Spiritual Leadership with Dr. Paul Chappell Paul Chappell

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.

At a recent California for Christ meeting, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Alan Fong, Robbie Yapp, and James Kim to discuss the need for and challenges of church planting.

It was our joy nearly twenty-five years ago to help Pastor Fong in planting Heritage Baptist Church in San Leandro, CA. It was a blessing to me then in this discussion to join with Pastor Fong to encourage a new generation of church planters on their journey. Robbie Yapp and James Kim are preparing to plant new churches in Los Angeles and Orange Counties here in Southern California next year.

In this episode of the podcast, the four of us discuss several topics that relate to sending out church planters and being a church planter including the biblical model of church planting shown in Acts 13, the kinds of churches that get involved in planting other churches, the church planter’s heart for God, the spiritual pressure on a pastor, the need to refresh your spirit in the Lord, developing a calendar for your first year, disciplining your time, establishing convictions and training faithful leaders in a new church, and how the gospel penetrates a liberal culture.

If you are involved in any aspect of church planting—whether as a supporting pastor, a sending church, a church planter, or praying about God’s direction to plant a church—I pray this episode will be an encouragement and help to you.

(For more information on the California for Christ initiative mentioned in this episode, visit CA4Christ.org.)

On this episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I sat down with one of my closest friends and mentors in the ministry, Dr. Don Sisk. We discussed an article he recently wrote for the Baptist Voice magazine and ministry127.com on the topic of disagreement without disunity. His thoughts on ministry relationships was a blessing to me, and I trust it will be an encouragement to you as well.

The Lord has allowed me to serve him in ministry here at Lancaster Baptist Church for more than 35 years. It has not always been easy. There have been many difficult seasons, and numerous challenges, but as I look back over thirty-six years of ministry, these are some principles that have helped me to keep moving forward, and not to quit. This is part two of this lesson. In this podcast I will talk through the biblical principles of separation, balance, commitment, unity, and joy.