Andy Stanley announces plans to step down as lead pastor of Georgia’s North Point Community Church

Andy Stanley, the nationally known pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., announced that he will retire as lead pastor in 2027. The son of the late Southern Baptist Pastor Charles Stanley announced his decision to his church on Sunday.

“The best thing for this next iteration of what we are going to do together requires a younger leader who can project a vision further out than I could because of my age and season of life,” he said.” “I am not trying to be the hero. I am not trying to be a martyr. I just believe in what we do, and this is one of the reasons I am confident this is the right time.”

The board of elders nominated Pastor Joel Thomas, executive director of North Point Ministries, to succeed Stanley, pending a congregational vote that is open through October 30.

“Joel is absolutely the right person,” Stanley said.

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North Point Community Church, which Stanley founded in 1995, has grown to eight local campuses and hundreds of global partner churches. In 2023, the church drew backlash for holding the Unconditional Conference, a two-day gathering for Christian parents of LGBT-identified children that some argued departed from biblical teaching on sexual ethics.

Stanley defended the conference as beneficial to LGBT-identified minors in the church who are struggling with an “immutable” characteristic. He said his church affirms the biblical definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Stanley’s theological views at times have drawn controversy. In 2018, for example, he preached a sermon calling on Christians to “unhitch” their faith from the Old Testament. “[First century] Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system and regulations of the Jewish scriptures,” he said.

Months after the sermon, Stanley told Michael Brown on Brown’s podcast that he considered the Old Testament divinely inspired and that his remarks were aimed at an audience turned off by biblical arguments.

“I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you, ‘do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?’ here is how you are to answer,” Stanley said. “Do not say ‘yes, because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people.’ You say this: ‘I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'”

–Lee Hartman | Metro Voice

PHOTO: from northpointministries.org