American evangelist Greg Laurie says he experienced a turbulent childhood. His mother remarried several times and with that came frequent moves. Aged 17 amid the Jesus Movement, he gave his life to Christ and aged just 19 he was in church leadership himself.

He founded a Bible study in California, which soon grew into Harvest Christian Fellowship with a 'confidence that came from the Lord'. Today, the church spans multiple campuses in California and Hawaii and typically draws over 14,000 weekly attendees.

In 1990, he launched Harvest Crusades a huge evangelistic events that has reached millions of people both live and online, resulting in hundreds of thousands of recorded professions of faith.

In this episode of The Profile he speaks to Deputy Editor of Premier's Christianity magazine - Emma Fowle - to talk through his early life, his thoughts on evangelism and how it'll be taken up by Gen Z and younger generation coming up.

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Released on 17 Jul 2025