Evangelist Charles Arlin Chapman

Charles Arlin Chapman was born on January 31, 1935, to Adair Pinkney Chapman, Sr., and Julia Elizabeth Butler Chapman in Moultrie, Georgia.

Charles was the youngest of five children and was raised in the cotton farming community of Berlin, Georgia. He graduated from Moultrie High School in 1952. His father was a farmer who preached for churches of Christ, serving on an itinerant basis. His oldest two brothers, Adair Pinkney, Jr. and Forrest, and brother-in-law, Kermit Ary, were full-time preachers. He attended college at Harding College, in Searcy, Arkansas, and Florida Christian College, in Temple Terrace, Florida, as he prepared for a lifetime of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Arlin, as he was called by Christians in his profession, preached his first sermon at age 17, and continued ministering in congregations of churches of Christ in Texas, Georgia, and throughout the southeast, but primarily in Florida for more than 60 years. He also preached in gospel meetings throughout the United States and in the Bahamas and the Caribbean Islands. In his later years, he spent most of his time working with congregations, needing an interim preacher, and he loved encouraging churches needing encouragement and vision for the future. As the love of preaching and ministry has passed through the family, the Chapman family has given over 300 years of ministering to the Lord’s church. Arlin loved God, Jesus, the Bible, and the Lord’s church. He did not view ministry, as being done mostly from an office, but in homes and serving in the community. He loved people, especially the downtrodden and lonely. He could be found striking up conversations in restaurants, ice cream shops, Wal-Mart, and just sitting in a park. He loved traveling and spending time in the Georgia mountains. He loved his family. Often, he could be found fishing, tubing on the Toccoa River at his mountain cabin, or at a fire toasting S’mores with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His gift of storytelling was well known, and enjoyed, as was his frequent slapping of his knees at the punchline of one of his jokes. He hiked most of the trails in Fannin County. As he got older, his desire to traverse the country was realized even more fully. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

He was predeceased by his parents; and brothers, Adair (Nancy) Chapman; Forrest Chapman, Loren Curtis Chapman; sister, Mildred (Kermit) Ary. He is survived by his son, Terry (Gwen) Chapman, and daughter, Darla (Ron) Horn. His adored grandchildren by his son, Terry Curtis, Jr. (Tracee), Teila
Carpenter, Traci (David) Dunn, Justin (Lisa) Clark, Jared Clark, Aubrey (Steve) Rissler; and by his daughter, Jaime (Michael) Baker, and Justin Horn. He had 22 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren; and his sister-in-law, Burma Chapman.

There will be a visitation at the Baker Funeral Home in Moultrie, Georgia, on November 13, 2023, at 10:30 a.m., with an interment service at noon on November 13, 2023, at the Sardis Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, where his parents and grandparents rest. There will also be a memorial service at the South Trail Church of Christ in Sarasota, Florida, on December 2, 2023, at 11 a.m. with a luncheon provided following the service.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to any ministry to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.