Student Spotlight: Hunter Tart

Hunter_PreachingIn two weeks, Hunter Tart will graduate from Wake Christian Academy and look to begin the first steps towards the next chapter in his life.

Hunter began attending Wake in fourth grade, nine years ago. He has an older brother, Cody (class of ’15) and a younger brother, Bradley (sophomore) attending WCA. His mother, Karen Tart, teaches 3rd grade at WCA and his father, Benny Tart, serves on our Board of Directors.

Recently, Hunter competed in the Fine Arts Competition along with other high school students in Choral Group and Large Group Ensemble. Both groups performed well and received 1st place at State Competition. Hunter would compete in another category and bring home the 1st Place National Trophy.  This category is Preaching. He recalls a moment in the 7th grade, that would put him on the path of competing in this area. “I was at Fine Arts my seventh grade year. While there, I saw a friend who didn’t seem to be in any sort of formal/choir attire, so I asked him what he was doing. When he told me that he was competing in preaching, I of course thought that was really cool, and decided to do it the next year. So in eighth grade, I competed in my first ever preaching competition and have done it every year since.”

That choice led to Hunter competing in preaching competitions for the past six years. In middle school state competitions he received second place in eighth grade and first in ninth. In high school state competition, Hunter placed second in expository as a sophomore, first in topical as a junior, and first in evangelical as a senior. In AACS National Competition he placed first in topical his junior year and first in evangelical this, his senior year.

As you can imagine there is a great time commitment when you compete in this type of art form. Hunter shared that “From the very first time I competed in preaching, I  have always picked the subject I was going to preach on after a lot of prayer.” He would then begin researching the subject for interesting stories and ideas that would be pertinent. Once the research was complete the writing would begin. Many iterations would take place starting with a “skeleton” outline and then more in-depth outlines. When he first started competing he remembers, “I spent somewhere near ten hours of writing the outline, now it takes me two or three.” Once that work is complete, the practice of delivery begins. First, making sure it all flowed, then actually preaching it complete with hand motions, facial expressions, voice inflection, etc. As he practiced his art, his skill set increased. “The first time, I probably preached over it twenty times before competition. Now, I usually only have to preach it two or three to be ready.”

Now that the last year of Hunter’s competition in the program has come to an end, we were curious how he felt as it concluded. “It’s always exciting to win,” says Hunter. “Being a senior did make it exciting (and also kind of sad), but the most exciting part for me was that Bradley and I both won in our categories for state competition,” Hunter shared.

Hunter will be attending Bob Jones University in the fall. He added, “…other than that, only God knows what is in store for me.” Whatever that may be, we will be praying that God continues to use Hunter to glorify His Kingdom and share His Good News with others. Congratulations Hunter!

 

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