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

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