Written by Ben Cox – A small church on a busy street, Christ Chapel is a church with a heritage of reaching out to people who are looking for something a little different. Lead Pastor Landry Blackstock, who took over preaching duties five years ago from his father, Laurence (the church’s founder), is an articulate man who chooses his words carefully, whether talking about his kids or his congregation.
Blackstock describes Christ Chapel as “an inter-denominational church, welcoming and inclusive of all different backgrounds and spiritual or denominational heritages.” Blackstock says that his church certainly falls into under the inter-denominal label.
“We live in a large Baptist community, and we’re not a Baptist church,” he said. “I think most people go into an inter-denominational church maybe expecting a Baptist church that’s not affiliated with a Baptist organization. We are a church that is inter-denominational but with very strong Pentecostal and Charismatic roots.”
Preaching “relational discipleship,” which works to promote the spiritual growth and health of people is what Blackstock says is one of his main focuses. “We have what we call the three E’s at our church: Encourage, Empower, and Equip.”
Blackstock says serving in the local church has always been a strong passion of his from an early age. He grew up in the church where his father preached. Although Landry is now in the pulpit, his father Laurence still remains involved with Christ Chapel, serving as Pastor Emeritus and teaching bible study on Sunday mornings.
“The bible says He is given a five fold ministry: prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, and apostles. And I really feel like my role and my skill set is pastoring, I have a very strong compassion for people,” Blackstock said.
Though very devoted to his church, Blackstock is not only a preacher. At his core, he says serving people is at the center of what he does as a Diagnostician for Brownwood ISD. He has spent time as a campus counsellor, classroom teacher, an individual counsellor with special education, as well as one time disabilities coordinator and associate professor of developmental studies at Howard Payne.
When asked to describe a worship service, Blackstock used a single word: “Awesome!”
His sister Loree Rosenquist is the church’s worship pastor. She has led worship in large churches in Florida, and has appeared on televised evangelical television programs.
“Dynamic but contemplative at the same time,” is how Blackstock describes the music during the service.
While the church wants to move people through a very meaningful experience in worship, Blackstock says that great music or preaching isn’t the focus of a worship service.
“The worship service is that thing that causes you to reflect upon Gods nature, Gods character and Gods qualities.”
Blackstock describes his preaching style as “you’re going to get a lot of spiritual wisdom and encouragement, with hopefully some challenge to change or be transformed” in the presence of God’s grace.
“I’m always going to take somebody and infuse within my sermons this constant element of Gods grace and Gods goodness. But I am also going to encourage people about Gods growth and the push, as Paul says, to push for the high calling in Christ Jesus.”
Providing a backstory to the text at hand is also one of Blackstock’s passions, so that congregants can understand the context of why that particular passage is relevant or being discussed.
Bible study is at 9:30 a.m. and is followed by the Worship Service at 10:45. The church can be contacted through their website.
