The Gospel Music Association got on their Instagram account last week where they announced that gospel singer Gabriel Patillo passed away on April 12. The post revealed he died surrounded by his family and loved ones. The GMA also revealed that the singer is the song of their president Jackie Patillo. The cause of Patillo’s death was cancer.
Cancer takes so many lives and causes so much suffering, both for the loved ones left behind, as well as its victims. We’ve been studying this illness for what feels like an eternity, and while there have been many excellent advancements made in how it is treated, we have not seemingly gotten any closer to an actual cure for it. There are a lot of theories as to why that is, but I won’t get into those here.
A report from the Christian Post says:
Specifically, the Gospel Music Association noted that Patillo danced for the Christian band DC Talk and worked with “GRAMMY and GMA Dove Award-winning artist TobyMac as part of Diverse City where he sang background vocals, was a choreographer and dancer and co-produced TobyMac tours.” In addition to his mother, the late artist is survived by his wife, Jenni, along with his three children: Amara, Milo and Remy.
In a Facebook post on Friday, TobyMac remarked, “Today Gabe met Jesus!” The Christian singer expressed confidence that “While we are crushed, [he] is healed.”
“Gabe, you will always hold a place in our hearts,” TobyMac stated in the post. “We will watch over your family.”
After rejoicing that Patillo “left a legacy that we will never forget,” TobyMac drew upon the popular contemporary Christian song “How He Loves Us” by stating, “Oh, how we loved you.”
In a subsequent post on Saturday, TobyMac offered a much longer tribute to the group’s former bandmate.
“I wish everyone knew Gabe Patillo,” he wrote about his friend. “I wish everyone could walk with him, get challenged by him, collaborate with him, laugh with him, pray with him, meditate on scripture with him and be loved by him.”
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Later in the post, TobyMac shared the positive impact of getting to know Patillo.
“You would be a better person. You would learn to care for others. You would learn to listen. You would hear the hard truth delivered compassionately.”
“You would not get by with foolishness but you’d laugh with joy til your belly hurt,” he added. “You would learn that we can see things differently, but still have respect for one another. You would not be scared of tough conversations about race and politics and social issues or apologetics and interpretations. No, you would dive in and talk it through to find the common ground or respectfully disagree while treating one another with dignity.”
“You would know his warm smile. You would know that he lightens a room that is heavy with his quick witted observations or deepens the moments that shouldn’t remain on the surface. His eyes offered love, not the ‘I want you to like me’ kind but the ‘I see you’ kind. The kind of eyes that see the people behind the scenes that do the hardest work but get the least recognition,” the post continued.
TobyMac also heaped a ton of praise on Pastillo for his many musical talents, which included singing, rapping, dancing, and playing the trumpet. He went so far as to refer to Pastillo as one of the best performers he had ever been around, pointing out that he often pushed him to be better at his craft.
A GoFundMe page under “The Patillo Family Fund” shared that Patillo died after “a battle with cancer.” The fundraiser states that money raised on the crowdfunding platform would “honor Gabe’s legacy by helping his family cover their financial needs in the near and distant future” by helping his wife and children with “medical, living, and educational expenses.” As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition has raised more than $150,000 of a $250,000 goal.
Keep Pastillo’s family and friends in your prayers as losing someone you’re close to is never easy to deal with. It tries your soul and your faith, but ultimately, God will find a way to use tragedies like this for our good. And our good is being conformed to the image of Jesus.