Jean-Claude was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 13. Matilde was born in Cali, Colombia, and moved to the United States when she was 19.
In 1975, they met in New York City and were married in April, 1976. They have four children—Alexandra, Fernand, Henri-Kristoff, and Jean-Paul—and ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
When preparing to study architecture in college, Jean-Claude was told by an old man whom he sketched that he would be a preacher, but thought nothing of it.
In 1979, Jean-Claude was introduced to a pastor by his wife’s hospital roommate and after a visit from the pastor, he was saved. For two years, he took their young children to church without his wife. Finally in 1981, Matilde went to church and accepted Christ as her Savior during the invitation.
During a service in 1983, Jean-Claude surrendered to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, recalling what the old man had told him twelve years earlier.
Before answering the call to preach, Jean-Claude worked as an architect and builder,
as well as a professor at Tidewater Community College in Virgina Beach, VA. For many years, he has served as an evangelist, preaching in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. In 2003, they surrendered their lives totally to the ministry and started Reaching For Christ Ministries. In November 2013, they answered the call and accepted the mission to go as missionaries to Costa Rica under the direction of the Holy Spirit.