CHARLES STANLEY AND HIS SUCCESSOR, DR. ANTHONY GEORGE (left)
Posted on 09/14/2020 7:20:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
After nearly 50 years of serving as senior pastor at First Baptist Church Atlanta, Charles Stanley announced during a pre-recorded streaming service on Sunday that he is stepping down. The megachurch said Stanley will be replaced by Dr. Anthony George.
“Earlier this month, I informed the board that I felt the time had come for me to step down as senior pastor,” Stanley said. “I have many wonderful memories. But as much as I love being your pastor, I know in my heart this season has come to an end.”
Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and who will turn 88 later this month, will become pastor emeritus. “To say I didn’t rush this decision would certainly be an understatement,” he said.
Stanley, who’s been with First Baptist since 1969, said he’s not retiring and will remain active with In Touch Ministries, which was founded in 1992.
The church said in a statement on its Facebook page, “We are forever indebted to this man of God—not only our faithful pastor, but also a pastor to millions around the world.”
George, who assisted Stanley as the church’s associate pastor since 2012, stated, “Thank you for being strong and of good courage through every battle that you’ve had to fight, through every trial you’ve had to overcome.”
“You have stood tall and confident through all these years while at the same time remaining dependent and prayerful before an almighty God. Because you were a yielded vessel the Gospel of Jesus Christ, through you, has blanketed this globe. Truly, God has been with you wheresoever you have gone.”
In his message, Stanley said he was “so grateful” for George. “Thanks to Anthony’s leadership and his love for you and his love for God. I have no doubt that there are many great days ahead for the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. My hope is that the greatest days are still ahead.”
A former senior pastor of Aloma Church in Winter Park, Florida, for one and a half decades, George said he plans to “do some serious strategic planning for updating our church’s organizational structure and ministry model.”
Stanley had to be hospitalized twice last year, George recalled, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“After coming home from the hospital each of those times, he had me over to his house to tell me it was time for him to step down,” George said. “As he recovered and regained his strength following each of those conversations, he let me know that he had changed his mind and planned on remaining as senior pastor. Then at the beginning of this year, he had me over to discuss it, only to back down again and say that the timing wasn’t right. So even with the back and forth, I knew it was weighing heavily on his mind. And for the record, I have always discouraged him from stepping down.”
David P. Gushee, a professor at Mercer University and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life, called Stanley “one of the giants of conservative Southern Baptist life for the last generation or more,” according to AJC. He said Stanley’s commitment to staying in “one place and serving as a faithful pastor in that one community is just something you don’t see anymore.”
Why not his son?
“Why not his son?”
Despite what many mega churches seem to believe, pastor is not a hereditary position.
> Despite what many mega churches seem to believe, pastor is not a hereditary position. <
You beat me to it.
Good!
I kind of enjoyed watching him. He talked to you, not down to you like some do.
Why would First Baptist Atlanta want a Serial Blasphemer like Andy Stanley in the pulpet?
If you wish to stay true to the Word of God, you bring in Godly people who reflect Biblical Principles - like Anthony George. He’s actually pretty outstanding from what I know of him.
Some mega churches who’ve built themselves around a charismatic person fail when they die or commit some crime where they have to quit. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral is one good example.
Because, sadly, Andy Stanley is a new-age nut job of a "pastor".
A good man who has served our God and blessed many with his messages.
Have you ever noticed in the Old Testament how many sons who followed in their fathers work were not good God fearing men.
In the New Testament there isn’t a family hierarchy. The blood line no longer need be followed after Christ Jesus came to earth.
But son following father doesn’t work out in most cases, especially where the Spirit of God is at work in the lives of people.
I Love Pastor Stanley. I will miss his Sunday Morning Sermons.
Andy Stanley is an apostate.
I do not use that word lightly.
You can do the research yourself.
His own “sermons” tell it all.
Even his mannerisms and the way he talks make me think something is seriously wrong with the dude.
From homosexuality, transgenderism, Covid-19 lockdowns, to scoffing at the Old Testament.
If you value your soul, stay far away from Andy.
And Andy Stanley hasn’t been under his father’s tutelage for years, he’s a very successful pastor/preacher/author in his own right.
Thank you for posting that interview with Pastor George, SeekandFind.
Here’s a great question, and George’s answer...
Index: What do you think the church in America will look like in 25 years? Do you see any significant changes that are inevitable?
George: It’s hard to know what the next 25 years will mean for the confessing church. However, I do believe that the greatest safeguard against the drift into apostasy is a relentless commitment to biblical preaching. I enjoy observing and listening to pastors who are expositional in their preaching while using creativity and technology to enhance their communication. They are proving that Bible exposition and creativity are not mutually exclusive concepts. I’m not fearful of progressive styles of music and other stylistic changes. But I am dreadfully fearful of the outcome of the willful abandonment of Scripture as the primary, driving content of preaching.
BTW, Andy is a disgrace...
I first heard Charles Stanley preach a sermon on “Commitment” which was on a cassette tape given me by an Amway “upline” in 1974. We have been blessed by his teaching ever since. Most Sunday mornings we listen to either Charles Stanley or David Jeremiah on YouTube before heading out to our local church.
Back in the 1980’s we were working with an “unreached” tribe in NE Uganda. I often put a cassette tape of one of Dr. Stanley’s sermons on basic Christian principles into a hand-cranked cassette player for my teaching sessions. His sermon was, of course, in English. However, my translator, Phillip, spoke English and his tribal language, Karamajong. The tribe we were working with understood Karamajong. At that time they had no written language nor any portion of the Bible translated into their language, Icetot.
I’d crank away for a sermon point, then Phillip & I would discuss that in English. He would then translate into Karamajong. Our listeners would ask questions of Phillip which he would either answer or pass along to me. In this way we had a Biblically sound and comprehensive lesson plan, thanks to Charles Stanley’s teaching sermons.
While I have a bit of Bible college training, I was primarily trained as an engineer and later a USMC helicopter pilot. My first contact with this tribe was when flying in food and medical teams during the famine of 1980-81. I am neither a church planter nor a pastor, just a “here I am, send me” guy who filled in until God was able get properly trained Bible translators into the tribe.
Praise God for Charles Stanley!
Thanks for the anecdote. It adds to my enormous respect for Pastor Charles and his ministry.
, George said he plans to “do some serious strategic planning for updating our church’s organizational structure and ministry model.” Oh-oh. Warning lights flashing.
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