Since the 1970s, Maxwell has led churches in Indiana, Ohio, California, and Florida. After serving as senior pastor for 14 years, he left Skyline Church in 1995. In 2004 he returned to congregational ministry at Christ Fellowship in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where he is currently a teaching pastor. On November 16, 2008, he began serving as a guest pastor at Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California. His mentor, Robert H. Schuller, had a variety of noted evangelical pastors preach at his megachurch after his son, Robert A. Schuller, resigned as senior pastor in 2008. Maxwell returned to preach at the Crystal Cathedral several times and his messages were broadcast on the "Hour of Power" television program.