But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Living on Mission: A Prophetic Conversation with Pastor Chris Bell
About this episode
Pastor Chris Bell of 3 Circle Church in Fairhope, Alabama joins Philip Cameron for a candid conversation about what it truly means to live on mission — without losing your church, your family, or your soul in the process. Drawing on Acts 1:8, Chris unpacks the vision behind 3 Circle Church's name: reaching Jerusalem first, then Judea and Samaria, then the ends of the earth. "We're not just going to go across the world to reach people for Christ and forget our backyard," he explains, "but we're also not going to focus on our backyard and not care about people across the world." The conversation takes a sharp, practical turn as Chris challenges pastors and leaders to define real success before chasing growth. Growing up on a 200-acre farm, he returns to agricultural language: "I feel like God's given me a field to plow — and I'm going to plow that field." He warns against premature church multiplication, noting that churches risk replicating their own unhealthiness when roots aren't deep. The same principle applies to family: "The greatest tragedy would be to be successful at the wrong thing." Whether you're a pastor, a business leader, or a parent, this episode will sharpen your priorities and call you back to the field God has given you. Find 3 Circle Church online to connect with Chris Bell and his team.
Part of our Pastors collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“I think the greatest tragedy would be to be successful at the wrong thing. To win at the wrong game.”
“It is easier, frankly, to win in business than it is to win in your home. It is harder work to love your spouse well and build a great marriage and stay in the game and stay engaged with your kids and build a home that honors God in this culture. That is hard work. Sometimes it's easier to go to the office where you get the pat on the back and they don't know the real you and you can kind of do your thing.”
“Don't buy into the lie that your life is defined by how successful you are. There's nothing wrong with success, but if you will walk with Jesus and be faithful to the things he has called you to be faithful to, you will be blessed beyond measure.”
What's Discussed
Pastor Chris Bell, lead pastor of 3 Circle Church in Fairhope, Alabama, discusses the Acts 1:8 framework that gives his church its name and mission: reaching locally, regionally, and globally without neglecting any circle. Over 13 years at 3 Circle, Bell has prioritized deep discipleship over rapid expansion, arguing that churches must be healthy before they multiply. He draws a parallel to family life, warning that many leaders — pastors and businesspeople alike — are winning at the wrong game, succeeding professionally while their marriages and children suffer. Bell calls believers to bloom where they are planted, plow the field God has assigned them, and redefine success around faithfulness to Jesus, family, and local community.
- 3 Circle Church Vision and Acts 1:8
- Plowing Your God-Given Field
- Dangers of Premature Church Multiplication
- Deep Roots Before Wide Growth
- Platform Ministry vs. Local Church Faithfulness
- Family as the First Institution
- Redefining Success for Leaders and Parents
- Blooming Where God Plants You
Scripture in this episode
Episode Transcript
Auto-generated · click any timestamp to jump the video
Intro
Philip:And I am delighted that you are with us. We have got a great guest today that's doing incredible things for the kingdom of God, and I believe he's got a word for you today. Let me tell you what I've discovered in my life, that when we're walking through our journey — you know, the journey, sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes in — sometimes you feel the same as you've ever been, and then the next time you don't feel safe at all. But in your journey, in your procession towards your eternal reward, God puts people in your lives that can speak a Rhema word to you that gives your life and hope and healing, and suddenly focuses you as to what God's plan for your life is.
Philip:Let me tell you, God has a plan for your life. And you need to understand that he puts things in your pathway and people in your pathway to encourage you, and he will never let you go. The Bible says that we are in the hollow of his hands. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, and I believe today we're going to have a great program. I believe God's going to speak through Daily Faith into your heart to change your life.
Philip:Now we've had a great couple of weeks. My mom — my 96-year-old mom, she'll be 97 in November — surprised me for my birthday. I'll be telling you more about that in the program. She showed up one night with my brother and my 2 sisters and we've just had the most amazing few weeks with her. She goes home in a few days, sadly, and back to Scotland. In case you wonder, I'm Scottish. This is not an Alabama accent you're listening to today. I'm from Scotland, but we are here to bless you.
Philip:And you can watch us — if you want to hit the share button, if you're watching us on social media, you can do that and get other people involved with what God is doing through Daily Faith. We started this out during the COVID and it was just to help other pastors learn as to what other guys were doing in the churches, and it's kind of grown. And if you'll turn on your notifications, when Daily Faith comes online we'll let you know, and we can sit down together for a wee while and share.
Philip:But also on YouTube it's very simple — youtube.com/dailyfaith — and you can get in contact with us there. And dailyfaith.tv is our home base. That's where all the programs we've made are already there. You can go back and check through them, and pretty much anything that you're going through in your life has already taken place and we've talked about it on Daily Faith. So you can go back there at dailyfaith.tv. And if you want to watch, every few days I put out a new reel — it's 45 seconds long, it's a thought that you can carry with you in your heart — and you can go there and they're also found at YouTube on Daily Faith.
Philip:There's so many addresses these days I keep getting myself all confused, but I'm delighted to have you with us. Chris Bell, I believe, is going to be a great blessing to you today, to share something that God has for you. So don't go anywhere. We're delighted to have you. Welcome to Daily Faith.
Philip:Hey, welcome to Daily Faith. My name is Philip Cameron and I am absolutely delighted to have you with us today. We've got a guest that I believe God has sent into our lives — into your life — for a purpose. I'm here to tell you that God has you in the hollow of his hand, and in all the storms of life that you're going through, he has an answer for every need you have. God's been at this thing a long time. He knows — he's seen the first sunrise, he's seen the first sunset. He holds the worlds in the hollow of his hand. The Bible says the nations of the earth are like drops in a bucket.
Philip:But the most important thing is he knows you by your name. That's what the Bible says. He's redeemed you — think of this — and he's called you by your name. We have put a mark on your hand with a pen, and every time you move it catches your eye. Well, let me tell you something: you catch God's eye every single day, and he loves you with a love that will never let you go. And I want God to just use this program today — this wee while we have together — to bless you.
Philip:35 years ago, my dad called me from Scotland. He's been in heaven now for 25 years. And he'd been watching the BBC, and the BBC was reporting on this revolution taking place in a country called Romania. And he called me up, really upset. He says, our babies are dying. And I knew by his tone of voice this was big news for me. My dad had a saying: why have a dog and bark yourself? In other words, when he got a vision, I got the job. That was how we kind of worked it out.
Philip:And I said, Dad, what are you talking about? He said, I'm watching these babies dying in these orphanages. And I said, look, this is not what we are about. Let's not go down this road. The next day he called me again: there are babies dying. He had cancer surgery — a great big melanoma on his back and the wound had burst open, it was like a number 3 iron, and it had divided out of his back. And I said, you're sick, I am busy, we don't even know if the cancer's spread. Just leave this alone.
Philip:Next day he called me: there are babies dying. I said, Dad, stop this, please. You're hurting yourself and you're driving me mad. The next day he called. He says, I'm going. I'm going by myself. If you don't go with me, I'll go alone, and if I die on the way, it's your fault. And that's called a guilt trip from a Scottish dad. I said, okay, I'm coming.
Philip:And we went. The whole town that we come from in Scotland gave us clothes and food and all kinds of stuff, and we ended up with a truck convoy. It started out just him and me in a little van and it ended up a convoy of trucks. And I went to this orphanage in a town called Timișoara — my sister lives there to this day. And when I did this orphanage, I just wanted to leave. I'm ready, I'm booked. Just one of those moments. And here's one of the moments of my life.
Philip:We'd gone round the bottom floor and every room was just a disaster — the filth, the smell of human waste. And then there was a stairs and he says, let's go up. I said, no, look, we've seen enough, we've done enough, let's go. And he ignored me and he kept going up the steps. And I followed him complaining: Dad, look, it's 2,500 miles back to Scotland, let's go. I've got to get back to America, the real life. And he just ignored me, kept going up the stairs.
Philip:And he opened the door to salon number 5 — I can see it as I'm talking to you — on the door. And I walked in behind him and he kind of stopped, and I went past him. And as I walked in, this wee boy's face in the middle of thirty screaming kids — and this wee boy was looking back at me. And the Holy Ghost spoke to me and he says, that's your son. Now, I had 2 kids. We were done having kids. I had a plan. I had a boy. I had a plan. And this wee boy was looking at me.
Philip:And I walked down between the cribs and picked him up and I said, I don't know who you are but I'll never forget you. Took us a year to adopt him, and by that time we had replaced all the toilets — well, there were no toilets, we didn't replace them, we put new toilets in the place — replaced all the beds, replaced the roof, painted all the place, changed the lives of all those kids. But I was hooked on helping others.
Philip:And for the last several years we've been working in a country called Moldova and a city called Chișinău. And we also have a home — for 8 years, long before the war in Ukraine — we've had a home in Odessa where we take young kids, young girls that are going to be trafficked, and we bring them in and we put them back in school and we tell them, if you're born, God has a plan. And we've got the most amazing place called Vatra Village.
Philip:It's a village of homes right on the largest lake in Moldova, and these kids come to us broken from the most horrendous circumstances and they find Jesus in these homes. And the insane thing that's happened is that these orphans have turned into sons and daughters. Every girl you see in this video is worth $300,000 a year to the trafficker. And we take them into our place and we put them back in school, and some are now doctors and lawyers and police officers and interpreters in embassies all over the world. And God has allowed us to do this.
Philip:Well, the other day at a birthday — as I mentioned earlier, where my mom came over to see me — the kids in Moldova, they did this all by themselves. This is not produced by us. They do this. They write it, their words, their voices. And they sent me a greeting for my birthday, and I thought you would enjoy watching it. Watch this video.
Today we will all come together to celebrate you, our beacon of kindness, compassion, and generosity. Each one of us is planting a tree as a symbol of our deep gratitude, a reminder of the lasting impact that your love and care has and will have on our lives.
This represents life — something that we have today because you gave us the opportunity to grow, thrive, and reach our full potential. Trees provide shelter, something that you built for each one of us who had little or no protection in life.
As these trees will grow and flourish, they will stand as a testament to the life of someone who dedicated themselves to making the world a better place for children in need, encouraging future generations to carry forward the torch of kindness.
Through the years you have been our main source of refuge, and even though you have built houses that don't have your name on them, for us they have become loving homes that carry your legacy and celebrate your kindness, vision, and tireless efforts. In these homes our tired feet found rest and refuge. In these homes that plan was put into action.
And here is where a bench carrying your name will become the symbol of care and stability that you have provided for each one of us. This is where our soul found peace and comfort.
Thank you. Happy 70th birthday, and 73 trees with roots of compassion growing in honor of a heart that cared for the least of these.
Philip:Wow. Wow. Is it not amazing that these kids come to us broken and God is allowing us to heal them? And all of this takes place by someone just like you giving a dollar a day. That's been the foundation of all the things we've done, and these kids are changing the world. Each of the villages at Vatra Village sponsors a village in the country and they evangelize for a whole year, dig every widow's garden, put vegetables rather than flowers into their gardens to save off hunger in the wintertime. We give them food, coal, and fuel to burn in their houses, and it's all been done by someone like you saying, I want to be a part to rescue these kids.
Philip:The Bible says that when you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord. And that old hymn: rescue the perishing, care for the dying. One dollar a day — can you help us? You can be a part with us and you can contact us. Really simple: PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. You can also go to dailyfaith.tv — there's a giving page there — and also 1-833-DAILY-FAITH. And by giving today, you are reaching out beyond your world into someone else's. The Bible says when you care for the fatherless and the widow, you are demonstrating pure religion, and we've been doing this for 35 years.
Philip:We have a home in Odessa in Ukraine. Our girls there live under constant threat. So please help us. We've just bought 2 new houses to hold kids between the age of 4 and 16, and each of these houses needs 300 sponsors. So let the Lord speak to you today and be a part of a miracle.
Philip:I'm delighted to have with me a new friend to me, but I believe he is going to be a continuing friend to Daily Faith and in your life. He pastors a great church — 3 Circle Church in Fairhope, Alabama — and he is with us today to share what God has been putting on his heart. These men are visionaries. Listen to me, listen, this is important: find someone that has a vision and a purpose and identify with them. And when you do that, God will overflow the vision into your life. My mom used to say, if you shoot for the moon, you'll hit something higher than a haystack. And how I've learned to do that is by being a part of other people's visions as they grow. And so Chris Bell is with us. Chris, thank you so much for being with us on Daily Faith. It's good to have you.
3 Circle Church Vision and Acts 1:8
Chris Bell:Hey, it's my honor to be with you today. I love what God's doing with you guys and it's good to make a new friend, so huge honor to be with you.
Philip:And of course, your name being Bell, you're one of us whether you know it or not.
Chris Bell:I'm not right? I have a deep appreciation and affinity for Scotland anyway. I love the movie Braveheart and William Wallace and all of that, and I'm sure the true Scottish people get tired of that connection. But man, you and I were talking before the show about how wonderful Scotland is. So I just wish I had your accent — your accent's amazing.
Philip:You know, when you're a Scotsman, I don't have an accent — I speak properly. You're the one with the accent. How y'all doing?
Chris Bell:Yes, yes indeed. Now here's the thing though about the South — the South, we have lots of accents. People think that there's one southern accent. It is not monolithic in any way. There are regional accents, really, and I have a Gulf Coast accent.
Philip:Well, I used to live in Alabama, so I know all the different accents. But if you come to Scotland — when you come to Scotland, because I'm just confessing you're going to be in Scotland — you can go 10 miles and the accent is like a different language. Never mind an accent, because these little towns and villages were isolated for years and years and they didn't cross anywhere. So they use different words. It's absolutely crazy and amazing.
Philip:And I'm just being told that you are an Alabama supporter. Is that right? Is that correct?
Chris Bell:I am an Alabama supporter, yes. What's amazing about this though — I have 3 kids, I'm a big Alabama fan, I have been my whole life — and I will give you one guess as to where my oldest son ended up in college. Auburn. He ended up at Auburn. Can you believe that? I am writing checks — this is the Lord teaching me humility — I'm writing really big checks to Auburn.
Philip:You see, there is a God in heaven, because I've got some stories about Alabama. When I lived in Alabama, they were the most obnoxious people when it came to the football I've ever met.
Chris Bell:Wow, and I can't believe this. I cannot believe you would think such things.
Philip:So my team is Manchester United, and Manchester United is playing so bad right now I'm almost disowning them. So my only hope is Auburn. Let's keep praying. I still can't believe — you and I were talking before the show — I can't believe you're not a golfer coming from the coast. I love to golf, and I think we need to take a golf trip to Scotland.
Philip:My salvation is worth more than golf, and if I played golf I would lose my salvation. I'd end up killing you on the golf course by death by pars.
Chris Bell:See, that's why you need my Baptist theology, because you could go play golf and know that God has you, brother. He's going to hold you tightly.
Philip:Oh my goodness gracious. If you're into Calvinism, Scotland's the place for you. I can take you to some places.
Chris Bell:I know, I know.
Philip:Listen, moving on — you've got a great church. Tell us what God's doing where you are and what's the Lord putting in your heart these days as you're leading this congregation?
Chris Bell:Well, honestly, I do have a great church, but really that phrase has it all wrong, because it's not my church — it's the Lord's church. And I feel really honored. My wife and I got to come back to the Gulf Coast, where I love this place. I like to tell people I have brackish water running through my veins. I love the Gulf Coast. And so we were in Atlanta and we were in Florida and Miami — we did a lot of things — but the Lord, 13 years ago, graciously opened the door for us to come back here. And what God has done in these past 13 years has blown my mind here at 3 Circle Church.
Chris Bell:The name of our church is based on Acts 1:8, the verse where Jesus tells the church you're to go into all the world, and there's a sequence to it: you're going to go to Jerusalem, which is the first circle, Judea, Samaria — the regional circle — and then all over the world. And so we are a church that says we're not just going to go across the world to reach people for Christ and forget our backyard, but we're also not going to focus on our backyard and not care about people across the world. We want to operate in all 3 of those circles.
Chris Bell:And basically that's our vision and our goal. We want to, in every way possible — and that's through missions, it's through church planting, it's through campuses locally — we want to be a part of building the kingdom of God and seeing people come to Christ. But not just seeing them come to him, but then discipling them and teaching them how to follow him. We want to impact communities wherever we plant a church or plant a campus. We want to help that community flourish and for them to see the glory of God in that.
Plowing Your God-Given Field
Chris Bell:So that's really what we're all about, and God's done more than I could have ever imagined, honestly, in these years. And it's been an unbelievable joy to pastor this church. God's given me a lot of opportunities to do a lot of great things out in the world, and I'm very thankful for that. But nothing — and I really mean this — nothing gets me more fired up than what God's doing right here at my church, at 3 Circle Church.
Philip:Well, I mean, that's the key to success. If you understand there's a balance in the kingdom — you've got to keep the home fires burning, but then you go to the areas around you, and that's where campuses come from, and then the mission field. And sometimes we get our circles all mixed up, and that doesn't look good. I am first and foremost, of course, a child of God, and then I'm a husband and a dad, and then after that I'm a local church pastor. And so whatever else I do — I've written a book, I'm an author, I speak, I do conferences when God opens the door — but those things I keep very much in check, because those first things, I feel like God's given me a field to plow.
Chris Bell:I grew up on a 200-acre farm. I know about plowing fields.
Philip:Oh wow.
Chris Bell:And so in my mind I go back to the farm language. But I feel like God's given me a field to plow and I'm going to plow that field, I'm going to focus on that. And sometimes — honestly, this is a side note, and it's not a condemnation in any way — but I do have concerns about guys who are local church pastors but I never hear anything about their church. All I see is they're all over the place all the time, and I honestly don't know how you can be gone that much and actually shepherd a local church.
Dangers of Premature Church Multiplication
Chris Bell:So that's just a little side note. I hope guys are really thinking about that. I had a guy recently who's got a big ministry but his local church wasn't doing as well, and we talked about it and I just had to tell him, I said, brother, you've got to focus on your field that God's giving you to plow. It's not to the exclusion of the other things — you can still do the other things — but you've got to decide what is my priority. And so we just decided for 13 years we're going to plow this field, and God has done, like I said, more than I could have ever imagined.
Chris Bell:But when the foundation is strong, then when opportunities come up it's like having cash in a bad economy — suddenly you have the opportunity to launch something and you have the resources within yourself to do it.
Philip:That's so true. And we plant campuses and churches, and I think that frankly churches need to be healthy before they do those things, because you're just going to multiply and replicate your own unhealthiness if you're not careful. My dad bought my mother a hothouse greenhouse plant one time and brought it home, and this thing had a great big head and it was just gorgeous. This is in Scotland. And so my mother put it in the window of our kitchen and this thing for one or two days looked great. And then with a frosty night, the next morning when we came down into the kitchen, it was like this — it had given up the ghost overnight because it wasn't prepared for the cold.
Philip:And a lot of times we like to put the window dressing on things, we like to have a big head on the flower and plenty of growth up top. But if the roots aren't deep — and this is the same in families, this is the same in your life — if you're living in a family, unless the roots of your home go deep, as soon as you try to grow up the way you fall over. Because the reason is the depth. And that is very, very indicative of what's taking place all through the church and all through the family life in America.
Chris Bell:Yeah, I think that in particular in churches — I do think that, and I understand it, I empathize with churches that want to grow. And I think for the most part those are well-intentioned churches. They want to reach people, they want to grow, and they become so desperate to grow that they decide the way we could grow is by starting new things. But if they're not healthy — and the reason I think that's so tempting is that inward growth is some of the hardest growth. To grow your church deeper instead of wider first — I think the church should go deep before it goes wide.
Chris Bell:To grow in discipleship, to grow your people in their knowledge of the word and the gospel and living the gospel — those things frankly are very hard. And I'm going to be honest with you, I think that's why guys travel more than they should sometimes, because it is easier, frankly, to go to a church you've never been to and be the hero for a Sunday morning and preach the paint off the walls, jump on the plane. That's easier, honestly, than being in a place for 10, 20 years and working through people's problems and seeing them grow in Christ. That is hard work.
Deep Roots Before Wide Growth
Chris Bell:And so I have such respect for the local church pastor that's putting his feet in the ground and digging his heels in and saying, I'm here, I'm going to plow this field. But I do see a lot of churches sometimes prematurely try to multiply, and they really need to get healthy first, if that makes sense.
Philip:So how do we apply that same thought process to the family? Because the church is made up of families, and a lot of times it's easy for a guy to put a suit on and go out the door and be the big shot in his business while his family is dying on the vine. So it's the same principle — you've got to build the home fires first. And once the home fire is strong, then you can begin to afford to move forward and outwards to reach the nether kingdoms around you.
Platform Ministry vs. Local Church Faithfulness
Chris Bell:Yeah, I mean, 100%. I think the family was the first institution that God gave us, right? That's the first thing he established — he established families before he established the church. And so I think in particular in our modern Western culture, we are so driven to succeed. The problem is we've not defined and prioritized what success really is and what success matters. And here — oh my goodness — I think the greatest tragedy would be to be successful at the wrong thing. To win at the wrong game.
Chris Bell:And so that's the deal, you know? It'd be like you and I were talking about golf — it would be like me getting excited about having a really, really high score in golf, and someone looking at me and going, dude, you do know that it's the lower the score? Like, you're not even playing the game right. And honestly, I think there are a lot of guys across the country — some of them are pastors, their churches are growing — but their kids are dying on the vine, their relationship with their wife, their spouse, is not healthy. I think that's happening in business too.
Family as the First Institution
Chris Bell:And again I will say this, and I would challenge anyone listening to this who's in that world: it is easier, and that's why it's so tempting. It's easier, frankly, to win in business than it is to win in your home. It is harder work to love your spouse well and build a great marriage and stay in the game and stay engaged with your kids and build a home that honors God in this culture. That is hard work. Sometimes it's easier to go to the office where you get the pat on the back and they don't know the real you and you can kind of do your thing.
Chris Bell:I think we've got to redefine what the real win is. I can't imagine there being a greater win, besides following Jesus, than having a home that glorifies Jesus. That's the biggest win.
Redefining Success for Leaders and Parents
Philip:Absolutely. Well, I've measured success in my life not by the stuff we've built, because you can build stuff — I mean, that's joy and it's exciting and I love the challenge of it, these 2 new homes we're building, that's great. And God made you that way, God put that inside of you. But when I see my family wanting to do what I'm doing and I watch them resting in the same vision that I have and seeing God moving in their lives, and then coming to a point that I'll transfer it over to them and pass the baton to them — that's when you can measure real success.
Philip:And what you're saying and what I'm saying today is: whatever you find yourself doing, if you're watching this today and you're always looking over the fence to the other side — the grass is always greener — but let me tell you something, sometimes the grass ain't grass, it's weeds. But I believe that God wants you to bloom where you're planted. Be satisfied where you are. You don't have to be the richest person, you don't have to be the biggest dog in the pack. But if you serve God and serve him well, and you trust him for your salvation, and your family around you is standing on the principles of faith, then you have become tremendously successful.
Philip:And man, this is good. We've only just started. Now we know where we stand. You've got to come back and we'll talk about some things that the Lord is speaking to you about, because I believe that you've got a lot to share with pastors that are watching, but also with housewives and businessmen and businesswomen that have made their own individual decisions but sometimes haven't ended up the way they wanted to be. Chris, absolutely thank you so much for being with me today.
Blooming Where God Plants You
Chris Bell:That's been an absolute honor. My hope is that everyone listening will be encouraged. Don't buy into the lie that your life is defined by how successful you are. There's nothing wrong with success, but if you will walk with Jesus and be faithful to the things he has called you to be faithful to, you will be blessed beyond measure.
Philip:Hallelujah. That's the truth. Thank you, brother. That is Chris Bell, 3 Circle Church in Fairhope, Alabama. There's his information — get in contact with him. I'm sure they've got stuff that their church could share with you and bless you. If you're anywhere in that area, you've just found your home church to go to. Thank you for watching Daily Faith today. We appreciate you so much. Every time you get a chance, be with us, will you? Bye-bye.
For over 25 years the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova, from providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons, and in the process orphans become daughters and sons.
They come to know their heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus. God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness. Now, no longer orphans, they want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphans' Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking.
Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in the Orphans' Hands homes in Moldova and Ukraine. If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 1-833-DAILY-FAITH. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving them.
Common questions
What does the name '3 Circle Church' actually mean?
Chris Bell says the name comes directly from Acts 1:8, where Jesus tells the church to go to Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and then all over the world — three expanding circles of mission. His church's goal is to operate in all three at once, meaning they don't want to focus only on global missions and neglect their local community, or vice versa.
Why does Chris Bell think pastors should stay focused on their local church instead of traveling and speaking everywhere?
Bell is candid that traveling to guest-preach is simply easier than the hard, daily work of shepherding the same congregation for years. He uses farm language — saying God gave him a field to plow — and argues that if a pastor's local church isn't thriving, constant outside ministry is a warning sign, not a badge of honor.
What's Chris Bell's take on churches that try to grow or plant campuses too quickly?
Bell believes a church should go deep before it goes wide. He warns that churches desperate to grow can be tempted to launch new campuses or initiatives before they're spiritually healthy, and that doing so just multiplies whatever problems already exist. He says inward, discipleship-focused growth is the hardest kind — and that's exactly why it gets skipped.
How does Chris Bell apply the 'plow your own field' idea to family life, not just ministry?
Bell argues that the family was the first institution God established — even before the church — so it has to be the first priority. He says many men, including pastors, are tempted to chase success at work or ministry because it's genuinely easier to win there than to do the hard work of building a healthy marriage and raising kids well. His challenge is to redefine what the real win is: 'I can't imagine a greater win, besides following Jesus, than having a home that glorifies Jesus.'
What does Chris Bell say to people who feel like they're failing because they're not outwardly successful?
Bell closes by urging viewers not to buy into the lie that life is defined by outward success. He says there's nothing wrong with success itself, but that walking faithfully with Jesus and being faithful to what he's specifically called you to will lead to being 'blessed beyond measure' — regardless of how the world measures achievement.
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