THE DUKAN CHRONICLE

The story of Duke Jeyaraj in his own words

The same day Martin Luther hammered his reformation thesis in a church in Germany, October 31, was born a little boy in Chennai, India, years later. That was me! May I share my life and times with you? It is flooded with God's grace, loaded with God's mercy, stamped with God's ruhamah (Hebrew for 'mercy'). Like Paul I say, "I am what I am by the grace of God!" Like David I say, "Who am I Lord, what is my family that you have brought me thus far?"

Stoned till he bled, talking about the Blood
My parents are missionaries. My father, Mr. A. Jeyaraj is one of the founding leaders of Blessing Youth Mission. My mother, Mrs. Vimala Jeyaraj is the granddaughter of one Mr. Vedaratnam who gave up Hinduism to embrace Jesus when British missionaries preached the Gospel in the Sivakasi area. Mr. Vedaratnam was once stoned till he bled when he preached about the Blood of Jesus in the streets. I am proud of my great grandfather. I continue my great grandfather's tradition - preaching amidst odds.

A packer paid my tuition fees
I went to the best School in Vellore Town - Ida Scudder School, thanks to my parents who put me there. Compassion International sponsored my school studies. One Australian, a Packer by profession, named Garewth Sawyer paid my tuition fees. I think of this unassuming man when I pack my magazines and CD messages after an order for the same. I am ever grateful to him.

Could not say two lines from stage
I could not even say two lines on stage during a drama in school. "Never again on stage for you, Lord - I will do anything else!" I prayed. Thank God for unanswered prayers. God filled me with the Holy Spirit who is not "Spirit of fear", and took me back to that stage. And I preached my first message from that very same wooden stage as a Grade 12 student in Ida Scudder School on August 9, 1991. One girl fainted after that message on hell. I have been preaching ever since.

Born again!
In fact, I was born again in a Blessing Youth Mission Youth retreat at a CSI church in Ranipet in the year 1986. I was 11 years old. Uncle A. Lionel was the preacher. Though I was a good boy, I realized that I was not good enough for God and gave my life to Jesus. The first obvious change was a love for the Bible. Previously, when my parents asked me to read the Bible I hated it. But now I started to fall in love with the Bible. Ever since, I continue going through the entire Bible, time and again. Every day, I try and read 6 chapters from six different sections of the Bible - the Law Books, the Old Testament History Books, the Poetic Books, the Prophetic Books, The New Testament History Books and the Epistles. A new Study Bible from a new publisher remains the best gift anyone could give me.

Cycling to villages to lead Sunday School
In the year 1988, in yet another Blessing Youth Mission camp, at Salem, I was filled with the Holy Spirit. I spoke in tongues for the first time then. Again, Uncle Lionel was the preacher. On May 14, 1988, in the same camp, I walked forward to the altar following a challenge for ministry by Uncle R. Stanley. I came back home and started a prayer cell for my colony boys at Vellore. We called ourselves "Friends for Jesus". We met for Bible Study on Fridays and went for outreach on Saturdays. I recall how I cycled to the villages near my home with Arumugham Annan to teach Sunday School. I joined Uncle Silas Mault Kumar, who then worked for CMC Vellore to preach in the hostels near Vellore. I would preach in English and uncle Silas used to translate into Tamil. He was a huge encouragement. As of now, interpreters speaking Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, Oriya, Nepali and German have interpreted my messages on various occasions standing alongside in various pulpits across India, Germany and Nepal.

Listening to Good Preaching - My Hobby!
At that stage of my life, listening and watching God's Word being preached in authority became my craze. I used to listen so often to the video messages of the American Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart that I ended up memorizing some of his John-the-Baptist-like messages. In a college festival in IIT-Kanpur I walked away with a prize in the elocution contest by reciting one of Swaggart's messages!

I attended the local AG church in Vellore pastored by Rev. S. A. Sundara Raj, a former speaker in the DMK Public Meetings. His oratory won my imagination. Pastor Noel Prabhuraj's youthy, down-to-earth messages impacted me as a school student. Those days my dad used to frequently interpret English messages of Uncle R. Stanley into Tamil. Stanley uncle's analytical approach of studying and preaching the Bible and even his whippy sermon delivery style rubbed onto me. British Bible teacher, David Pawson's brilliant Bible and Theology summary messages whetted my appetite further to swim deep into the Bible to bring out spiritual food. One unforgettable moment of my life was when I received a prize from him after winning a preaching contest in the Bible Lovers Camp 1992 at Danishpet. As a student, I traveled to Mumbai to listen to Dr. Ravi Zacharias live. All these preachers, in some way, greatly influenced me to become a preacher down the line.

First preaching assignment out of hometown
The mother of Dr. Mrs. Lilian Stanley, Hepsi Pandian invited me to preach at a fellowship in her home in the year 1992, when I was 17 years old. It was the first ever preaching invitation for which I had to travel far from my hometown Vellore.

Annan Manivannan, missionary with Blessing Youth Mission, asked me to preach at a SOZO, an one day Gospel Retreat, at Dharwad, north Karnataka, in the year 1992. It was the first youth retreat I preached in. I have been preaching in Youth Retreats ever since.

Back from Germany, with rich stories too many!
Upon reading my character-study article on Absalom, an article that appeared in the Blessing magazine, Pastor Daniel Navakumar invited me to preach to the young people of his church at Botrop, Germany in the year 1998. My messages were translated into German from stage. Usually preachers preach extensively in India before they get invited to preach abroad. In my case it was vice-versa! It was my first time to preach outside India and the first time I would preach in a youth camp as well. Ever since, I have been preaching in youth camps all across this country organised by various churches, denominations and para-church organizations.

Writing and Editing
I began editing Missionary Kids magazine for Blessing Youth Mission in the year 1993. That magazine later became Arrows. Till I left Blessing Youth Mission in July 2005, I edited it. Not only that - I wrote articles for the same. Dr. Mrs. Lilian Stanley trained me in the essentials of Christian writing. Light of Life, Aim, Faith Today, Sowing Circle are some of the magazines that carried my articles.

Publishing
I started putting for sale the xeroxed version of my articles at a church in Trivandrum in the year 2004. The response was good. I gathered them up and created a spiral bound book and put it for sale in the year 2005 when I preached in the biggest youth convention of Hyderabad called Crossfire. All the 20 copies were sold. And I have been doing that ever since. Hundreds of copies were sold. I also put up CDs that carried my messages to the youth for sale in the same convention. All of it went in no time. Hundreds of such CDs have been sold. Preaching the Bible's message in a way the Google generation goes gaga over God's Word and distributing it as widely as possible remains my passion and priority. "The music in my heart I bore/ Long after it was heard no more!" This is what we read in the poem, 'The Solitary Reaper.' In this solitary life I have, it is my dream and desire to preach Bible messages that will make young audiences go, "The message in my heart I bore/ Long after it was heard no more!"

College days
I went to Allahabad, a town 2000 kms away from my home to do my B. Tech. in Agricultural Engineering at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. I started a hostel room prayer cell in which I taught the Bible. I joined the team of Dr. Dennis Muldoon, an Australian professor in our college, in their village outreach ministry to the un-evangelized North Indian villages near my college. I also cycled along with my friends to the Kumbh Mela and gave Gospel Tracts to the teeming millions (the most densely populated area in the world during that time, according to some estimates). The sight of people disrobing and bathing in the chilling waters of the Ganga in the hope of their sins being forgiven by this muddy-water-bath was forever etched in my memory. I vowed to tell as many people as possible about the "fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins - the fountain in which sinners can plunge to loose all their guilty stains!"

My message "Beating Sexual Temptations" is a message that I have preached time and again, ever since I preached it for the first time to a group of my college mates in an open-air prayer meeting near the Chemistry Department there. The home of Dr. P. Dickson, yet another professor in our college, was always open for coffee and counsel.

Bible College days
After my Germany trip, I started my M. Div. course in Southern Asia Bible College (SABC), Bangalore (in 1998). The next three years I hungrily lapped up God's Word in a systematic form. God used all my teachers to shape my life and ministry.

Dr. David Balasingh counseled me out of a depression I was into at the start of my course. Pretty soon, I found that I had to take up leadership roles in the college. I became the Class Representative for two years before becoming the Student Body President to a body of students from 18 Indian States and Nepal in the final year. Dr. Jacob Cherian's New Testament lectures are still green in my memory. He challenged us to preach from all the 66 books of the Bible. I began a monthly Bible Study to summarize the message of one book of the Bible each month at the centrally-located home of Daniel-Magdalene in Hyderabad, years later.

When I struggled between choosing Youth Ministry and Bible College Lecturing, Sir Ivan Satyavrata's wise counsel put me on the course for youth ministry. I was only following the leading of his inspiration to me. I worked in the hard-working Sir Basant Prakash's office to earn part of the money that I would use to pay my fees before winning a full year scholarship on merit. God supplied my needs through two Indian couples who lived overseas during this phase: Dr. Manoharsingh-Prema and Dr. Subhakumar-Hepsi. I had three room-mates from three different cultures during my three SABC years: Chaitanya Gera from Andhra (it was just the beginning of our long ministry association), Dambar Thapa from Nepal and Rouko Angami from Nagaland.

Weekend ministry in Bangalore and other places
During weekends I led a Bible Study for the Boys of the Bishop Cotton Boys School at the home of Vincent sir and Sheila Acca. Enroute to their home, I used to give tracts to the hip youth who frequented the Brigade Road in Bangalore. I used to do a lot of writing using the computer at the home of Ebe Annan and his wife Dr. Grace. Ebe Annan organised little meetings for me to speak in.

Abraham Stanley and his wife Sharmila arranged Bible Studies for me to share God's Word in, during that time. I recall traveling to Dohnavur by bus from Bangalore to preach in Santhosha Vidhyalaya (SV), getting back on Monday morning to attend classes in SABC again. One of the missionary challenge messages I preached there in SV from the life of Prophet Amos was born as I prayed and studied in the woods opposite to my college. On the Graduation Day Night at SABC, March 4, 2001, I had the privilege of being the Graduation Speaker from among the students apart from winning the Academic Gold Medal and Student Life Silver Medal.

Meeting my wife for the first time
I met my wife, Evangelin who is the daughter of Mr. P. Selvam, a missionary who served in Orissa for 25 years, for the first time, as a child in one of Blessing Youth Mission's meetings. Praise God for bringing us together! We were together in an English SFJ (Student for Jesus) fellowship that met at a home in Nungambakkam, Chennai in the year 1997. It was at Chennai Central Railway station I met her for the first time after I knew I would marry her. She wore a pretty yellow chudithar then. My heart missed a beat! I married Evan, on 9 July 2001, at Gudiyattam, shortly after my Bible College graduation. We have preached in tandem in many a youth camp. Dale Nathan, our pride and joy, was born on 4 November 2003, in a hospital in Sunabeda, Orissa. My daughter, Datasha, who was supposed to be aborted according to one doctor as she was not formed properly in her mother's womb, arrived miraculously and gorgeously to capture my heart on November 12, 2007, at Rainbow Hospital, Hyderabad.

Youth Pastor!
My first fulltime ministry assignment was with the Assemblies of God in New Delhi, the year being 2001. I was called to be Youth Pastor for the church that met at Triveni Kalasangam in Cannaught Place. Swarnaraj John Thomas, who was at Delhi working for an MNC, helped me to start a youth church there. He would lead the worship and I would preach. From zero we grew to 30 people. We went to the swank Ansal Plaza for outreach. It was then that I created a Gospel tract that presented the Good News to the Google generation, titled 'Aishwariya Felt It: The Vacuum in the Heart.'

From One Church, One Organization to Many Churches, Many Organizations
I also taught in the Central Bible College of the AGs there in Delhi. After a year with them, it became clear to me that my ministry would not be just for one local church (Within months of joining this church I received invitations to preach in other large church to the youth, like the invitation from the Mark Buntain Memorial AG Church, Kolkota). So I moved out and joined Blessing Youth Mission, an inter-church organization in the year 2002. For three years, with our base in Trivandrum we criss-crossed the country preaching in youth camps and conventions of churches as diverse as New Life Fellowship, Assemblies of God, Methodists and colleges as far-out as St. Aloysius College, Jabalpur, MP, Lady Doak College, Madurai and Madras Christian College, Chennai.

In the year 2005, I realized that it was not enough that I had an inter-church ministry. I had to have an inter-organizational ministry as well, the Spirit told me. So the inevitable thing to do was to begin an independent inter-church, inter-organizational ministry to modern youth. I was praying about this for quite some time. In between, I was called up to translate the simple yet sublime Tamil messages of the Stadium-filling Evangelist Mohan C. Lazarus into English for his God TV program and preached special messages for youth through Jesus TV of Tuticorin, South India.

After a brief stint with India Missions Association, by faith, I began the Grabbing the Google (Gadget) Generation from Gehenna (Hell) Mission - a ministry that does just that. The first issue of The Days of Your Youth rolled out in March 2006. It was financed first by my salary from 24/7 - a call centre I worked for. Later God moved many Indians to support this magazine venture. Now at HSBC, where I work, we have two break time fellowships. And I continue to travel and speak using my 28-day-annual-leave wisely.

The journey of my life with Jesus has been very exciting and fulfilling. I would not chuck this for anything in this entire planet!

DUKE TOO BUSY TO WORK FOR HSBC! IN 'FULLTIME' MINISTRY NOW!

Yes, the day finally arrived. It arrived after Duke Jeyaraj and his family had lived almost three full years in Hyderabad. On November 7, 2008, the 90th birthday of Billy Graham, the great evangelist, Duke Jeyaraj, an Indian evangelist to the Google Generation gave his resignation to his manager in HSBC. The Lord definitely lead him to take this landmark step.

Working in HSBC for two years and in 24/7 Customer for one year (earlier on) really helped Duke in many ways:

One, he could meet and rub shoulders with the Google Generation, the group he was called to make relevant the Gospel and God's Word to, on a day to day basis understanding their World. The Call Centre industry has people from this generation - the modern youth. Duke's messages after he started working in the Call Centre/BPO industry became increasingly dotted with terms used in that industry and they directly addressed the problems they faced in the light of the Bible. One such message was, IF DANIEL WERE IN DELL. Another message was, IF NEHEMIAH WAS IN NIPUNA. Yet another message was, WHAT MOTIVATED A TENT-MAKER TO BECOME A SOUL-WINNER.

Two, Duke could have breaktime fellowships right in the corporate company office he worked. Duke would read a Bible verse, preach a three or four sentence message from it and lead in an intercessory prayer, all in the timespan of three minutes.This fellowship blessed many. By doing this Duke followed Paul's model of tent-making evangelism (Acts 18:1-4). Duke even had the privilege of leading one person into the sinner's prayer and a relationship with Christ right inside the processing floor of one corporate office after he logged out!

Three, Duke could support his family needs and also divert some funds for the publication of his magazine,The Days Of Your Youth, a mag that wrapped Bible Truths for Youth around contemporary events. This mag and Duke's Gospel tract, Bubbly Outside, Yet Empty Inside, were widely distributed in the two corporate offices he worked. Even people who were not from the Christian backgroud grabbed them from Duke's desk because of the interesting nature of the articles featured. Upon receiving the tract one girl remarked to Duke, "This is my story told... I am bubbly outside, yet empty inside!"

Duke used his leaves wisely to travel and preach even during his three year tenure in the corporate world. Even when Duke worked in the call centre industry, he travelled (sometimes by Air, sometimes by Train) to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkota, Kavali, Vellore, Coimbatore, Warangal, Vijayawada, Yercaud and other places to preach in meetings organised by various groups. Of course, he had to turn down many invitations because of lack of leaves and other constraints. In October 2008 alone Duke had to say no to preaching invitations to go to Vizag, Nagpur and Asansol. But now, the direction from the Lord was that he needed to fully available for travelling and preaching God's Word to the google generation all over the planet. Duke, now no longer tied to any earthly fulltime job, will also devote much time to writing now. He had one carton box full of message outlines he developed during his personal devotions - messages he preached all across India. These messages will be converted into articles from time to time.

Please pray for Duke, his wife, Evangelin and his two children. Duke is certain that the Lord would supply all his needs (personal and ministerial) according to His riches in glory even though no person or organisation has promised to underwrite these regular recurring expenses.