He served in the U.S. Air Force between 1951 and 1955 before attending the University of South Carolina from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1958 and a Juris Doctor in 1961.
He then practiced law and worked in the insurance industry until 1966 when he enrolled at the General Theological Seminary to study for the priesthood.
[1] Buchanan was ordained deacon in 1969 and priest on January 1, 1970, by the Bishop of South Carolina Gray Temple.
In 1975 he then became rector of St Andrew's Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where he remained until 1989.
He was consecrated on February 25, 1989, in Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral and succeeded as diocesan bishop on July 1, 1989.