About
Dan Arsenault
Dan was born in Boston, Massachusetts on Thanksgiving day in 1950. At the age of five, his French Canadian father died and Dan and his Mother moved to Atlanta, Ga., where he grew up, graduating as valedictorian from Berkmar High School in 1968. His undergraduate degree from Oglethorpe University is in history and political science. Dan had dropped out of church as a teen and became an atheist. But while pursuing his masters degree in philosophy at Vanderbilt University, Dan began researching and reading the Bible, and Dan became a believer on September 5, 1972.
He entered the ministry in January, 1974, as a missionary to Atlanta, sent by the Forrest Hills Baptist Church. He served as a teacher and coach in their Christian School, and as Youth Pastor from 1976-1980. The Youth Group grew from 100 to 1000 in that time, but Dan’s desire to pastor led him to the First Baptist Church of Lowell, Indiana in the summer of 1981, and then to Cottondale Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1989.
A growing sense of calling regarding the unchurched led Dan to resign from the pastorate in 2002 to launch Dan Arsenault Ministries, Int’l , a ministry of apologetics built around a television program, Church for Skeptics. Dan went back to seminary and earned a Master’s Degree in Apologetics from Birmingham Theological Seminary. The program has aired since January of 2003, and has given Dan the opportunity to teach around the world, including the United Nations in Vienna, the Institute for Science in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the “Harvard” of Canada, McGill University. The programs are seen globally through YouTube and locally on WVUA, which can be seen by 3.5 million people throughout the southeast.
Through Global Fellowship Ministries, Dan has defended the claims of Christ in Germany, Austria, Spain, Norway, Italy, Romania, Cyprus, Chile, and Canada. Dan also has a passion for preparing high school students to have confidence in their faith in the face of the many attacks on the validity of Christianity from secular education and the media. He has taught many seminars in universities and churches in the U.S. and around the world.
Favorite ministry moment—”When in Romania a few years ago, I preached in a town called Vaslui, near the Russian border, in the old communist meeting hall. Unknown to me, the local customs official was invited and attended the meeting. I spoke on the most hated person in Israel, Zacchaeus, the customs agent for the Romans. That night, the local customs agent came to Christ.”
Dan and Jamie have five grown children and twelve grandchildren, and live in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.