Founding Pastor Chris Hodges announced Sunday that he’s turning over the lead pastor role at the Church of the Highlands to new Lead Pastor Mark Pettus.

But why?

In a statement released on Sunday, Hodges said he plans on intensifying his focus on developing the next generation of church leaders.

“I’m not retiring or burned out because I have more energy and vision than I’ve ever had,” Hodges said. “The transition of roles we’re announcing allows me to work even harder to grow Highlands College and empower others for ministry.”

READ MORE: Founder Chris Hodges steps down as lead pastor of the Church of the Highlands

Hodges already serves as chancellor of Highlands College, which he founded in 2011 with Pettus as president. Hodges will keep his office as chancellor on the campus of Highlands College, which occupies the former campus of HealthSouth on U.S. 280 near Grandview Hospital.

Pettus will now focus on leadership of the main campus of Church of the Highlands on Grants Mill Road in Irondale, and oversight of the more than 20 branch campuses across Alabama, plus two in Georgia, in Columbus and Newnan. Pettus will be the main preacher, but Hodges still plans to preach some Sundays.

“I’m still going to be speaking here,” Hodges said. “I’m still preaching.”

That will include next Sunday. “In fact, I’m beginning a brand new series next Sunday,” he said.

He’ll also be in the pulpit for Holy Week. Hodges said he plans to preach the Sunday before Palm Sunday, Palm Sunday and Easter. “It will be my 25th Easter and I can’t wait to celebrate the risen king on Easter,” he said.

Hodges announced during Sunday services that Pettus will step into the new role to help accelerate Highlands’ mission, which is to lead people to know God, find freedom, discover their purpose and make a difference in the world around them, according to the statement released by the church.

Pettus has served as president of Highlands College since its creation, leading it to become an accredited four-year school that offers seven bachelor’s degrees for students pursuing full-time ministry.

As founding pastor, Hodges will continue to work across multiple platforms to raise up leaders in the church, continue to guide Highlands College as its ambassador and chancellor, deliver messages during some Sunday services, and provide guidance to Pettus.

“It’s been about 80 percent church and 20 percent school,” Hodges said of his divided attention between the church and Highlands College. “I have so many things to do that require that to flip.”

The Church of the Highlands launched 24 years ago this week, with 400 attending its first service on Feb. 4, 2001, in the Mountain Brook High School Fine Arts Auditorium.

A turning point came on Sept. 11, 2001, when the nation faced spiritual turmoil after terrorists crashed airplanes into the Pentagon and both towers of the World Trade Center, killing thousands.

“Of course, 9/11 happened in that year,” Hodges recalled in a 2021 interview. “Not just our church, but people flocked to church. That was the first time the Mountain Brook auditorium was full, that Sunday after 9/11.”

By March 2020, about 55,000 to 60,000 people were attending the Church of the Highlands at more than 20 branch locations.

“Who knew?” Hodges said. “We were dreaming big, but it wasn’t this.”

Hodges’ sermons were streamed live from the main campus on Grants Mill Road to other locations throughout Alabama, from Huntsville to Mobile, Tuscaloosa to Auburn, with two locations in Georgia, Columbus and Newnan. Services are also streamed live into the state’s prisons.

Hodges never anticipated going beyond the Birmingham metro area.

“We thought we’d be one location in one big room,” Hodges said. “None of this was in the plan, of multi-site or multi-service. Never even dreamed that. I had no clue.”

The church office operated out of Hodges’ basement for the first two years. “It truly was humble beginnings,” Hodges said.

The church expanded to two services on Easter 2002.

Along the way, the Church of the Highlands has become the trendiest of worship centers, attracting celebrities like University of Alabama Crimson Tide-turned-NFL quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and other star athletes at the Tuscaloosa and Auburn campuses.

Auburn University head basketball Coach Bruce Pearl, who is Jewish, has attended services at the Auburn campus with his wife, Brandy. “Love Pastor Chris!” Pearl said in an email to AL.com in 2021. “Love Church of the Highlands! Proud of my Jewish Heritage and blessed to be welcomed in prayer with my Christian brothers and sisters.”

As founder of the biggest church who became the best-known pastor in the state, Hodges has been a magnet for criticism, such as in 2020 when his social media “likes” for the conservative Turning Point Foundation social media posts prompted the Birmingham Board of Education to sever a lease in which the church was paying $288,000 a year to the school board to use two school auditoriums, at Parker High School and Woodlawn High School, for Sunday services.

The Church of the Highlands has since built and opened a new Woodlawn branch campus on the Messer-Airport Highway.

“It pales in comparison to the joy of what your work produces,” Hodges said of criticism. “Yes, you feel under scrutiny all the time, but it pales in comparison to the marriages that were healed and the kids who got off drugs and found purpose in their lives, and for the correctional facilities we’re in.”

Hodges has always insisted on building new Church of the Highlands facilities without borrowing money, and in the first 20 years donated $100 million to projects outside the church.

“Everything’s paid for,” Hodges said. “We owe nothing. I worked very hard on that. We operate on less than 70 percent of what people give so we can be generous.”

At the time of the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020, the Church of the Highlands was positioned to mobilize. The church, through the health clinic it founded in 2009, Christ Health Center, hosted one of the first mass COVID-19 testing sites, testing more than 2,200 people in less than one week. It continued to do outreach programs to feed the needy and serve underprivileged communities through its Dream Centers. Its “Dream Team” armies of volunteers continue to go out on community clean-up and construction projects.

The church persevered through the COVID-19 crisis without a drop-off in financial support.

Hodges sees Highlands College as a major part of his legacy, and he plans to focus on that.

“My real focus is the college,” Hodges told AL.com on the church’s 20th anniversary.

Now, he’ll dedicate himself to it full-time. Hodges wants to train and send out a new generation of ministers.

“I’ve always felt led to empower other leaders,” Hodges said Sunday.

He says he’s leaving the church’s leadership in good hands.

“Mark is my spiritual son and a product of Highlands,” said Hodges. “I’m excited about where we’re going.”

Although he grew up in Louisiana and served as a youth pastor in Colorado before moving to Alabama to start the church, Hodges plans to remain in Birmingham.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Hodges said. “I’m going to live here the rest of my life.”