Andy Stanley, the son of famed In Touch Ministries founder Charles Stanley, who led First Baptist Church in Atlanta for nearly 50 years, twice headed the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote some 70 books and emphasized the basics of biblical teachings to multiple generations, has announced he is leaving his pastoral role at North Point church.
The scandal that Andy Stanley created by reinterpreting the Bible to promote the LGBT lifestyle immediately surged on social media comments:
“I hope that church you led astray gets a Christian pastor.”
“Andy Stanley is what the bible says a false teacher he distorts the LORD’S teaching his father Charles was a great teacher of the gospel.”
“Not a word about your apostasy so certainly not a word of repentance. The church should have cast you out decades ago. Prayers for those lost & misled sheep.”
Andy Stanley’s announcement:
On October 18, 2026, I shared an update regarding my future and the future of our network of churches. For all the details, visit https://t.co/DuostXGY1J. https://t.co/S5x1obnl8w
— Andy Stanley (@AndyStanley) October 18, 2026
Breaking! Andy Stanley announced this morning that he is stepping down as senior pastor of North Point Ministries. Long-time pastor Joel Thomas is being nominated to take over. Stanley insists that while he’s retiring from his job, he’s not retiring from ministry and will remain on the Board of Elders and will preach as part of the pastoral rotation.
— Protestia (@Protestia) October 18, 2026
He had been criticized earlier by noted biblical authorities including Al Mohler and John MacArthur, who warned Andy Stanley he is “more worried about how the world thinks” than “feeding the flock of God.”
“The Train Is Leaving the Station: Andy Stanley’s Departure from Biblical Christianity” — my column today at WORLD Opinions. @WNGdotorg https://t.co/m0nlE3x78J
— Albert Mohler (@albertmohler) September 18, 2023
A report at Not the Bee explained, “Stanley has been widely criticized by fellow Christian leaders for his comfort level with sexual heresy that is (and I quote from Leviticus 20:13, Leviticus 18:22, and Deuteronomy 22:5) an ‘abomination’ to God.”
The report continued, “In 2023, the church hosted a conference ‘for parents of LGBTQ+ children.’ Also in 2023, Stanley praised the bravery of ‘a gay person who still wants to attend church.’ At the same time as all this was unfolding, a video surfaced of a North Point leader getting a lap dance from a drag queen.”
Just last year his church instructed youth leaders to use “affirming” words for children who claim to be transgender, even though that’s a scientific impossibility.
“Stanley will remain on the church’s board of elders and his hand-picked successor will be up for a vote by the congregation next year,” the report said.
Protestia added, “Of all people, the country singer who coined ‘Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy’ had tremendous thoughts on Stanley’s exit.”
It quoted John Rich’s social media comment: “I’m happy to see @AndyStanley stepping down. It’s too bad his Father, Charles Stanley, couldn’t have lived another 50 years. His sermons helped me turn my life around many years ago. Andy took the church in a worldly direction, and it’s a blessing he’s no longer in the pulpit.”
An online analysis said there was no “open conflict or public confrontation” between the two.
But there was “a divergence that can be felt not so much in direct words as in the way the Gospel itself is presented.”
The analysis said, “When I listen to Charles Stanley, I do not get the impression that he was trying to adapt himself to the expectations of the audience. On the contrary, it always feels as though he was calling the listener upward—to rise to the level of God’s truth rather than attempting to lower truth to the level of human comfort. His approach was clear, principled, and deeply rooted: God’s Word was not a topic for negotiation, but the foundation for life; truth does not change, even when the world changes around it; obedience to God is not optional, but necessary.”
“When you look at Andy Stanley’s ministry, it becomes obvious that he sees the challenge from a different angle. His focus has often been on people who have already lost trust in church, on those who are skeptical of institutional religion, or on those who are unwilling to engage with traditional forms, heavier theological language, or direct and demanding preaching,” it said.
The “serious question” that remains is “Can the desire to reach people gradually turn into a habit of removing the very things that make the Gospel weighty, holy, and spiritually demanding?”
It said, “One of the most discussed moments in Andy Stanley’s public ministry came when he said that Christians should ‘unhitch’ from the Old Testament. That statement created immediate tension, and it is not difficult to understand why. For many believers—and especially for those shaped by the kind of biblical conviction Charles Stanley represented—this was not a secondary issue. It touched the question of how Scripture itself is viewed.”
