Andy Stanley has been one of the most influential false teachers of the twenty-first century. Andy Stanley told North Point Community Church on October 18 that he will step down from his two top roles in 2027. The 68-year-old founder plans to hand off leadership of North Point Ministries and the flagship North Point Community Church to longtime colleague Joel Thomas, pending a congregational vote.
Stanley framed the move as the best of three options available to a senior pastor: death, removal, or voluntary exit. “I feel like—though you may disagree—I feel like I’m choosing the best of the three options,” he said. He and his wife Sandra began discussing the timeline four and a half years ago. The goal was to protect the organization and free him to say yes to his grandchildren without checking a calendar.
Thomas, currently executive director of North Point Ministries, would assume the senior pastor role for the entire network on January 1, 2027. Stanley would remain lead pastor of North Point Community Church until May, when Thomas would take that position as well. About 50,000 adults across the eight Atlanta-area campuses are eligible to vote. Eligible participants must have joined a small group, volunteered, donated at least four times in a year, or regularly checked in a child. Ballots go out by email or mail, with results expected November 1. Only a yes-or-no vote on Thomas is allowed.
Stanley wrote the original bylaws and insisted the elders could remove a senior pastor for cause but could not install a new one without congregational approval. “I insisted that the elders not have the authority to hire and install a new senior pastor without congregational approval, because we’re a church, and a church should have the opportunity to choose its next leader,” he said. The elders unanimously nominated Thomas.
Stanley praised Thomas’s long track record: first intern in 1998, college and singles ministry leadership, a stint as lead pastor of the flagship campus from 2011 to 2015, seven years turning around a troubled church in Arizona, return to lead Buckhead Church, and promotion to executive director in 2023. “Along with our elders who were unanimous in their support, I’m convinced Joel is the right choice to take my place as senior pastor and senior leader of this organization,” Stanley said. He added that Thomas once wrote that he and his wife felt “called to help North Point become the next version of the church God wants it to be, and that the community needs it to be, regardless of what our role is.”
Stanley stressed he is retiring from the job, not ministry. “I’m retiring from my job, but I’m not retiring from ministry. I’m not going to disappear.” He said he will continue preaching occasionally, represent the network nationally and internationally, and possibly serve on the elders board. “We love this church, but I am absolutely convinced that the best thing for this next iteration of what we’re going to do together is a younger leader who can project a vision further out than I can because of my age and season of life,” he said. “I’m not trying to be the hero. I’m not trying to be a martyr. I just believe in what we do.”
Stanley built North Point after a public split with his father, Charles Stanley, over the elder Stanley’s divorce. The multi-campus model and pragmatic, relevance-driven approach produced significant numerical growth. At the same time, Stanley’s public teaching repeatedly tested traditional Evangelical boundaries, most famously his 2018 “Unhitch” series that urged Christians to separate the Old Testament from the New, and more recent events where his church has been exposed as gay affirming. Earlier this year, North Point faced renewed questions over former staff member Reggie Joiner and allegations of grooming and abuse that Stanley said he did not know about at the time.
The succession plan itself follows standard megachurch logic: protect the organization, install a trusted insider, and move on. Whether the theological and cultural trajectory Stanley set will continue unchanged under Thomas is the question the next chapter will answer. The vote begins soon.
