By Kelly Murphy-Redd
Tragic circumstances caused Calvary Chapel Fort Walton Beach to close when the pastor left, the congregation dwindled, Anchor Church was formed, and then it seemed Covid would be its final demise. There were only 30 adults left from over 1000. It was impossible to keep going.
Calvary Chapel will relaunch in December 2023. The new pastor, Andy Falleur, knows he’s been led by the Spirit to help re-establish this Bible-based, relationship driven, prayer-filled, and worship-filled community of disciples of Jesus.
Andy and his French Canadian wife left St. Petersburg, Florida in 2004 to live in Ottawa, Canada. They planned to spend the rest of their lives there. Then Covid hit and everything changed. Vaccine passports were implemented. You were automatically ostracized if you didn’t get the vaccine. They were ostracized by family members.
There were no weddings, no concerts, no sports, no hospital visits, or prison visits. Church services were severely restricted. Vaccine passports requirements were starting to affect churches. Pastors were going to jail. A digital ID requirement was beginning and travel was about to be prohibited without the vaccine passport.
The line to get out of Canada was miles long. Heartbroken, Andy and his wife left Canada with their four children and came back to Florida. The border didn’t open again until May of 2023! The family went through counseling after their ordeal.
Andy asked God what was next. While attending a pastor’s conference with his family, he asked attendees if they knew of any churches looking for a pastor. Standing in line to pick up his children during the conference, Andy met Neil Spencer, lead pastor of Coastline Calvary Chapel in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Neil told Andy about Calvary Chapel Fort Walton Beach and suggested Andy talk to his father John Spencer, founding pastor of Coastline.
Andy came to visit. The first Sunday one person told him they woke up that morning and heard the Lord say “Anchor.” They Googled it and showed up to church. Andy visited two more times. On another visit, two ladies from Destin came to check it out. They sat in the front row. They told Andy they had been praying for a church like this for years. Another gentleman who had been a part of a Calvary Chapel before, told Andy he had been praying for 10 years that a Calvary Chapel would come to Fort Walton. Every week since, there have been Holy Spirit-led stories.
Calvary Chapel is non-denominational. They aren’t against denominations but the only requirement for membership at Calvary is that you come.
Calvary recognizes our society has been destroyed by media and technology. Families are broken. The culture is polarized and fragmented. We don’t know our neighbor, but we “know” someone from another country on Facebook.
Of course Calvary Chapel uses technology, but recognizes the incalculable value of actual relationships both one on one and gathering in a group setting.
Andy quotes the following:
“If you want to be where Jesus is, you go to the point of human need. You will find Him there.”
Calvary Chapel has provided a food pantry for 20 years. They serve 300 people a month; mostly the working poor. Andy says the pantry will definitely keep going. A partner organization in Milton ships food to the pantry once a month. They plan to stockpile in case of emergency.
The mission is to relaunch Calvary Chapel Fort Walton Beach as an assembly complete with worship, fellowship, training, and prayer. To facilitate being an example of the light of Christ, to create a community of fellowship, and to mentor disciples of the Lord, Andy has created a Sunday morning service with a liturgy, worship singing, sharing (family time), Bible study, and praying together in groups of two or three.
Other plans include a daily Bible reading plan (initially through the New Testament) for the whole church at a chapter a day supported by daily text message groups, a social media program of commentary, and the Sunday morning Bible study.
A weekly prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m. open to the community, to serve as an engine for spiritual activities, will begin in 2024.
Basic discipleship groups (Navigators 2:7 series) for men and women are already meeting.
A School of Ministry style training program on Wednesday nights concurrent with basic discipleship groups (prerequisite) will begin on or before January 17th, 2024.
The vision of Calvary Chapel Fort Walton Beach is to be an assembly of believers in Jesus Christ who are a local, fruitful expression of the body of Christ. This assembly of believers love God and love each other by “building each other up in love.” They strive to be more like Christ through a healthy, abiding connection with Christ with a reputation for being full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, awaiting Jesus’s imminent return.
Calvary Chapel Fort Walton Beach is in Uptown Station in the former “Anchor Church.“ It is located through the ”Backstage Pass” between Clemenza’s and Rakish Fellow at 99 Eglin Parkway, Suite 2B, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548. Visit calvarychapelfwb.org
The first public service is December 3, 2023.
