Three men stood at my door, one of them looked at me and said, “Have him return our money or we’re going to burn your house down.” With my 1½ year old son at my feet, I lifted him up and replied to the men, "I will give him the message."
I carried my son to his mother, then picked up my favorite baseball bat and casually walked out the back door to confront them while they were getting into their truck. A drug deal gone bad provoked their threat. Without a word, I began to beat them down. Adrenaline rose as a crowd gathered, and they cheered for me. A friend more violent than me said, “I’m gonna call you Dutch”, naming me after a violent gangster in the movie "The Cotton Club".
I began to use the name "Dutch", and didn’t disappoint the namesake. I ended up in prison, then years after my release I became a personal bodyguard for world famous entertainers. Even though I knew I couldn’t return to a lifestyle of violence, the name helped me put on emotional armor for protection, but I changed the spelling to "Duche", because I was no longer that violent gangster.
I began speaking in prisons sharing how my relationship with God through Jesus Christ changed my life. During a speaking engagement in North Carolina, I met a man whose last name was "Ducheman", and he told me "Duche" means "Mighty Oak & Ruler"
Several months later, I spoke to a thousand women in a prison in Ohio. In the message, I said, "I am a “Mighty Oak for GOD!" A friend of mine said that it reminded her of a verse in the Bible.
(Isaiah 61:1-3) ESV The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called "Oaks of Righteousness", the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.
Duche derives from Duke, who in a socio-economic structure is positioned between commoners and within the heritage of royalty. A servant of God, who did not know me, spoke these words over me in September 1996. "You’re heart is for the poor, and you shall be a mediator between great wealth & great need. Riches will pass through you from the wealthy, into the hands of the needy, because God will be able to trust you."
"A name can give you purpose & purpose can give you a name!"
