Spiritual Leadership with Dr. Paul Chappell

In this episode, I have the opportunity to sit down with Coach Joe Kennedy, who recently won a cast at the United States Supreme Court. He had made a decision to pray on the field after each football game, and that decision cost him his job and ultimately led to his cast coming before the high court. Also joining us is Jeremy Dys, his attorney from First Liberty.

When the Lord first brought me into the pastorate, I was twenty-four years old and had a great desire to reach people in our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s hard to believe that a few weeks ago, I celebrated my sixtieth birthday, and in a few more weeks, I’ll begin my thirty-seventh year at Lancaster Baptist Church. Sometimes I wonder where the time went! I still believe that I have far to go, and with every part of my being, I want to finish well to the glory of God. But I’ve been reflecting over the journey God has given me and noting some of the key aspects of what a biblical journey of local church spiritual leadership should include. I often tell our staff that if a spiritual vision will survive, it must be accompanied by a strategy of faith. In other words, just hoping for the best, isn’t a great plan. We need biblical markers of where we’re going and what we are striving to accomplish for Christ. In this month’s Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I share very personally about five biblical and essential principles that I have been learning along the way of local church ministry. Some of these are principles that perhaps as leaders we have a tendency to give lip service to but neglect to implement. Some are ones I didn’t start out with in ministry but have worked to develop. All are principles that I am still growing in and still asking God to increase in my life. I pray that these truths are a help to you as you seek to provide spiritual leadership.

Mentoring may be a corporate buzzword, but when you think about it, the whole idea of mentoring is a biblical process. From Jesus mentoring His disciples to Paul mentoring Timothy and Titus, we see these kinds of relationships throughout the Bible, including the New Testament. One of the most direct instructions about mentoring is a verse we commonly think of in relation to discipleship: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2) Paul challenged Timothy to take the things he had learned from Paul and to commit them to faithful men to the point that they could train others also. This is a great pattern for mentoring relationships because it moves past just the word to a functioning definition. Mentoring takes place when we have so trained someone that they are able to train others. Paul gave another description of the mentoring process in Philippians 4:9: Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9) A wholistic approach to mentoring is a process that involves more than just hearing or instruction. It includes observation, reception, and application. In this month’s episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I share some principles God has blessed in my life as I have endeavored to mentor our ministry staff, men in our church, and various leaders in our community. I hope these are a blessing to you.