Charles Andrew Stanley was born on May 16, 1958. His father is Dr. Charles F. Stanley, who is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Atlanta and founder of InTouch Ministries.

Andy received a bachelor's degree of journalism from Georgia State University and later earned a masters degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. After working for several years as Associate Pastor and Minister to Students at First Baptist Atlanta, he and five others founded North Point Community Church in 1995. The church has now grown to three campuses and over 22,000+ attenders each week. North Point Ministries has also helped plant 20 strategic partner churches in the US and Canada. In 2006, he was voted the 13th most influential Christian in America (20th in 2007) and North Point Community Church was voted the 3rd most influential church in America. Buckhead Church was featured in a 2006 article in USA Today in regard to its revolutionary use of high definition video in the place of a live speaker.

In January, 2009, Stanley was selected to be the fourth speaker at the National Prayer Service following the inauguration.

Stanley now lives in Alpharetta, Georgia with his wife, Sandra, and his three children: Andrew, Garrett, and Allie.