First AME Zion Welcomes New Pastor

First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church invites you to join them as they welcome their new pastor Rev. Dr. Richard C. Chapple.

The Reverend Dr. Richard Curtis Chapple brings and expansive and richly conceived experience to ministry. Called to ministry at age 17, he was a son of the parsonage and became a pastor of his first church at 18 years of age.

Prior to his appointment as pastor of First Church Los Angeles, Pastor Chapple was most often introduced as the "Reverend Professor Richard Chapple" because of his tenure as a faculty member at Pittsburgh theological Seminary of Pennsylvania He holds the seminary degree with honors from Howard University Divinity School with study during his senior year at Oxford University, England (Mansfield College). Further still, he holds the graduate degree in Pastoral Theology from Princeton University, the Theological Seminary. He stands now as a Doctor of Philosophy candidate at the University of Pittsburgh in the disciplines of English and Rhetoric.

Ordained as an elder by the Church, he takes pride in having served his own church tradition, the AME Zion Church, at all levels of ministry. At the national level, he has served as a delegate to the World Methodist Council; a General Conference committee chairperson, and as a revival and seminar/workshop leader. He has contributed his voice to the varied scholarly and ecclesial settings of the AME Zion Church and is considered one of the lead theological and academic voices in the AME Zion denomination.

Pastor Chapple has been married to his wife, Beverlyn, for nearly 29 years. Beverlyn is a Registered Nurse Practitioner who expertise encompasses the area of Family Planning along with Obstetrics and Gynecology. Reverend and Mrs. Chapple have two adult children: LaRonda, who lives in Portland, Oregon, and Richard III, who lives in New York City. Their daughter and her husband have blessed the Chapples with two wonderful grandchildren: Ethan and Aeliyah.

The First AME Zion welcome service for Rev. Chapple will take place on Sunday February 22 at 3:30p.m. The guest speaker for the afternoon will be Rev. John Deron Johnson of Phillips Temple C.M.E. Church. First A.M.E. Zion is located at 1449 W. Adams Blvd. Los Angeles. For more information call 323 734-5870.

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