Small Group Gives New Life to Father

Many church congregations are finding that small groups are enabling members to more easily connect with and confide in each other. But for David Duke, being a part of a small group at Eastern Assembly in Baltimore may have very well saved his life!    

Duke, 43, readily admits he doesn’t like to go to the doctor. But he couldn’t put off a visit any longer — his energy levels were almost non-existent and he had lost partial vision in one of his eyes. 

Even though he was prepared to hear some difficult news from his doctor, Duke was still caught a bit off-guard. The examination revealed that he had suffered a minor stroke and his kidneys were failing. 

“Failing” was a generous term. 

“My kidneys were working at 4 percent and the toxicity in my blood was through the roof,” Duke says. “My hemoglobin count was 6.2 [less than 13.5 is considered ‘low’], which is almost near death. My creatinine levels [which indicate how well kidneys are functioning] were over level 11 [normal is .6 to 1.6]. I could barely walk.” 

Shortly after this diagnosis, Duke began dialysis and learned that he would need a kidney transplant. Unless a live donor could be found, the waiting time for a kidney transplant averages about 3 ½ years — with thousands dying every year while on the waiting list. 

David Duke and his wife, Michele, have been attending Eastern Assembly for about four years, under the leadership of Pastor Ed Michael. David volunteers in the sound room. The last two years, the couple has also been a part of one of the church’s E-Groups (small groups), attending a “married couples with young children” group. The Dukes have three children, ranging in age from 7 to 19. 

Just about the time the Dukes started attending the small group, in walk Jason and Laura Wallace. 

Jason Wallace, 33, was a backslidden Christian, recently reclaimed by God. For years he had struggled with drugs and lived a lifestyle that sharply contrasted with what God desired for his life. 

Wallace, now a truck driver who also volunteers as part of the security team at Eastern, is matter-of-fact when talking about his time apart from God. “I’ve done a lot of wrong things,” he admits. But he shares how it was the 18 months Laura spent in the hospital that brought him back to the Lord. Prayers for her — and God answering them — changed his life. 

After attending Eastern Assembly for about 1 ½ years, the Wallaces decided to join a small group. Coincidentally — or maybe not — the same group the Dukes were attending. 

“Jason is not your typical guy,” David Duke says. “He’s tattoo covered . . . just to look at him, people write him off right away, but he’s definitely a warrior for God, let me tell you!” 

As individuals, Wallace and Duke were worlds apart. But God was about to make their worlds small — very small. 

When the Wallaces started to attend the small group in February 2016, they only knew David and Michele Duke as people they had seen in church. 

“When I met David in small group — he wasn’t sick then — I started to learn more about him and his family,” Wallace says, and a friendship was established. 

“We were friends,” Duke agrees, “but weren’t close friends — didn’t hang out or do things together, except for small group.” 

Which makes what happened next even more remarkable. 

Duke shared with the small group his diagnosis in October 2016, simply asking for prayer. As weeks went by, and no one in the extended Duke family was identified as a suitable donor, Wallace suddenly got a wild idea. Why couldn’t he donate a kidney to David? 

He began to check into and then applied to become a living organ donor specifically for David. 

“Soon after that, I got this call from a social worker,” Wallace says, laughing at the memory. “She was asking me all kinds of crazy questions, like was someone holding a gun to my head or paying me money to do this!” 

With the Dukes now being aware of Wallace’s attempt to be a donor, the testing began to see if he was a suitable donor. 

“Test after test, blood work after blood work, physical after physical — they all came back that things were good,” Wallace says. “They told me everything was matching up.”

Tests revealed that not only was Wallace a compatible donor, he was in medical terms, a “perfect match,” which is extremely rare, especially if the two people are unrelated — with at least one website stating the odds were 1 in 100,000 . . . and the odds of the two people being in the same small group of 12 to 16 people? 

“We were such a perfect match, that there’s a typical dose of this [anti-rejection] drug that David is going to have to take the rest of his life,” Wallace says. “The doctors lowered the amount David will need to take — that’s how much of a match we were. There’s no other answer in my mind that it was God who put this together, no question!” 

Duke recalls how his 15-year-old daughter came up to him, asking why “this man” would do this for him. She was amazed, suspicious — what was the catch? 

“I explained that he had heard the call of God telling him to do this,” Duke says. “I don’t fully understand it either . . . , Jason did this for somebody he really didn’t know all that well!” 

About two months after Wallace started checking into donating a kidney, he and Duke were in the hospital. Several hours later, the surgery was successfully completed and Duke says he immediately started to feel better, energy returning to his body as the new kidney was fully functional. 

Laura, Jason says, was his rock and fully supportive of his decision to donate the kidney. The only question she raised was if their insurance would cover the cost. 

“Literally 30 minutes after she asked me that question, Michele, David’s wife, calls me to make sure we understood that their insurance was going to cover all the expenses!” Jason Wallace says. What’s more, for the first time in his life, Jason had felt like he should add short-term disability to his health care plan this year — long before even considering donating a kidney. 

“It doesn’t pay for everything, but it keeps everybody at bay,” Jason explains. “God isn’t going to give us anything we can’t handle. The loss of income wasn’t worrying me — me and my wife just knew God would work it out.” 

As for Duke, many things in his life are improving — his health, his relationship with his wife, his ability to trust in others, and even his dreams for the future. But the reality of what Wallace’s sacrifice has done for his life continues to strike home. 

“Why me?” Duke asks, pausing to reflect quietly. “He’s my brother now, I love him . . . , but this changes his life too. He has to watch certain things his entire life because he’s down to one kidney . . . it’s difficult. How do you thank somebody for something like this? I pray for him every day . . .” 

Pastor Ed Michael marvels at the miracle as well. He also points out the benefit of having small groups. “I’m not sure if Jason would have ever even known of David’s need or been moved to help him if it hadn’t been for the close community a small group creates,” Michael says. “To me, small groups become those ‘safe places’ where relationships are deepened, needs are shared, trust is built, and the Spirit can freely move.”