Sylvain and Carmen Belval Saint-Liboire, Quebec Current ministry: The Belvals are leading a new cell-based church in the town of Saint-Liboire. The church began with just one group in 1999. By 2003, there were two groups, and in 2005, there were three. Following the cell-based church model of his home church in Granby, Sylvain leads one group himself and supervises the leaders of the other groups. In April 2007, the church started Sunday morning meetings once a month, and increased to twice a month in November 2007. This young church has organized several community projects that have been noticed in Saint-Liboire. As a result, the church was asked to be involved in creating a family policy for the town and to join a school committee. This is helping to build relationships and credibility in the community. In October 2007, the group was able to purchase its own building. Sylvain Belval says, “We feel strongly that this building will allow us to care for the people of our community even more and to lead them to Christ.” Except for the Belvals, the people meeting in the Saint-Liboire groups originally attended a sister church in Saint-Hyacinthe. Leaders from both churches support the new church plant. The Fellowship French Mission accepted Sylvain and Carmen as missionaries in April 2006. Family: Sylvain and Carmen have three sons: Jonathan, Étienne, and Frédéric. Spiritual Background: Spiritual background: Sylvain became a Christian at age 17 in 1982, the same year as his parents and his sister. In college, he was involved in an evangelical student group in Granby and eventually his whole family joined Église Baptiste Évangélique de la Haute Yamaska in Granby. As a young Christian he felt God’s calling. He participated in a number of ministries like Christian camps, summer evangelism with JBEQ and a missionary stint with Operation Mobilization. Then, Sylvain studied social work, completing a bachelor’s degree in Sherbrooke, followed by a Master’s degree at Quebec City’s Laval University. His work led him to live in a number of different places in the province. He married Carmen, also a social worker, and they had three sons. Although Sylvain attended various evangelical churches, it was not until the family moved back to the Granby region in 1996 and started attending his original home church that Sylvain experienced a spiritual awakening. His relationship with God took on a new dimension and he wanted to serve in the church. The calling of his youth was rekindled. Ministry Experience: Ministry experience: “When I’m involved in ministry, it feels right—like I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. Conversely, when I’m not doing ministry, I feel like I’m wasting my time.” This is how Sylvain Belval explained his conviction that the Lord is calling him to a full-time church-planting ministry in Saint-Liboire, Quebec. God has worked in a gradual way in Sylvain’s life, slowly guiding him toward a career change. Sylvain has been a servant-in-training with the Granby church for the past four years. He’s progressively moved from full-time to half-time in his secular work. He says, “It’s been a gradual change. Now the whole family is fully behind me in my career change to full-time church planting.”