Meet Chase Bowers

Chase Bowers is the missions pastor of Temple Bible Church in Temple, TX. He also has a preaching ministry that allows him to preach in churches all over the country. You can see his website here.

I met Chase a long time ago when we both did some summer preaching in college. I knew he was a gifted man of God the first time I met him, and have been challenged by his ministry over the years.

Chase has a heart for God's global purposes and often travels around the world doing mission work.

Chase, thanks for your time! Please describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake up in the morning? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying, etc.? What are you presently reading?
Thank you for the opportunity to share. I wake up between 5 and 6 depending on the day. My devotions consist of praying, reading, thinking, and praying again. This usually lasts 40 minutes to an hour, again, depending on the day. Right now I am reading in 1 Samuel, Psalms, Matthew, and Colossians.

What book(s) are you currently reading in these three categories: (a) for your soul, (b) for pastoral ministry, or (c) for personal enjoyment?
I am reading (a) When People are Big and God is Small by Ed Welch. (b)I have just ordered How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity by Thomas C. Oden. And I am beginning Same Kind of Different as me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore and Flyfishing the Texas Hill Country by Bud Priddy.

Apart from Scripture, what book do you most frequently re-read and why?
2 Books, Desiring God by John Piper and Live Life on Purpose by Claude Hickman. One makes me delight in God, the other helps me to be about the task the Great Commission.

When you finish a book, what system have you developed in order to remember and reference that book in the future?

I make notes in the margins along the way and make an outline form of key points throughout the book. I know and respect many who make their notes (with page numbers) in the beginning of a book. I think this could be very helpful as well, it is just not my method of choice.

If you could study under any theologian in church history (excluding those men in Scripture), who would it be and why?
Tough to pick just one. Perhaps John Bunyan because he was a common man who studied God, and because he suffered for the Gospel at the hand of a “Christian” state.

What single piece of counsel (or constructive criticism) has most improved your preaching?

“You are a truth proclaimer, not a response manager. Exhortation is your job, application is the Holy Spirit’s job.” Neil McClendon

What books on preaching, or examples of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?
Feed My Sheep, The Supremacy of Christ in Preaching, Excerpts from Preachers and Preaching.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?

Everything belongs to God.

What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?
Over-communication is better than under-communication. God communicates many things He has no obligation to communicate.

Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?

When I see the depth of my own personal sin, as well as the apathy toward holiness in the western Church, I get discouraged. When I forget about God’s character and abilities, I get discouraged. When I see families broken I get discouraged, in part because of the Scripture, and in part because as a child I experienced a broken family and continue to with the effects of this 22 years later.

Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)

When I exercise, I walk 30 minutes, do pushups and sit ups. When I do not it is because I am lazy and have not managed time well. For me, exercise is the first thing to go.

Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?

I like playing basketball and watching football and golf.

What do you do for leisure?
Spend time with my wife and kids, and wade fish in clear creeks.

If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?Teacher, Realtor, Fishing Guide, but woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!