MEET PASTOR RANDALL
My name is Alexa Young
Randall was born and raised in Clearwater, FL and has a heart for Tampa and the Bay Area. Before being called to Urban Chapel Randall served as an assistant pastor at Living Faith Bible Fellowship in Tampa for 13 years. He is grateful to have the opportunity to serve as the pastor of Urban Chapel and is passionate about preaching and teaching the gospel and seeing God’s people flourish as they experience spiritual transformation.
Randall and his wife Michelle have been married since 1998 and have two adult children. In addition to his family and the church, Randall also has a love for music and sports. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and earned his MA in biblical studies from RTS Orlando.
In 1992, while enrolled at Lee University in Tennessee, Joel and Kristi Vicente discerned a divine call to establish a church in a geographically and socially challenging district of Tampa, Florida. Subsequently, in 1993, they relocated to Tampa to pursue this mission.Following a period of prayerful discernment and strategic planning, the Vicentes, in collaboration with the Benitez and Roche families, commenced preparatory meetings in Ybor City on February 9, 1997. This assembly, designated “Open Arms Church,” formally initiated its ministry on February 8, 1998, with the participation of students from the University of South Florida.​
On January 7, 2007, the congregation transitioned to a newly acquired property situated on 18th Avenue. In 2023, the church commemorated its 25th anniversary of service in Ybor City and underwent a formal renaming to “Urban Chapel.”​In
June 2024, Urban Chapel welcomed Randall Harris as its new Lead Pastor, marking the commencement of a new phase in the church’s ongoing ministry.