Member Spotlight: Hunter Wilder

Member Spotlight is a new feature on the CCC Worship and Production Team blog. Didn't you always want to know more about those awesome people that you serve with every Sunday? YES! I knew it! Your wish is our command...

What's your full name? 
Andrew Hunter Wilder 
 
What ministries are you a part of at CCC? 

I am involved in the Worship Team, Setup and Teardown Team, and Lifegroup Leadership. 

  
What's your favorite part of being on the worship and production team? 

My favorite part of being on the worship and production team is serving next to others who are also serving. I find it to be very encouraging when my brothers and sisters in Christ are standing right beside me and giving their all. Not only is serving on the team encouraging, but it also challenges me and works to build me up every day. Being a part of this team gives and fulfills my life full of purpose.

  
If you could be a professional figure skater or a professional scuba diver which would you be?  Why? 

I would have to say if I had to choose between being a professional figure skater or a professional scuba diver, I'd choose to be a professional scuba diver. With scuba diving skills I could save a drowning person, discover things lost or forgotten, or explore "another world". As a figure skater I'd just discover how cold cold is and how uncomfortable tights are. 

  
I've heard rumor that you're also a pretty rad DJ.  How'd you start doing that? 

I started DJing when I was a freshman in high school. Our high school's DJ canceled the week before a performance and I took on gathering up music and volunteered to be the DJ. Everyone ended up having a blast at the dance party, and it turned out that I had a somewhat natural nac for doing it. After that night, my school asked me to DJ during lunch for events like Spirit Week, or every time there was a home football game (go Blue and Gold GAMECOCKS, haha). At that time, I had been borrowing a collaboration of sound equipment between the school's and my father's equipment. I started collecting CDs and even recording tapes of music that was playing on the top ten list on TV. That was in my early stages. 

One weekend before college, I traveled to DC to visit my brother and Chris Upham, who used to be a pretty rad DJ himself, was giving his old sound system to the Salvation Army. After doing a few favors for Chris when his keys got locked into his trunk (which is a whole other story), Chris felt lead to bless me with his equipment instead, which I accepted in a heartbeat. This started my "paying" career as a DJ, everything prior was done without pay (maybe a few donations here and there). I soon started doing a lot of functions as a Residential Advisory (RA) in my building. After two years of using Chris' equipment, I realized that I was going to have to upgrade to something more. I then purchased a lot of equipment which included two digital turntables which could make any person sound like a professional DJ because it practically does all the work for you. With the new equipment, I was recognized by a lot more people. With my low required hourly fee, everyone wanted me to DJ. I was soon the DJ for our school Alumni Association and doing things weekly: Sororities, Fraternities, Lunch Parties, Homecoming Games, Spirit Week (go Garnet and Black GAMECOCKS, haha). DJing was something I loved. I loved knowing that people were having a good time, because I was giving them a good time. At one press of a button... one mistake... I could change everyone's mood in a second, but I knew how to keep the party going. Although I might love the idea of DJing, I'd have to admit that it was something fun for that phase in my life. I would always make sure that my music was clean (as far as words), but even without the dirty words and with some of the things the artists sing about, music effects people, negatively and positively. Take it from DJ Wilder, nothing controls the soul more than music can, which is why I feel like listening to Christian music can align your soul to the Spirit inside you.

  
What song without fail gets people on the dance floor? (it's "Ancient of Days" isn't it?) 

Although I'd like to admit that "Ancient of Days" would get me out on the floor anytime, as a DJ, I've learned the art of how to incorporate the thoughts and feelings of everyone. There will always be someone that doesn't care for something that is playing, but honestly if you get them in the middle of a dancing crowd that's having fun, they won't even think twice as to what's playing. I usually always start off with some of the old classics: Tootsie Roll, Cha Cha Slide, Chicken Dance, Electric Slide, Macarena. DJing is like starting up a fire, getting it started is the hard part, but once its on fire, the fire usually does the work for you. Playing a few of the old classics back to back and making sure there are a good amount of people on the floor dancing then leads you to be able to play other stuff. Keep up the beat, and people will dance for hours. NEVER play a slow song in the first hour... even if someone requests it. You have to get the fire good and started before playing a slow song, because you want to make sure you have some hot coals left over to burn again once the slow song is done.

 
Lastly, what does worship mean to you? 

For me, worship isn't just reading the Bible, playing the saxophone, singing, or raising my hands in the air. For me, worship is a connection. All of the previous things would be nothing without a connection.  Sort of like a Bible is just a book and nothing special, but its the mysterious some-what magical connection with God when we are reading it that forms the worship or starts the "conversation". In my head, I imagine me saying "I give You (God) my everything, I'm Yours, Take me, Use me, You are a God worthy of all things". Once I ask, I feel like its almost automatic most every time. Believe it or not, sometimes I even have a hard time just asking. Worship is living, worship is giving yourself up just so you can live again. Those, however, are some of the benefits of worship. The actual act of worship is to give honor to God, who loves it when we worship Him! In our obedience, we are worshiping him. In our walk, as long as its the path God has chosen, we are worshipping Him. If we are living out the destiny in which He has set for our lives, we are worshipping Him. I pretty much believe that eventually, through God's grace in strengthening us and walking in His purpose, our whole lives could be worship, a constant, infinite connection with God.