Andy left First Baptist, estranged from his father, and went on to found North Point Community Church, a seeker-sensitive megachurch that would grow to more than 40,000 people. Listen to In Touch Ministries daily radio broadcasts with Dr. His father, he said, didn’t hear anything after the word “resign.” Charles reacted harshly and pronounced his son an enemy. In later years, the younger Stanley would say he only wanted his father to offer to resign, giving the church a chance to choose to keep their beloved pastor. One of them was Andy Stanley, who was pastoring a rapidly growing satellite campus and seen as First Baptist’s heir apparent. A number of leaders in the church-which now had regular a weekly attendance of about 13,000-wanted Stanley to step down, at least temporarily. Anna said her husband had long made his priorities clear, and she wasn’t one of them. The Stanleys enjoy family beach trips and spending time outdoors. I do not choose to contribute to this charade.” There were no allegations of infidelity or immoral behavior. They have served at CSBC together since August of 2011. “Instead, he has made repeated announcements from the pulpit that progress was being made towards our reconciliation, when in fact, the very opposite was true. “I am dismayed by my husband’s refusal to accept the critical state of our marriage,” Anna Stanley said in a statement to the Atlanta Constitution. Anna amended the suit a week later to ask for formal separation instead of divorce and then dropped the case. Stanley announced from the pulpit that the couple was not getting divorced, but was separated and working on their marriage. The congregation had never allowed a divorced man to serve in ministry, and Stanley had taught that divorced men were disqualified from ministry. The news got out anyway and caused an uproar at First Baptist Church. That version seems to be corroborated by this Christianity Today article: quote:Īnna Stanley filed for divorce in 1993, without explanation and using only the couple’s initials, A. When Charles refused to resign, Andy left the church. What was the misunderstanding? The story I heard was that Andy thought that Charles should resign since he had always preached that divorce was disqualifying for a pastor. The rift was apparently based on a misunderstanding,
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