Spiritual Leadership with Dr. Paul Chappell Paul Chappell

The apostle Paul’s solemn charge to Timothy was to “preach the Word.”

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Biblical preaching and teaching is the expounding of the Word of God to a world that needs to hear it. Of course, the gospel is our central message in preaching. But pastors are also to declare “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) as the expound Scripture to their church family.

I have been preaching now for just over forty years. This is God’s calling on my life and is one of the great privileges of my ministry as a pastor as well as in training preachers at West Coast Baptist College.

In this episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, my son Larry and I discuss what biblical preaching is, how to rightly divide the Word of truth, and strategies for the practical implementation of study and delivery of messages. Whether you are a senior pastor, a Sunday school teacher, or a father sharing God’s Word with your children, I believe our discussion will provide scriptural context and relevant ideas for expounding the Word of God.

Pastors are surrounded by stress-inducing circumstances. Whether it be the uncivil culture in which we minister, family burdens, financial pressure, dealing with problems in the church, or any number of other factors, stress is a daily reality for pastors.

But if stress is a daily realty for pastors, the availability of God’s grace is too. Jesus told us, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

In this new episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I share eight practical ways to appropriate God’s grace in dealing with pastoral stress. Whether you are a pastor or serve in ministry in any capacity, I pray this episode will be a help and an encouragement to you.

A few days ago, our church hosted our annual World Impact Missions Conference. One of our guests here for the conference was Dr. Kevin Folger, who is the North American Director for Spiritual Leadership Asia.


The Spiritual Leadership Asia initiative has grown as God has continued to open amazing doors of opportunity for ministry in some of the most spiritually-needy places of the world. In this short bonus episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, Dr. Folger and I discuss the three aspect of Spiritual Leadership Asia and share how you can pray for billions of souls in the 10/40 window who need the gospel.

In the process of leading a church family and building a congregation, there are times when you need a restart. Sometimes this needed reset is because the church has gone through a specific trial or need. Other times, it’s simply the process of a spiritual leader stepping back, renewing his own heart and focus, and then helping the church family reengage in the work of the Lord. In this episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I share seven steps that have been helpful to me in this process.

Every church has core values, but not every church has written them down. And actually, it wasn’t until several years ago that I and some of the other leaders in our church worked on writing our core values. Both the process and the product proved to be a helpful exercise and tool. Today, we have our core values visibly displayed and give them to each new member. They are a key way that we communicate the philosophy of ministry and goal for the body life of our church family.

Whether you are a church planter or have been pastoring for many decades, clarifying the core values of a church is beneficial at any stage. As ministries mature, sometimes clutter in purpose and goals builds. Creating a written list of core values can be an aligning tool that helps bring a renewed focus on the church’s doctrine and philosophy of ministry.

In this episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, my son Larry and I discuss the process that went into developing and sharing the core values of Lancaster Baptist Church as well as walking through the core values we presented to our church family.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Jerry Vines for the Spiritual Leadership Podcast. Some of the audio and technical quality was not up to the quality we desired, and so we delayed in posting it. However, I felt the content of this interview is relevant and important, and so we are posting today in hopes that it will be a help and encouragement to you. We discussed ministry trends and his commitment to Bible truth. I enjoyed our discussion and hope you will enjoy it as well.