CAMERON MENDES - Mumbai

Founder – Worship Leader – Song Writer – Music Composer

Born in the year 1983, Cameron grew up in a Christian home where his father, a Muslim and his mother, a staunch Catholic, received Jesus as their personal Lord & Saviour in the early 80’s and have been pastoring a church in Mumbai since. He was only six years old when he started playing the piano and was encouraged by his parents to study music through the ‘Trinity College of Music – London’ and to join the church worship team as a keyboardist.
One day, in the year 2000, while he was praying in his living room, he heard an audible voice of the Lord calling out to him and asking him to serve in His kingdom. This gave birth to Yeshua Ministries in 2002 and since then there has been no turning back.

Cameron: ‘Serving God with all you have is the best way to bring honour to Him and thank Him for giving you all that you have’.

Apart from doing ministry, Cameron is also a painter and a sketch artist and loves playing badminton and football in his free time.

JENNY MENDES - Mumbai

Preacher - Media Team - Manager

Jenny, a Dutch national, was born and brought up in the Netherlands. She is an international lawyer by profession and came to India in 2013 to serve with IJM (International Justice Missions) in Mumbai. Back home, she has been a part of many ministries like Soul Survivor and Navigators to name a few and her heart for the youth brought her to YM.
Apart from supporting the ministry with her social media skills, she also helps to coordinate concerts/worship meetings etc for the ministry. With her experience with the youth and churches, YM has risen to another level and has become bold enough to think big!

Jenny: ‘Worshipping Jesus has always been my heart’s desire and seeing this young team of musicians doing the same has drawn me closer to my King’

In her free time she loves horseback riding and cooking.

BRIAN CHANDRAHAS - Hyderabad

BASS guitarist – Live Music Director

Brian’s talent and interest in music were noticeable as an early interest from his childhood. He is now grown to become one of the most versatile bass players in India. He was a self-taught Acoustic Guitarist at the age of 15 by referring to a local newspaper article on “How to hold guitar chords”. After 17, his love for Bass Guitar became very prominent after attending a Hillsong Australia concert in 2007. Brian is married to this beautiful woman named; Arpitha (see below), and together they faithfully and selflessly serve in their local church and with Yeshua Ministries. His favourite Yeshua songs are ‘Rock n Roll’ and ‘Hungama’

Brian: ‘YM shares the same vision as mine and I believe that is definitely a God-thing. When people come together with the same vision, miracles happen!’

He believes that God made sure to open the right doors for him to further his passion through music and ministry. He attributes his success to God, knowing that without Him he would not have come this far in life. Since 2012 Brian has not only played with world renowned artists on stages all over the world, he has also tracked bass and done recordings for various clients. Brian’s work can be found on his own YouTube Channel and website.

Brian uses the following gear: Bass guitars: MTD Kingston Z *favourite, YAMAHA TRBX 505, Fender Squire Bass In-ear monitors: KZ ZS10 Fretwrap: GRUV GEAR Sound card: Focusrite Scarlett2I4II Strings: Dunlop Marcus Miller Super Bright Bass Strings Software: Ableton Live

Brian is currently endorsed by:
MTD, a New York based manufacturer of handcrafted bass guitars.

ARPITHA SYLVESTER - HYDERABAD

Media team – Sound Engineer

Arpitha is one sweet inclusion in the Yeshua Family since 2015. She excels in social media and sound engineering. But apart from that, she is also an excellent bassist and a wonderful cook. She was born and brought up in Hyderabad and got married to a wonderful man; Brainard and together they have been a great blessing to YM.
The one favourite thing on her list is traveling and meeting new people and she uses that opportunity to connect with people and share the gospel of love and hope in Jesus wherever she travels with the band. Her ultimate vision is to support missionaries as she believes that these missionaries deserve more for what they are doing.

Arpitha: ‘I love the vision Yeshua Ministries has toward the young generation and how they share the love and the grace of God through their songs’.

 

JOHNSON DANIEL - Hyderabad

Drummer

You may say, ‘Louder than thunder is this crazy drummer; Johnson’. Like most of the other band members, he was also raised up in a Christian family with Godly parents and grandparents who have been a great source of encouragement and influence in his life. As a child, he grew up with many dreams but with time, he saw God unfolding His plans for his life and this totally amazed him. He became passionate about Christ and serving Him was the motivation for every decision in his life.

Johnson: ‘Yeshua Ministries shares the same love and passion that I have to reach out to this generation and it makes me happy to travel with them all around the globe’.

At the age of 14 he started playing bongos and switched to drums when he was 17. He self-taught by listening to gospel songs by Hillsong and Delirious. After attending a Delirious concert in 2007 he was inspired to become a professional drummer.

His favourite song is ‘Tu hi Rab hai’ and that is the loudest beat you can hear him play. Apart from drumming and listening to music, like many young people, he enjoys gaming. His major influencers are Stew Smith (Delirious), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Kevin Camp (Israel and New breed).

Johnson uses the following gear: Cymbals: MEINL Classics Custom series Snare: TAMA S.L.P. Big Black Steel Snare Drum-8/14 Limited Edition Pedals: Pearl P902 Double pedal Drum sticks: Vic Firth, Promark In-ear monitors: KZ ZS10 Others: Boss DB-90 Metronome, Tama Rhythm watch RW200.

Eby olickal - MUMBAI

photographer – production manager

In pursuit of his dreams Eby left Kerala and came to Mumbai to follow his passion for videography and photography. Apart from his camera talents he is also a great sound engineer and social media expert. Eby joined Yeshua in 2017 and since then he has helped the band faithfully with his talents and expertise. Apart from his commitment to Yeshua and Gateway Church Mumbai he also helps several NGO’s in Mumbai that reach out to the poor and broken.

Eby: ‘Photography is my passion and what better way to use in than to serve God.’

His favourite song is ‘Tumsa’ and he is excited for the Malyalam version of the song. Within the team Eby is also responsible for a lot of the comedy and inside jokes.

NITIN KATE - Mumbai

Keyboardist

Born and brought up in a Hindu-Maharashtrian family, Nitin accepted Jesus Christ in the year 2009 and later joined the Yeshua Ministries as a support team. With a heart to serve the body of Christ, he travelled with the band all over the country, carrying their instruments, handling merchandise and supporting them in every possible way. Seeing his faithfulness, he was asked to step up and join the main worship team as one of their keyboardist in 2015 and today, he plays an important role in the ministry.


Nitin: ‘I am attracted to the presence of God we bring down during worship and the testimony we share to thousands all across the country’

Apart from being a good musician, he is also an excellent cricketer, a wonderful husband and a dedicated father. He is an example for all his family and friends and a living testimony of God’s goodness and grace in his life.

RYAN MORRIS - Goa

Backing Vocalist

Ryan has been a part of the Yeshua Ministries and has stayed faithful to his call through every journey this ministry has been through in all these years! He accepted Jesus when he was 16 years old. His turning point was seeing his father, an alcoholic and a chain-smoker, being miraculously set free and transformed under God’s grace and since then, he has always wanted to bring people to the knowledge of that love and mercy through Jesus Christ and to minister to them through worship songs and music. He has been one of the strongest pillars of this ministry and a great encouragement to the younger generation.

Ryan: ‘It’s amazing to see God working in the lives of the people we touch through music and songs’.

He has a beautiful wife and daughter who have been a great support to him throughout his life’s-journey and continue to serve in their local church as a family and be a testimony for many around them.

KIREN TITUS - Mumbai

lead guitarist - Bass guitarist – backing vocalist

Kiren is literally one of the most multi-talented guys we know, apart from being an amazing worship leader and vocalist he also plays almost every instrument (bass, guitar, keys and drums) and is an expert with sound. In his daily life he works for Vision Rescue and Gateway Church Mumbai and apart from that pursues is biggest passion, that is music. Kiren’s voice is his most powerful weapon and if you ever hear him lead worship you will immediately know what we are talking about.

Kiren: ‘My one desire is to bring people closer to God through worship and I feel YM has found a special way to do that, especially with youngsters’

He is a real foody but growing up in the middle-east he doesn’t prefer anything too spicy, but other than that he is very passionate about food!

ALvin gawai – south carolina, usa

Drummer – Bass guitarist – pianist – Sound engineer

Alvin started playing drums at the age of 4(!!) and started having private lessons from when he was 6 years old. He grew up playing drums at International Family Church in Columbia, SC and later went on to play at Newspring Church and with Elevation Worship. Seeing other drummers play in church inspired him to practice more and get better so that he would one day be one of the best worship drummers around. Alvin started touring with Yeshua Ministries in 2018 all over the USA and Canada and his favourite song is ‘Hai Tu’.

Alvin: ‘By far my favourite thing about being on stage with Yeshua Ministries is seeing how the worship impacts my life and the lives of so many young people in a way that I had never seen before.’

We believe Alvin is one of the most versatile and multi-talented people on our team. Other than drums he also plays bass, keys and lead guitar and on top of that he is a great sound engineer who knows his way around the latest software and sound equipment. He is currently studying audio engineering at the University of South Carolina.

Alvin uses the following gear: Drums: DW Drums Cymbals: Zildjian Drumheads: Evans Drumsticks: Pro-Mark In-ear monitors: Ultimate Ears Software: Ableton Live

Vishal pakhare - pune

acoustic guitarist – Backing vocalist

Vishal joined Yeshua Ministries kind of by coincidence in 2012. He ended up staying at Cameron’s house after being connected by a mutual friend. He saw a lot of Yeshua merchandise in his room and thought ‘wow, this guy is a big Yeshua fan’. They started jamming together and the connection was made, only later he found out that Cameron is Yeshua’s founder and lead singer and since then he started travelling with the team. His favourite song is ‘Yeshu Naam’.

Vishal: ‘Worship for me is anything that reflects Christ through serving and building relationships. I take worship and music very seriously. It’s a job that God has given me and I love to do it with all my heart and energy.’

Vishal’s interest in music started at age 3, het played guitar, congo and drums before finally landing his favourite instrument: the acoustic guitar. At age 9 he was approached by Doordashan (a local Indian channel) to play in a TV programme but he declined because he was too scared to be on TV. At the age of 14 he started playing professionally with various bands in North-India with band members who were at least 10-15 years older to him in age and experience, he learnt a lot from them and of course from endless hours of practicing.

Vishal uses the following gear: Acoustic guitars: Ephiphone PR5-E, YAMAHA Apx500iii Reverb pedal: TC electronics

ZENAS GAWAI - SOUTH CAROLINA, USA

lead guitarist

Zenas is the youngest member in our team, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is extremely talented. Even when his hands were still too small to reach the strings, he already had a passion to play the guitar. To satisfy his desire to play music, his parents started him on the piano, but he hated it so much that when he was big enough, around 9 years old, he immediately switched to guitars and just never stopped playing. Zenas has won many Jazz Awards over the years and is currently studying jazz at the University of South Carolina. He does play drums and bass as well, but electric guitar is his absolute favourite.

Zenas: ‘My favorite thing about playing with Yeshua Ministries is the feeling of family that I get when I am with the band.’

Zenas uses the following gear: Guitar: Fender Stratocaster Amp:  Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue Pedals: JHS Pulp n Peel V4 Compressor, JHS Kilt V1 *favourite, Strymon Bigsky, Strymon TimeLine, Boss Dm2, J Rockett Audio GTO, J Rockett Audio Blue Note, Dunlop Mini Volume DVP4, WalrusAudio Julia Chorus/Vibrato, TCElectronic Polytune Mini, ElectroHarmonix MicroPog Other: Dunlop Jazz 3 picks, Elixer Optiweb Strings, Ernieball Strap, Pedaltrain Classic 1 Pedalboard

Zenas is currently endorsed by
JHS, a boutique pedal company out of Montana.