Boyce College student FLAME ignites passion for Gospel through rap music

May 16, 2008 - PRLog -- By Garrett E. Wishall (Towers - A News Publication of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)

Scripture speaks of taking the Gospel to one's neighborhood, surrounding area, nation and entire world. The thousands of ethnicities and people groups that populate these regions employ many languages and are known for numerous cultural traits that offer scores of unique mediums for presenting the Gospel.

The medium Marcus T. Williams-Gray, a.k.a. FLAME, uses is Gospel rap.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Williams-Gray, a student at Boyce College, converted to Christianity at age 16. Known previously as a rowdy student, Williams-Gray's behavior changed radically as he entered his senior year of high school in 1998. Williams-Gray became actively involved in church and went from performing "gangsta rap," or "street rap," to writing personal devotional Gospel raps.

Williams-Gray soon discovered the music of Cross Movement, a Christian rap group, which he said impacted him profoundly.

"When I heard their music, they would talk about different elements of the Gospel that I had never heard before," he said. "That piqued my interest, and I always looked forward to their new albums. Every new album was like taking a course related to the Gospel."

In 2000, Williams-Gray and a friend — now fellow Christian rap artist J.R. — drove up to Chicago for a Cross Movement concert. After the concert, Williams-Gray met the group and gave them a four-song demo he and J.R. put together.

A week later, the group contacted Williams-Gray and he began to develop a relationship with them by phone.

"We would have devotionals and pray over the phone," he said.

In 2002, Cross Movement invited Williams-Gray to go on their Platinum Souls Tour and not long after he signed on with Cross Movement Records. In 2004, Williams-Gray's self-titled debut CD, "FLAME," was released. A year later, he released "REWIND," which features the Dove Award nominated song "Gotta Notice."

"The concept behind that project was taking a look into church history and examining what things we should bring along and what we should leave behind," said Williams-Gray. "I had songs about the Trinity, false doctrine and hermeneutics. 'Gotta Notice' was about checking your motives and examining yourself and seeing if you are of the Christian faith."

A year ago Williams-Gray's wife (then fiancée), Crystal, was preparing to come to Louisville for an internship as part of her doctoral work in psychology when she learned about Boyce College. Williams-Gray had attended two conferences at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in previous years and after researching Boyce, decided to apply for admission to the college.

In fall 2007, Williams-Gray entered Boyce as a biblical counseling major, transferring from Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis. Williams-Gray said he enjoys the personal interaction with students and professors at Boyce and greatly values the biblical counseling program.

"In my music I am always thinking 'how can I present a Christian worldview on every issue?'" he said. "I want to bring a theological perspective to practical issues. Biblical counseling filters every issue through a Christian worldview. It (biblical counseling) is helping me become skillful in walking through life's issues with people. Once I put the microphone down, I want to transition into a biblical counseling position in a local church or start a local counseling practice with my wife."

Williams-Gray said once he graduates from Boyce he plans to work on a master's degree in biblical counseling from Southern.

Over the past two years, Williams-Gray has released a two-project CD series that walks through Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden and its implications for all humanity, and God's redemptive work on the cross through Christ. Williams-Gray said a conversation he had on the streets of St. Louis inspired the project.

"I was in my neighborhood sharing the Gospel. I began talking to a 15-year-old and I could tell everything was going over his head," he said. "I asked him if he had heard about Adam and Eve and he said no. That is what inspired the project."

The first album, "OUR WORLD FALLEN," came out in 2007 and focused on mankind's spiritual poverty and the grave consequences of a sinful lifestyle. The album rose to No. 7 on the Billboard Charts and featured the singles "MySpace," "Goodness to Repentance" and "Call Him."

The sequel, "OUR WORLD REDEEMED," came out in March. This project, Williams-Gray's latest, celebrates the work of Christ on the work, its redemptive implications in a fallen world and the need to personally believe in Christ.

Williams-Gray performs at youth conferences, church-sponsored events and concerts nationwide. On his website, www.flame314.com, Williams-Gray offers several resources, including an article aimed at new believers where he encourages them to become actively involved in a conservative evangelical church and to pray and read Scripture daily. He also suggests books by topic, including Christian living, evangelism and discipleship, theology and apologetics.