Thursday, October 4, 2007

GOD'S ORACLES SHARED WITH ORACLE COMPANY YOUTH!
G-4 MISSION REPORT BY Evangelin Duke

Joyce Meyer Church hears God's Word!


On June 10, 2007, Duke shared God's Word at Pearl City Church of the Joyce Meyer Ministries in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad . He encouraged the church from the Bible to pooh-pooh procrastination. Young people from Microsoft, Oracle, Google, were present that Sunday morning. Following the message people stood up to acknowledge that they were procrastinating in some areas of their life and they were repenting then and there. The atmosphere in that posh auditorium was electrifying.
Books and CDs, featuring Duke's talks and articles were sold for over Rs,1600/- following the service. Duke was particularly happy because, here was one occasion, he could preach directly to the google generation - the audience God has called Duke to make his Word relevant to. Pastor Chaitanya, my old Southern Asia Bible College batch mate and friend, invited Duke over to preach in that church.


Back to School

The Lord took Duke to the School where he first preached his first sermon as a school boy on 6thJuly,2007 I am referring to Ida Scudder School - easily the best school in Vellore where Duke was a student from fourth grade to twelfth grade. On 9th August, 1991, he preached his first ever sermon from stage in the School Assembly, as a 12th standard student. And on 6th July, 2007, almost after 16 years, Duke preached a brief message on finding purpose in Christ - a message based on Ecclesiastes chapter 2 from the Bible. Several students prayed the sinners prayer after that talk.


In CMC - thank God not as a patient!

Two days earlier the Lord took Duke to CMC Chapel where he preached in the Wednesday Fellowship on 4 July 2007 . His message was titled, "Lies The Devil Tells Us". Duke's Scudder batch mate and buddy Dr. Solomon Satish Kumar (more popularly known as Babloo) arranged that he speak in the CMC chapel. Again, several prayed Christ into their lives following that message.


Louder than the loudest sermon

Duke still goes to City Centre, the swank shopping mall in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad , to distribute "Bubbly Outside, yet Empty Inside?" - his Gospel tract for the Yahoo Youth. On one occasion, two of his colleagues at HSBC joined him. At another time, Duke met a young girl who had heard him preach in a Youth Convention just the same morning in the shopping mall while distributing tracts there. I believe what she saw Duke doing spoke louder to her than his loudest sermon on evangelism!


Trust created

On July 6, 2007, we handed to the Tamil Nadu Goverment documents that were required to register Grabbing the Gadget (Google) Generation from Gehenna Mission (G4 Mission) - the organisation we began by faith in Feb 2006 - as a Trust. Duke's father helped us in this process. Shortly later, we received the registration number for G4 Mission from the Government. This was something we have been wanting to do for quite sometime. Now it is done. Praise God! A former State Bank of India Officer and an Indian Bank Officer, two folks older to Duke and not related to us by blood, have agreed to be a part of this Trust. I thank God for them.


Outlook - Have a look!

Outlook magazine carried Duke's letter on Sunil Gavaskar's harmful influence upon Indian cricket recently. The Sunday Indian – the recently launched newsmagazine – published a letter of Duke in which he creatively compared the forced Babylonian Exile with the voluntary exile of IIT and IIM trained youth to global corporations in the US. The Light of Life magazine carried Duke's article on the New Living Translation of the Bible titled, "A Bible Version, You Will Go Bananas Over!" in their July Issue. The very same magazine, reportedly read by over 25,000 people, all over the world carried his purity challenge for youth, The Safe Sex Hoax! in their September issue. We pray that several youth will choose abstinence after having read that piece. Duke's book to be published by OM is in the second stage of editing. He solicits your prayers as he has got more work to do!


Oracles from the Lord for Oracle-employees

On August 11, Duke spoke to the believers from top corporate companies like Wipro, Oracle and Satyam at a retreat centre at Ghatkesar, near Hyderabad. Most of them were alumni from Karunya Institute of Technology. These sharp young minds lapped up the message from the book of Daniel that came to them titled, "What if, Daniel were in Dell (a corporate company)?" Following that talk, Duke brought principles from the Bible to help them choose their life partners wisely. They were all ears. Both these talks were video recorded for distribution among those who couldn't be there as these talks would be relevant to corporate youth world over. The young people in that meeting picked up Rs.1000 worth of CDs and books by Duke, following that meeting. Thank you Thambi, K. Santhosh William for inviting him over. The young people blessed us with a very handy and sleek coffee-maker.



Duke with Alumni from Karunya Institute of Technology

Sathyam shared at Sathyodhayam
On August 12, Duke did two presentations in the Person-to-Person Counseling Seminar at Sathyodhayam, Tarnaka, Hyderabad . One presentation was on the present condition of Indian youth. Duke used the word INDIAN to outline their condition. He then went on to talk about what could be done in response. Duke's second presentation threw light on what the Bible had to say about crucial youth issues - especially the sexual issues. One participant remarked that Duke was the second preacher he had heard who spoke so forthrightly and frankly on the subject. It was God who enabled and burdened him to do that. Mr. Samson Gandhi, the director and founder of the PTP counseling ministry apart from helping Duke answer tricky questions that followed his presentations, drew pencil sketches to keep hyper-active son, Dale Nathan, away from Duke, as he spoke! How kind of him and how marvelous! Mrs. Sneha Jayakumar was the one who warmly invited Duke over to speak for the first time in this PTP Counseling Seminar. The PTP Counseling ministry blessed us with an offering.



Duke's presentations in the Person-to-Person Counseling Seminar with his son Dale Nathan

An early morning email that made the day

On August 15, Duke preached three messages to youth from two denominations. One was Emmanuel House of Worship. The other was the Baptist Church . Duke used the book of Malachi to describe the marks of a man who has lost his freedom - the marks of a man who had backslidden. A powerful time of getting back to God followed. In his workshop kind of a message he preached on relating smoothly with parents, elders, friends and the opposite gender. Duke called for a commitment to the God who make even our enemies shake our hands as he brought the message to conclusion. Several youth committed their lives to the Lord and decided to repair broken relationships and break unwanted relationships. Duke got an email from one young man who worked in Dell, the following early morning, talking about how he committed his life to Jesus following the message at the Baptist Church . We were elated. Such emails prevents us from going into early retirement from youth preaching. More books and CDs were sold like hot cakes - for over Rs 1500. Brother John Wesley (from Emmanuel House of Worship) and Brother Daniel M. (from the Baptist Church - a person who also works for OM) were two people who were kind enough to invite him to speak to their church youth that long day. Both churches gave us an offering for the ministry rendered for which we are grateful.

Shankar Dada Tract

On the same day - August 15 - a group called Sakshi arranged to distribute 50,000 Gospel tracts which Duke along with others helped write, based on the Chiranjeevi-starrer Shankar Dada Zindabad. This tract wraps the Gospel around the story of a goon who embraced Gandhigiri after leaving dadagiri. Duke gave the copy of this tract to the auto-driver who drove him back home after I returned exhausted preaching three messages in the two churches on August 15. He received it gladly.

At the AG Church

On August 18, evening, when Duke was holidaying with his brother Kingsley and my sister-in-law Beryl at home, he got a call from Pastor Younus Samuel – Duke's team mate in God's big Kingdom in grabbing the google generation from Gehenna. He wanted Duke to speak at Youth Alive - a regular Saturday Youth Event at the New Life AG Church - that same evening. Earlier on 15th August, 3000 youth had walked into the New Life AG church for the first ever time to watch a gripping evangelistic drama. The 18 th August event was sort of a follow-up. Duke's talk laced with Word quotes and Westlife lyrics was well-received by the yahoo youth who gathered there - over 700 of them. Over 60 of them walked forward and asked Jesus into their lives when the altar call was given.
The following day, it was indeed a rare honor to preach to about 6000 people (combined count) who attended the 3 Sunday Morning Services of the same church - our home church in Hyderabad - the AG church. Pastor Valson introduced Duke to the crowd warmly. Duke's message on procrastination was used by God to bring a sense of urgency in the lives of the believers who had gathered. There were those who surrendered their lives to Jesus as well, for the first time. The offering given to us by the Church was very generous. We thank God for his abundant provision, even through the local church, in the execution of his mission among the google generation, through us, in a small way!

Narrow Miss!

Our three-year old son, Dale Nathan, my brother-in-Law Kingsley and his wife Beryl, were in the Lumbini Park , Hyderabad, exactly one Saturday (the 18 August) before the Shocking Saturday (25 August) blast that killed many there. Duke should have been with them too. But since Duke had to preach in the Youth Alive Service at the AG Church, He did not go. We are all alive because of God's sheer grace!

Book by Book - Long Look!

Daniel and Magdalene, blessed by the Lord with a sprawling flat in the heart of the city of Hyderabad, located near the famous Villa Marie College , were desirous of starting an Inter-denominational Bible Study for those serious about deep Scripture Study, right at their home. Duke liked the idea and promised to join them. On the 26 August, we had the first gathering that saw over 15 people attending. Duke distilled the message of the book of Hosea using the letters spelling the name of the prophet himself - HOSEA! Others too shared their devotional thoughts on this mind-boggling and heart-warming Bible book! Uncle Nallaraj Edward of IEM brought in quite a number of folks for this Bible Study. After feasting on spiritual food for over an hour and-a-half we finished off with physical food - thanks to the Daniels! We will meet there, every fourth Saturday of the month, to study a new Bible book.
And when I was away in Trichy preaching a few days later, the Daniels took good care of my seven-month pregnant wife and son by opening their homes for them to stay in.

Meeting Dad at the Airport

On 31st August night Duke left by Indigo Airlines to Chennai to preach in the FMPB Youth Camp at Trichy. As he was waiting to catch his flight, he met with his Dad, Mr. A. Jeyaraj, who was in transit on his way to the US for two months of ministry. It was short, sweet time of fellowship.

A Fantastic Camp that put fire in young hearts!

Over 300 young people attended the FMPB Camp at Trichy. For those of you who do not know, the FMPB is the largest Christian Organisation in India (with over 1700 full-timers) supported largely by Indians living in India. Duke brought three messages to the youth who gathered at Shalom Garden owned by Brother Ravindran. One on holy living and overcoming temptation. Another on Intercession. Yet another message that Duke preached was a missionary challenge from Isaiah 6. The response to each message was remarkable. Mr. John Kirubakaran, the General Secretary of FMPB challenged the young people in the Sandhya and other key sessions. His Tamil was flawless, his illustrations, contemporary and the young people who heard him were broken. Brother Augustus, another senior missionary from FMPB challenged the youth from the life of David. Duke was part of the team that answered questions that bothered the young people – especially questions on sex, love and marriage.






At the end of the camp, we must have had at least 60 young people committing their lives for fulltime ministry. Praise God! Duke had two translators into Tamil for his English talks in this camp and we thank God for them. We thank Pastor Jerry Daniel and Brother Vijayakumar who translated one talk each of Duke into Tamil. For one talk he used a new language - "Tam-lish!" The messages he preached in Trichy are already available in the VCD format. Brother Yesudian of FMPB extended a warm welcome for Duke in the camp and conducted the camp with the help of a very talented team that included a very articulate young man called M. Newbegin. Books, Message CDs worth Rs.2500 were bought by hungry-for-spiritual-food youth. The FMPB also blessed us with an offering. A very friendly chartered accountant, Mr. A. Victor Samuel, lent his car so that Duke could be dropped in the Trichy Railway Station after the camp. Giving tracts (Bubbly Outside, Yet Empty inside) to the air hostesses and to some co-passengers in the train between the Chennai-Trichy route was specially satisfying. Preaching to large crowds is no substitute for personal evangelism!



























Duke in the FMPB Camp at Trichy
Vibrant Volunteers!
Navamani Kingsley, a wizard with computers when it comes to designing, a young man who works in Delloitte is the latest in our expanding team of volunteers. He designed apt and attractive covers for Duke's message CDs. Ruby Evangel, the design maestro from Sierra Atlantic also chipped in. Florussel, Fenella and Solomon Paul help in the website uploading. Uploading is no longer a tedious job - thanks to this trio. Shruthi Joy and Steve Jothiraj edit the articles Duke writes before they go to print. Their scissor work and sculpture work is sizzling! Monica Priyanka helps in preparing PowerPoint presentations for Duke's messages. Wesley Titus manned the ministry products of our ministry at Trichy Youth Camp voluntarily. Bro. Christopher Tharalla, Bro. Chitti Babu, Bro. Emmanuel help us regularly in the posting of this magazine. Sridhar drove us to preach in various meetings in Hyderabad. God bless you, guys. Thanks to Brother Vijay Burton, a one-stop website carrying the message and ministry news of the G-4 Mission, www.TheDaysOfYourYouth.com is now set up!
On God TV, by God's Grace!
The Jesus Redeems ministries, from time to time, uses the videos in which Duke has translated into English the messages of Evangelist Mohan C. Lazarus in the God TV show on Monday nights ( 9:30 pm). The last time they did that was on the 3 rd September, 2007. It is an honor to put into English words, the clear, simple and uncompromising messages of a man, who is used by God to touch thousands and thousands. You have read the names of different church denominations and different para church organizations in above paragraphs. It remains our prayer that this small ministry functions beyond denominational and organizational walls. And boy! How the Lord is answering that prayer more than what we could ask or imagine!

Bank Account Opened....
For over one and half years after God enabled us to start Grabbing the Gadget (Google) Generation from Gehenna Mission (G4 Mission) we were receiving funds for ministry into Duke's personal bank account. Right from day one, we desired to open an account in the ministry's name. Now having registered this inter-denominational, inter-organisational ministry to modern youth, which is supported solely by Indian Christians who are interested in the seeing the google generation grabbed from Gehenna (Hell) with the Tamil Nadu Government in July 2007, we were able to open a Bank account in the name of "G4 Mission" at the Karur Vysya Bank - the oldest private sector bank in India and the nearest bank to our office-cum-residence at Hyderabad. Duke's Daddy, Mr. A. Jeyaraj, did all the ground work for this using his years of experience in handling finances of Blessing Youth Mission faithfully.
3-minute fellowship at HSBC!
The break-time fellowship Duke leads at HSBC's GSC at Road No.10 is rocking! Three-sentence messages, Three-minute intercessions - it is all happening there! Duke joined Samuel Raj, his HSBC colleague and gave tracts at the near-by hub of modern youth, City Centre. Oh that all corporate offices will have such fellowships which can also serve as witnessing hubs! Paul's preaching of the Gospel was not limited to the four walls of the Church, do you recall? He preached while inside the prison, the Bible tells us. He preached in the lecture halls of top educational institutes of his day, we discover. He preached in the open market place, we read. And we must follow suit. Duke cannot be at different places at one time, can he? The responsibility falls squarely on each one of us working in corporate to shoulder this responsibility. If not you, then who? If not now, then when? If you don't start it now, when will start it?
With that probing and penetrating question I end this seemingly endless ministry report.