Starting in September, Andy Wood, who serves as lead pastor of Echo.Church in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Stacie, will officially become the new lead pastor of the California-based Saddleback Church.
The announcement of Warren’s successor comes after nearly 43 years of ministry spanning 197 countries, the baptism of 56,000 new believers, donations of more than $1 billion to Christian causes, as well as the development of support ministries and groups focusing on HIV/AIDS, grief care and mental health.
In a statement Warren said, “Kay and I believe so much in this couple. We love them so much, and we are confident that God has prepared and chosen them to take up the baton and run the next leg of the Saddleback marathon.”
While Warren and his elders at Saddleback Church only began the official search for his replacement on June 5, 2021, he began thinking about succession nearly 20 years ago when his 2002 book The Purpose Driven Life became a bestseller.
He explained that when he and his wife started the church in January 1980 when they were both 25, he made his intention clear that he would lead the church for 40 years and step down in January 2020. But Covid changed those plans.
He said Saddleback was fortunate in its search for a new lead pastor because over the last four decades the ministry had trained more than 1.1 million pastors in 165 countries.