Legacy lives on
Jon Gregoire’s vision continues
The legacy of Jonathan Gregoire continues still through Mustache for Missions and the Lynchstock Music Festival.
Gregoire died on Nov. 8, 2014 around 4 p.m., after being struck by a train while he was on a railroad trestle over the James River near Riverside Park, only a month before the second annual Lynchstock Music Festival.
Goals — Jonathan Gregoire wanted to share the gospel and influence community. Photo provided
While a student at Liberty University, Gregoire was a business major and served as a prayer and life group leader through the Office of Student Leadership. Gregoire also made efforts to connect the Lynchburg community as well as take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Gregoire had two projects which incorporated both of these goals, Lynchstock Music Festival and Mustache for Missions.
“There was never an interaction with him where it wasn’t authentic and genuinely true,” Jonathan Smalt, co-founder of Lynchstock Music Festival, said. “… Jon really did impact people in ways that most humans don’t.”
Gregoire’s impact showed Nov. 10, 2014, the night of the candlelight vigil, where hundreds showed up to mourn and celebrate his life.
“You can’t preserve his legacy because he affected so many people in so many different ways that you can’t bottle that up,” Smalt said. “We’re not preserving it, we’re carrying it.”
Months before his death, Gregoire launched his Mustache for Missions campaign.
The campaign helped send five students at Liberty University on missions to spread the gospel in multiple countries over the summer. Students sold shirts to help fund their trips and some even sported mustaches for the month of March, like senior Nicolas Posada.
Posada went to France and North Africa and the 50 T-shirts he sold helped fund more than 50 percent of his trip. Posada, an international student from Colombia, plans to return to Colombia as a pilot in the Amazon region.
Posada explained Gregoire, as an encourager and a man full of vision. When discussing what he learned from Gregoire he stated to “live a life of example.”
According to James Black, the creator of the website “We are Jon’s Vision,” Mustache for Missions has not ended since Gregoire’s death and the Gregoire family and he are working to see Mustache for Missions continue.
“We are Jon’s Vision” is a website that exists to commemorate Gregoire and the life he lived. The website is compiled of more than 400 pictures of Gregoire as well as more than 200 stories that people posted about Gregoire and their memories with him. Black described the website as an “electronic scrapbook.”
“We want this site to resonate with many people at Liberty and the Lynchburg community as well,” Black said. “And we hope that this will eventually generate interest in building a new team to help fundraise for Mustache for Missions.”
The website was launched on the one year anniversary of Gregoire’s death and is continuously seeing updates to help tell Gregoire’s story better according to Black. Lynchstock Music Festival will present Lynchbrrr, December 4 and 5, which will also commemorate the life of Gregoire and feature a special Lynchstock documentary, “We Are Lynchburg: The story of Lynchstock Music Festival Premiere.”
Pierce is a feature reporter.