5 Commitments to Set the Direction of Your Marriage
Everyone knows that if you want to go on a great vacation, it’s not enough to simply choose your destination. You have to also plan the journey—how you will get there, where you will stay, what you will do…or your dream vacation may fall flat. The same is true of...
10 Reasons I Love Being a Pastor
Someone told me on Sunday that October is “Pastor Appreciation Month.” I know this isn’t what they had in mind, but it got me thinking about what I appreciate about being a pastor. Unfortunately, it’s not difficult to find people in ministry who poormouth the...
Help Marriages and Win a Trip to a Mid-Atlantic Couple’s Retreat
On October 17, our new book, Are We There Yet? marriage—a perfect journey for imperfect couples, releases! We are excited about this new resource and are praying it will be a help to many couples. To help this book reach more couples, we are inviting you to...
7 Tips for Training a New Soulwinner
This week at Lancaster Baptist Church, we launched our fall soulwinning season for the thirty-second consecutive year. Of all the different types of outreach we do as a church, nothing beats consistently sharing the gospel one person at a time. And biblically, this is...
Managing the Tension between Collaboration and Separation
When I was growing up in the 70s, the watchword among independent Baptists was separation. And with good reason. Many of my mentors were men who had come out of denominations that denied the inerrancy of the Scriptures, miracles of the Bible, and even the virgin birth...
3 Priorities for Ministry Dads and Their Ministry Sons
This is the final installment of a three-part post on ministry families. Part one was on parenting in ministry and part two on marriage and ministry. I’ve always believed the Bible is true. But it wasn’t until my two grown sons were in ministry that I experienced the...
3 Choices Every Couple in Ministry Needs to Make
Terrie will never let me forget our first couples retreat at Lancaster Baptist Church. Trying to save on cost, I rented a large house by a lake, rather than reserving hotel rooms. And I was such a rookie pastor that I literally had the men sleep on the first floor and...
Dangers and Delights of Raising Children in the Ministry
I remember as a young father hearing stories about pastors’ kids not turning out and being afraid that my children could be among the statistics. I wanted with everything in me to love and nurture my family while at the same time to be faithful to God’s calling on my...
Five Thought-Provoking Questions
We tried something new at Spiritual Leadership Conference this year—seven dedicated Q&A sessions. The pre-submitted questions were awesome, and the sessions went well—except for the two planned for after my morning sessions. In true Baptist preacher fashion, I...
The Resilient Life
Overcome the Crises and Anxieties of Life through Christ
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Pastor Paul Chappell
Dr. Paul Chappell is the senior pastor of the Lancaster Baptist Church and president of West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, California. His biblical vision has led the church to become one of the most dynamic independent Baptist churches in the nation. He has been married to his wife, Terrie, for over forty years and is the father of four married children all serving in Christian ministry.
