Tributes to Late Evg. Sunny T. Daniel, Odisha, India
Odisha:
A TRIBUTE TO EVG. SUNNY T DANIEL
Evg. Ajay Kumar Chhatria, Titlagarh, Odisha
“LORD BURN ME FROM BOTH ENDS”
God’s servant, missionary David Bernard prayed the above prayer. If a candle burns from one end it remains for longer time and gives dim light. If it burns from both ends it is finished sooner but gives BRIGHTER LIGHT. It was true of dearly beloved Sunny T. Daniel who lived a short span of 60 years as a burning and shining light for the Lord Jesus Christ. He along with his wife sister Rachel (Kunjunjumma) and 3 daughters lived in Odisha for more than 3 decades being fully committed to the cause of Christ and His glorious gospel. Through their selfless and restless efforts several souls from Odisha and particularly from Koraput district have come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Lord to bring an end to his earthly ministry on 16 April 2014.
A MISSIONARY
It was in the year 1982 Sunny wrote in a letter to me saying “God has called me and has clearly directed to go to Orissa (present Odisha). Therefore I am coming.” We were told later that the Lord called him in a Y.M.E.F camp in Konni where Bro. E.J. Paily and Bro. Daniel Williams spoke about the open field of Orissa and need of committed men and women to go there and preach the gospel. Accordingly he came alone and surveyed entire Odisha. We were staying in a very small rented house and there was no spare bed and he slept on the floor. There were 4 Assembly centers at Bhubaneswar, Talcher, Bargarh and Titlagarh. He visited all those places and was led by the Lord to come to Titlagarh with family and begin the Lord’s work.
By early August 1982, they arrived in Titilagarh with their 8 months old baby Nissi. We had the privilege of receiving them but the accommodation was too small. There was a common toilet outside the house. They had to manage in a room of 7’x10′ for few weeks. During their stay with us, there was torrential rain and flooding in Orissa and there was no electricity .It was very hot and humid added with mosquitoes at nights. There was no fan in the room. Then they moved to a rented tiled hut in the same locality. Sunny bought a bi-cycle and learnt here to join me in visiting the villages. They both started learning Odiya Alphabets. Once we had to walk about 12 K.M due to lack of any conveyance and when we reached Titlagarh, his feet were swollen as he was wearing heavy foreign boots. We laboured together, crossing rivers and hills, jungle and fields reaching to villages with the gospel message. Once after preaching in a village at night it rained and we had no place to go and somebody gave us two pulpas to sleep outside on the muddy field. Sunny slept on that muddy field snoring. I was thanking the Lord beside him for such a dedicated servant of God. He never complained at difficult situations because he had strong determination to please the One who called him. During early 1983, Y.M.E.F (N.D) came to Orissa for second time, both of us participated in the campaign time to time by turn. There was a small Assembly meeting in our house in the same room in which Sunny and kunjunjamma stayed with their little baby
After 10 months of stay in Titlagarh, Sunny and family were clearly guided by the Lord to move to Jeypore town in Koraput district. Bro. M.S. Thomas and my self had earlier visited this town and had made few contacts. Soon an Assembly Testimony started in the rented house of Sunny and Kunjunjamma. In the year 1983, ORISSA SHORT TERM BIBLE SCHOOL was held in that house for 3 months to train youths in God’s word. Many of the students from that BIBLE SCHOOL are leading evangelists like Bro. Panchanan Paul, Late Bro. Pramod Paul, Bro. Solomon Pradhan, Bro. Anusarana Pani and Bro. P. Bhaskar Rao, etc. I have visited with Sunny the surrounding towns like Koraput, Similiguda, Sonabeda, Baipariguda, Lamptaput, etc. We have walked from morning till evening to reach villages on the hill tops. A cycle team was formed comprising M/s Anusarana Pani, Joseph Masih Das, K.M. Paul, P.T. Chacko, Thomas Kurian (Raju at Peroorkada Assembly, TVM). The rented house of Sunny and Kunjunjamma became a missionary centre remaining open day and night for God’s people reaching out to different parts of Koraput district and beyond. Sunny was involved in Y.M.E.F. Orissa through which believers and evangelists used to gather at particular places for learning God’s word and also to go out for preaching the gospel.
A VISIONARY
Sunny never went to any Bible college to study but he himself was more than a Bible college. He knew his Bible. He was not an orator but delivered messages of thought provoking lessons from God’s word. He discipled many to continue the gospel work in future. He had a clear vision of what God was going to do in Odisha through those local brethren whom he trained according to Matt. 28:20. One of them is Bro. Susant Dukhi who along with his family has been faithfully shouldering the responsibilities delegated by Sunny and family. There are more than a dozen of other brethren in the district of Koraput, some full time and some along with their secular jobs carry on the Lord’s work started by Sunny. Bro. Sunny’s parents, father in-law and other relatives and several servants of God from Kerala and abroad have come to Odisha in connection with the gospel work.
As a burning light and shining witness, Sunny poured out his life as a sweet Savour offering unto the Lord. God in His goodness has rewarded Sunny with precious souls. “. . . for He (God) is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). May the Lord grant comfort to his wife sister Kunjunjamma and daughters Nissi, Ancy and Mercy; Father Bro. T.M. Daniel and father-in-law Bro. P.J. Abraham; brothers Roy and Raju and their wives; sister Lali Susan and her husband Mr. Varghese and many other relatives. Assemblies in Odisha too pass through the experience of heavy loss and look to the Lord to send forth His choice of men. “. . . Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2).
A TRIBUTE
BY BRO. SUNNY T. PHILIP, PATHANAMTHITTA
Evg. Sunny T. Daniel came to know the Lord at an early age. At the age of 18, while serving the Lord with Operation Mobilization, he could realize the meaning of True Discipleship and surrendered his life in the hands of God Almighty. Ever since, the burden for the evangelization of the North Indian villages started ruling over his mind. When he shared this with his beloved wife after marriage, he could realize that, Rachel (Kunjunjamma) also carried the same burden since her days as a student in Sodari Bhavan, Kollam.
During YMEF Camp in Konni, Bro. K. Daniel Williams and Bro. E.J. Paily made a presentation on Orissa and Bro. Sunny prayerfully dedicated himself to go and labour in that part of our country. As he was working in the Middle East during that time, they decided to postpone their plan for two years. However, God’s plan were different. Due to Iran-Iraq war, they had to return back to Kerala and spent an year with their home Assembly in Pathanamthitta.
It was in August 1982, Bro. Sunny with Sister Rachel and their eldest daughter Nissy started their journey to Orissa. They stayed with Bro. Ajay Kumar Chatriya in Titlagarh for an year and then prayerfully decided to move to Jeypore, a township in Koraput District. With in a short time an Assembly Testimony was started and soon the ministry started growing in the southern districts.
Bro. Sunny was diagnosed with cancer for the first time in 1989 and fought a brave fight and was completely cured after the treatment which continued for more than a year. They continued to serve the Lord with more commitment and vigour. Several assembly testimonies were established in the rural pockets of the tribal district of Odisha.
He was again diagnosed with malignancy in July 2013 and since was under treatment in C.M.C. Vellore. Our beloved brother passed into the presence of his Lord and Saviour at around 11.10 a.m. on 15th April 2014. Bro. Sunny and Sister Rachel are blessed with three daughters and a grand daughter.
We who knew him, really appreciated a man of integrity, reliability and conviction.
The Psalmist said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps 30:5), the morning is not far away. Until then, please remember his loved ones in prayer.
SUNNY BHAI OF ORIYA BRETHREN – A DRINK OFFERING FOR ODISHA
A Tribute By Rajan Thomas, Bahrain
Apostle Paul summarized his ministry life as “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering . . .” (2 Timothy 4:6), the portrait is also more or less same as far as Bro. Sunny T. Daniel is concerned.
Well brought up in a family of spiritual legacy, Bro. Sunny has been involved in evangelism and other ministries right from his student days. During early 70s when he was a graduate student in Trivandrum, and daily immediately after classes he set out for tract distribution and preaching in the streets, amidst his college mates’ mocking and bullying. His devoted life that he spent with OM team during summer vacations had been of inspiring stories to me personally who joined OM later on for a short period. Those days I only heard of him but did not see each other.
Second half of 1982, the year Bro. Sunny determined to separate himself full time for the Lord’s ministry. During the rainy July in Mumbai, Bro. Sunny returned to Mumbai from Muscat just for a break to change his job. We were staying together in Bethel for few days, and used to go out during those wet evenings for tract distribution and also for snacks together, which was a real time of fellowship. After processing all documents to go back to Muscat to take up his job as the Finance Manager of a reputed establishment, he returned to Kerala to visit his family members. Subsequently, I heard that he sacrificed his lucrative position in Muscat, and dedicated his life for full time ministry in a YMEF Conference. His beloved wife Rachel, a Sister-Tutor then at the MGM Nursing Training College, Mumbai who also had tremendous prospects in the Gulf, accompanied her husband to the then remote Villages of Odisha.
Three decades of his active missionary movement in Odisha has been the story that of Paul‘s experience as he stated in 2 Cor. 6:3 to 10. Believers, Elders and Evangelists, in the State, especially of Koraput District, the predominantly backward area, mostly from the native tribes, would have volumes to share on their Sunny Bhai’s dedicated life, humility, soul winning, assembly plantings, and inspiration given to other Lord’s servants coupled with immense integrity and faithfulness in the Lord. He spent his years, months and days identified with the natives and he ‘ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears’ (Acts 20:31) the Pauline style. Thus, he became a drink offering that poured on the sacrifices offered for Orissa.
No doubt, dear Sunnychayan’s life would speak volumes and would remain as a living testimony to the generations to come, and I wish a biographical sketch is drawn out without which the history of Indian missionary movement would not be complete.
[Adelphoi News]
