Then, for seven years, he was a pastor at North Point Community Church, led by Andy Stanley.
“Coming from the Black church over to North Point was a big culture shock, but it was awesome. It was really awesome,” said Collier, who counts pastors Stanley and Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as mentors and friends.
“I needed to see some different things and get exposed to another world, even get a new narrative about another community.”
That’s what ultimately led him to Hillsong, he said.
Collier pointed to the Rev. Martin Luther King’s famous statement that 11 a.m. Sunday is the most segregated hour in America. At Hillsong Atlanta, he said, he hopes to “create a model for the country as it pertains to racial reconciliation, specifically in the birthplace of civil rights.”
“I think we need a church in Atlanta that unites Atlanta,” he said.
In discussions about working together with Hillsong, he asked Brian Houston if he’d be able to talk about race. He said Houston’s answer was, “I want you to.”
Collier had never heard anything like that in white evangelical spaces, he said.
Collier also wants to emphasize women’s voices in the church, he said. Toni Collier said in the introduction video for Hillsong Atlanta that she hopes everybody will feel at home there.
“When people walk into the four walls of Hillsong Atlanta, they will feel Hillsong. They will feel family. They will feel united. But then also of course they’re going to feel Atlanta, and it’s going to be great,” she said.
“They’re going to learn, they’re going to grow, they’re going to interface with new cultures. It’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
Sam Collier said he hopes Hillsong Atlanta can hold its first services in March 2021, but the continuing COVID-19 pandemic presents its own challenges.
That part, he said, they’re still figuring out, much like churches across the United States.
This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.
