In 2009, Levi Dannayo was attending the African Bible College, when one of his professors asked him if he would be willing to play the drums for a children’s concert. Levi agreed, met Dana Dirksen, and heard her music for the first time.
After the concert, Levi knew he wanted to teach the songs to his Sunday School kids.
“They were new songs, extremely biblical songs … It seemed to me they were so easy [to learn].”
He started teaching them to the children in his class. Soon, children from other churches around the city were flocking to his popular Sunday School to sing their memory verses!
There were so many kids that the pastor let him use the main hall of the church. Many Sundays there were between five– and seven hundred children in attendance.
Raised in a Christian home, Levi knew the power of being instructed in the Word from an early age. Seeing the music’s impact on the children convinced him that he needed to be involved in the ministry of Songs for Saplings.
“When I taught the songs, they [the kids] were having fun, I was having fun, we were enjoying the songs.”
Children have a powerful ability to memorize anything – especially when singing it! Now many years later, the legacy of Songs for Saplings is becoming evident in the lives of children who grew up singing these songs.