. I know a lot of listeners just want to marinate on that all day because doing fewer things that add greater and greater value is a profound knowledge bomb for anybody trying to nail it and scale it. I mean, if the elephant in the room, we do not create a new marketing strategy every week. No, you don’t have to do 17 different marketing strategies and come up with a new idea of the week every single week to have success in your business. You’ve got to do fewer things in order to have success. What is a culture? People are addicted to new new girlfriend’s, new jobs, new churches, new material goods, but you don’t become successful as a result of doing new things all the time.

You have to cherish the things you have. You have to be a good steward of your marriage, a good steward of your business, a good steward of your favorite pair of shoes. Marshall, preach the good news for somebody out there who’s bought into the lie and the addiction of new and constantly doing new things, new technology help somebody out there doing things new. Every single week is a product of believing in this get rich quick scheme. It’s not possible. There is something such as get rich, slow and you got to go low and slow. Did you hear it? Took him three years. First three years. My main man, but my main man, Craig Rochelle’s been doing this since 1996. Nineteen 96 now. What year is it right now? Marshall? Twenty 18. Do it some do it some math. This Justin, that’s 22 years. He’s been committed to daily diligence, the consistency and now back to our exclusive interview with pastor Craig Rochelle, the pastor of the largest Protestant church in America. Over 100,000 people attend the church. A quarter million people watch online each and every week and 350 million people have downloaded their bible app, mindblowing

entrepreneurs. They’re going to have great opportunities to go and do too many good ideas. We’ll take them off the great ideas and we have to be strategic in saying no and, and um, that you grow with, knows more often than to grow. Too many yeses.

That’s a great word. That is a great word. Thank you for sharing that. That right there. That was, that was powerful. You grow through the. No, I’m going to put that on a, on a shirt and sell it and give you all the money. I think that’s a credible answer. That’s an impressive. There’s where my mind goes. Anytime I see a good quote, I’m like, we can put that on a shirt and sell at a conference. Absolutely. Now, Pastor Craig Groeschel, you, um, your church is very proficient in technology, but I would say that most churches that I’ve ever worked with as a consultant or pastors I’ve ever churches I’ve ever attended, they seem to be kind of clumsy with technology. And that’s a broad statement, but you know what I mean, like church on the move. And Tulsa is great with our technology, but a lot of churches are kind of clumsy with the video and the audio, how they do things. And you guys are, are excellent. You obviously didn’t start off. Excellent. When did you decide to put the church on the video for? When did you decide to broadcast to multiple, multiple campuses?

I’m sorry,

in my face and my face. There we go.

We never, we never planned to do this. What happened is, uh, we’ve got our first building out of the ground in 1999 and three years into it and um, we kind of outgrew the building so we didn’t, we were turning people away, like literally we couldn’t fit them in for fire code such and so we didn’t know what to do. The church was really young man. Twenty two year olds don’t have the financial capacity typically that most 55 year olds and so we couldn’t afford to expand and we’re just, we’re stuck. Someone said, and I don’t even remember who it was, what if we did church and another location? This was 1999, maybe 2000 and that was pretty much unheard of. I didn’t know anybody else doing it. And, and so we said is illegal, can we try that? And we did. We rented a movie theater seven miles away and we put a second band up there and we did church in our main building and then in a movie theater.

Well, one Saturday night after I preached on Saturday, my wife gave birth to our fourth kid, uh, that about four in the morning. And so, uh, there I wasn’t going to leave her to go back and preach. We didn’t have time to get one of the pastors to kind of ready. And so we said, what if we ran the video from the Saturday service and just played it on Sunday morning. People understand that just had a baby and such. Well, we did it and we’d, we’d never really realized, but in the size of our auditorium, people rarely looked up at the person. They were often looking at the screens and so it kind of went off without a hitch. In fact, even though they told the people I wasn’t there, a lot of people didn’t even really remember. And so we started scratching our head a wonder if this would work if we just showed video teaching. So we tried it in a second location and it didn’t work. It failed because we thought, hey, if we show video and kind of have an mc up there, then it will work. Well, we misdiagnosed the opportunity. Uh, and that’s when we had to kind of change everything that we, um, we do. We, we build leaders that then build churches. It’s not videotaping the builds churches. This is spiritual leaders to build churches.

I make a confession here where you’re forgiven. I, I listened to a td jakes every single morning. I like to listen to the same sermon over and over. So right now I’m listening to the sermon. Nothing is. Nothing is as powerful as a changed mind. And I listened to it all the time, all the time, all the time. Well then the guys, one of my clients with a company called master machine, they said, hey, we listened to Craig Michelle’s leadership podcast in a, in our office. You know, we listened to it all the time. You should listen to it. And you did this one about the, about the mind recently and how the mind works. I think it was called a series called like the mastermind and uh, it was, it was mind blowing for me. So I just want to confess to td jakes if you’re listening, I’m sorry that I’ve been kind of cheating on you a little bit here and checking out Pastor Craig Groeschel podcasts. There’s only so many hours in a day, so I had to skip a couple of days to listen to yours. So I don’t know. I’m in a moral conundrum. We’ll deal with that later. But talk to me about this new series that the one that you just released and what that was all about because it was so powerful for me. And I know for the guys that master machine,

I’m fascinated with this, but my mind is kind of one of my biggest challenges. My, my self talk can be really negative. It can be hard on myself and so I love both the spiritual truth about how the mind works and then science just, I mean God created the mind and so learning how God designed the mind. This is really fascinating. We know now that the mind is not fixed. That is, you know, we, we started in neuroplasticity that the mind is evolving and so what I’m trying to do is rewire that. The Bible would call it, renew your mind, um, or we might say, retrain my mind with, um, with truth. And I’m trying to create new neural pathways. Um, the more you think of thought, the easier it is to think that thought. And so if I think I’m good, I can’t do this, I’m tired, I’m overwhelmed. I don’t have to take, there’s never gonna be enough time to get it all done. I’m basically creating a self defeating narrative in my own mind. So what I’m, what I tried to do in that message series is to help people understand where we’ve created wrong thinking, wrong neural pathways and then replace those with truth with what scripture says and what’s positive so that we can then think the, think the truth, um, which, which leads us into a much better life. And so that, that’s, you know,

one minute summary of four weeks of teaching

the Amygdala, the part of the brain branding, almond size, part of the brain that controls the emotions is. It’s amazing. We’ve had more and more experts on the show. We’re having a lot of silicone valley, a gurus on the show. We had a woman on the show yesterday and Ms Dot Allen, who Petri Leanne’s. She was on the show and she actually studied what the brain, what the smartphones doing to the brain. These constant interruptions and psychology today came out and said that the average person has now interrupted 85 times per day minimum, and that people are now having the critical thinking skills of like third graders because they’re constantly in a state of perpetual distraction. You have so many data points. How many people go to your church on a typical Sunday, do you think are watching online?

There would be anywhere between 80 and 100,000 that comes to a building and then another quarter of a million that would watch a live online.

Okay. And so when you do a sermon as an example, you did one about demon possession that I watched and you did that and I remember watching it and I was in a, I was in a hotel with my wife and I’m going, what is this guy talking about? This is what I said. I’m like, what is he talking about? And then it made sense to me later, but the beginning, you know, I’m like, what is he talking about? Because you’re kind of teeing it up now. I didn’t go on social media and. Right. I strongly disagree, but that’s what a lot of people do. They just. I strongly disagree. You have to have at least a few complaints every week, right? From social media or twitter, people that disagree with what you’re doing or what your. How do you handle the Amygdala? How do you protect it from allowing the small part of the brain to control your entire body?

Well, sometimes it does. Unfortunately you have to fight or flight says strike back. And so there are times when someone gets personal. I just want to say here’s my address and name the time and show up as a pastor up. Just not allowed to do that on a, on a good day. Um, I stay above it. I don’t let it. Don’t let it get to me at all and, and tell myself as just a part of it and try to keep focused on the mission. And, and I always tell myself, if you’re not doing anything, you’re not going to be criticized. So don’t, don’t worry about it when you are worried about it, when you’re.

I hate to have to replay it multiple, multiple times again, but this is yet another marination moment. I mean, this is one of these knowledge bombs that we need to hear it at least two more times. Marshall, are you prepared to bring it back? I’m mentally, spiritually, metaphysically prepared. Bring it back.

All right? Always tell myself, if you’re not doing anything, you’re not going to be criticized. So don’t, don’t worry about it when you are worried about it, when you’re not. I always tell myself, if you’re not doing anything, you’re not going to be criticized. So don’t, don’t worry about it when you are worried about it, when you’re not

starting to get it.

I always tell myself, if you’re not doing anything, you’re not going to be criticized. So don’t. Don’t worry about it. When you are worried about when you’re not

so good,

don’t worry about it when you are worried about it, when you’re not. Just one more time, just one more time. Don’t, don’t worry about it. When you are worried about him,

you got to let it go. I’ve got to move on. I’ve got to let it go. We got to let it go. Let it go. I just want to hear it again and again. Somebody needs to hear this right now. It was so good when it first hit my ear, the ear area and it moved into my ear hole in dusk, communicating to my cranium and then my sign apses were just firing and all of a sudden just talking about right now I have to move on. We gotta we gotta go back to the interview. We got to go back.

I’m

on a bad day. It’ll, you know, it’ll, it’ll get me down and say someone comes after someone that I love, I get real sensitive. Uh, but as leaders, we just, that is part of the territory. You can’t be your entrepreneurs. They’re going to create waves. They’re going to have, they’re going to have haters and uh, it’s just, you only have to train our brain away from it. And I taught myself, I tell myself we’re going to be, if we’re going to make a mistake, we’re gonna be for people who are going to be positive. I’m going to try to train our people and lead without being defensive. Meaning as a pastor, I can train our people to be combative, which a lot of people don’t like us and we got to stand up for ourselves. And some pastors won’t tell you the truth, but here’s the truth. What I’ve just done is pitting myself against other people theologically. So I’m not gonna do that. I’m going to be positive. Here’s what we’re for. Here’s what we stand for. Um, we don’t have to be defensive and try to create a culture that is more obsessed with doing good than defending what other people are saying.

One of the businesses I’m involved with is called the Oxi fresh. There’s 400 franchises around the country. It’s been around for over a decade. And uh, as of today, we have 142,000 google reviews. So if you google carpet cleaning quotes, we’re now top of the world of all categories everywhere in the world.

That’s what.

And it’s the world’s greenest carpet cleaning system. Okay. So some people don’t like that. They were niched on that, you know, 10 times less water than Stanley steamers, Kinda the pitch or the haircut chain. I have elephant in the room. It’s like a country club for men’s hair. It’s membership based. We don’t take walk ins. Some people hate the fact that we don’t take walk ins, you know, it’s, it’s a different business model. Um, and again, the big issue for me is allowing myself just windows when I’m allowing myself to check. So I turned my phone off on Friday at noon. I do not look at it again until Monday. Can you talk to us about the boundaries that you’re setting? Because I. I would imagine at any moment in time if you ever go look at the comments on your youtube videos or twitter or facebook, there’s probably always one person that is complaining. I mean what? What are the boundaries that you’ve set up for yourself in that area?

There? There’s several different things I do, so during study time I’ll leave my son with my assistant and then she’ll interrupt me if it’s family or something. That’s that. That’s just for pure interruptions. Then I actually have a second phone that I travel with and so if I’m gone with the family, I leave the leave the other one behind and I think the second one that only a few people have and I’ve got it locked down so I can’t go on safari. I can’t download apps. I can’t look at social media. I’ll leave my computer behind and it just, it takes me out if only for four days from looking at what anybody is saying so I can be 100 percent focused. Then 9:00 in the evening, um, we try to put the phone aside, we don’t always do that, but we tried to put them aside and say, you know, at the end of the day, I don’t want that little blue light in my eyes and I don’t want the last thing to do. But then looking at what someone said, that’s crazy. I’m on facebook, I want to be engaged with, with people, um, the people in my home. And so those are some things that we work toward. We don’t always get it right, but the whole second phone, I know not everybody can afford to do that. Um, but oh my gosh, when you’re just, when you have no ability to get to that other world and you’re just fully present with people, that’s a pretty special gift.

Pastor Craig Groeschel, I want to end on a little personal note. I May, which,

which, and this is transparency for the thrive nation. Here we go. Which animal group do you do? You like the least cats or squirrels? Christian. That’s impressive. He’s thought about that. He’s thought about that. See, that deserves more cowbell.

Pastor Craig Groeschel, I appreciate you being on today’s show, your newest book, hoping the dark, believing God is good when life is not again, hoping that dark, believing God is good when life is not as available in bookstores everywhere. Get it on Amazon, get it. Your local bookstores. Check it out today, hoping the dark, believing God is good when life is not under. Now, without any further ado, I’d like to end with a boom. Three, two, one.

Marshall. I don’t want it to be done. He just gave us a boom, but I’m not ready for it to be done. It’s like Marshall, you know how like your, your maybe your prom or or someone’s wedding or some highlight moment in your life. Maybe it’s after the cubs won the world series and you just want to sit there and the stadium after the game and just say, what will you remember when the, when the Cleveland Cavaliers, when your team won the championship, remember that you just Kinda want to revel in the moment. You’re not sure and they’re going attention. Ladies and gentlemen, you don’t have to leave, but you can’t stay here. We’re like, no, you’re just, you’re on sacred ground. You’ve just seen Lebron James bring a victory to the mistake by the lake. Ouch. You’ve just seen the Lebron James Bring a championship back to its roots, but that’s right, because you knew he’s going to peace out soon and go to la, so you didn’t want to just leave.

You want to just let it happen. Yeah, you gotta stay there. You’ve got to stay on the. You’re one of the first people to call the fact that he was leaving. By the way, you mentioned that he was leaving for la. You mentioned that right after that championship. You called it, but the point is, I’m not ready to move on, so I’m going to play one more knowledge bomb that he shared with us. That blew my mind. I’m going to play it a few times because I think if we were doing America and potentially the other planets who are listening from alien solar systems, alien galaxies were doing them a disservice if we move on without everybody getting this next point

didn’t need was high quality video teaching. What we needed was high quality leadership at the location and this is the mistake many people make and kind of looking from a distance. It’s not about, it’s not about this video work or not. Video obviously works it because we we pay money to stream it all the time. What would the key ingredient to make video teaching in church work is not. The video is the quality of the leadership of the place.

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Eventually it has to end. I want it to go. I just. I don’t want to do. I just want to. I’m just going to. You don’t want to do. I’m just going to keep talking about this moment. Other people can tune out now. They can turn it off. That’s fine, but I’m just going to marinate on what I just did. The FDA, the wisdom that I just. If you want to stick around, we’ll be here with you where it will be a piece out, but I’m just telling you, think about this. You have to say, you have to do to grow. You have to say no. If people aren’t talking bad about you, it means you’re not doing anything. Are you? Speed wins. The first three hours of his day organizing his day, he worked six days a week. He’s focused. He takes his wife on a date night. It’s not about the things. It’s about the leadership and the people within the organization. It’s not about the things about the leadership. I’m out.

Pastor Craig Groeschel Teaches Dealing with Criticism, How to Create New Neural Pathways, His Daily Routine and More

Show Notes

Who is Pastor Craig Groeschel? Meet the founding father of Life.Church, a father of 6 children and a devoted husband

Starting Life.Church in a two-car garage

The YouVersion Bible App that changed the world

Experiencing Mission-Focused Exponential Growth

Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel’s calling to reach the lost

Pastor Craig Groeschel’s books

Pastor Craig Groeschel biography, lifestyle, children, grandchildren and net worth.

Where does Pastor Craig Groeschel live?

What social media platforms is Pastor Craig Groeschel active on?

How did Life.Church start?

What religion does Life.Church consider itself to be?

What does it mean to be an evangelical church?

Pastor Craig Groeschel Quotes:

How does Pastor Craig Groeschel prepare for a sermon?

What podcast does Craig Groeschel host?

What is the compensation for Craig Groeschel?

Pastor Craig Groeschel Facts:

References, Interviews and Articles featuring Pastor Craig Groeschel

“Seven Questions With Craig Groeschel” – DaveRamsey.com

Audio Transcription

Categories

Pastor Craig Groeschel Teaches Dealing with Criticism, How to Create New Neural Pathways, His Daily Routine and More

Show Notes

Who is Pastor Craig Groeschel? Meet the founding father of Life.Church, a father of 6 children and a devoted husband

Starting Life.Church in a two-car garage

The YouVersion Bible App that changed the world

Experiencing Mission-Focused Exponential Growth

Pastor Craig and Amy Groeschel’s calling to reach the lost

Pastor Craig Groeschel’s books

Pastor Craig Groeschel biography, lifestyle, children, grandchildren and net worth.

Where does Pastor Craig Groeschel live?

What social media platforms is Pastor Craig Groeschel active on?

How did Life.Church start?

What religion does Life.Church consider itself to be?

What does it mean to be an evangelical church?

Pastor Craig Groeschel Quotes:

How does Pastor Craig Groeschel prepare for a sermon?

What podcast does Craig Groeschel host?

What is the compensation for Craig Groeschel?

Pastor Craig Groeschel Facts:

References, Interviews and Articles featuring Pastor Craig Groeschel

“Seven Questions With Craig Groeschel” – DaveRamsey.com

Audio Transcription

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