Pastor Greg Laurie recently made an appearance on Dr. Jordan Peterson’s podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about his life and faith.
In his introduction for the podcast, Peterson said that Laurie, the founding pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, first came on his radar after Peterson saw “Jesus Revolution,” a feature film depicting how Laurie came to faith in Jesus and became a pastor and evangelist.
While Peterson does not personally identify as a Christian, he has expressed appreciation for the Bible and often uses biblical imagery to explore philosophical ideas. In their conversation, Peterson and Laurie discussed theology, cultural trends, and Laurie’s personal story.
One theme that Laurie pointed out in his own life that he sees reflected in the culture today is a longing for fatherhood.
“My mother was married and divorced seven times,” Laurie said. “And she was a beautiful woman, literally a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe. And she had a bunch of boyfriends in between. She was a raging alcoholic.”
“So I never had a father growing up, and I was searching for a father myself,” he added.
Laurie recounted that his mother would drink excessively and “pass out in a stupor every night.” He said, “Suddenly, I became the parent in the relationship, even though I was a little boy. I had to make sure my mom didn’t die—get her in bed, make sure she eats something, and care for her.”
“So I can understand young people searching, young men searching. I was searching too,” Laurie said. “But I didn’t know what I was searching for. I just knew out there there was something better than the life I was living.” Laurie joked that his mother’s alcoholism was a form of “pre-evangelism” for him.
Nevertheless, Laurie said that his search for something better than the life he knew led him into the world of recreational drug use.
“And I had a couple bad trips, and I thought, ‘This is not the direction I want my life to go,’” Laurie said. Later, Laurie said that he ran into some fellow high school students whom he referred to as “Jesus freaks.”
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“Not meant as a compliment,” he clarified. “I thought they were all crazy.”
