The year was 1987 and Don Koch and I were producing our first (and only) record together for a group called the Hawaiians. On the day of cutting rhythm tracks we got done a little earlier than expected and Don asked if I wanted to go hear a group called Truth who was doing a showcase at the record company to launch their new record. I grew up in Michigan and had mainly listened to southern gospel music so I had never heard of them but decided to go anyway. I would come to find out later they evidently were huge everywhere in the country except where I was raised.

The concert was an invitation only event held in the recording studio (Great Circle Sound) at the old Benson Company. Because Don and I were both writers for Benson at the time, we figured we could get in. It was about 3 or 4 songs into the show when they said were going to do the first single off their new record. When the band started the intro I realized it was a song called Higher Ground that Don and I had written. That was back in the day when publishers pitched songs and you didn’t always know who they had pitched to or what had been recorded until it was out. 
 

It was about 3 songs later they introduced what they said was the title cut of the new project. Much to our surprise, it was another song he and I had written called Makin’ It Matter. I looked at Don and said, "I don’t know who these people are but I sure like their taste in songs." I had no idea that evening how the guys in that group would impact my writing in the years ahead. The group 4Him eventually came out of that group and not only recorded many of our songs but to this day remain some of my closest friends.