Archive for June, 2008
Dear Mr. President
In preparation for our big summer series, Letters to the Next President, I would like to ask you, oh faithful blog readers, to do three things.
1. Watch the series promo video below.
2. Go to www.letterstothenextpresident.com and write your own letter to the next president. We’re hoping to post lots of letters on this website before the series starts.
3. Begin to pray for the person you will invite to Buckhead for this series. It starts July 13.
Thanks!
Jeff
Sunday fun
We are going to have a great day on Sunday as Casey Darnell leads us in worship and Clay Scroggins finishes up his series, Why is God So Mad?
Casey just came out with a great new CD and we 
would love to give it to a few of our faithful blog readers (that have never won anything). So the first 10 of you to comment, we’ll send you Words In Motion.
Hmm…
What did you think of 7/22 last night?
7|22 this week!
In the unlikely case that you’ve been living in a cave (or a shack) for the past year, you’ve probably read or at least heard of The New York Times best-selling book The Shack by William P. Young.
The Shack is a gut-wrenching, soul-liberating piece of fiction that introduces us to Mack. He is a man who has suffered great loss and has carried around what Young calls The Great Sadness for the better part of the past four years. In an odd turn of events, Mack is literally invited by God to come and have a healing experience with Trinity at the very location of his Great Sadness—the shack.
Mack goes to the shack and it is there that he encounters God in a new way.
Throughout the course of the book, Mack begins to see and experience the loving power of not only God, but each member of the Trinity. Oh, I did I mention that God appears to Mack in the form of a large African-American woman named Papa? Yep. To say any more would be giving away too much of the book.
If you’re intrigued—you should read it!
If you’re a post-college single—you should come to 7|22 this Tuesday night to hear the story behind the story of The Shack as we interview live onstage its author, William P. Young. If that weren’t enough, Eddie Kirkland will be leading our worship experience, which we are pretty hyped about.
So, here are the question(s):
∴ Have you read The Shack? If so, what did you think?
∴ Is there anyone in your life (including yourself) that needs to hear more about this powerful story?
∴ Do you know any post-college single friends that need to read the book or be there Tuesday night?
7|22 is a gathering of post-college singles who desire to be changed by God and bring change to our city.
7|22 meets at Buckhead Church on Tuesday nights @7.30 p.m. For more information, go to www.722.org.
Answers…
Last week on the blog, we asked you to submit questions you might have about Buckhead Church. We, in turn, would respond. Here’s Question #1:
Just how many pastors DO we have? I’ve heard the term “teaching pastor.” What is that? Is that something different? Sometimes I get a little confused about who does what.
Kathy
Hey Kathy,
Great question!
As you probably know, we are an organization made up of three campuses (Buckhead Church, North Point Community Church, and Browns Bridge Community Church). Andy Stanley is the senior pastor for all three campuses. Jeff Henderson is our campus pastor and leads our team locally at Buckhead Church.
To answer your questions about the pastors of Buckhead Church, I’ll give you a specific and a general answer, both of which are very important to what we believe God wants to do here.
Specifically, each of our three campuses has people who are “commissioned.” These are staff people that meet a set of criteria that is established in our constitution. They carry out a variety of pastoral and leadership duties. These responsibilities include teaching, conducting weddings and funerals, counseling, guiding the church’s ministry locally and internationally, and leading our church in worship and community. Buckhead Church has about fourteen different staff people who have been formally commissioned for different responsibilities in and around our church. These men and women do a great job of leading our teams and ministries at BC, but you won’t see them set apart in any way, honored above anyone else, or referred to by the title “pastor.” That approach springs primarily from what I’ll call the “general” answer to your question.
Generally, Buckhead Church is led by a group of staff, volunteer leaders, and formally titled “pastors,” but we believe that everyone who calls himself or herself a follower of Christ has certain pastoral duties in our community and world. This simply means that we believe that God wants to use each of these individuals to guide, lead, and serve others in many ways that a pastor would. Time and time again in the New Testament, we see examples of common, ordinary people used in great ways by God in the lives of those around them. So, to answer your question, Buckhead Church has formal pastors, but we have thousands of great people that carry out amazing “pastoral” responsibilities each week in their neighborhoods, offices, and schools. They are having great discussions over lunches with those seeking to know Christ better. They are caring for the needy in their lives. They are teaching their children what it means to be a Christian. God is using them in pastoral ways!
Again, great question and thanks for asking it!
Billy Phenix
Director of Family Ministries
