False Teacher of the Day #61: Craig Groeschel

He walks onto the stage with a flawless smile and a perfectly-timed pause. The lights dim, the audience leans in, and for thirty minutes, the man speaks with the cadence of a TED Talker and the certainty of a Silicon Valley mogul pitching salvation like a subscription service.

This is what passes for preaching. This is is what passes for shepherding. Allow me to introduce you to #61 in our False Teacher of the Day series: Craig Groeschel

Groeschel is the CEO pastor, the apostle of analytics, the guru of self-help spirituality masquerading as gospel proclamation. And in the ostentatious halls of Life.Church, nestled beneath a glittering mountain of metrics, multimedia screens, and corporate lingo, Christ has long since been escorted out the side door to make room for another vision-casting strategy session.

Groeschel’s “church” isn’t a church, though. It’s a marketing campaign with a steeple. It’s a franchise of hollowed-out satellite venues connected not by biblical fidelity but by brand identity. And at the top of this pyramid, basking in accolades from the likes of Forbes and Glassdoor, sits a man who has managed to convince millions that pastoral care is best delivered by pre-recorded monologues, discipleship through data dashboards, and truth via emotionally intelligent storytelling.

But don’t let the charming tone and disarming smile fool you. Craig Groeschel is not a faithful minister of the gospel. He’s a wolf dressed in khakis and charisma, and his influence is as corrosive as it is colossal.

You will not hear him preach about sin. You will not hear him weep over hell. You will not hear him tremble over judgment. Instead, you’ll hear about the "mess-ups" in your life, the "bad vibes" God wants to free you from, and the empowering idea that you’re already enough.