Start At The Very Beginning (Memory Journal Entry by DJ)

I have so many stories. I have so many thoughts. So in the words of the sound of music… “Let’s start at the very beginning…”

So it was August of 1998, and it was freshman orientation week. It was an open mic that was being hosted in the Lexington Inn. I’m pretty confident everyone asked me to sing and I don’t think I did. I think I stayed true to my guns and refused to sing. But we had a ton of talented kids in Union University’s largest freshman class. Some might argue that we had some of the most incredible leaders being groomed in that class.

Well, the open mic was almost over and this super tall, skinny, light-skinned black dude with a shaved head walks up to the mic and tells the host that he wants to sing a song. So the host goes, “Oh ok everyone here’s another singer. His name is — Whats your name?… William?…  Yeah William — his name is William Gray. So this super tall kid grabs a chair and sits down in it like everyone else was and takes the mic and real quietly and smoothly sings this song called, “He looked beyond my fault and saw my need…”

(If you don’t know the song it goes like this…)

So this William Gray guy sat in the chair and stared at the ground the entire time and sang an a cappella version of this wonderful song. You could hear a pin drop in the room it was so quiet as he was singing. I was thoroughly impressed, but really as touched by the song.

I think later on that night, Chad Wilson introduced me to William Gray, and the next day I stopped by their dorm room in Deusner 2 and began my friendship with William Gray, Anthony Brooks and Jake Eaton.

— DJ Lee