ABOUT

They say that some of C.S. Lewis’ ideas were honed in gatherings with the “Inklings” at the Eagle and Child in Oxford. Sounds rather charming. Buddy Hoffman’s ideas and views, however, were more likely honed in a local Waffle House. Sounds…whatever. With deep roots in the Georgia clay, Buddy is now lead pastor of Grace, a church that was first planted in a daycare center and is now a multi-campus fellowship of a several thousand.

Guided by a dogged determination to carefully study the Scripture and then teach and act on what it says, Buddy has been led to think and move beyond the familiar traditions of his upbringing and the status quo of the culture at large.

In 1976 Buddy Hoffman, southern boy, fresh out of Bible College, drove to Boise, Idaho with his new bride, Jody, a couple friends from college, and very little cash to start a church. No other friends or relatives in the area, no big savings account to bankroll the venture – just a conviction that God wanted him to do it and a desire to see people rescued and liberated by the amazing grace of Jesus. With no shortage of “God stories” and interesting anecdotes along the way, by 1983 that church had grown from four to nearly 1,500.

Then, while things were going well and the ministry was growing, Buddy sensed that God would have him move back home to Georgia and start a church there. Why? Well, you don’t always get an answer to that question right away. Which can be a little awkward when trying to explain the situation to concerned friends and loved ones. But Buddy felt that God wanted him to move, and Jody wanted Buddy to follow God, so they moved.

Living in a friend’s basement, Buddy and Jody started asking friends and strangers to join them in worship and the study of God’s Word. And, in the midst of crayon drawings and diaper pail smells, they did just that. Before long, that gathering of people outgrew the daycare center and moved into a Stone Mountain area church building that was no longer needed by another local fellowship. Grace grew and buildings were added to try to make room for the increasing numbers of people who were attracted by the message and methods of God’s grace. It was there that Grace Fellowship Church first learned to care, then crawl, then walk, then lead others in the area of personally taking the Good News to distant parts of the world.

Buddy’s emphasis on all believers becoming disciple makers (that mentor others to become disciple makers themselves) was bearing fruit. In fact, too much fruit for the land locked piece of real estate where the church was meeting. So, in the Fall of 2000, Grace Fellowship Church moved down the road to Snellville, Georgia to expand on the property that is now the Grace Snellville campus. Buddy continued to teach from the Bible and to emphasize, by word and personal example, the importance of taking the message into the neighborhoods, nations and next generation. Things were going well. The church was growing, in maturity and in numbers.

Then 9-11. Everyone was stunned. Most Americans were unsure about what to do next. Unsure about exactly what to do themselves, Buddy and a team from Grace headed for Ground Zero just days after the attack. With special clearance, they prayed with the firefighters, rescue workers, and others who had lost friends or family in the fiery rubble. He was literally standing in the ashes of the Twin Towers when a harrowing question pierced his heart: “Is the Muslim world the enemy or the prize?” Since that time, Buddy has traveled through the mountains of Pakistan, the war zones of Afghanistan, the deserts of Iraq (where he was put on trial and nearly beheaded), and the universities of Iran, and he saw firsthand the scarce fruit of more than 1400 years of Christian effort in the Muslim world. He also learned that Islamic resistance to the Gospel has far more to do with “Christianity” than Christ. But what if 1.57 billion Muslims are much closer to the Kingdom than we think? And what if the key to unlocking this entire global issue begins in the pages of the Qur’an?