Going With The Goers- Root Interviews Dave Hackley
Root Magazine Interviews Dave Hackley
Are you a Goer?
Root: So Dave, give us a little history behind the “Going with the Goers” campaign.
DH: The “Going with the Goers” campaign was initially inspired about a year and a half ago. I sat down in December of 2009 and started writing out the whole vision and concept for it as a result of prayer. I didn’t realize it at the time but it was being developed over a course of several years through my personal growth and discipleship. So the concept was really born out of lessons that I was learning as I was continued to mature as a believer. The campaign “Going with the Goers”, was inspired by the great commission where Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples after they followed him for three and a half years. They watched him touch lives and make impact and share with people about the kingdom of God. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of giving his own life for our sins and when he rose, giving us victory over sin and death. He went back to those same disciples that had followed him for the last three and a half years and told them now it’s your turn and to Go and make disciples, so because those disciples decided to go and make disciples, which is the great commission, Matt. 28:19-20, those disciples decided to go and make disciples, and those disciples decided to go, until one day, somebody came to us and now we’re disciples.
Root: What do you plan to accomplish with this initiative?
DH: Well, the campaign goal is to energize believers to become more proactive in sharing and demonstrating our faith in unique, yet relevant ways within an everyday context. Part of the motivation for the campaign was born out of a lot of personal experiences; lessons that were being learned throughout my growth as a believer. I started to realize there was a season in my life where I had always been challenged and taught to be more proactive in evangelizing and making disciples. Back in 2002, I lived in Camden, New Jersey and I didn’t have a car so I got around by public transportation, therefore, I was always looking for opportunities to share the gospel. I would have little books of the book of John that I could order that were free and that was cool for that season but once I got a car I noticed that my evangelism slowed down. After while, the question I started asking myself was, well ok I still need to be sharing my faith and I still need to be evangelizing, but in my mind I thought that had to take place on a street corner. I was still sharing my faith at my job and having conversations with co-workers and one specific instance helped give me some insight with regard to taking time to put this campaign together. You compare two minutes with a person on the street corner with 40 hours with your co workers during the week you have a lot greater opportunity to not only share something about your faith, but to also demonstrate it. One particular day, there was a gentleman who worked for Coca-Cola. He would come into the supermarket a couple of times a week and fill up their shelves with Coca-Cola products. He happened to stop by our branch whenever he left because he was trying to holler at this girl, one of my co-workers, he was trying to holler at her and this particular day he told her that he was going to the Five Spot after he got off work, which is a spot in Philly. Its not there anymore. They would have all kinds of great music, underground artists and things and this particular night they were having Producers battle, battling of the beats and when she heard that, she mentioned that I was a producer. So the guy said, oh word, and started asking me questions and found out that I was a Christian producer and that I did Christian rap, some other things like that, which were definitely unfamiliar to him, so the more he asked questions, the more answers I gave him, the more questions he asked. So I said listen I’m about to go to lunch, why don’t we just link up while I’m on lunch and you could just ask me whatever you need to ask me. During that lunch period, by the time I came back from lunch, I had led him to Christ. I keep in contact with him until this very day.
Root: That’s great! Do you have any key gospel artists associated with this initiative?
DH: Yes. The “Going with the Goers” campaign has a compilation project out. There are three parts to the overall campaign that we are continuing in our development with. One is the compilation project, which was released on May 17, 2011 and is available now on iTunes. You can go to Hackleymusicgroup.com to learn more about the campaign itself, but also for a link to the iTunes and Amazon pages where you can actually download the project. The project has 14 artists on it and I decided to work with a number of new artists because I have been working in production for the last ten years on a professional level. We have artists like Alex Bowens, Brandon Camphor, Leah Smith, B-Luv, Duce Banner and others. I’ve also had the opportunity to work with Urban Contemporary artists such as Out of Eden, Lisa McClendon, Kierra Sheard, The Cross Movement, Da Truth, Michelle Bonilla and many others, so I got started early. I have been blessed to work on many Stellar, Dove and Grammy nominated albums from Da Truth, Out of Eden and others as well, so I have the opportunity to work with quite a few artists on a larger stage. With the “Going with the Goers” campaign, I wanted to grab up some new faces that I think have tremendous talent and help provide a platform for them.
Root: How can a regular person be involved with this campaign? Is it considered to be a movement?
DH: Absolutely, it’s definitely a movement. The target audience is really between the ages of 16 and 35, however, the great commission is for everyone. If you’re old enough to understand the gospel and you can share it then you have the opportunity to do so. You’re not too young or too old to be a “Goer.”
Wanna be a “Goer”? To learn more about this initiative go to: hackleymusicgroup.com.
