His mother is a housewife, his father an auto rickshaw driver. A poor family, they live in a small, single-room home in the middle of a slum. Piles of trash border the slum where women dig deep, hoping to find something of use.

The stench of rancid rubbish and raw sewage are just a way of life for this young boy.

Time that Agni should spend in a classroom learning to read and write he instead passes playing the drums. He would go to school, but his family cannot afford the expense — an economic reality for most slum residents.

Agni bangs away on his makeshift snare drum set that he made from tin cans and buckets. He learned how to play from his older brother who earns a living beating drums at various Indian festivals.

At a young age, Agni made a profession of faith in Jesus. His family, also believers, attends a small one-room church in the middle of the slum. This church is a safe haven for children who would otherwise follow in the heartbreaking habits of those around them — mischief and alcoholism. Young boys like Agni practice and play the drums and other instruments for church services. Church is a place where they can put their musical talents to good use.

Pastor Murali* points to a list stuck on a bulletin board with some 60 names on it. “These are my youths,” he explains. The pastor wants to make an eternal difference in their lives, and he believes keyboarding lessons will help make that happen.

Murali was thrilled when he heard that students from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., would offer free keyboarding lessons in his church. For a few days, children like Agni would be able to receive music lessons that their families could never afford.

Agni has never played keyboard, however, his pastor is confident he can pick up the skills as easily as he learned the drums.

“I’m looking forward to giving him some training and three other boys as well,” Murali says. Pointing to a keyboard he says, “After this week, they can practice on this damaged keyboard. We’ll fix it. I don’t know how, but we will.”

Keyboards in place, students slowly trickle into the room.

Today, Agni arrives with his hair combed back and his shirt neatly tucked into his pants. Jennifer, his teacher from Southeastern, suspects he is wearing his “Sunday best.” She describes how yesterday he kept wiping the keyboard’s white keys off because his hands were leaving black smudges on them.

Before the lessons begin, Murali translates for Audra, another Southeastern student. She shares the Gospel using the EvangeCube, a seven-panel cube that tells the Gospel of Christ in pictures, and encourages them to share this story with their friends.

Then the children, sitting next to their keyboard teachers, once again hear the message of the Gospel one-to-one before a single note is played.

Lessons begin. Some students are struggling to remember yesterday’s lessons, while others are already learning to play the simplified versions of hymns.

When the keyboarding lessons pause for a break, Murali, Agni and another boy grab the drums from the front of the church. Murali starts to sing and the boys quickly begin to play, creating a rhythm and picking up the beat to the worship song. Agni’s hands fly across the drums, his eyes fixed straight ahead, listening to make sure what he is playing matches the song.

When they finish, the Southeastern teachers clap and tell them how well they played. Agni smiles and carefully puts the drums back. He cannot speak English, but his non-verbal communication shows he is happy to hear the applause.

“To say he had rhythm is selling him short. It was part of him. He struggled with keyboard we found, but he definitely wanted to keep learning music and become a better musician, even at such a young age,” Southern Baptist representative Ethan Leyton* observes.

Lessons resume. Agni tries hard to learn. Jennifer is patient with him. She knows his not being able to speak or read English is making the lessons more difficult for him.

“He is trying so hard to remember the letters of the alphabet to learn the notes,” she says.

“This is very good.” Murali says. “We train them, the next generation, not only keyboard training but training young people to present the Gospel.”

Jennifer recalls the time she saw Agni using the EvangeCube card to share Christ with his friend. Agni may not have mastered the keyboard during the week, but what he has grasped is how he can share about Jesus with his friends.

Murali’s vision is to see these boys and other children who received keyboard lessons train other youth in the slum how to play keyboard sometime in the spring. He sees it as an opportunity for them to put their training into action and to present the Gospel to their friends.

“That is the plan of my heart,” Murali says. “Pray for it.”

Chet* looked around the crowded room from his spot on the dirt floor. He hardly believed this opportunity to share with so many people all started with one policewoman a few hours earlier.

“She used us as bait,” Chet teased. Then, he added seriously, “Her American visitors were her excuse to go into homes and share. It’s obvious that she has been sharing the Gospel with everyone around her, and she wasn’t about to miss an opportunity.”

The day started with the policewoman toting the team to a neighbor’s house. From there, the team, policewoman and neighbor went to visit another friend. The two women prayed with the policewoman to receive Christ.  Immediately, the three women wanted to visit another home.

With each stop the audience grew, with the final visit topping out around 20 or more people in the slum. Four people in this crowd also prayed with the policewoman, trusting Christ.

Chet explained that essentially, six people came to Christ today and countless others heard because of one woman’s faithfulness in reaching out to her community.

“The Holy Spirit set up a domino effect which led to one friend and then to another and another and to larger and larger crowds,” Chet said. “When someone hears the truth and trusts in Christ, it is only natural to be excited and to tell those who are important to them about the most important thing.”

[*Names changed -mReport]