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| Current
ministry: |
The Lord presented a new challenge to Daniel and Chantal in 1999 when they were asked to start a new church in Joliette, northeast of Montreal. They moved to the area in July 1999 and started meetings in September of the same year. For the first year, a small group met in a detached garage on the Gagnés' property. The group grew to approximately 30 people.
Then in the spring of 2000, God miraculously opened the doors for this small congregation to buy a building on a main street. Local believers and volunteer workers from other areas completed extensive renovations to "convert" this former bar into a place of worship. The church began meeting in the new facilities in August 2000.
Under Daniel's leadership and with the help of other Fellowship churches nearby, the church conducted several outreach efforts in the area.
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| Family: |
Chantal and Daniel met in 1985 when they were both sharing their testimonies at an evangelistic crusade. They were married in 1987. They have three children: Benjamin, Lydiane and Gloria-Emmanuelle.
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| Spiritual
Background: |
Daniel grew up in a family of six children and was raised according to the traditional values of the Roman Catholic Church. As a child he remembers that one of his first desires was to serve God and to be kind to those around him. Then, as a young teenager he became preoccupied with his eternal destiny. He sought out the advice of a priest and a Franciscan monk on this matter but they both agreed that it was impossible to be sure of one's salvation. "On the other side we will be judged based on our actions." He found this lack of certainty frustrating.
Under the negative influence of some friends he plunged into a dissolute life as a teenager. He looked for the meaning of life in a number of things but did not find real satisfaction. He was unable to persuade himself that life was just biological and that the masterpiece of creation was the result of chance. At age 27, the Spirit of God intervened in his life when his recently converted sister talked to him about the gospel. After being confronted by God's Word for six months, he stopped resisting and gave his life to the Lord at an evangelistic meeting.
The changes in his life were immediate and radical. Unable to contain his joy, he began to witness to those around him the very next day. Despite his little knowledge and wisdom, he had a great burden to reach lost souls and the Lord blessed this testimony with conversions.
Chantal was raised in a religious family of five children. During her teen years though, she turned away from the church of her parents and sought love, peace and justice such as the world offered to young people in the 1970's. She lived in communes, became a vegetarian and experimented with many things. Through the testimony of two friends, she turned to Christ in 1981. She became an ardent follower of Jesus Christ and often told others of her transformed life.
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| Ministry
Experience: |
Gradually, the desire to serve the Lord came into Daniel's heart. He decided to go back to college and God gave him a burden to evangelize his fellow students. For two years he lived by faith and worked as an evangelist on campus.
The church in Longueuil recognized his call to ministry and he served there as a servant-in-training for over five years. Then God led him to minister in Saint-Félicien, Mont Saint-Hilaire and Saint-Jérôme. Daniel also served as a church-planter at Saint-Bruno for nine years.
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