History of LifeChurch.tv

God has done far more than we could have ever asked or even imagined in the twelve years since LifeChurch.tv held its first worship experience. In this time, thousands and thousands of lives have been changed. As we celebrate all He has done, we know that there is much more to come as there are still people all over the world that don't know Christ. We are honored that He has entrusted us with such an awesome responsibility as we strive to do anything short of sin to spread His message.

To see what God has done each year since LifeChurch.tv began in 1996, see below.

1996

  • Senior Pastor Craig Groeschel and his wife, Amy, knew God had given them a vision to start a church - a different kind of church. In January, with a handful of people and a clear mission, to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, Life Church began meeting in a rented dance studio in Edmond, Oklahoma. Within a few short weeks, the church attendance grew to over 130 people and they began to meet in a local middle school. The steady growth pattern continued and the next move was to a renovated bicycle factory.

1997

  • Life Church was averaging 200 people each week in attendance and continued to grow at a steady pace. At this point, the only option to accommodate the growth was to add additional worship experiences.

1999

  • Life Church completed a 750 seat worship center in the spring. (This building is known today as the LifeChurch.tv Oklahoma City Campus.) Attendance had grown to over 1250 by this point and the church was holding three worship experiences every weekend.
  • In October of 1999, Life Church held its first off-sight experience in a nearby movie theater (popcorn included!).
  • By the end of 2000, Life was reaching over 3000 each week.

2001

  • In January, MetroChurch, a 25-year old non-denominational church that averaged close to 1000 people in weekly attendance, joined the Life Church family and officially became the LifeChurch.tv Edmond, OK Campus. Out of this partnership, Life Church officially became "One Church in Multiple Locations."
  • On a Saturday evening in January, Amy gave birth to their fourth child, Sam. It was obvious Craig wouldn't be preaching on Sunday morning. Someone suggested we run video from the experience the night before. In that moment, an obstacle became an opportunity and the foundation was laid for how LifeChurch.tv would share its message with the world.
  • In the Fall of 2001, Life Church held its first video teaching experience called High Octane.
  • By year end, Life Church was serving over 5500 people in seven worship experiences between two different campuses.

2002

  • On Easter Sunday, the LifeChurch.tv Tulsa, OK Campus officially opened its doors in a local hotel ballroom. The campus quickly grew and in September they began meeting each week at a local high school.

2003

  • LifeChurch.tv Stillwater, the fourth campus of LifeChurch.tv, was launched in September.
  • During Christmas Eve experiences, LifeChurch.tv held its first live simulcast between the Edmond and Oklahoma City campuses.
  • By year end, over 9000 people worshipped at one of twelve LifeChurch.tv experiences available each weekend on four campuses.

2004

  • LifeChurch.tv reached over 12,000 people through sixteen weekly worship experiences across the four campuses.
  • In August, a satellite uplink was built at the Oklahoma City Campus, providing the ability for LifeChurch.tv to send live video feed anywhere in the world.
  • The LifeChurch.tv Tulsa Campus moved to its permanent location in October.

2005

  • LifeChurch.tv South Oklahoma City, the fifth campus, opened in March of 2005.
  • In September, LifeChurch.tv opened its first campus outside the state of Oklahoma.The LifeChurch.tv Mesa, AZ Campus and Gilbert, AZ campuses were located in a suburb of Phoenix. In November of 2005, the two Arizona campuses were merged into one campus.
  • LifeChurch.tv reached over 14,000 people each week through 29 worship experiences by the end of the year.

2006

  • Early in the year, a church in Fort Worth, Texas (The Church at City View) became a part of LifeChurch.tv and is now known as the LifeChurch.tv Fort Worth, TX Campus.
  • In April, the LifeChurch.tv Internet Campus was launched. This revolutionary campus provides live church online for people around the world with the ability to engage in genuine community, unique volunteer opportunities, online LifeGroups, and even mission opportunities on the Internet.
  • Also in April, LifeChurch.tv Open (open.lifechurch.tv) began. Through this tool, LifeChurch.tv is able to share its resources, including creative content, messages and resources, with ministries everywhere completely free of charge, no strings attached, all through a simple download.
  • LifeChurch.tv joined forces with another ministry, Church Unplugged, and added its ninth campus, LifeChurch.tv Hendersonville, TN.
  • At the end of the year, LifeChurch.tv was averaging over 18,000 people each weekend through a total of 40 worship experiences.

2007

  • In February, the Stillwater Campus moved into a brand-new facility, which gave the campus the space it needed to accommodate the growing community in Stillwater.
  • LifeChurch.tv's tenth campus was launched in February when a church in Wellington, FL (in the West Palm Beach area) became a part of LifeChurch.tv. This campus is called LifeChurch.tv Wellington.
  • On April 1, the LifeChurch.tv NW Oklahoma City, OK Campus opened its doors.
  • Also in April, LifeChurch.tv launched a fully interactive campus location (which is part of the Internet Campus) in Second Life, the popular 3-D online virtual world.
  • In May, the twelfth campus, LifeChurch.tv Albany, NY was launched after a church in Albany became part of the LifeChurch.tv family.
  • YouVersion.com, the revolutionary free online Bible, was released in Beta version in October. This tool allows users to connect Scripture with a wide variety of media content, including pictures, video, journal entries, blog posts and such.
  • The Fort Worth Campus moved into a permanent facility on Christmas weekend. The response to the move was amazing attendance records for the campus were set that first weekend.
  • By year end, LifeChurch.tv was meeting at twelve locations in six states, reaching over 21,000 people weekly through 49 worship experiences.

2008

  • In January, the doors to the thirteenth campus, LifeChurch.tv South Tulsa, opened in Bixby, Oklahoma. Located in the heart of south Tulsa, this new campus allows for LifeChurch.tv to reach a growing community with the life-changing message of Christ.