On August 3, 2019, a milestone was passed in the great nation of India. It did not make the national press, and only a small percentage of the 1.2 billion people living in India knows it took place. But the group affected by this milestone is very significant to the kingdom of God, for these are those who have heard, and received the Message of the Hour. On that date a new office was opened to assist in the upload and distribution of translated Messages in India. It was christened as “The William Branham Good News Charitable Society.” But it is more than a new facility, it is a new beginning, with a new strategy, and a new plan to make the Message of the Hour more accessible to Believers in India than ever before. To understand the impact of what has quietly taken place, it is helpful to review the winding story that led up to this milestone.
India was one of the first nations in which a major effort to print Messages was launched, and the story starts way back in 1979. A providential meeting at a convention in Sweden between Pastor Ed Byskal and a young Indian Believer named Daniel Evans set off a series of events that led eventually to one the most ambitious printing operations ever dedicated to the End Time Word. The first message translated by Brother Evans was “The Spoken Word is the Original Seed,” and in 1979 it was printed. From that time on, demand for messages exploded in this vast country of 22 languages, and churches sprung up throughout the country.
Today, the number of Message churches alone in India is estimated at over 1000, with Believers numbering up to 200,000.
A page from the very first Believers Faith Challenge Report, 1981
Through the donations and sacrifices of many, a building was acquired, printing presses were purchased and put to work, with all the attending needs of paper, ink, maintenance, storage, and shipping. But still the demand could not be met.
Between the years 1982 to 1985, Brother Ed Byskal traveled to India to film the first Missions video of India, and returned there again to dedicate the Gladys Dauch Memorial Building in which the printing operations took place. Over those years, the growth of the printing effort coincided with the development of the personal computer, and as this new technology became available, computers were purchased bringing new efficiency to the vigorous printing operation.
Believers receiving message books from early printing efforts
But the advent of the internet was destined to bring a fundamental change to how the Message of the Hour could be disseminated, both in India, and around the world today. The original printing equipment was aging and becoming inefficient. Translators worked tirelessly to produce hundreds of messages in native Indian languages, but a bottleneck was developing around printing and distribution.
In 2013, the ability to post translated Messages online on the Message Hub web site allowed newly translated Messages to be available instantly, to anyone who could access the internet through a computer or device. Gradually, the advantages of of this method became apparent. With the ability to print individual Messages on demand, the need for mass printing and storage operations was becoming obsolete. When Brother Daniel Evans and the first generation of laborers passed away, a new generation was ready to run with the torch their fathers had carried so faithfully for so long, making use of the latest technology.
A Basic Print station, consisting of computer, printer, cutter, and stapler
In 2010 the Gladys Dauch memorial building was officially closed and the equipment sold, but a group of young brothers was already at work on a plan to move the entire operation online. With cooperation of students from Bibleway Christian Academy, a web site was designed to offer Print on Demand Messages, which could be selected from a list of those already translated and posted on the Message Hub web site. Instead of gearing up to print thousands of message books that would then need to be stored until shipped, much smaller quantities could be printed, based on custom orders. This is the genius of the local Print Station, which is now operating in many parts of the world. A Print Station is not costly, it does not require a lot of space, it can be set up in a small office, it is easily maintained, and it can respond almost instantly to a request for a particular message, in a particular language, in a particular quantity. Many churches in America have taken up the burden to sponsor a Print Station in some other part of the world.
Believers from early outreach efforts
The William Branham Good News Charitable Society, now up and running, operates from a small office in the city of Virar, near Mumbai, and using the Message Hub as its online inventory, is able to respond quickly to any request. This is the milestone that has passed, for the new office was officially opened on August 3rd, 2019. The city of Virar was chosen, for the new office, for its advantages in cost of operations.
The opening of the new office does not end all the need, for there are still hundreds of messages that are not yet translated, and India has many languages in which there could be Believers needing them. Demand continues to press on, but now a system is in place that can grow with that demand. The office at Virar will serve as a hub to carry out translation, uploading of messages and also printing of them. Printed Messages are still needed, for there are many Believers in India who do not have access to computers or printers.
The opening of the office is celebrated in this short pictorial video. Brother Stanley Tuscano, who is the managing director of the all volunteer staff, narrates. With God’s Blessing, this new effort will serve living water to thirsty souls in India for years to come, if the Lord tarries.
