Elevation Church Announces Launch of Elevation College
The college will work in partnership with Southeastern University.
Elevation Church, the Charlotte-area megachurch led by Steven Furtick, recently announced plans to start its own college program in partnership with Southeastern University.
Elevation College logo / Insert of Steven Furtick (Video screenshot)
Beginning in fall 2026, Elevation College will offer study programs and internships through the church for hands-on ministry experience.
Southeastern University (SEU) has been collaborating with Elevation Church for years on leadership programs and other non-accredited educational tracks, according to the Southeastern University president’s Chief of Staff Patrick Fitzgerald.
He told MinistryWatch that Elevation Church will not be their first church partnership.
“[F]or the last decade, SEU has been partnering with churches across the country to create access to affordable, faith-based, need-oriented education. We now have more than 200 of these campuses nationwide,” Fitzgerald said.
“We believe Elevation College has the potential to become one of our largest and most premier Network Campuses—but this model is not new for us; we have been doing this at scale for years,” he said, adding that the church partnership is rooted in SEU’s mission to serve the local church.
While other private Christian universities have struggled and many have closed, the partnership model is part of SEU’s long-term plan that has driven its growth over the last decade.
For example, enrollment at SEU grew from 3,434 students in 2013 to 10,400 in 2023, an increase of over 200%.
According to SEU, the benefits to students of an Elevation College partnership are threefold: affordability, access, and experience.
By partnering with churches, SEU has been able to lower the total cost to students by nearly two-thirds when compared to traditional private universities.
The partnership also creates more access for students to earn degrees while living at home. The internship component allows them to gain hands-on experience while earning their degree.
Fitzgerald expects the Fall 2026 semester to be a hybrid model with some online and some in-person courses. For in-person courses, SEU will vet prospective professors through its standard process, and they will become adjunct professors at Elevation College, employed by SEU.
MinistryWatch reached out for comment to Elevation Church by email and phone but didn’t receive a reply.
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Elevation Church already has a ministry internship program for students to gain hands-on ministry experience in areas such as technology, production, and administration. Applicants don’t have to be Elevation Church members.
Elevation Church does not file a Form 990 with the Internal Revenue Service. It posts its consolidated financial statements on its website. According to those, the church had unrestricted revenue of about $39 million in 2016, peaked at $105 million in 2022, and had about $89 million in unrestricted revenue in 2024.
In June 2023, Elevation Church withdrew its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, giving no specific reason about its departure. Earlier that month, the SBC had voted to expel two churches, Saddleback and Fern Creek, from the denomination because they have women pastors. Holly Furtick, Steven’s wife, is listed on the Elevation Church website as “co-founder and pastor at Elevation Church,” and her sermons are available online.
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