Run with God

Andrew Allard, 1 Year Later

A year ago I blogged the story of Andrew Allard. Andrew, in short, was a young teen who was on fire for God who passed away suddenly about a year ago. Check out the revisits here and here.

Suffering is inevitable.
Stupid Garden of Eden.
But I am still amazed at how people can find God in the midst of the pain.

Kevin Twombly is the Generations Pastor at Grace Capital Church, Andrew's church in New Hampshire. In honor of Andrew, Kevin asked Andrew's Mom and Sister to guest blog. Great posts, sharing insight into how a family copes with loss, finding God even when God doesn't make sense. Check the quote from Andrew's sister, Abbie.

When Andrew passed away, I could have easily blamed God, hated God, or even turn my back on God altogether. Too many questions existed without a trace of answers that could be found by human insight alone. I searched for answers in places beyond myself and my own thoughts, and could not find any there as well. And yes, that was a fancy way of saying I could not find the answers in even God, the only place I knew to look. Yet in the midst of all the confusion and lonesomeness, God wrapped his arms around me and gave me a peace, a tranquility, that was unlike anything I had ever felt before. My heart was not overwhelmed with the sorrow this world expected me to feel. At times I felt guilty because I was not as broken as the people around me that were affected by the loss as well. Instead of pointing the finger at God and blaming him for taking Andrew away from me, I chose to ’sing hallelujah’ and ‘see the good in broken things’; and to my surprise, there were more good things than I expected.

God, thank you for the continued lessons to be learned from Andrew's life. May his life continue to impact people for Your kingdom.

NOTW impacting Haiti?

John R Evans is a youth evangelist based out of the Orlando area, and has been a friend and supporter of C28 since we started in Florida. Love the guy. Love his heart. Love the ministry!

He shot me an email yesterday ...

i've got a great testimony to share...last summer i spoke at a camp in florida. one of the campers from that week took a few notw stickers with her for whatever purpose the Lord might have. three weeks ago i spoke at a disciple now in georgia and that same camper was there. she had just gotten back from a week of mission work in haiti. while in haiti a 12 year old boy saw the notw sticker she had posted on her notebook. he asked what it meant which sparked a conversation and a few minutes later he gave his life to Christ!!!

Andrew Allard, second revisit

I got an e-mail earlier this week from Kevin, Generations Pastor at Grace Capital Church in New Hampshire. Grace Capital is Andrew Allard's home church in New Hampshire. Kevin sent me an e-mail, updating me on the progression of Andrew's story. (If you're new to RUNwithGOD, read about Andrew here and then here).

Since Andrew's passing we have seen 17 of his friends accept the Lord into their lives and have become regulars at Impact - our student ministry. We have prayed that the ripple effect of Andrew's life would continue on for years to come. I was recently up at Soulfest - a Christian Music Festival in Gilford, NH - and Andrew was again mentioned by one of the speakers onstage. He challenged all in attendance to live out their faith with the love that Andrew had for all people. Many people responded right then and there to "get off their evangelistic butts" and reach their friends for Christ.

Andrew had a contagious faith that is still evident 5 months after his passing.

We all can use an evangelical butt-kicking now and again. Thanks, Andrew, living for the Lord so strongly that the echoes of your life are still reaching the lost.

C28: A Good Day

I mixed up my schedule this week, and went up to C28 on Monday (instead of my usual Thursday). The reason behind it was my manager Ryan had a meeting scheduled with a local Christian School, Summit Christian in West Palm Beach, and since I love "talking" Ryan wanted to know if I wanted to tag along.

Sure.

On the way up to WPB I called Ryan:

me: hey, don't let me forget to talk to you about [something] when I get up there..
ryan: okay, hey by the way, somebondy accepted Christ in our store this morning.
me: okay, I gotta go. Talk to you lat.... what!?! what did you say?
...

I shared my enthusiasm, but wanted to talk face to face to get more info. While still driving up to WPB, my iPhone gets an e-mail (from Ryan) where he let some of the corporate guys know what happened (and cc:ed me on the e-mail). So, I'm flying up the turnpike swerving through traffic reading an e-mail about a life changed through the unconventional ministry of C28. And of course I start getting emotional, in my truck, trying to read an e-mail while flying up the Florida Turnpike to go to go to a meeting.

That is what I call a Good Day @ C28. Lord willing, many more to come.

God, help us to put our faith in You. Help us to let go of our expectations... our goals, instead focusing on Your desires... Your will. Guide us to places where only You can take us. Thank you for what you've brought us from, and we look forward to what you have for us very soon.

Andrew Allard, Revisited

God moved in an amazing way over the past couple weeks through this blog. I wanted to share with you, my readers, how. Honestly I still don't have the complete story straight yet, but there is one thing I know: Andrew Allard, age 13, has had the pleasure of seeing our God face to face...

You may recall I blogged on Andrew several weeks ago. He was the kid who loved the C28 store, told his friends about the store, and then died shortly thereafter. His story moved me - how he caught the evangelical vision of C28 and shared it with others. I was moved to tears hearing about how the store, and moreover Andrew's passion for evangelism, allowed us to minister to minister to his friends shortly after his death.

I was moved, so I blogged it.

Since posting the story, RUNwithGOD.com has seen almost a 500% increase in traffic. (I may be a good blogger, but I'm not that good). How are people coming in? They're googling "Andrew Allard" and reading a story about a kid whose passion was and is for God. We're talking, literally, hundreds of people every day since the story posted.

It became more than just a story, I wanted to find out more. I've exchanged e-mails with friends, his youth minister, family members and even his mother. They are all dealing with a very morbid situation of losing a loved one at such a young age, but in the midst of the sadness they all shared stories of Andrew's zeal for the Lord. Andrew's mom said it the best. Hopefully many "will be coming to the Lord through this impact our Andrew is STILL making in his God's Kindgom."

May that be said of us on our death... that weeks after our death our passion for God is so strong that it radiates from the grave. His mom and others came back into the store this past week, allowing us to minister to the family and pray for strength so they can endure the road ahead.

Andrew and a couple of his buddies formed a Rock Band. Believe it or not, I've enjoyed it in my iPod as of late. Check out the link here and listen to the song "Thank You God" which was written by Andrew.

God I don't understand why you took this little one into the Kingdom when he had so much potential here. Help us to trust Your timing, Your character, Your will.

Eternal Impact: Andrew Allard

Wanted to share with you a C28 story. I just got this e-mail and I wanted to share it with you.

Below is an e-mail from Emily Day, my Assistant Manager at C28 in West Palm Beach... rather than butcher her story, I'm just going to let her tell it.

this morning i recieved a phone call from a woman who was with her family and on her way to our store from Coconut Creek (about 45 min. away) and needed directions. The instant the Sortino family walked into the store 3 members of the family burst into tears. The story goes that last weekend a young man named Andrew Allard (age 13) came into our store and our staff showed him several shirts and told him about our ministry and how 3 people have accepted Christ in the store. Andrew was instantly in love with the store and wanted to have all of our shirts to use them to witness. Andrew had gone home and shared with two of his friends Josh and Priscilla Sortino about c28, how it was his favorite store, and that he wanted to bring them into the store "next" weekend. He was very excited about the evangelistic potential of the clothing, so that they can be used to reach the lost. On Tuesday Andrew woke up with an ear ache; he slipped into a coma later and passed away by week's end. The Sortino family purchased several shirts including the ones they remembered him telling them about specifically. As the family was in here the Lord blessed us and allowed us ample time to spend uninterupted ministering to the family. Please pray for the Allard and Sortino families. C28 has touched their lives, today is a ministry day and God is working here. Praise Him!

We will continue to pray for Andrew's family and friends, hoping that Andrew's life and testimony will continue to change lives while he worships our God face to face.

God, allow us to impact other lives like we did Andrew's, and like Andrew did to others! Thank you for getting us to this point, and we look forward to what you have for us soon.

CF Homestead Preview

Okay we had our preview service at the Homestead Campus today. The Rev/Dr Eric Geiger already posted his blog on it. (Not to lay on the guilt, but while he was posting that blog, the Media Team was still working unloading all the gear into storage. Okay, laying a little guilt...)

All I gotta say is, WOW! Months of preperation, praying, planning, praying, talking, praying... and I'm happy to say that we nailed it! If you've read my blog in the past you know I was, at best, apprehensive. And with all these other distractions going on lately, it truly is a God thing that the pieces came together.

The screens didn't come in.
We were using a temporary stage.
Computers crashed right before the service.
We didn't have time to wire the mic compressors.
We've never used the in-ear systems before.
There was no sound check for Rick.
We were typing songs in the middle of a time of prayer.
The sermon notes were loaded in the middle of a song.

Logistically, everything didn't come together until one hour before the service.
Yet, it did come together.

There's a lot to fix, but we nailed it.

Okay, time for a story... Today was a rehearsal, which means everyone invited/attending was an active member of Christ Fellowship. There was only one person there at the service today that was not a member. She was one of the cleaning ladies at the school we are setting up services. I spoke with her at length this morning, well, as best I could. She understood english, but couldn't speak it very well. She indicated that she was looking forward to attending our services today. Long story short (too late) she accepted Christ today. Kinda crazy that the one person that wasn't supposed to be there, got saved.

I wasn't even planning on doing the spanish translator packs this week, since it's "rehearsal" there was no need to set it up. Amazing how God schedules divine appointments... May God use us to imapct the community and change lives. As always, we're looking forward to being a part of His plan.

We got the real thing starting next week! Come on by. 11:30 service. Check out CFHomestead.org for more info.

God Is...

I'm shocked. I'm overwhelmed. I'm in awe. I'm honored. I'm at the verge of tears. I need you to share this with me.

First off, I can only reiterate how great it is that God has blessed the ministry of C28 by allowing us to bring three teenagers to Christ over the weekend. The great thing, however, is that God also gave us a peek behind the curtain, giving us a taste of what's to come.

Aurelio Baretto is the founder and CEO of C28 and NOTW, and one of the most down to earth, Godly men I know. He has an incredible testimony, and I encourage you all to download the audio file here to listen, order the CD online here, or come into C28 and we'll give you one for free! Aurelio was in town this weekend; among other things he was invited to speak at South Palms Community Church in West Palm. This post, however, isn't about Aurelio, it's about God. Knowing Aurelio, he wouldn't have had it any other way.

God gave us a taste of the ministry he will have at C28 in Florida. This weekend as a direct result of C28's ministry (in store and @ South Palm), 92 people came to the Lord. I know. I thought it was a typo too. 92. 100-8= 92. NINETY TWO. Praise God. Almost 100 people are part of the Kingdom.

I say all that to say this: thanks be to God for allowing us to be part of His plan. The work. The stress. The frustration. It's all prelude to the main show. Thank you, God, for letting me serve in Your name.

1 more for the Kingdom

Less than 24 hours after the first, C28 West Palm had their second salvation in the store. I'll let Kyle tell his story:

I was showing her the "Why?" shirt and she kept asking me questions. After finishing sharing the gospel, she asked if she could accept Christ. I led her in prayer, and she said she felt "an enormous weight lifted". She then told me about how her mother kicked her out of her house and that she wanted God's help.

Within a 24 hour period, C28 had the pleasure of welcoming 3 people into the kingdom, and I know of several other "serious" conversations that we will continue to pray for. So, in addition to Matthew and Jose, please pray for Samantha and the new life that she is about to begin. We are at the beginning of some mighty things for the kingdom. I'm just glad to be a part!

2 for the Kingdom

C28 West Palm Beach had their first salvation experience today. It was a sight to see. Sarah, one of my employees up here, was largely responsible for the event and I'm going to let her share it in her words.

I showed them the "not ten suggestions" shirt and showed that the ten commandments are inside the shirt. I then asked them "what are the ten commandments?" After naming the 6th and the 7th i askeed them "how many beers can they name???" They named about 20 brands. Then Robert and I went through the ten commandments. Each one they broke. We then told them, pretend your in a court room. You ar charged with murder, stealing, and lieing. The judge gives u the the life sentence or a million dollar bail. Now this man comes in and pys for all of it. Thats what jesus does. We then asked them if thats something they want. They looked at each other and Roberty told them that "he's not going to be there when ur infront of God." so is this what u want. a personal relationship with christ? and we led them into the lords prayer. IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

~Ur sis in christ, Sarah

How great is it that two people are in the kingdom today because of a store in a mall! Pray for Mathew and Jose that God would guide them into a church and strengthen their walk.

The ironic thing is just last night we did evangelical training at C28, and the techniques learned last night were used by Sarah today. Pray for us that the passion for evangelism would catch on like wildfire, and that we would see Kingdom Impact in West Palm Beach.