books

A Daily Word
Designed to compliment your daily devotional walk with the Lord, this new book from Dr. Paul Chappell features 366 daily devotional thoughts to strengthen and encourage your spiritual life. Each devotion features a one-year Bible reading selection. Also included are helpful reference resources as well as Scripture and title indexes.

(424 pages, hardcover)

A Firm Foundation
Building a strong home doesn’t happen by accident or default. Every well-built house must first have carefully designed blueprints, a strong foundation, and a competent builder. Even so, a strong Christian home can only be the product of the blueprint of God’s Word, the foundation of Jesus Christ, and the daily guiding hand of the Holy Spirit.

In a culture that is redefining marriage and the family, you can build your family upon the firm foundation of God’s Word! If you are determined to understand and follow God’s design for your family, the pages of this book will establish your footing on solid ground!

(240 pages, paperback)

A Heart for God

In the day in which we live, we are plagued by “surface” Christianity. We are plagued by a “performance-based” Christianity rather than a heart-driven Christianity. At the very core of your relationship with God is your heart. Do you truly have a heart for God? In a society that constantly tempts you to sell your heart to sinfulness and fleshly living, have you reserved and committed that most personal part of life to God? He may have your lip service, your physical labor, and even your outward appearance; but does He have what He wants the most…your heart?

The Christian life begins with the heart. It begins at salvation when Jesus Christ is invited personally to indwell your heart as Saviour. It continues through a life-long process of yielding, consecrating, growing, and renewing your heart. All other service, all other ministry, all other outward Christian living is in vain it if flows from an impure heart. Though God desires your service, it is your heart He most desires.

Journey with Paul Chappell into the deepest part of your life. It’s the part that only God sees. Consider the very heart of your Christian walk. Learn to develop a longing, a thirst, a hunger to know the God that you claim to serve. Learn to live the Christian life from the inside out. Like a fresh-water stream flowing from an underground well of crystal pure water, so is the Christian life that overflows with service that originates in a pure heart of commitment and closeness with God.

Get to know your God. Develop a heart that longs to love Him more. Make the Christian life what is was intended by God to be…a relationship with Him! Delve into these pages with a hunger…devour them with a thirst…respond to them by developing a greater “heart for God.”

(320 pages, hardcover)

Abiding in Christ
The Christian life is a relationship. God desires to be with you, and He desires for you to be with Him. He gave His own Son so that you could be reconciled to Him and enjoy a dynamic daily relationship with Him.

In John 15, Jesus invites believers into an abiding relationship that will result in abundant joy, renewed strength, complete transformation, and much fruit. He invites you to abide with Him, experience His joy, obey His Word, bear His fruit, and live for His purpose.

In these pages, Dr. Paul Chappell will lead you on an exciting and encouraging journey to discover the authentic Christian life. You will learn how an intimate relationship with Christ produces a genuine heart and life change. You will find the source of true love, abundant joy, lasting fruit, spiritual maturity, emotional stability, and purpose in life. You will clearly understand how the Christian life was designed to function from the inside out.

If you are weary of attempting to live for Christ in your own strength, these pages will lift your burden and draw you back to a vibrant, renewing walk with a personal Saviour.

(168 pages, paperback)

Church Still Works
Based upon an independent, nationwide survey of independent Baptist churches, this book provides a thought-provoking and encouraging look at local church ministry—a fresh perspective on how God’s plan still works! Beginning with an unbiased look at comprehensive data, part one of this book examines the present state of independent Baptists across the nation and across many various subsets and fellowship groups. Most statistics are revealing and encouraging, while others present a great need and challenge us to do better.

Part two explores the concept of positive deviance—what healthy churches are doing that struggling churches are not doing. You will delight to study seven biblical principles that healthy churches are practicing and that God is still blessing in twenty-first century ministry! You will be encouraged by real-time examples of dynamic local churches. The insightful data coupled with practical and biblical application will challenge you to chart a scriptural course for developing a healthy and dynamic local church.

Part three concludes the study with a personal call to “strive together”—to help meet the great needs of our nation and our world. We can make a lasting difference without compromising, but to do so, we must labor together to plant more local churches in more places.

Local church ministries that practice biblical principles are still effective and blessed of God!

With reliable data and biblical insight, this book reveals an encouraging untold story that every Christian should know!

Enter His Presence
Can you really comprehend a God that invites you to enter His presence at any moment? A God who longs to hear from you and waits to meet with you? A God who is genuinely interested in the things that interest you? This is the God of the Bible.

To many Christians, prayer is very unnatural and even uncomfortable. To even more, prayer seems fruitless and God seems far away. Yet, the God of the Bible is a personal God who actually delights in answering your prayers.

God went to great detail in His Word to give us an open door into the throne-room of the universe; and He desires to meet with you, to talk with you, to answer you, and to be a part of your life.

As you open this book, you will find a delightful journey that will help you understand how to approach God. Every chapter unlocks biblical truth that will help you understand the nature of God, the relationship He wants to have with you, and the joy that you will experience when you begin entering His presence.

(176 pages, hardcover)

Grace for Godly Living
“Radical grace” teaching has invaded the church! This new teaching on the grace of God gives the believer a “have it your way” Christianity. It seems to say, “because of God’s grace, you can do what you want, how you want…you have the liberty in Christ.”

True grace from God’s Word is quite different! True grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and to live soberly and righteously. True grace will transform us into the image of Christ and compel us toward God and away from sin.

In these pages, you will discover that God’s grace at work in your life will not only compel you to live a godly lifestyle, but it will give you a spiritual maturity and humility towards those who do not.

(160 pages, softcover)

Guided by Grace
Our culture promotes a wide variety of leadership philosophies. Even in ministry, you will find a great diversity among leadership models. Some believe leaders must be “authoritative.” Some believe leaders must be “driven” or “dogmatic.”

Many leaders fear competition, so they stifle input. Some leaders are insecure, so they avoid confrontation. Some leaders are self-centered, so they have everything “their way.” Some leaders fear rejection, so they accommodate compromise. Other leaders harbor envy, so they attack good men. God’s work requires a different kind of leadership.

God’s people need love. They need nurture. They need transparent leaders who will mentor them, equip them, and serve with them – shoulder to shoulder. People without Christ need Christian leaders who will be genuine with them. They need to hear the Gospel from the heart and then see it lived out in sincerity.

This book flows from the heart of a pastor who has learned and is still learning some tough lessons on leadership. These biblical principles have formed the philosophy that has driven the growth and spiritual development of one of America’s largest independent Baptist churches.

God blesses those who focus on serving – living out the life of Christ before others.

Our world and our churches are crying out for this kind of Christ-like leadership. Those who have turned a deaf ear to the Gospel could soften their hearts in the light of this kind of leadership. Those who have become disillusioned with “religion” could come to Christ when embraced with the reality of transparent love.

If your heart yearns to lead the way Jesus did, read this book, live its principles and pass them on to others. Your ministry will never be the same!

(224 pages, hardback)

Order in the Church
In 1986, Paul Chappell was called of God to pastor the Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, CA. Over the past decades, Lancaster Baptist has been blessed of God with “fruit that remains.” Though the church has never had a “growth goal,” God has blessed with growth, partially because of the desire of the pastor to do all things decently and in order. Pastor Chappell has often stated that the church is a living organism—that growth is a natural product of life—so long as the hindrances to growth are dealt with so that health can thrive.

The goal of Pastor Chappell and the church leadership has been to establish a healthy church—a church that is flourishing with spiritual growth and vitality, where God is at work in the lives of people. While the church has an aggressive soulwinning program, a strong commitment to biblical preaching and teaching, and a dynamic vision—one core component that is evident throughout the ministry is “order.” One can hardly visit the campus without seeing that Lancaster Baptist Church is a place where God’s work is done decently and in order—in an effort to bring glory to God.

Proper order in church ministry is what truly allows God’s work to flow freely, without administrative sludge. Often our lack of planning, lack of organizing, and lack of order creates a deterrence—a road block —to blessings that God would otherwise bring.

Order in the local church is a matter of stewardship. God will not entrust us with greater ministry than we will “set in order.” He will not entrust with more people, more buildings, or more opportunities than we will effectively steward! While no amount of “order” or organization can ever replace the Divine power of God’s Holy Spirit—order, nonetheless, is most definitely a prerequisite of dynamic ministry.

In the pages of this manual, you will be guided step by step through 27 chapters that inform of both philosophy (the why) and ministry function (the how). Each chapter includes helpful ideas that you can put into practice in your own ministry. The accompanying CD holds dozens of forms, brochures, databases, and other resources for your own use and review. Order in the Church is a great resource for church administration, church policies as well as ministry ideas.

(504 pages, hardcover)

Sending Forth Laborers
Modern day missions efforts need a fresh breath of God’s original plan and purpose! God’s plan for reaching the world still works, and His Holy Spirit still empowers local churches and the soulwinning missionaries that are sent forth biblically.

This handbook is perfect for anyone who is learning or teaching a practical, biblical philosophy for New Testament missions. Chapters include the following topics: preparing for missions, going to the field, getting settled on the field, and doing the work of a missionary. A study guide is included for classroom or group study.

(200 pages, hardcover)

The Right Path
In the Christian life there are many ways to get off course. Just as the Apostle Paul finished his course, it ought to be the goal of every Bible-believing Christian to discover the right path and stay on that path until our earthly race is completed!

The critical path to spiritual joy and a fulfilling life purpose is not found on a diagram or chart but is clearly found in God’s Word. In The Right Path Dr. Paul Chappell will challenge you with seven critical keys to staying on course in your Christian life and ministry. You will explore the heart, the conscience, your life’s purpose, your life’s passion, right doctrine, right priorities, and right leadership. In each of these chapters you will be challenged, stirred, and compelled to stand strong in your walk with Christ.

If you desire to finish your course on the right path, this book will help you!

(208 pages, hardcover)

The Spiritual Leader
Leadership is influence, and spiritual leadership is biblical influence. If God has called you to a position of spiritual leadership, you must embrace the call, anticipate spiritual opposition, and commit to a journey of spiritual growth and oversight. In these pages, Dr. Paul Chappell will challenge your heart, equip your life, and inspire you to press on to higher ground as a spiritual leader.

The Spiritual Leader summarizes a biblical philosophy of spiritual leadership that has been lived out dynamically through the life of the author. Every principle in these chapters flows from the Word of God and from a heart that has effectively served God’s people for over two decades. Every page will challenge you to serve more effectively and to lead with greater understanding and passion.

(336 pages, hardcover)