ThinkFwd: EP009 DJ Hapa - Remixing the Role of Pastor

What do a scratch academy DJ and church pastor have in common? More than you’d think, according to DJ Hapa and Kimberly Wilson. Hapa is director of the internationally acclaimed Scratch Academy and XX is a student at Fuller Theological Seminary, whose paths crossed when Kimberly began exploring the metaphor of â€�...“pastor as DJ.” Hapa describes a DJ’s unique form of musician-ship as one of de-composition and re-composition. The DJ can’t just passively listen to music and say, â€�...“I like this or that,” but instead has to figure out what’s going on underneath the surface sound. When you listen to the words, the sounds, and the beats, you can find connections in songs that you never thought had any synergy. You can get into a rut even as a DJ, says Hapa -- playing the same club, the same music tracks Friday night after Friday night. This may be what the listener wants to hear—or think they want to hear. But when Hapa began to dig into the music, taking apart and putting back together the pieces in different ways, he rediscovered music and himself. He thinks the DJ’s role is then to take the re-composed music to people and expose them to something new (as opposed to a disc jockey that plays a 3 or 4 minute song without interruption and simply fills a role of announcer). Kimberly thinks sitting at the feet of a DJ can help her become a better pastor. Instead of ‘playing” the same themes over and over—perhaps even the popular topics that people want to hear—pastor’s need to dig into scripture, rediscover it, and re-compose it in a way that makes it new and alive for the listeners. This can help both pastor and listeners alike from getting stuck in a rut, from doing the same old thing week after week, and better connect people to each other, and to the Word.What do a scratch academy DJ and church pastor have in common? More than you’d think, according to DJ Hapa and Kimberly Wilson. Hapa is director of the ...