Chat Room: Mark Wagner

Mark Wagner
Age: 22.
Single
Occupation: Music major at Middle Tennessee State University; also a singer, song writer and producer of pop/rock/soul music as featured at markwagnermusic.com.

What was your first paying job?
"I worked for a landscaping company. Mr. Mike McMillan was kind enough to offer me a job when I was 15. I was known as the ‘Weed-eater Boy.’"

When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
"My grandmother always thought I’d be a lawyer. I was a big reader."

If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you take?
"This might be cliché, but the Holy word of God, It is definitely the most important thing I own as far as guidance and the way I live my life."

If you could do one impulsive thing, unrestricted by cost, what would it be?
"I would travel around the world, filming and documenting. I think it would be amazing to go around the world, film a documentary, come home, write a soundtrack and produce the whole thing as a film."

With whom, living or dead, would you most like to have a long lunch?
Martin Luther.

What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?
"Learn how to do your own laundry."

What are you guilty of?
"I am guilty of not studying enough for school."

What is one thing you have always wanted to do but haven’t?
"Perform with Dave Mathews."

Do you think there is life on other planets?
"No."

What is your favorite material possession?
"Probably my vehicle, a GMC Yukon. I spend a lot of time in it.

What are you reading currently?
"Celebration of Discipline," by Richard Foster.

Who has been the most influential person in the 20th century?
"Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

What was your most embarrassing moment?
"In a concert at the Bongo Java in Nashville, I forgot the first line of my first song. Audience members had to remind me how my own song went."

Why did you pursue the career you chose?
"I’m passionate about music. I’ve wanted to play music professionally since I was a kid."

What is one word others often use to describe you and why?
"Passionate. Music is a tough business, and it’s easy to get discouraged. It takes a lot of time and effort to pursue it as a career. I’ve been going at it for a couple of years now, and I’m just getting started."

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
"Honestly, I wish I were more excited about exercising."

What is your passion?
"I’m passionate about people. I feel like we sometimes become so engulfed and distracted with the problems in our own lives that we forget about caring for the people around us."

What do you hate?
"Toll roads. Definitely a bummer. I could never live in Illinois."

What’s your favorite quote?
"Preach the Gospel at all times and, when necessary, use words."
- St. Francis of Assisi

What is your dream vacation?
Wagner would visit Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica, with only a guitar, a bike and a few friends.

Did you ever get paddled in school and if so, why?
"No. Maryville City was kind."

What task or activity have you still not gotten around to doing?
"Surfing. I always thought it was really cool."

What is the best book you’ve ever read?
"Searching for God Knows What," by Donald Miller

Would you travel in space?
"Sure. It would be fun to see the whole earth from that far away."

If you could go back in time for a week, what time period or year would you visit?
"I’d go back to the birth of Jesus. Amazing."

What character in a book or movie would you most like to be?
"Ethan Hunt in ‘Mission Impossible.’ Who wouldn’t want to do what he does?"

What is the best present you ever received?
"My first guitar."