Last night at Gabe Lyons house, I had the chance to visit with Joe Vacanti, Director of High School ministries at The Chapel at CrossPoint. I have followed The Chapel for a couple of decades (see their history here). Their founding pastor (James Andrews) was an encourager and friend when I was a twenty-one-year-old church planter in Buffalo, NY. It was great to hear from Joe about some of the great things taking place in their church and the church plant they recently launched in Buffalo.

Just recently, The Chapel at CrossPoint planted a church near my old church in Buffalo. I was blessed to give some advice to Brek Cockrell and Jerry Gillis related to the planting of The Church at Elmwood. I keep up via the Internet and saw how they bought an old Catholic church in a neighborhood I have walked a hundred times while planting there two decades ago.

The Chapel is a non-denominational, multi-site church in Buffalo, New York that sees about 4,000 people gathering together on Sundays. The Chapel is currently meeting at two different campuses: CrossPoint in Getzville, NY, north of the city of Buffalo, and a second campus inside Regal Cinemas on Elmwood Ave in the city of Buffalo. LifeWay Research had a conversation with Daryl Largis, executive pastor at The Chapel to talk about their strategy that has led the church through a significant transition. You'll benefit from reading it.

LifeWay Research: Tell us about The Chapel.

Daryl: The ministry is located in the suburbs of the city of Buffalo which is in western New York and the church has been around for about 50 years and has in the last seven to eight years experienced some very unique things certainly for this region. There have been a number of factors that have contributed to the experiences of the church.

LWR: Can you elaborate for us?

Daryl: Part of what has occurred is a strategic shift in the focus and mission of the ministry. This shift was facilitated by some new leadership as well as some other things taking place in the community at large and has basically landed us in a place today where we are a lot more externally focused. When you ask about our mission and what we are trying to accomplish at the Chapel there are basically four things that we would say are important to us and what God has called us to be in this community and, in fact, has allowed us to be a resource as well as an influence to other ministries in this area even state wide and even nationally and in some instances in other like minded ministries that we are now partnering with.

LWR: What are those four things?

Daryl: First we take what we call a geographic ownership of the proximity and the demography surrounding our campus. In doing so we are trying to insure that every man, women and child has repeated opportunities within that geography to hear and see the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, we are going to accomplish the spread of the gospel message through partnering with other ministries in our area within that geographic zone or circle. We are also going to plant churches with the purpose of getting the gospel message in areas so that it can be heard and seen.

The third step that we are trying to accomplish is to instill in our organization and our ministries a true sense of interdependent leadership. By this we mean there are people with gifts that God has given to the church and we are trying to determine how to utilize those and how to provide opportunities both from a lay perspective and a paid staff perspective.

The fourth item is basically having a discreet, distinct and intentional focus on spiritual formation of those involved in this ministry. Spiritual formation is the focus of our teaching, our activities, our small groups, and the overall environment of the church.

So those four things lived out in the lives of various ministries that we might do, I think, have been critical to us in not only making an impact for this region, but have allowed others to catch that vision and join us in being a part of what is happening at The Chapel.

LWR: Several times you have mentioned partnering with other ministries in your neighborhood so that every man, women, and child can be reached with the gospel of Christ. What does that look like?

Daryl: There are several different ministries or organizations that meet weekly or monthly on our campus. For example some churches come together on our campus or at other places on a monthly basis to discuss ministry to the community. We probably have about sixty churches and ministries that engage in conversation with us about how to reach the people with the gospel of Christ. There is also a sense of partnership because we want to work together to accomplish the goal. While there is what I would say some sameness and some what I'll call common purpose around the vision, how it fleshes out in a particular area vary because the geography and the social and economic factors are different. And so while there is what I will call a common purpose, how the gospel is seen and heard in that particular context might be different.

We have only been participating in intentional partnerships for about a year. It takes a while to build these relationships and to build trust and credibility because these are different denominations, different backgrounds, and different histories sitting around the table talking about a greater purpose. The process can be challenging, but it is also very rewarding.

LWR: Tell us about your extensive community work.

Daryl:We have taken a proactive approach in actually studying the demography of the area surrounding our church for a five mile radius. There are about 120,000 thousand people in that radius and we are taking ownership of them. We are all about being proactive and going into the community and saying, "What would a church look like if it were here and in involved in this particular group? And who is here? Where do they live? What do they do? Where do they work? What is their situation? What is their worldview?

LWR: What was the church like years ago?

Daryl: We would have been described as a larger suburban church that was a fairly older congregation with a more traditional approach to ministry. The church was very successful and had a strong reputation in the area. It was not known for being a church that did a lot of partnering with other ministries, planting churches, or being a resource for other things happening around them.

LWR: What has changed?

Daryl: For forty years the church never planted another church. In the last three years we planted a church in a more urban context. We have gone from a church trying to be a place and a ministry to a group of incarnational believers in Christ that not only meet together on Sundays, but are about being that witness in the community all of the time. We are trying to take the transformation power of the gospel and live it out for others to see and hear.

LWR: How the the current leadership come into their roles?

Daryl: The founding pastor became ill and was stricken with cancer. While he was still on this earth he recognized that he needed to find somebody to replace himself. Through that process God orchestrated some very unique events where an individual came to this ministry, basically to transition it to the eventual lead pastor. There was a time in which there were two lead pastors. One acted as the bridge between what was and what was to be.

LWR: What change took place during the transition?

Daryl: The way God brought things together not only with people, but also with circumstances was very unique and during that process not only was there some change taking place, but growth also started to occur. There was a lot of change going on over a very short period of time. We built a new facility but we knew that was only the beginning and it was the beginning of us becoming a resource and an encourager and a equipper for this region. And to be a part of facilitating the kingdom as best we can and as God leads into the future.

LWR: Are there things we have not talked about that you would like for us to know about The Chapel?

Daryl: We have other ministries and programs that are occurring in our church. God has given us some excellent individuals to help facilitate ministries for children, college students, women, men, and worship. Fundamentally it all fits under the umbrella of what we call our desire to follow what God has led us to and that is to be a part of his mission in reaching every man, woman and child in this area and helping to facilitate that in other places.

There are few megachurches in Western New York-- but the Chapel at Crosspoint does not seek to just be big, it wants to reach a community and plant churches in others.