FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF CONVERSION (1975-2025) « A SMALL BEGINNING OF ETERNAL LIFE » Some Decadal Milestones -- First Decade (1975-1984)

 

JUBILEE YEAR

FOR "LA PINARDIÈRE"

 

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF CONVERSION (1975-2025)

« A SMALL BEGINNING OF ETERNAL LIFE »

The year 2025 is a jubilee year for me. In 1995, I completed my bachelor's degree in French, language, and linguistics at Laval University. Thirty years have passed since my graduation in June 1995.

Ten years earlier, Carole and I joined our lives before God on July 13, 1985. So this year we are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. Forty years of walking in love, where we are still learning. Thank you, Lord, for my wife and the family you have given us.

Ten years earlier, the Lord drew me to Him to pour out His grace and forgiveness on me. That was in September 1975, so fifty years ago. It is this event that I would like to recount in particular in the rest of this text and four others in this series. "Fiftieth anniversary of conversion – A small beginning of eternal life."

SOME DECADAL MILESTONES

First decade (1975-1984)

As I have already mentioned[1] elsewhere, the year 1975 marked a getting back to the roots. After searching for spiritual truth in esotericism and in reading books by Lobsang Rampa, among others, and after spending a few years in drugs and alcohol, I felt the need for a change in my life, a getting back to the roots.

I remember going to the Regent store on Notre-Dame Street East in Victoriaville. I bought a poster[2] with these words (the serenity prayer) framed in a ray of sunlight dazzling a forest:

« God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference. »

 

There was a large collection of classical records for sale in this store. I bought a LP recorded by the late lutenist Konrad Ragossnig. Although I had taken two years of classical guitar lessons, it was the first time I had felt this irresistible desire to listen to classical music, even though I usually only liked rock music.

A few weeks later, some of my friends started attending the Baptist Church and reading the Bible. Even though some of my friends teased them a little, I thought to myself, "If they're happy that way, good for them."

One Wednesday evening, while I was playing the guitar in my bedroom, I thought to myself, "If the Lord knocks on my door, maybe I shouldn't refuse." I went to a Wednesday evening prayer meeting (probably on September 10), but it was on a Friday evening, September 19, that my friend Marc showed me "the plan of salvation" and the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We went to the park not far from the corner of St-Jean-Baptiste Street and Boul. Bois-Francs Nord, and that's where I "called on the name of the Lord“ in order to be ”saved" and become a child of God (John 1:12-13). It was then that I received this assurance, both of my forgiveness and of eternal life, as promised by the apostle John in his first epistle (1 John 5:13).  

The next day (Saturday the 20th), we climbed Mont-Orford. Oh, the wonder of seeing the Creator in the beauty of creation!

Then, I joined the liturgical committee of Saint Christophe parish in Arthabaska for a few months, after talking with the leader of this group, Brother Yvan Turgeon, director of the Frères du Sacré-Coeur. He even lent me his little Jerusalem Bible for a few months. After several months of questioning, I made the decision to join the local Evangelical Baptist Church permanently.

I got baptized by immersion according to my personal faith, in July 1977, because I had reached the age of 18.

In 1978, after working for a year at Rubin Brothers and Clothiers in Victoriaville, I decided to spend a
year volunteering at my church, getting involved in evangelism, campus ministry (CEGEP), and working with the church youth group.  

During the spring of the same year, I received a copy of a brochure entitled in

French « Hyper-calvin-arminianisme » (Hyper-Calvin-Arminianism), a translation of the brochure in English “What is the difference?” written by the man who would become my professor of theology, an Ontario pastor : William Payne. I read this 30-page brochure in one sitting, and my eyes were opened to a theocentric view of salvation, rightly emphasizing the sovereignty and primacy of divine grace in the redemption of humans. This was my discovery of Calvinism and the Reformed faith.

With this fundamental discovery, I developed an insatiable appetite for Reformed theology and everything I could read on the subject, including the sermons in the Jarvis Street Baptist Church magazine and the Toronto Baptist Seminary.

This led me to enroll in 1979 at Toronto Baptist Seminary, where I obtained a B.R.E. (Bachelor of Religious Education). I spent the summer of 1979 at Camp Saugeen, associated with JSBC Church, to learn to converse in English before my first year of studies. I graduated in April 1983.

After a summer spent in evangelizing with J-BEQ (Jeunesse baptiste évangélique du Québec) in the Victoriaville, Daveluyville, and Saint-Louis-de-Blandford areas, I was hired for two years at La Bonne Semence Christian school in Victoriaville.

That's where I met Carole. We got engaged in 1984, and got married in 1985.

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[1] https://andrepinardcal.blogspot.com/2025/08/le-prince-des-tenebres-est-mort-le_12.html

[2] My recollections aren't clear. This poster may rather have been purchased in another store : Librairie Saint-Jean, Notre-Dame St. E., Victoriaville.