After serving as music director at Christ Covenant Church in Shelby, North Carolina, Furtick moved to Charlotte and started Elevation Church. The church had their first service on February 5, 2006. In 2007, Furtick made headlines when his church gave $40,000 to members in envelopes with $5, $20, even $1,000, and told them to spend it kindly on others. Furtick speaks at events all over the world including the 2011 Global Leadership Summit hosted by Bill Hybels, C3 Conference 2012, hosted by Ed Young Jr., Hillsong Conference 2012 hosted by Brian Houston, and the Presence Conference in 2012 and 2013 hosted by Phil Pringle. Furtick also participated in The Elephant Room 1 and The Elephant Room 2 hosted by James MacDonald. Furtick was named to Oprah'sSuperSoul100 list of visionaries and influential leaders in 2016. In 2012, in response to a need of 1,000 mentors for students in area schools, Furtick launched an outreach program at Elevation Church called the M1 Initiative. Furtick said, "We have always said we want to be a blessing to our city and support our leaders with a volunteer force they can count on." More than 1,600 members responded and committed to mentoring a child for the 2012–2013 school year. The LGBT community raised concerns about the initiative and the well-being of LGBT students in the program because Furtick had publicly called homosexuality a sin.
Controversies
In 2012, evangelical pastor and theologian John F. MacArthur called Furtick "unqualified". Furtick responded to this comment in his 2016 book Unqualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things. One of Furtick's critics, Grayson Gilbert, further explains the "unqualified" statement by arguing that Furtick is unable to understand and explain the Bible's message properly to his audience, and has explicitly taught heresy as a result.
Personal life
Furtick and his wife, Holly live in Charlotte, North Carolina with their three children, Elijah, Graham, and Abbey. In 2013, Furtick and his wife built a home on 19 acres of land in Waxhaw, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. The home was valued at $1.78 million. Furtick stated that his home was paid for with money from his book sales and publisher advances, rather than his salary from Elevation Church. The church refused to answer questions about Furtick's salary, his tax-free housing allowance, and how much he makes from books and speaking fees. Elevation Church said that Furtick is generous to the church with the money he receives from writing books, arranges for the church to purchase his books directly from the publisher at the author's discount and keep the money from sales, and that the publisher pays the church to produce marketing materials to promote Furtick's books. Elevation Church said that Furtick's salary is set by a board composed of other pastors, who vote on his salary based on a compensation study conducted by an outside firm. Furtick does not vote on his own salary. In response to the news report, before his sermon on the weekend of October 27, 2013, Furtick addressed the congregation directly, saying "he was sorry if the house and surrounding questions caused them to have difficult conversations with co-workers, friends and neighbors."
