by Dr. Paul Chappell | Dec 15, 2016 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
This past weekend—Saturday and Sunday evening—was our annual Christmas musical at Lancaster Baptist Church. The amount of work put into these projections is staggering—not just in the thousands of hours given by the choir, orchestra, and drama teams, but also the...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Dec 8, 2016 | Christian Life, Family
Every mom and dad knows that one of the best things about being a parent is giving to your children. Parents delight in sacrificing to meet their children’s needs and to bring them happiness. That’s one of the reasons Christmas can be a stressful time of year for...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Dec 5, 2016 | Christian Life
One of the reasons I love the Christmas season is that it is such a great time of year for initiating gospel conversations. Between the special church events and the fact that many people still do want to go to church to celebrate Christmas, this is also the easiest...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Dec 1, 2016 | Christian Life
You’ve heard it (and maybe shared it): “Keep Christ in Christmas.” It’s a great thought…but do you do it? December can be such a busy month. Even busy with ministry. But sometimes in all the busyness of the season, we’re as guilty as the innkeeper of not making room...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 28, 2016 | Christian Life, Ministry Leadership
Have you ever gotten to the end of a “day off” and felt just as exhausted as you did at the beginning? Have you ever looked back over the day and wished for a do over? God so kindly designed our lives to function best with one day out of seven as a day of rest....
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 23, 2016 | Christian Life
I love Thanksgiving for many reasons, but perhaps the greatest is that it helps us schedule a day to do what we should be doing every day of the year—give thanks. Thanksgiving, of course, is more than a holiday—it should be a verb. So how, practically speaking, can we...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 21, 2016 | Ministry Leadership
One of the things I look forward to when I hire staff is the opportunity to invest into their lives. Between praying for and pastoring their family, weekly staff meetings, and other times of training, I want to do all I can to help build them up in service and as...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 17, 2016 | Ministry Leadership
When Terrie and I moved to Lancaster over thirty years ago, I began an eighteen-month season of intense personal outreach. Every week, I would knock on no less than five hundred doors personally with a church invitation and a purpose to share the gospel at the door....
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 14, 2016 | Christian Life
Four weeks ago, I spent Monday night at gate 76 of Detroit International Airport, fervently praying for my three-year-old grandson, Chandler, who was undergoing an emergency surgery. A CT scan had revealed a fractured skull and bleeding near the brain, but beyond...
by Dr. Paul Chappell | Nov 9, 2016 | Christian Life, Media/Resources
When Jesus called His disciples, it wasn’t a Sundays-only proposition. He had something more in mind—something 24/7. Likewise, when the disciples responded to His call, they “left all, rose up, and followed Him” (Luke 5:28). In a day when Christians feel good about...