Go for a coffee?

Moving the blog...

2012 is bringing some changes, and one of those is to move this blog...

http://andyfalleur.wordpress.com

soon!

andy

Joe & Margie's Wedding

If we went for coffee today, I would tell you about Joe & Margie's wedding on Saturday. 

I was privileged to officiate it for them. It was my first, full-on wedding, I just got my license a couple of months ago (thank-you Kristian!)

My favorite moment in the wedding was the time of worship. They wanted everyone to sing a couple of worship songs, Jesus Messiah, This is My Desire before we went into the vows. Everyone stood and we sang and it was nothing short of glorious. 

A couple of people told me afterwards that they wanted to keep singing. I had the same thought. It was a beautiful moment in the wedding. Joel Williams led us on his guitar. 

I had a little moment with the Lord during that worship time. I was reminded that it was only a few years ago, that this community of people didn't exist. But now, in this moment there was a group of people that were now worshipping God, so freely, so joyously, so gratefully and this community was going to continue to grow. God is at work among us, and it results in praise. 

Check out the great picture my friend Dan Woods took!

Coffee today...

Friday... last day of summer break, kids go back to school on Monday...

I visited a friend at OCDC today. It was an encouraging visit. He seems to have had a real encounter with the Lord, and is eager to grow in his relationship with Christ. I'm looking forward to seeing him more when he's released in a little over a week. 

He'll be out in time for The Man Conference. Have you seen the video? Registered on the website? I'm blown away by how many people have already registered. It's more than any year before this far in advance of the conference. If you can't make it, would you take a minute and pray for the conference, Ken Graves, us who are planning, and for all the guys that need to come. 

We had an incredible set of church meetings last weekend. I hope it continues. We have a guest this weekend, Mr. Mike McDonald of YUGO Ministries and CCBC Ensenada in Mexico. Gen is leading worship for both meetings, and we are planning to take some extra time this Saturday for communion, worship and prayer. So, we'll formally close the meeting at our regular time, but will invite people to stay and continue to worship, pray, and just minister to the Lord. It will be good. 

Oh yes, I'll be busy the next couple of Sunday nights. This weekend, I'm sharing at the Jericho Road Sunday night Bible Study. It's been a couple of years since I've done it, and I'm always blessed to spend time with those guys in the Bible. We'll be looking at the last part of John 1 and then the wedding in Cana. I can't wait to talk about Jesus turning water into wine with a bunch of guys that have struggled with addiction. 

And, Gen and I were invited to share at the Met on the 4th in their evening service. Gen will do some worship and I'll teach. I'm not sure what passage yet. I need to pray a little more about that. It's an honor to be invited, and I'm grateful to have an opportunity to serve those guys that have been such a blessing to the city of Ottawa. I've really appreciated Pastor Rick, and am grateful to have an opportunity to help out while he's recovering from cancer. 

What else? We swapped our dining room and living room. It's different. The full effect hasn't hit yet, because our table is still out on the deck under the gazebo. It's been awesome to have our meals outside most of the summer. 

And, Olivia is doing math problems constantly. If you've seen her in the last 2 weeks, you've probably been exposed to it. She's really good at math, and Gen has even got her doing some math games on the internet. She's really sharp.

That's it for today!

soon!

Coffee today...

Wanna go for a coffee?

I've tried to use this blog to be like a living missionary letter. Instead of getting one once a month, it would be a little more often than that. So, to all my friends that are out of sight, but not out of mind, here's what's happening up here:

Ryan and Rachel are heading back to Florida in a week. They will be with us for one more weekend, and then they are driving back to Florida. It's pretty bittersweet. We are grateful for their sacrifice and there service and will miss them terribly. But, we know that hanging on to someone longer than the Spirit intends will actually be bad. So, it's good. We are going to have a little farwell party for them after each church meeting next weekend.

We had a great couple of meetings this weekend. The times of worship were sweet, Randy led us, and Chelsea shared a testimony from some mission work she did down in Jackson Mississippi a few weeks ago. I'm still buzzing from the passage that Daniel A. read on Saturday night during worship. That was awesome. My heart and soul were drinking that in. The circle on Sunday morning is going well, and the acoustics in that gym when we sing are angelic.

We started James. We are all in rehab now. Rehab for sinners. James is where a lot of the material for the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous came from. I'm having a blast showing the connections. We're all in rehab! (So, shut up and listen!). That's an inside joke.

We had a girl visit on Saturday night that was looking for a gym, and ended up talking to Tyler on the street. He invited her to church and she came. She loves God, but had given up on finding a church. She was wondering if God wanted her to come to this one, because she met this random guy (Tyler) who invited her. I didn't get to talk to her after. Maybe you could pray for her? Obviously, the Spirit is working in her life.

We are in month 4 of our office renovation. We're stuck at carpet installation. Dan Woods (new adminstrator at church) thinks he's got a solution lined up. I can't wait for that to be done. It's going to be so nice in there. After that, it's finishing the bookshelves and picking up a few pieces of furniture. I'd love to see that space used this fall as a hub / clubhouse for all the CF people. 

I ran 2.75 miles barefoot with Ryan on Friday. My blisters don't hurt that bad today. If my mom reads this she won't believe I did it. Yes, it was wierd. Yes, 2 people stopped us and asked "Why?". Yes, the little pebbles hurt. But, on the upside, I stopped running over a year ago, because my IT band was causing knee problems. I haven't had those problems when I go barefoot. Crazy eh? Winter's coming though... I have to figure something out, barefoot won't work on ice...

Gen's lining up some stuff this fall. France, Ottawa, Westport, Heritage concerts... Looks like I'm going to be a single dad for the glory of Jesus some more. I don't mind. I want Jesus' name to be exalted in Francophone churches! 

What else? We had a blast in Virginia at the YDI camp there. Our friends Dave & Sandy Vollmer invited us down. We spent part of our vacation in their "upper guest cabin" which was incredible. I put some pictures at the bottom of the post. No cell service, no electricity, no indoor toilet, but it did have a gas fridge, stove, lamps, a generator, nearby outhouse, blueberry bushes and a black bear. We spent the rest of our vacation in the lodge. Our talks with Dave & Sandy were VERY encouraging, and clearly answers to some specific prayers a couple of months ago. God is faithful. 

Oh, yes. A couple things coming up that you can pray about.
Ballet Magnificat
Ottawa Move-In Connection Day
The Man Conference

soon! 

 

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Dan Woods

If we went for coffee today, I'd tell you about Dan Woods.

Many people know that Ryan and Rachel are headed back to Florida at the end of August. They have been here for a year to serve and be a blessing to the church here. It's been an incredible gift to me, to the church here and to the kingdom of Jesus. They came, raising their own support and have served and laid their lives down, learned a lot, and can't wait to go back to their friends and family and engage with the Spirit's work down there.

But, it leaves a HUGE hole here. 

There's no way to replace either one of them. It's way, way, way too many tattoos for any one person to get in a short period of time, let alone 10 miles of barefoot running! j/k! Ryan has become a central part of the office and administration of the church here, and Rachel has been instrumental in a very fruitful ladies discipleship ministry here. 

So, for a couple of months, the board of Calvary Fellowship has been praying and thinking and talking about what to do. The journey has been an adventure, but we are at the end and all have a really good sense of where the Spirit is leading. 

Starting the second week of August, Dan Woods is going to join the staff of Calvary Fellowship full time as an administrator. We've invited him on for 90 days, which is a temporary arrangement. I'm still getting to know Dan, Dan's still getting to know me, and we aren't sure that we will have enough room in the budget past 90 days to maintain someone full time. What we do know, is that there's enough for 90 days, Dan's qualified, eager, and on all sides we have a witness of the Spirit's work. What's even more clear is that we aren't willing to move forward without someone who is gifted with administration in that spot (Rom 12:6-8). I also know that the church in Acts grew when they made some administrative moves (Acts 6:1-7).

Would you take a minute and pray for all of this? Would you pray for Ryan and Rachel and their transition back to Florida? There's some needs there with culture shock, physically moving all their stuff, ongoing situation with their house, and engaging back into ministry there. Would you also pray for Dan? He'll need it! He's got a BIG job in front of him. And would you pray for me? I'm in over my head, trying to keep up with all the learning and growing, in desperate need of wisdom and grace. Merci!

Strategy Change

We had a good chat on Sunday morning during the Orleans service. It's obviously summer, folks are travelling and away, and it seems kind of silly to have our typical church setup, so next week, we are going to try something different... a semi-circle. 

Here's the deal, I don't believe in church services nearly as much as church meetings. I'll explain.

I think when the church (assembly) got together, they would talk with each other, catch up on what the Lord was doing in their families and lives, and in that, they were giving glory to God, encouraging and sharing with one another. 

We know that they sang songs of praise, songs of worship and songs of doctrine (teaching). Singing is something that believers have done and will continue to do in heaven. 

We also know that they would listen to teaching, someone would be reading and explaining from the Scriptures. They would have a time of learning. 

We also know that they would pray, individually, for each other and as a group. 

That's a meeting of the church. It's when Christians, believers in Jesus get together. I'm not sure when it became a service, and when it became a show, or experience or consumerist. We are Christians, and we grow when we are engaged in worship, study and fellowship.

So, on Sundays in Orleans, we are going to change the format of our meeting to allow for it to become more 'conference' rather than 'service'. We won't change Saturday's meeting, the group is too large to try to attempt this. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, yes, please pray for us...

Hello

Hello faithful reader...

This is your unfaithful blogger! LOL

If we went for a coffee, what would you like to talk about? 

Gen's done a great job in June, had 2 house concerts, where someone invited her and a bunch of their friends over, had some refreshments, and she sang and played. She exceeded expectations in both of those, and made a bunch of new friends. CHRI is playing her 3rd single "Clothed with Christ" and people are starting to recognize her voice and the song. In addition to all that, she's working on a possible France tour in November. 

Sunday mornings are going very well. We are about 15-20 adults. Our times of worship have been really good, I think people are blessed by the teaching, and we have been praying together. Joe and Margie have been doing Children's Ministry and making us cry tears of joy, when we hear our kids quoting Bible verses at the end of the day. 

Saturday nights are still strong. We are still meeting lots of new people each week, I'm learning that I'm really not that good at remembering people's names. There's lots of stories I could tell, but this is the internet after all.

We were at Camp IAWAH all last week for their Staff Camp. I was invited to give 2 theological talks as a part of their training, lead a prayer/worship meeting, and share a message on Friday morning in their service. Our friends the Sielers were invited to join us, Pat led worship, Janet and Gen went to the beach a lot, and our kids played on the playground, did rock climbing, sand castles, swimming, trampouline and we all went to see Canada Day Fireworks in Westport. It was a GREAT week. 

I'm working hard these days. I'm praying more right now, more frequently, than I have in a while. I'm thinking a lot these days about the future. I feel like there's some big decisions on the horizon. In the midst of all that, the kids are on summer holidays, and this week are in Vacation Bible School at Community Pentecostal along with a lot of our neighbors. I'm feeling more and more the weight of responsibility in ministering to my kids. We are in a different season for sure. 

Oh, yes, I took some time this am to meet with a handful of Ottawa pastors and watch an episode from the Elephant Room together and discuss it. That was fun. I hope they let me come back. It was good to see Jason Byers there too. 

Did you know that the 'sinners' and the tax collectors heard Jesus gladly? I'm amazed by that... I want to be more like Jesus. 

soon!

Friday

Well, if we had coffee today, here's what might come up:

I think we found a place in Orleans. It's too early to put it up on the internet, but it looks really promising. I'm excited. I love partnering with the Holy Spirit. Okay, partnering isn't quite the right word... surrendering is a better one...

Ryan and Rachel are headed to Florida today for a good, long trip. They have a bunch of stuff lined up. If you're in Florida, you should consider going to see them and encouraging them. Rachel is the guest speaker at the Calvary Chapel Palm Harbor Ladies Conference, March 4,5th. Gen's leading worship too. That's a power packed linup, makes me want to see if I can sneak in there. 

Ryan's got a bunch of speaking and sharing opportunities. March 1st, he will be at the Missions Minded meeting for CC St. Pete that night. March 2nd, he's speaking at CC Palm Harbor. March 3rd, he'll be sharing at the Palomino Life Group, and he's also sharing at the Tuesday morning Men's Breakfast when he's down there. I'm excited for him to get some opportunities to share. I'm also hoping and praying that God would move some hearts to partner with him in support. God is using this guy tremendously here in Ottawa, and we want to see that continue.

Margie and Angela are on missions trips to Europe and North Africa. Our thoughts and prayers are with those guys for safety and success in their evangelism efforts.

Do you know any French Worship Leaders? I know a church that's looking for some temporary help.

I got to meet a couple, Brad and Cassandra, who are serving with Campus for Christ, full time at Laval University in Quebec. I'm so stoked about these guys, sharing the good news of Jesus with University students in French, all day, every day, and teaching them how to do the same. If you want to change a culture, history has shown, the most effective way to do it is in university. I want to partner with these guys, I want to do an outreach with them this fall. I'm looking for people that want to give them some money every month, so that they can just focus on opening their Bibles and sharing the truth with anyone who wants to hear it in Quebec. Man, Praise the Lord for people who have given up on the North American Dream and have joined the Kingdom of God and are living to make Jesus famous!

Okay, I got a little excited there... we'll get kicked out of the coffee shop...

Wanna buy my truck? It's a 2003 Saturn Vue with a V6 and leather seats. It has a lot of miles, 160k, because I drove all over Florida in it before we moved to Ottawa. It's in great shape, we would keep it and drive it for a few more years, if we could all fit in it. Make me an offer... low-ball it! You'll be higher than the offer I got from the trade-in guy at the dealership.

There's more activity going on... but, what's the Lord doing in your life? What do you see Him doing? What is He saying to you? 

Orleans Update

If we went for a coffee today, I'd want to talk about Orleans...

Last week, I looked at 3 different community centres in the East end to see how they would or wouldn't work for a Sunday morning church service.

One of them is a no go. It's an awesome building, beautiful, bright, sunny, cheerful, great layout, lots of parking, but no room for kids ministry. Bummer.

The second one, would be perfect. And, I mean perfect. It's the South Fallingbrook Community Centre and it's attached to Maple Ridge Elementary. They have 2 rooms that are the perfect size to start, and then a gym that would be a good place to move if the crowd grew. But, they are already booked on Sunday mornings. Bummer.

The third one would be perfect if it was downtown! They have a huge room, that you can divide in half with room for 150 on each side. The acoustics are amazing, it's got a great entrance, coat area, prayer room, kitchen, and it's even wired right for a band and lighting. The downside there, is that it's in Cumberland and I think it's a bit too big to start off with. Bummer.

In case you're wondering about schools. We've been told by the school boards that they don't want to rent to churches anymore. They aren't able to cover their costs when the do. Bummer.

So, let's continue to watch and pray. 

Men's Overnight, Feb. 4,5th Recap

These overnights are awesome. 

We had about 25 guys this time around including a bunch of new guys to the fellowship. It's really a great way for us to get to know them and them to know us. I'm glad they came and participated. 

We were able to ditch the typical church service format and be a lot more interactive. I really appreciate the guys that were open and honest and fully participating. You guys are a real gift of encouragement to the rest of us. 

12 on 1 is not a fair fight. 

The food was out of sight. Ryan made pulled pork, collard greens, his own cole slaw and potato salad with sweet tea on Friday night. There was no food thrown away. Each plate I saw was wiped clean, and there was nothing left. Saturday, we had biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs. I'm pretty sure most of those guys had never had that before. There was a lot of discussion about it, but again, all wiped clean plates and nothing left over. Tube steaks with potato salad was lunch. Oh, yeah, apple pie and ice cream on Friday night too. I didn't get any of the beef jerky. 

We talked about spiritual warfare, and growing as a Christian, overcoming sin and temptation. From there we had an emphasis on sexual purity. It was a great topic and there was a lot of encouragement for everyone, even guys that are experiencing victory in that area. My friend Bruce told his story and we'll never forget it. Jon Ruby shared as well, giving us some great perspective and encouragement. Doug Sprunt added some key bits of wisdom at the right places, and Randy, helped us to lose our selves in the presence of the Lord. It was  sweet, sweet time. 

There's no way we could have done it this year without Daniel Gilman. He really did a phenomenal job setting it up, from registration to rides, to finances and prayer emails. I was really impressed by his skills and passion through the last month. That guy is going to do amazing things in life. 

Our next big Men's thing, will be September 9,10th. This year, we are planning to have Pastor Ken Graves from Calvary Chapel Bangor with us. I'm still working on the details and I'm hoping to be able to invite guys from all over for that. It will be a huge encouragement and blessing for them.