14 Decisions at Chandler’s Hell House

In September, we hosted our annual Bible Conference which was a monumental week for our church. The theme was “Raising Another Generation,” and every single sermon was absolutely timely and powerfully on point. With sermons like “Middle Management Ministry,” or “The Crisis of the Call,” or “Don’t Fumble the Bag,” or “From Generation to Generation,” every message was a challenge and inspiration for young people to rise up. All in all, we announced 20 new churches, six domestic, and 14 international. One notable announcement for us this year was the launching of our Door director (25) and his wife (23). Over the last 14 months (and long before any title as well), they served the church through the office of the Door directorship with great faithfulness, commitment, and heart.

As Pastor Torey Williams often tells us, “Your repetition becomes your reputation,” and they surely lived up to that in terms of punctuality, attention to detail, and giving other young people the opportunity to serve and minister in greater capacities. They served our church at such a high standard, all while having four children. The example they left us has served as a reference point for our our church, but particularly our young people.

We carried this momentum into our annual Haloween production, in which we presented a rendition of the films, Pirates of the Carribean. Over the course of three nights, we saw 14 decisions made for Jesus Christ. The reason this meant so much to us not only as a church, but as a cast, was for a couple of different dynamics.

Earlier on in the summer, we began preparations to have an old school type Hell House at our One80 building, being that Halloween was on a Friday this year. We had held a couple of meetings, planned event layouts and scenes, spoken to leaders, amd cast, ect. Unfortunately, due to some factors involving our One80 building, we were forced to pivot and ultimately shift away from the idea of a Hell House this year. So we decided to do the pirates play, and in September we hit the ground running.

We began practicing every week, meeting 3-4 times a week with hours long practices, we were praying, contending. We fasted every Monday in the month of October, just to contend and believe that people would get saved. So to see four to five hands go up every single night was an absolute answered prayer, and such a joy to our heart as a team. In light of our conference just weeks earlier, it is worth noting that 95 percent of our cast was under the age of 25. In the end, it was just another reminder that God is into soul saving operations.

On November 10, at about 3:30 in the afternoon, our beloved Mrs. Connie Campbell went home to be with Jesus. Pages of this Trumpet could be filled trying to share all the impact that Connie Campbell had on countless people throughout not only our church, but the world.

Mrs. Connie got saved in 1970 in a small town, Creole Springs, Illinois. Shortly after, God dealt with her about fasting (skipping the last meal of the day), and praying the first hour of the day for her busband, Joe Campbell, to get saved. So essentially every day, from midnight to about one in the morning, she would go to the church down the road, and pray for Pastor Campbell. About one year later, in 1971, Pastor Campbell was radically converted and fully surrendered to Jesus.

The reality is that all that Pastor Campbell and Mrs. Connie accomplished in the Lord, was a fruit, in some way, of her conversion, but also her prayers 55 years ago. Things like celebrating 62 years of marriage (which they did earlier this year), seeing over 200-plus churches launched out of the Chandler wing, and other impact across the globe that cannot always be measured on paper, all of it, things that only heaven will reveal, a direct result of our beloved Mrs. Connie.

And through her passing, the spirit of our church has been one that wants to ensure we continue her legacy. As Pastor Greg Mitchell stated when discussing Pastor Wayman and Mrs. Nelda, they are never fully gone because the past lives in us.

We love Pastor Campbell and Connie, because just like Jesus, they first loved us, and served us for decades. We are so grateful here in Chandler, and so privileged to be a part of this Fellowship.

Keep us in prayer, as we take Chandler for Jesus.