About Me
Larry has devoted more than five decades to ministry, leadership, and developing the next generation of leaders. Raised in a ministry family, he began preaching at 16 and later spent two years as a missionary in West Africa before serving as an associate pastor at his father’s church. In 1983, he became Lead Pastor.
During his 28 years as pastor, Larry led his church to give more than $63 million to local and international missions and developed a small-group ministry that became a national model. Many of his associate pastors went on to plant churches, with three eventually growing to more than 85,000 in weekend attendance.
In 2001, Larry founded Surge, a church-planting movement built around mentoring, multiplication, and developing indigenous leaders. Surge has now planted over 30,000 mainly rural churches and is now led by his son Joel. Surge planted over 4,000 churches in 2025.
Larry is the author of The Cell Church, The Remnant, Model Man, and his newest book, Honor: The Secret to All Relationships, released on Amazon in 2026. His books focus on leadership, mentoring, relationships, integrity, and spiritual multiplication. More than 120,000 copies of The Remnant have been distributed free to pastors worldwide.
Following his 50th anniversary in ministry, Larry launched Pastors University, sharing “50 lessons from 50 years” of ministry and leadership with pastors and emerging leaders.
Larry and his wife, Melanie, recently celebrated 50 years of marriage. They have six children, 21 grandchildren, and live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His lifelong passion is to develop leaders, strengthen families, multiply churches, and leave a legacy that impacts generations.
My Projects
Pastors University
Our mission is to create Legacy Pastors who are ready for the challenges of a lifetime. Visit https://www.pastorsuniversity.org for information and how to apply.
Model Man
My burden is that every Christian man would move from being a “mediocre man” to a “model man.” We are issuing a clarion call to the men of America and the entire world to seek for God to do an inward “alignment” that will change them into something He can use to make a seal, an impression on others. My prayer is to see one million men’s lives changed through this simple and practical Model Man message. To find out more about the Model Man Movement, click here.
I devote much of my speaking time to sharing this word with pastors, leaders, and men. If you are interested in me speaking on this, click here.
The Remnant
Pastors are struggling with life issues. With over 350,000 pastors in America alone, who is training them on character as well as calling? To focus on health as well as growth? The “Ten Commandments of Ministry” come from decades of ministry experience in helping a pastor’s influence grow instead of implode.
The Remnant vision is to persuade every American minister to adopt a lifestyle of accountability and to build into his life systems of wisdom that protect from reproach.
Surge
The Surge Project is a global church planting initiative with over 20,000 churches planted in the past 20 years. I am the founder and Executive Director of Surge, working with regional leaders located throughout the globe. If you would like to get involved go to surge.org.