The Calling they couldn't Cancel | More Than Conquerors with Pastor Joe Delp

"The Calling they couldn't Cancel"

What happens when God calls you back to the city that broke you?

Pastor Joe Delp grew up in a godly home, rebelled hard, and on October 12, 2010 — Jesus Christ saved his soul. That salvation launched him into ministry, Bible college, marriage, and a bold church plant in Northeast Philadelphia.

But the road got dark fast. A church merger that promised everything fell apart in betrayal and slander. Joe resigned, packed up his family, and drove out of Philly in a U-Haul — broken, bitter, and running from God.

What followed was a Jonah season he's brutally honest about: a closed Bible, a struggling marriage, depression, and a desperate pursuit of a different calling. Until God slammed every door shut and brought him to his knees. God's will cannot be stopped!

This episode is about what happens after .... Revival & Restoration and a second church plant — ChristLife Baptist Church — that launched March 15, 2026 with 92 people in attendance and 6 souls saved on the very first Sunday.

If you've ever been hurt by the church, run from God, or wondered if He's still writing your story — this one is for you.

ChristLife Baptist Church | Sundays 11 AM

📍 7811 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19128 @christlifephilly

🎙️ More Than Conquerors Podcast | Hosted by Lou Lepore

"Today's test is tomorrow's testimony."

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Transcript

[Lou Lepore] Welcome back to the More Than Conquerors podcast, where today's test is tomorrow's testimony. I'm your host, Lou Lepore, and today we have none other than Pastor Joe Delp of Christ Life Baptist Church here to share a life story, not only with ministry, but the challenges that surround that. Pastor Joe, welcome to the podcast.

[Joe Delp] It's a blessing to be here. It's an honor to be on the pod with you. Thank you so much.

[Lou Lepore] Yeah. Before we dive in, we're both Philadelphia sports fans, so let's start. What are the Birds gonna do this year?

[Joe Delp] I tell you what, I'm one of those guys where this season, going into this season, I'm really not that confident. I don't know. I'm normally super optimistic, but this year I'm just up in the air, man.

[Lou Lepore] And so we got the temporal out of the way, so thank you for your patience, listeners. We're gonna focus now on Christ. So Joe, let's start at the beginning. Take us back where God really got ahold of your life to call you into ministry.

[Joe Delp] Very grateful for the godly home that the Lord allowed me to be born and raised in. Thankful for wonderful parents who love Jesus. I rebelled against Christianity and biblical values, wanted to do my own thing, and I did that. Party lifestyle that I regret to this day, and I'm thankful for God's mercy throughout that. God used so many experiences to bring me to the end of Joe Delp and to bring me to Jesus Christ, and I'm so thankful that he reached further down than I could reach up. And on October the 12th of 2010, Jesus Christ saved my soul. That was the greatest day of my life. Amen. And I'm so thankful for a dad and a mom who did not quit praying for me.

[Lou Lepore] That's right. You take that good upbringing and even some of the challenges that we all face in life, and I'm sure every Christian can look at a point and say, "I shouldn't have done that." But God got ahold of your heart. Amen. He pursued you, He was faithful, and you ended up going to Bible college. How did that go?

[Joe Delp] Yes. That very next fall, fall of 2011, go to Bible college in North Carolina, and I met the love of my life. It was on 11-11-11. Met my wife, Katie, and praise God she married me, right after we graduated in 2014. So thankful for my wonderful wife, and I thank God for her and the wonderful mother that she is to our children. Our firstborn, Christie Jo, and Connor, our third child, Paul, and then our youngest is Roxanne Grace.

[Lou Lepore] So you graduate Bible College, you're an associate pastor in North Carolina, and God places it on your heart to move back to Philadelphia. So tell us about that first church plant.

[Joe Delp] So we began a deputation — for those that may not know what deputation is, that is financial support raising, raising prayer support and financial support. And then October of 2018 was the launch Sunday, the grand opening of Open Door Baptist Church, and we planted that church in Northeast Philadelphia in a neighborhood called Mayfair. We were there for just about four years, and while we were there, we were renting a Chinese church building. After a year or two there, we were renting an Episcopalian church building. When our lease ended there, we transitioned into a hotel.

[Lou Lepore] What were some of the things that He was doing through the church?

[Joe Delp] We were just seeing people visiting regularly. People were getting saved. We would have our baptisms outside the church building, right along Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly. Early on, we had a gospel outreach on Halloween, on October 31st. And right on the church property, we set up several tables, and we had gospel tracts and church invites. We had a family of five approach that table, and this family showed up the next Sunday, and one by one, each of those family members got saved. And then one by one on our next baptism Sunday, each of them got baptized. It was just a beautiful thing seeing the Lord transform lives.

I remember in our home, we lived in a Philly row home. We began to have a roach problem. One of the exterminators, a lady named Maggie, we had her come out. My wife gave her a church invitation, and that following Sunday she showed up to church. That exterminator, Maggie, stands up out of her seat and walks forward, comes down to the front, and gives her life to Jesus Christ. To this day, we title that story, "Thank You, God, for the Roaches."

We would have a Thursday night outreach night, and I had a gentleman with me who had recently gotten saved, and we are a couple blocks down the road and we see this corner and there was a gang that was there. The buddy that was with me tells me who these guys are, and I pull off to the side of the road and I get out of the vehicle, walk up to them. I introduce myself, "Hey, I'm Pastor Joe. I would love for you guys to come visit our church this Sunday." And would you believe that next Sunday that entire gang showed up at Open Door that Sunday morning?

I remember later on we had a Friday night revival night. There was a visitor that night, and we were probably five minutes into the service. After the service, he put his faith in Jesus and he got saved, and he tells Pastor Curt Skelly and I his testimony, his story from that day. That morning he was sitting on the steps of the row house where he lived. He is contemplating in that moment the details of how he is preparing to take his life. And he looks to his left, and the next door row house, he sees this flame. We had gone throughout the neighborhood putting church invitations for this Friday night revival night, and in the logo of that revival night was this flame. And that flame, for some reason, it caught Biaseem's eye. He takes the card off of the door of his neighbor's house, and he looks at it, and he sees the information — Friday night revival night, Pastor Curt Skelly. He sees the address, the service time. He takes that as a sign from God. And he shows up at the church property that evening.

[Lou Lepore] Story after story you have great things happening, but Jesus does promise one thing. John 16:33, He says, "In this world, ye shall have tribulation." And so there started to be a shift take place. What happened?

[Joe Delp] Our lease ended at the Episcopal church that we were renting, and I got an email from a church not too far down the road, also in Northeast Philly. This church reached out to me and said, "Hey, we love what you guys are doing in Philly and we wanna be a part of it. We're without a pastor. You guys have a pastor. We have a building. It's all paid off. We've got a parsonage, pastor's house, for you and your family to live in. Let's pray about merging the churches." We're over three years old at this point. I remember telling our church family, "Hey, church, if this is not for the betterment of Open Door Baptist Church, if this isn't for the spiritual growth and edification and maturing of God's church here at Open Door, then you can't entice me with the nice building and the property."

And we began to pray about it for three months. I'm meeting with mentors of mine, pastors of mine. We're praying, seeking the Lord. We want the Lord's will to be done. We're looking for peace and direction, guidance from the Lord. There was three deacons in the church, and there was a pastoral committee, and so they met with me, and everything just seemed to be a green light. We moved forward, and it was exciting, and our church family was completely on board. One of the things that we had signed was in reference to our doctrinal statement, and that if the merge was gonna happen, the church that we were merging with would adopt our name, Open Door Baptist Church.

Fast-forward a couple months in — we're about two to three months into the merge. And things that we agreed on are not coming to fruition. All of a sudden I'm finding myself being controlled. It became evident early on — were they really looking for a pastor or were they just looking for someone to fill the pulpit on Sundays? One thing after another, things just began to become very disheartening, very concerning, very alarming, and things got ugly really fast.

[Lou Lepore] So here you are wanting to pastor, wanting to dwell in unity, and finding opposition to those very core things that got you into ministry. That had to be devastating.

[Joe Delp] Very devastating. Unity was something that I felt that we had from the get-go, and unity was something that we lost rapidly. One of the really challenging things that we found out a couple of months in is that the deacons that we had inherited when the merge happened — they were self-appointed deacons. They were never voted in by the church. A couple of guys just kind of stood up and appointed themselves, "Hey, we're the deacons of the church." And I had to find that out the hard way. Several people that my wife and I had led to Christ — all of a sudden we're finding out that these men are approaching them, and lies are being told, and rumors are being passed around, and slander is taking place. And it became very evident rapidly that God's presence was not there. God's blessing was not on this situation.

I wound up having to call for a meeting with deacons. I remember having a really challenging and disheartening conversation that if we were not going to go back to the things that we agreed on, to the things that we had signed, that I would need to resign. I remember getting down on the floor on my hands and knees scared, nervous, sick to my stomach, like, "God, what are you doing? Lord, we thought this was your will. Lord, we thought this was your plan." And the anxiety is overcoming me. I couldn't sleep. I'm having trouble eating. And it was a couple days later they revealed that they would not be stepping down from their positions. And so they said, "Therefore, if your decision is to resign, then you can resign this Sunday."

[Lou Lepore] You must have felt blindsided. Just a short time after everybody was high-fiving, "Let's serve Jesus together." Then this takes place. But God did provide something. Your home church reaches out again. What happened?

[Joe Delp] Once that final meeting happened and I knew that I would be resigning, my pastor from our sending church called me, said, "Hey, Joe, if it's come to the point where you know that you're gonna be resigning, if you feel it best to move out of Philly, our church family will drive up there and help you pack up and help you move back down south." We agreed to that. That following Sunday is when I stood up before the congregation and read that resignation letter, and thanked the congregation for the time and the season that they allowed me to be their pastor. And then stood off of that platform, and my wife took me by the hand and we walked out, in a fog, not knowing what the next step was.

And I remember as my pastor is driving that U-Haul and as I'm driving in the van with my wife and our children, the song that was playing was The Lord Is My Shepherd. A flood of emotions. Are we ever coming back here to Philly? The tears were flowing. My wife and I trying to be comforted by that truth from Psalm 23, The Lord Is My Shepherd.

[Lou Lepore] Pastor Joe, Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that He is God. That's easy to read, but when those fiery darts are hitting you and people are coming at you — you went on deputation, your wife sacrificed, your kids sacrificed. Three years with the church, that's 150 some sermons that you wrote, the outreaches you did. And in a month, maybe two months — it's all gone. So where were you spiritually?

[Joe Delp] Lou, I'll tell you, maybe two months while we're back down south, I remember being on fire. We're moving forward. Everything's gonna be fine. And then after a month or two months or so, I'm working for a farmer in the church, my wife's homeschooling the kids. And it got to a point where I began to close my Bible, bottling everything up in me personally. In conversations that I was needing to have with my pastor or my church family or with other pastors or mentors, I was unwilling to have those conversations. The rubber met the road, and I'm just being honest with you — my walk with God began to fail, and I wasn't spending time in the Word of God. I wasn't being the husband that I should've been. I wasn't being the dad that I should've been. I'm trying to work a lot of hours just to keep my mind and my heart and soul distracted from everything that happened, and I'm not willing to talk to people about it. And listen, that was a really dangerous thing for me to do, because then all of a sudden my feet are pointed in the wrong direction.

I wound up getting another job back at Chick-fil-A, and then I wound up getting a security job. I started growing a desire to be in law enforcement. By the way, thank God for all of our law enforcement workers and officers. But God had called me to preach, and here I am, I'm starting to get filled with bitterness, anger, hurt, resentment, and I'm questioning, "Am I really called to preach?" And I began to pursue law enforcement. My wife, she was experiencing severe depression. I was going through depression, didn't even realize it.

And shame on me for this — I can think back to years ago in ministry, someone talks to you about depression, someone talks to you about anxiety, and to be honest, years ago, my initial thoughts probably were something like, "Hey, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Get over it. Slap yourself in the face. Wake up. You're fine."

[Lou Lepore] You're being emotional.

[Joe Delp] Yeah, exactly. And then it's easy to think those kind of thoughts until real depression hits you and anxiety hits you. And I remember the night that I'm driving my wife to the ER, and we're sitting there with the doctor. The doctor runs all the different tests, and the doctor looks at my wife in the eyes and tells her, "You're having severe panic attacks." This was my Jonah season, I call it. Running from God. God had called me to preach. God had called me to Philadelphia. It's like Philadelphia was my Nineveh. I didn't wanna go back there. I was running from God. I thought I could hide from God. Stupidity.

I knew that my wife wanted to move back to Pennsylvania. Her family was in PA, my family's in PA, and I kinda had a side plan, telling my wife all the right things. "Yeah, sure, let's move back to Pennsylvania." I come across a police consortium — 19 different police departments represented. I remember sending a text to Pastor Scott Wendell. We're praying about moving back to Pennsylvania. Sure enough, I get a text message from a guy by the name of Kevin McDavid who owns two Chick-fil-A's. He reached out to me and offered me a great paying management position. And then I get a text from another deacon from Valley Forge Baptist, Jeff Buckman. He says, "Hey, Joe, I have a missions house — if you need it, it's yours." And that was the month that we were planning to move back. So literally, I take the job at Chick-fil-A — locked in before the move happens. We have housing lined up. The Lord has clearly directed on where our family is to go to church — Valley Forge Baptist. One thing after another, the Lord was answering my wife's prayers on where we would go to church, what job I would have, and where we would live.

[Lou Lepore] Yeah, you mentioned Jonah and Nineveh. I think of Peter when he denied the Lord. I denied the Lord, too. And what I found is that His grace is sufficient, and His mercies are new every morning. Proverbs 3:5-6 — "Trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not to my own understanding. In all my ways acknowledge Him, He directs my path." So He brings you back to Valley Forge Baptist. What happened next?

[Joe Delp] Lou, the day that we moved back, literally the next day was that police consortium I told you about. And I'm going back through my emails — there was a certain document they required to be notarized upon the hiring day, and I didn't have it. The next morning was a Saturday, none of the notaries nearby opened until at least 9:00 AM. The police consortium began at 8:00 AM. And here I am, Jonah, running from God, trying to hide, trying to put on my life a different calling than what God had called me to do, and God, one door after another, is slamming it shut.

And from the first Sunday that we stepped foot in at Valley Forge Baptist, it was just a flood of emotions for my wife and I. We're in that service and we're hearing the music, we're hearing the teaching and preaching of God's Word, and it was like I had opened up my heart to fully experience restoration from the Lord. Pastor and Mrs. Wendell, they opened up their home to my wife and I, had us over for dinner. And he looks at me and says, "Joe, don't get comfortable at Valley Forge. God has called you to preach. God has a plan for you. God has a ministry for you."

I go to a revival meeting to hear one of my favorite preachers, and he preached a message from the Gospels on the woman with the issue of blood. The title of Pastor Kenny's message was "What's Your Issue?" And I knew what my issue was. I knew that I had been running from God. Lord, I'm gonna go to Katie. I'm gonna bare my heart to her. I'm gonna ask her to forgive me. We're going back into ministry.

A week goes by. I'm in the gym on a Saturday night, and God allowed my back to go out in the gym. I get home. I'm laying flat on my back for about a week. Only thing I can do is read my Bible, pray, spend time with my family. I'm listening to preaching on YouTube all day. I'm able to finally get back on my feet. My wife and I, we go for a walk, and I began to bare my heart to my wife, Katie, and I began to repent. I already repented before the Lord. I asked my wife, "Hey, forgive me. I've not been the kind of husband. I haven't given you the time of day. I haven't been the kind of dad. And I've been running from God's calling on my life. God has called me to be a preacher." I remember bawling my eyes out. My wife, she's bawling her eyes out, and through tears, she forgives me. God gave me personal revival. I needed revival. God has done a great work in our family of restoration and healing, and my wife and I, we sit down with Pastor Wendell and Jodi Wendell, and hey — God is directing our family to go back to Philly to plant another church.

[Lou Lepore] When I think of Romans chapter 8 verse 1 — there's no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. And the end of Romans chapter 8 says there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. We are more than conquerors. The righteous fall seven times, but he rises again. And that's exactly what you did. So Christ Life Baptist Church is alive and well. Tell us about what's happening now.

[Joe Delp] We're just gonna do a very short six-month deputation. Began that June of 2025, and we just start traveling around to like-minded churches and sharing that burden again for Philly. We're looking for a building. I had my eyes set on this brick fellowship hall building. Only God can do this. About three weeks prior, another church had been renting there and left. And this Methodist church literally was printing a banner to put out front looking for a church or a business to rent this space so that they could basically help keep the lights on. And boom — one piece after another, the Lord is putting that puzzle piece together. I'm meeting with their board, preaching the gospel to them, basically giving my testimony. Fast-forward to Sunday, March the 15th of 2026, about two months ago. We have our grand opening, launch Sunday, Christ Life Baptist Church — 92 people in attendance. About half of that number is people from the community from Roxborough and Northwest Philly. We're seeing every Sunday now over 50 people, and the most important thing from that grand opening launch Sunday, Lou, is that there were six people who called upon the name of the Lord for salvation on the first Sunday. And one month into the church plant in April, we had our first baptism Sunday, and seven people honored the Lord in believer's baptism by immersion.

[Lou Lepore] Pastor Joe, would you share with us the church information and how people can support the ministry?

[Joe Delp] Absolutely. Name of the church — Christ Life Baptist Church, Sundays at 11:00 AM. The address is 7811 Ridge Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19128. We're in the Roxborough section of Northwest Philadelphia. Website is www.christlifephilly.org, and our socials are that as well on Instagram — Christ Life Philly — and Facebook — Christ Life Baptist Church. And the greatest thing that people can do for us is to pray for us, and to pray for a great awakening in Philadelphia. My heartbeat is to see Jesus save Philadelphia. Hey, come be a part of what God is doing. If you are not committed to a local New Testament church and you're close to Roxborough in Northwest Philly, we have several ministries that we're already beginning that you can help and serve in. This is the Lord's church, and we're so thankful for the people that God is putting together already.

[Lou Lepore] Joe, I see the transforming power of Jesus Christ in your life, in the church, all He's doing through your family. What do you say to someone listening right now who's hurt, discouraged, in that depression season, running from God, whether it be from church hurt or just living life? What's the message you wanna tell them?

[Joe Delp] I would say the first verse — Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God." And when we experience church hurt or we're going through a season of depression or trial, instead of running to our feelings or being consumed with bitterness or anger or resentment, we need to remember to be still and remember the sovereignty of God. God allows everything to happen for a reason. Remember the character of God. Find verses in scripture that speak to the character of God. He is our shepherd. Remember that our chief shepherd — we are in the palm of his hand, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. Jesus is ever faithful, ever true. Jesus never stops being faithful, never stops being true. And so I would say — don't hide your hurt. Don't hide it. Talk with people that you trust about it. Have spiritual advisors and mentors in your life. Church hurt is real, but God is still faithful even throughout the hurts that we experience. Remember Ephesians 6 — every day put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And don't be afraid to lament to the Lord, cry out to the Lord, talk to God about what's on your heart. If you are running from the Lord like Jonah, like I was running from God, He still calls people. I'm thankful that God still restores people. I'm thankful for God's mercy. His mercy is everlasting. His grace is sufficient. And I'm thankful that God still revives people. I'm thankful that I've experienced personal revival from the Lord. And if God can do that for me, God can do that for you. God can do that for anybody.

[Lou Lepore] Well, Pastor Joe, thanks for sharing your story so openly today, and we will be praying for the ministry. What an incredible testimony of surrender, suffering, healing, and now revival. To anyone listening, no matter how far you've run or how deeply you've been hurt, God is not finished writing your story. If you need to continue your story with Jesus Christ, Christ Life Baptist Church has services 11:00 AM on Sunday with Pastor Joe. We would love to see you out. I'm your host, Lou Lepore. This is the More Than Conquerors podcast, where today's test is tomorrow's testimony. God bless you.