Duraisamy Geoffery Samuel Dhinakaran (1 July 1935 – 20 February 2008) was an Indian evangelical preacher. He was the founder of Jesus Calls Ministries and Karunya University.
Dhinakaran was born on 1 July 1935 at Surandai in Tirunelveli district of Madras Presidency (today Tamil Nadu), British India. He attended St. John`s college, Palayamkottai, and received a BSc degree in Mathematics from Madras University in 1955.
A young man depressed and unable to bear the anguish of poverty, sickness, unemployment, and failures in life, in an attempt to put an end to all the miseries of his life, walked towards the railway track to commit suicide. On the way, he met his uncle who shared about Jesus Christ. These words served as a balm to his bruised heart. His uncle told him to go home and commit his ways to the Lord. He prayed and committed his life to the Saviour, then returned home with a newfound hope. The joy of salvation filled his heart. This young man was none other than late Dr. D.G.S Dhinakaran.
A Supernatural Experience: After this incident, he started seeking the Lord fervently, reading the scriptures, and waiting in the presence of the Lord for many hours. He did this diligently for seven long years – pleading, “Lord! Hear my prayer and grant me your power! I don’t want to live a dried-up Christian life anymore!” He wanted to have communion with God like the saints in the Bible had.
Dhinakaran, who remained a member of the Church of South India,[5] was among the first Indian Christian leaders to appreciate the potential of television as a medium for evangelism. In doing this he was following a pattern established in the US and challenging the conservative opinions of his peers, who associated television with the perceived moral laxities of the Indian cinema industry. He had been broadcasting his message on radio programmes since 1972, when he had used the FEBA network for that purpose,[6] and the Jesus Calls Ministry began using television broadcasts in the mid-1990s. The broadcasting entity is now sizable and during his lifetime he was assisted in it by his son, Paul Dhinakaran, who subsequently took charge of the Ministry following Dhinakaran's death. The introduction of his son as co-anchor so soon after Roberts had adopted a similar course in the US was, according to Jonathan James, probably not a coincidence. Only a small proportion of the broadcast output was religious in nature and that used devices—such as addressing the audience in a mixture of speech and song . Cultural empathies with the audience were encouraged by predominant use of the local Tamil language rather than alternatives such as English and by recognising local traditions of oral storytelling.
He wrote more than 15 books and recorded many Christian musical albums.
Dhinakaran died in hospital on 20 February 2008. He had been suffering from heart and kidney ailments.