Andy Who?

Published on May 29, 2008 by Damon

“Andy who?”  Four years ago that was the question most asked when I would refer to North Point Community Church.  In terms of buzz, not much has changed on the “left” coast in the last four years.  I still have to tell church people that Andy is Charles Stanley’s son and that he didn’t inherit First Baptist Church of Atlanta.  However, four years later, North Point Community Church has nearly 30,000 in attendance at three campuses in the greater Atlanta area.  They have helped plant 14 other churches, 15 including us, in the last four years.  An impressive profile for a church that isn’t even in its teens.

But why?  We know of megachurches all over the US.  Many of them began in the 70’s and 80’s and took nearly 20+ years to reach mega.  How did North Point do it in 10 years?  Most of the books would point us to leadership.  And that would be true.  At the helm of North Point is a world class leader and communicator.  But . . . what mega church doesn’t have an excellent communicator/leader?  I don’t think we could point to a single megachurch that has a merely average communicator.  In addition to a world class leader and communicator, North Point has a simple, reproducible strategy—and that is certainly no small testimony of the caliber of leadership Andy has brought to NP.

Thom Rainier in Simple Church (2006) demonstrated that there is an undeniable principle at work: simple churches are vibrant, healthy, growing churches.  In summary, simple churches clarify a simple strategy; they align everything they do around a 3 to 4 step process designed to move people through discipleship.  To steal a phrase from Tom Collins they do this with an almost fanatic rigor or discipline—Rainier would call it “focus.” 

North Point has done this and they currently represent a growing minority of churches that get it.  This is one of the many reasons the lead team of River Park Community Church is excited to be joining NP as a strategic partner.  We look forward to learning from people further down the road.  We hope with the help of North Point to be able move further faster.  We know that the 96% of people in our community that think church isn’t for them need this kind of church.