Pastor Stephen Chandler Biography
It is often obvious for people to think pastor’s children end up becoming pastors like their parents. If you dig deeper into the children’s life you will find a different story. Although Stephen Chandler has followed in his father’s footsteps, he wanted to be an entrepreneur and a kingdom builder. Some how God convicted him to a pastor earlier in life than he thought. Now, Pastor Chandler is the senior pastor at Union Church alongside his wife Zai Chandler. Chandler is also an author and a speaker.
Pastor Stephen Chandler Age, Family and Wife
Pastor Stephen Chandler is a Baltimore native born on 15th February 1985 to Barbados immigrants. His father is pastor Ron Chandler and his mother died of breast cancer. Pastor Chandler is among the 5 children born in the family. Like his father, Chandler is a family man.
He is married to Zai Chandler and together their union has three children. Pastor Stephen is Zai’s second husband after her first husband died from a gunshot. She is a Sierra Leon immigrant who learned about Jesus from a missionary. Her encounter with Jesus, however, was the reason she made a decision to do the work of God.
Pastor Stephen Chandler Ministry
Chandler’s ambition to become a businessman led him to study Economics at the University of Maryland. Throughout his life, he had an inborn desire to be a leader. At 13 years old, Stephen was a leader in worship and later on a youth pastor.
His perspective on life changed when he was 16. A missionary visited their church and preached a powerful sermon that displayed the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who were prayed for spoke in other tongues except for Stephen.
The Holy Spirit spoke to Stephen much later and told Stephen that He can only hear Him when he empties himself everything he has held on to. The encounter with the Holy Spirit completely changed the life of Stephen.
His ambition and purpose for life took a new turn. He gave up his life to reach out to people who have no knowledge of the God of the Bible.
At age 23, his father Ron Chandler handed over to Stephen the leadership of Destiny Harvest Church, which at that time was called New Life International Fellowship. Running the church immediately after taking from his father was difficult because most of his congregants were young people between 20 to 30 years.
Their zeal for serving the purpose of God was correct but they had little money. Stephen studied great churches like Gateway in Southlake and Elevation Church in South Carolina. From them, he learned the value of putting up a strong leadership team that would stir up the growth of the church.
With his strong leaders on his team, Stephen moved from getting 100 people per year to more than 1,000 and tens of thousands joining live online every week. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Destiny Church was ranked the fastest-growing church in America.
Pastor Stephen Chandler Union Church
In 2020, Pastor Stephen and Pastor Jimmy Rollins shocked the world when they made a decision to dissolve their individual churches to start their own. Like Pastor Stephen, Pastor Jimmy also inherited the Church from his father Bishop James.
I5 City Church led by Pastor Jimmy and Destiny Church by Pastor Stephen joined to form Union Church. Stephen focused on building the church’s culture, people, and systems while Pastor Jimmy started a ministry called Two Equals One, which focuses on teaching people how to build healthy families and marriages.
Since choosing to pursue dreams like his father, Pastor Stephen Chandler has been exhausting his leadership skills in calling people to activate their God-given potential. He authored a book called Stop Waiting for Permission: Harness Your Gifts, Find Your Purpose, and Unleash Your Personal Genius, which helps readers to discover their unique gifts and live their purpose in life.
Pastor Chandler’s target audience is Generation Z and millennials. His sermons and way of delivery are different from his father’s. He styles himself in a way that is familiar to his target audience. Stephen dresses in stylistic fashion, hair, and urban trends. He has a passion for digital content which he shares on YouTube as long-form videos and on Instagram as short-form videos.
Stephen Chandler Summary of Personal Details
Ethnicity: Black
Nationality: American
Age: 38
Marital Status: Married
Children: 3
Occupation: Pastor
Height: 5 feet and 11 inches
Net Worth: approx 10 million
