An inmate who was given a double life sentence and served three decades behind bars has been installed as a pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.
This is Truth Itself.….I’m Bob Ditmer
The move came after famed Saddleback pastor Rick Warren wrote a letter to the parole board on Danny Duchene’s behalf, helping, in part, to push along his release after he served 32 years of his sentence.
Warren worked with Duchene when he was incarcerated and helped him minister to his fellow inmates.
Duchene said his faith journey began after his arrest in the 1980s. Later, about 20 years into his sentence at California’s Sierra Prison, he discovered Warren’s book, “The Purpose-Driven Life.” And that changed everything.
Duchene recounted a difficult childhood that consisted of reportedly seeing his parents’ shocking arrest and incarceration, and of his later fall into drug addiction — a vice that took a hold of his life.
Eventually, he said that his life spun “out of control” and that he would regularly hurt others by robbing and stealing. The chaos all came to a head when he was 19 and was found guilty of crimes that landed him behind bars with two life sentences.
After his arrest in 1982, he said that he sobered up and that the true weight of his crimes was difficult to handle, saying, “I believed I was lost and going to hell, and I was truly, truly afraid.” It was later that same year that he accepted Jesus and became a Christian.