The story starts the same as many you’ve heard before. Talented kid grows up playing music in church, discovers his passion for writing and creating, and decides music is what he wants to do. But for EMI Gospel artist Aaron Sledge, sprinkled among the typical story elements is an array of life experiences that gave him an early deposit, from which he still finds himself drawing today.Growing up singing in the choir and playing drums at his local Chicago church, it was the faith of his parents that was the grounding force in his life for many years. But when Sledge was in the 8th grade, the realization of the need for his own faith in Christ became very real to him. “I started seeing friends actually die from trying to be in the streets, and it shook me,” he says of this period in his life. “Suddenly, my parents’ faith wasn’t enough, and I found a life in Christ for myself, which was the only place I could find a foundation.”