Pastor Tony Giraud – Assistant Pastor
Hi, my name is Tony Giraud. I am husband to a wonderful wife Gina, father to 3 amazing children Isaac, Ezra and Emma, and of course assistant and worship pastor of Calvary Chapel Flint. I am so blessed to be used by the Lord in His work to bless our body. If you have some time to read God’s amazing plan in a simple mans life please read below. He is worthy to be praised!!
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son….” How blessed we are to have a loving Father that desires to speak to us and reveal Himself to us. My revelation of Him came on April 23, 1996. Before that time I grew up in a Christian home and had attended church my whole life. I assumed that I was saved by the fact that I went to church my whole life and I played the church role very well…while I was at church or around church people. However, outside of church I lived an entirely separate life of self fulfillment. While off at a youth conference the Lord revealed Himself to me and so began my new life. Amazingly that night that I gave everything to the Lord (which included the search for a girlfriend) He showed me who I was going to marry. Such an amazing God that we can never out give!
I got involved at Calvary Chapel Oakland County and over the course of the next 9 years I was involved in the ushering ministry, childrens ministry sports ministry, was a deacon and also helped out in the Youth ministry for a couple of those years. The youth ministry was the first time that I was able to serve with and under my best friend (outside of my wife) Chuck Lindsey. My wife and I spent about 4 years serving with Chuck and Oralia with the youth group. While it was a blessing after the birth of my daughter it became evident that I was being stretched too think and needed to attend to my first ministry which is my family. I still remember the night we had to tell them that we could no longer serve in the ministry. While it was sad to let it go I felt as though the Lord was telling me that we would one day serve again together. In fact that night I told Chuck that we would serve alongside one another again one day. At that point in time I had no idea what the Lord had in store. I had no plans, intentions or even thoughts of ever being a pastor and at that point Chuck thought that he would be a youth pastor all his life.
Not too long after this the Lord started removing me from ministries one at a time. He had a greater work in store that He needed to prepare me for. He ended up pulling me from all ministries except from the childrens ministry and I had many days when I thought to myself, “Lord, what do you have in store for me? Why am I doing so little when before I was doing so much?” He answered that on a Sunday afternoon when Chuck told me that the Lord was leading him to start a church. Instantly the Lord confirmed in my heart why He was reducing my ministry. He was preparing me for a move that I couldn’t have predicted if my life depended on it.
In March of 2006 we started midweek services up in Flint and in August we added Sundays. I say up in Flint because at the time my family and I were still living in the metro Detroit area. Every Sunday and Thursday for over a year we would drive an hour to church knowing we were called there but waiting for the Lord to tell us it was time to move to the Flint area. In the summer of 2007 the Lord finally gave the word that He wanted us to move. Being that we were renting a house from a friend and wanting to leave on good terms our move finally took place in July of 2008. What a blessing it is to finally be here in the Flint area!!
As I mentioned above I am currently the worship pastor and that is an amazing story in itself. Growing up I was never musically inclined. I loved to sing and I had picked up a guitar once or twice but never gave it much effort as it was too hard to learn and I didn’t have a desire to learn that or any other instrument for that matter. In May of 2006 the Lord placed a desire in my heart to learn to play the guitar. At that time I had no idea why, but I couldn’t put it down. I played so much I’m pretty sure my wife wanted to shoot me. (did I mention I wasn’t very good at it?) I had no idea that He would make me a worship leader. In fact during my first year and a half of learning the guitar we had a worship leader who was very gifted. I had no plans to be the worship leader but none the less the Lord was showing me how to worship Him personally. I learned that you can’t lead others in worship if you do not have a personal life of worship. In September of 2008 our worship leader decided that it was time for him and his family to move on. So, by default (or so I thought) I started leading worship. I had filled in here and there but never full time. I was so horrible at the time that even Chuck questioned whether or not I was supposed to be leading worship. Over the course of the next year and a half the Lord did an amazing work to give me the ability to play and sing beyond what I could do on my own. I know now that what the Lord did by placing me in that position when I was not qualified for it was to show me and our church body that it is not about our ability and talents. It is not about what I can offer to the Lord. It is about His ability and about what He has done for us. He uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. I currently also write worship music on the side and hope to record some songs soon so that His people can be blessed.
He continues to surprise me daily with how great He is and how blessed I am to be His son! I am so thankful to be used by Him and look forward to what He has in store for Calvary Chapel Flint.
In His Love,
Tony Giraud
