Author: Calvin R. Evans
Published: December 2, 2005
Tool: [ email ]
Manhunt: Today we have an interview with Guy Cundiff, who is the owner of The Vision nightclub in Gastonia, North Carolina. Mr. Cundiff, I thank you very much for sitting down with us, and giving us the opportunity to interview you today. We appreciate it.
Cundiff: My pleasure.
Manhunt: The first question that I would like to ask is, what is the vision of The Vision?
Cundiff: Ok, when I had the opportunity to come in here to what we call The Vision Center, which used to be entitled Southern College, and before that it was a club called The Eagles Club. And when I came in and had the opportunity to renovate, what I wanted to do is give people in the Gastonia area as well as the surrounding areas in North Carolina, Shelby, Charlotte, etc. the opportunity to develop their vision. And it could be in multiple areas, music, art, dance, or business. But I had the opportunity to develop this facility and then bring it before the people of this community to say, hey you have vision, you have talent, you have dreams and goals, well I want to part of helping them come to pass. So the Vision Center is designed to help each and every person who has vision to develop them and help to find other venues for them, and enhance everything that they have a desire to do. So my vision is to help your vision, and I can do that by supplying the facility and all the necessary things that a lot of times we don't have. So that was the main focal point of The Vision, to help other peoples vision. That's why I am excited about it, because you motivate people and that is the greatest asset that we have is people.
Manhunt: Good. So in a sense, it is kind of like a developmental or training ground for up and coming artists and comedians...
Cundiff: Correct.
Manhunt: You do a lot of different things correct?
Cundiff: Yes.
Manhunt: What gave you the motivation or impetus to open a nightclub that is geared towards Christians?
Cundiff: Well because of my bible background, coming out of the secular world as a young Christian and being involved in the music industry and seeing the challenges that the majority of people in the music industry had to deal with, God told me to make it strictly bible based because the whole purpose is to make your latter end greater than your former end. And a lot of times in the secular world, we see just the opposite. We see artists that start out successful and then we see the end of their life where they had tragedy, trouble, trials, separations, sickness and disease and all that, and that is not the total plan for man. The total plan for man is to have your latter end be greater than your former end, and in fact, to even leave an inheritance to your children's children. So when you have a bible-based club, nightclub if you want to call it that, what you do is you help people to not only deal with their gifts and talents, but to also deal with ethics and etiquette because that is the key to success. The character that you develop as you are going up the latter of success, the character that you develop is what keeps you, not your talent.
Manhunt: Amen. That's a very good point. What types of shows and services do you provide your audience at The Vision Center?
Cundiff: Every Friday night we have what we call The Artist Showcase. We bring in soloists, gospel groups, bands, comedians, and it's like an open mic night. You get to perform your gifts and talents. A lot of the artists that come basically deal with original material, which I like a lot more than doing other people's things because each and every one of us has our own gifts and talents on the inside of us. So from the artist showcase what we endeavor to do is network with them. If they need writers, musicians, if they need to record their CD we have the facilities to do that. We have people in key positions that are engineers, keyboard players, various artists, and we want to develop them and we use the artist showcase to do that.
On Saturdays we have various types of functions, we lease out the facility for birthday parties, meetings, plays, family reunions, wedding receptions, it goes from A to Z. So we leave that door open strictly on Saturdays, and sometimes we can adjust with the artist showcase for people who want to use the facility for venues where they want to have their own function. On Sundays, we have two ministers here that have bible studies. On Monday nights we have what we call the Private Business Reception, where we deal with people in various business that want to come in and network or share their business. It's an entrepreneurial type of situation that we have. Tuesday night is bible study. Wednesday night at this point is open. Thursday night people use the facility for rehearsals. Also, we have a radio program at this time, where we pre-record the radio program every Thursday night. So we have an awesome opportunity right here in the Gastonia area, and we are always looking for leaders and people who are inspired to do some things that are in their heart.
Manhunt: That's big, that's really big. So what challenges do you face that are unique in running a Christian owned nightclub?
Cundiff: I think the major challenge is not crossing over. I don't think that I should say major, but I've had people who come in, and because my Christian convictions are so strong I draw a line, but people have wanted to come in and use the facility for something other than Bible based things. When I say Bible based that does not mean that I don't work with people who do clean stuff, but I have line and because of my Christian background and my understanding of the Word of God, it gives me a balance so that I am not challenged with people who want to come in a use the facility for other things that it wasn't designed for. I think a lot of people miss it when they chase finances and money, as I say, "Chase the carrot", because everybody has a different carrot that they want you to bite on. But when you have that bible base and your foundation is strong, and other things do not move you that you see and feel, that's what keeps you. Also, I guess another challenge that I have is finding people who are real. A lot of people have various motives why they do things. Sometimes they want you to be the stepping-stone to get where they desire to be. And I don't mind that if you are a key player. I want people to be successful, I want them to be blessed, I want them to have finances, but also you have to look at people's motivation. I thank God for the Bible base that I have and being Spirit-filled, and God always gives me the ability to discern people, not so much to point a finger at them, but it's to help The Vision to continue to go on where God desires us to go.
Manhunt: Very good. Do you find it difficult to market to Christians and yet still be able to draw non-Christians to events?
Cundiff: Yeah it can be challenging if you try to do it yourself. Everything that I've done here, it was not me it was God. See God sends people...God sent Calvin, God sends people and it makes the marketing a lot easier. If you want to put a title or office on myself, I operate more in the office of evangelist. So I am always dealing with the unsaved world. That's what I love, I love for them to come and enjoy themselves, but like I said before I have a line. I've had people come and do music that was, if I can say "clean"(not Christian, but not offensive) and it was accepted, because my main heart is to put some knowledge and wisdom in people so they can be more successful. Most of the time it's because they don't know, they have just been exposed to this world and this world always dictates to us how they want us to act and they use the images. So you have young people that walk around with the earring in their ears and their pants sagging down, why, because it is the image that the world shows them through the media. So it's not so much of a challenge, because my heart is more for the unsaved than the saved. But there really is not that much difference. And sometimes I can handle an unsaved person, I can handle winos, better than I can handle some Christians because a wino can be honest with you and say, "Hey I'm a wino", while in the Christian world you've got to decide where they are. You've got Christians who smoke, Christians who drink, so there are different levels. In the secular world, a person can say, "This is what I do, I on drugs." I can handle that because at least we know where you are and we can work with you. So you have the two worlds but when you have God on your side it doesn't matter because He is the one who has to make this thing happen not me, I'm just a steward over it. If it doesn't happen it's not because of me because one human being cannot be successful...like I said before the greatest asset that any person has is people. So the more people that God puts around me that have a vision and see the vision, then it's like per se holding up my arms and they are doing things that I could never do, and they know people that I could never know. And I think that is why The Vision is going to be successful, because it is bringing to the Gastonia area something that is all together new in the way that it's set up. And that's what the city needs and what the world needs. So you have people who drive by all the time and they look in but they've never been in, and what God told me is once they come in they will see the vision. And that's what happens to all of us, once we come in and see this vision, then we can understand what it is all about.
Manhunt: Ok, all right. Well that's pretty much the extent of my questions but what I wanted to give you the opportunity to do now is, for anyone wanting to display their gifts and talents here at The Vision, how do they get in contact with you here at The Vision Center?
Cundiff: Ok, you can reach me at (704) 309-9230. And remember that the whole purpose of The Vision is to help your vision. So we encourage you to give us a call. Remember, The Vision Center is located at 160 West Franklin Blvd. right in the heart of Gastonia. It's the up and coming premier entertainment center in the Carolinas, and it's just the beginning of many that God is going to establish. We want you to call us, we want you to come by and check it out, and then we want you to get involved at The Vision Center.
Manhunt: Amen. Well Brother Cundiff, thank you very much for your time we appreciate you.
Cundiff: Thank you, I appreciate you.
Manhunt: God bless you.
Cundiff: God bless you.
