By Dara Fullerton*

DELHI, India–Halfway through his music set at a popular club in India, blues and rock musician Sean Michel began to play his soulful rendition of Amazing Grace, strumming his guitar in his blues-style fashion for several chords before piping out the lyrics to the famous hymn.

“We just try to connect with the spiritual part of a person through the music and hopefully to communicate the truth of the Gospel after we’ve connected with them,” Jay Newman, Michel’s manager and friend, said.

Michel’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s God’s Gonna Cut You Down during the sixth season of American Idol helped bring worldwide attention to his vocal talent.

With long hair and a long beard, Michel, 30, of Bryant, Ark., said he sometimes has been mistaken for a homeless bum, but his music has opened doors for him – and most importantly for the Good News – around the globe. His passion for music and love for Jesus Christ, his personal Savior, are deeply connected.

Michel’s desire to share the Gospel through music led him and Newman to spend last summer touring and spreading the love of Christ in South Asia, which has the greatest concentration of lostness in the world.

As Southern Baptist representatives Shawn Burleson* and Ethan Leyton* were listening to Michel’s Christmas CD while driving to a training event in India, they began to brainstorm about how they could put Michel’s passion for music and sharing the Gospel to use in South Asia.

“Sean can draw a crowd … [which is] good because he couples it with die-hard boldness to share the Gospel,” Burleson said.

Burleson and Leyton came up with the plan to have Michel go on tour in India and Nepal, playing his music and sharing the Gospel at venues that seemed open to his show.

“Sean’s musical talent, unique look and voice give him an audience that normally wouldn’t walk into the door of a church,” Leyton said. “His brand of blues Gospel and the fact that he was an American Idol contestant got him into restaurants, clubs and venues here that a typical American Christian couldn’t get into.”

Michel played about 40 shows, and radio stations and newspapers across the region interviewed him. Audiences, Christian and non-Christian, appreciated his music.

“The crowd gave him an extremely warm reception,” The Kathmandu Post said. “Many Nepalis don’t know much about Michel, but they’ve enjoyed his folk and blues.”

People in Chennai, India, also praised his show.

“This singer, who had a brief stint with American Idol a couple of years ago, was an out-and-out entertainer,” the Chronicle Chennai reported.

His performances were not limited to bars, clubs or restaurants. Michel also played at several church services in India and Nepal.

People at Michel’s concerts heard the message of Jesus as Savior through the lyrics and as he shared his faith while introducing songs between sets.

“There were many open doors that might have been closed to regular evangelism techniques, because he was going into bars and restaurants – then playing music that definitely had a message,” Southern Baptist representative Leeza Nestor* said. “Many people got to hear about Sean’s experiences and his relationship with Jesus because he made a point of saying it at every available opportunity.”

Michel and Newman, graduates of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., both emphasized that music is a means for sharing the Gospel. While they did not advertise Michel’s faith before shows, he did not hold back when it came to sharing his faith before, during or after a performance.

“We never ran into anyone who didn’t like the music,” Newman said. “It was able to affect a broad range of people, from believers who were inspired to reach their own people to Hindus and non-believers who disagreed with the message totally.”

During a particular concert in Nepal, followers of Hinduism were especially moved by the music, Newman said. As Michel sang, people in the audience were clapping and stomping to the music. In fact, some of the Hindus liked the music so much that they became concerned.

“We are afraid that our gods will be angry with us because we have been enjoying this Christian music,” Newman said the Hindus told a Nepali Christian friend. “Our national friend was able to tell them not to worry because Christ is greater than all of their gods.”

Another opportunity to share the Gospel came when a show in Pokhara, Nepal, was “rained in” due to the monsoon. Flooded streets meant everyone in the bar stayed an additional two hours. During that time, Michel explained the Gospel to a man from Denmark using pool balls.

It was an “attempt to explain the Trinity and our distance from God — how one of the Trinity, shown by a grouping of three balls, came across the expanse of the pool table to rescue us,” Michel said.

After another show, a group of Tibetan Buddhists sat with Michel to discuss with him why he sang about Jesus.

“They wanted to make comparisons between the Gospel and their Buddhist beliefs,” Michel said. “They clearly acknowledged the truth of the Gospel, but they wanted to reconcile it with their Buddhist beliefs.”

While American Idol judges were taken aback by Michel’s physical appearance, it stirred a positive curiosity in the eyes of South Asians. Long hair and beards are common among South Asia’s spiritual leaders and devout religious sects.

“It seemed that a lot of people saw Sean as a spiritual person because of his large beard,” Newman said. “In that culture, it definitely fit well with Sean presenting the Gospel, because they are used to seeing guys who look like Sean as spiritual leaders.”

Newman’s tattoo on his arm was also a means for starting conversations about the Gospel. On a whitewater rafting excursion, their Hindu rafting guide asked the meaning behind his tattoo and wanted to know if it was a dragon.

The tattoo on Newman’s forearm depicts a root that appears as if it is emerging from dry, cracked soil. Written above the root in Hebrew is a portion of Isaiah 53:5 that says “by His wounds we are healed.”

“I proceeded to explain the significance of my tattoo — how it represented the work of Christ that was growing inside me and bursting out of me,” Newman said. “He said he believed this, so I shared with him the Gospel.”

Newman then told the guide that if he believed that Christ rose from the dead, then the teachings of Hinduism were irrelevant.

“I told him he could have only one guru — Jesus Christ,” Newman said. “He said he wanted to believe. I drilled him a little more, and he seemed determined.”

Newman then asked Burleson to talk with the guide in his Hindi language to make sure the rafting guide understood. The guide told Burleson, “All of Hinduism’s gods fight each other, but Christ died for us,” and then he prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior.

Burleson explained the significance of baptism to the guide and arranged for an Indian Christian to disciple him. Then the guide said, “Here’s some water. Why not now?” They baptized the guide in the same river on which they had just been rafting.

Reflecting on their time in South Asia, Michel said, “It was difficult, but obviously Spirit led.”

Newman added, “We’d love to come back. We are open to it and would like to make it happen.”

–30–

*Name changed.

Dara Fullerton served as a writer among South Asian peoples while a journeyman with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. View Sean Michel’s American Idol performance at http://www.myspace.com/seanmichel. To read more about his music tour in South Asia, please visit http://expectingrevolution.wordpress.com. To read the stories of others who shared the Gospel through music this January in Mumbai, India, visit http://www.mreport.org.