The Pastor

Pastor Harry W. Chapman

Pastor Harry Chapman – Senior Pastor

“I think of myself in the Pauline tradition – a man called to ‘preach and teach biblical Truth’. But I also think of myself as Peter – a man ‘set apart to live that Truth in Love’. I’d like to be remembered in that faithful procession of those who have gone before us: identified in the Way, the Truth and the Life of Jesus Christ through the power and wisdom of God: Life & Logic on Fire.”

It is doubtful any pastor could be as at home in the world and in the Church as Harry W. Chapman. Not only has he walked in the shoes of the sinner, but also has literally walked in the Spirit of the Lord. His personal experiences and life long adult devotion to Christ have combined to give pastor Harry the unique knowledge and understanding of the people, events, and challenge of the Christian life and the church.

Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Pastor Chapman left home at the age of eighteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs including a busboy while attending college, recording engineer in the U.S. Army, business and advertising manager for a university newspaper in Albuquerque, and managing advertising offices in Chicago, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Dallas, Tampa, and internationally in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Subsequently, he founded several companies with offices in Albuquerque, Tampa, Denver, San Francisco and Detroit.

As the recipient of many honors and awards, Pastor Chapman became the first host of a nationally syndicated television marketing program and pioneered – then unheard of – target-brand marketing in the United States and Australia, and became a sought-after public speaker after authoring result-oriented advertising for international marketing and developing numerous marketing/industry resources.

Since Pastor Chapman’s calling to the pastorate at the age of forty, he has sold his businesses and has founded Westside Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Since Westside’s inception in 1997, Pastor Chapman strives to build on the church property, hosts Christian talk radio programs, authors a bi-monthly newsletter, is a police chaplain, serves as Moderator of Presbytery del Cristo, has chaired the Presbytery committee on Missions, currently serves on the Presbytery Committee on Congregational Care, and is serving his third term on the denomination’s Permanent Committee on the Judiciary. Pastor Chapman has also pioneered “Fish Camp” – a community wide summer program set in the Rocky Mountains for kids ages eight to fourteen where young people are introduced to God’s Word and Life.

As a boy growing up in Albuquerque and Aztec, Pastor Chapman absorbed all he could about God’s plan for man. Being raised a Lutheran, he became “unaffiliated” upon entering college. Subsequently, he returned to the church and attended several different churches and denominations including Presbyterian USA, Methodist, Church of England, and eventually was “captured by the heart of God” at Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he was a group leader in international bible study.

Pastor Chapman earned a B.A. in Journalism and Speech in 1977 from the University of New Mexico and a Masters of Divinity from Denver Seminary in 1996. His wife, Sara, received her B.A. in music education, earned six hours from her M.A. in Flute and an M.A. in Biblical Counseling from Denver Seminary. She leads worship music, is a Licensed Practical Clinical Counselor (LPCC), and is the director of the family’s music camp, Hummingbird. The Chapman’s have four children – Kristen Pickens (husband Brett), Kyle Chapman (wife Jennifer), Ryan Chapman d. 1986, and Korilynn Chapman as well as five grandchildren.