Supernatural Baptisms @ Crossover Church! We had hundreds respond to the gospel on Easter Sunday and the week after we had a huge water baptism event. It was a day I’ll never forget as I got to baptize my 9 year old daughter Deyana. She is featured in the video - you see me giving Pastor Lans a hand shake as he was on the other side of the tank. There were also 145 other very special people that got baptized that day - we preached on Acts 2 - believed AND baptized and God moved and people responded. We praise God for what he is doing at Crossover. Please keep us lifted in your prayers and pray that all those that were baptized will continue to grow in Christ and get discipled!

Jin will be in the building at Flavor Fest 12 this October! We’ve been watching this cat the past few years as he came out and publicly proclaimed he was following Christ. We’re excited to have him come and share his incredible story of transformation at the opening session on Thursday Night to get things jumped off. He will also be headlining the concert on Saturday Night. The entire conference is planned out A to Z… the planning team is on their game this year as our 12th annual conference is poised to be the best one yet. Check out www.flavorfest.org to see all the details of speakers and their bios, workshop titles and descriptions, general session descriptions, outreach and all the artists rockin’ the evening concerts. This year is about raising up leaders in the Urban Context and discipling them. If you are a leader this is for you… if you are part of a leadership team at a church - this is for your entire team! Check out the descriptions of the 20 workshops and you’ll see there is something for nearly every ministry in the urban context. I hope to see you at Fest 12 “LEAD… Next is Now!” In the meantime check out Jin’s shout out :)

Easter 2012 - It’s been a while since I’ve been blogging here… I’m going to get back on it - I promise :) It’s been a really busy season. Honestly, it’s always busy. But, it’s been a really good busy. Last month our Easter services were truly SUPERNATURAL as we prayed, planned and God’s spirit helped us carry it out. Our team did an incredible job of clearly presenting the message of what Resurrection Sunday is all about. From the selection of the songs, to the testimonies, to the scripture, to the drama to the final invitation to respond - God was moving! One lady shared with one of our staff members that she visited 3 different churches that weekend and that she didn’t even hear the message of the resurrection at the other churches - she was so impressed with how clear and relevant we made the message that was weaved through the entire worship experience.

     It was personally very memorable for me as I started the message getting carried in a closed casket. Kinda scary! But, it was my idea as the message was titled “Dead Man Walking”. I shared how I was dead in my sins, but because of the Resurrection of Christ I could now have new life. I actually shared some of my testimony and we had a few others briefly share as well. We weaved in the story of Christ and at the end over 300 people responded and received a copy of my new book - NEXT steps on your spiritual journey. The following week we had a big water baptism event… and I’ll put another post and video up about that in the next few days. Keep praying for us as we continue to reach our city and disciple all these new people God is entrusting us with. Peace!

Don’t miss this DOPE show coming up in St. Pete where I’m opening up for “Dominic Balli” (His new video “Louder” is now getting airplay on MTV) - plus my boy “Benjah” will be rockin’ as well!

Don’t miss this DOPE show coming up in St. Pete where I’m opening up for “Dominic Balli” (His new video “Louder” is now getting airplay on MTV) - plus my boy “Benjah” will be rockin’ as well!

Pastor Tommy’s “Urban D.’s” brand new book “Next” steps on your spiritual journey is now available here by clicking the store link at the top of the page. It’s an incredible resource for new believers trying to figure out what their next steps in Christ are.  The book is broken down in you tube chunks that hits some very real issues, give answers and biblical references.  It also includes the Gospel of John in the NLT version.  Our church will be giving it out in our new prayer room for free to all those that start a new relationship with Christ.  Buying a book will help us be able to print more and give them away.  Pray this new urban resource touches many around the world!  We also have them available in bulk if your church wants to buy them to give out to new believers. 

Pastor Tommy’s “Urban D.’s” brand new book “Next” steps on your spiritual journey is now available here by clicking the store link at the top of the page. It’s an incredible resource for new believers trying to figure out what their next steps in Christ are.  The book is broken down in you tube chunks that hits some very real issues, give answers and biblical references.  It also includes the Gospel of John in the NLT version.  Our church will be giving it out in our new prayer room for free to all those that start a new relationship with Christ.  Buying a book will help us be able to print more and give them away.  Pray this new urban resource touches many around the world!  We also have them available in bulk if your church wants to buy them to give out to new believers. 

Thanking God for what HE did at Crossover’s 1 Year Celebration in our new facility - 113 people baptized!  Looking forward to the miracles HE’S going to do in 2012!

11-15-11 - Just got back from the “Uprok Conference” in Sydney, Australia!  It was the Aussie’s first Christian Hip-Hop Summit and it was amazing.  About five years ago Pastor Evan was looking to start a church to engage Urban/Hip-Hop Culture in Sydney and they wanted to see if anyone else in the world was doing it.  They googled it and found Crossover Church.  They emailed us and we started a relationship with them online and we sent them some Soulmags and other resources that we’ve produced.  It was exciting to see something was jumping off on the other side of the planet.  About a year after that Pastor Evan came and visited us and spent a few days at our church just observing and building with our team.  He even stayed at the infamous intern house at our former campus - lol.  Not long after that his brother Matt aka Mistery came and spent some time with us and also stayed at the intern crib.  He did some grafitti pieces for us, went to a show with me and hung out with several of the guys from the church.  We were hearing the exciting news that they had jumped off this ministry called “Krosswerdz” where they were putting on Hip-Hop events once a month tied in with Pastor Evan’s new church “The Embassy”.  Two brothers working together playing on their strengths.   In October 2010 their ministry sent over an entire team to our 10th annual Flavor Fest.  They built a lot of new relationships at the Fest and really got inspired to what could happen next over in Australia with the scene over there.  They told me they had been dreaming about doing a conference and they felt like 2011 was the year… in fact they said… you guys did 10/10/10 - we’re gonna do 11/11/11 - LOL.   Through much prayer, planning, hard work and sacrifice the first “Uprock Conference” popped off with great success.  I had the honor of being invited to come out and speak, do workshops, preach at their Sunday service and perform at the concert.  My man Braille Brizzy was also in the house from the US.  We had a great time hanging out together throughout the weekend and we even flew on the same flight from LA. It was dope as it really reminded me of our first Flavor Fest as we had about the same amount of people (70) come to the conference part.  But, Uprock was even more organized then we were in our first year as they were able to take notes last year at the Fest and props to them as they really did things in excellence.  Everyone got conference bags, T-Shirts, CD’s, resources and they had 4 workshop tracks going at the same time.  Really fresh!  I met so many guys that were there from all over Australia as the “Krosswerdz” ministry has expanded to several different cities across the country where they are regularly hosting Christian Hip-Hop events.  Many of these guys were all getting together in the same room at the same time for the first time… there was a great sense of unity and excitement.  Don’t sleep on the Aussie’s as there is some real talent over there and a real hip-hop purity vibe as they really live, eat and breath their craft.  Groups like Brethren, Oakbridge, Broadcast, Purified, Izzy, Dying To Be Alive, Longjohn and so many others are really getting it in.  There are several B-Boys and a grip of graffiti writers as well.  Mistery is an internationally known graffiti writer and he got over $1,500 of paint donated for over a dozen artists to do this big piece on the side of the community center where “The Embassy” Church meets - it was dope - I’ll post some shots of that coming up. On Friday Night I also got to go to the well known “Hillsong Church” in Sydney.  I performed a set at their main campus youth night.  The place was packed with lots of energy.  Immediately after my set we jumped in the car and drove 30 minutes to another Hillsong Campus that was much more urban and I performed and preached at that location.  Afterwards we got to connect with the youth pastor James and chop it up about what God is doing through their amazing church. We got to see a little bit of the city - Sydney is a beautiful place and the weather was perfect at this time of year.  I even got to try some Kangaroo meat… actually B-Boy Dyzee from Korea was brave enough to order it and he gave me a piece.  It did NOT taste like chicken.  It had a unique taste and it was a little tough… so one piece was enough for me - lol.  I had a great time building with Dyzee - he is a humble brother that has incredible skillz.  He was so excited to be at the event and see what God is doing through hip-hop.  The neighborhood we stayed in was called Canterbury and it was super diverse.  I felt like I was in the middle east with all the Lebanese, Greek, Turkish and Muslim people and shops and eating spots.  We ate Lebanese food, Thai, Vietnamese and I had an Aussie Beet Burger.  All good stuff.  It’s truly a mission field that “The Embassy” Church is planted in.  Their church has over 25 nationalities represented in it. On Sunday we had church in the park at this big outdoor amphitheater.  Worship was real dope as their worship team had Mistery and Oakbridge rhyming and doing some crowd chants. I felt at home! We sparked it off with a super cypha with about 15 MC’s.  Pastor Evan interviewed B-Boy Dyzee and the TMD Graffiti crew from New Zealand who were world champions at the biggest Graf contest… and they fully rep Christ!  Braille spit “Blessed Man”, and then I had the privilege to bring the word and shared from Mark 5.  Several people responded to the gospel and several others that needed prayer.  It was a great service.  Then they had the huge B-Boy battle there in the park for the rest of the afternoon with dozens of B-Boys gettin’ it in. Mistery hosted this along with DJ Ranksta Boogie (when he wasn’t dozing off - lol) and DJ Mathematics.  There were also graffiti writers piecing up a huge portable wall.  There was lots of great building that went on with people all afternoon.  I got to connect with several cats throughout the afternoon as I just hung out talking.  It was crazy to find that at least half a dozen of them had bought my Un.orthodox book and CD a few years back in the store over there.  Big shout out to all the volunteers from The Embassy Church - you guys did a great job throughout the entire weekend!  You were so welcoming and hospitable. Overall, I came back to the states tired, but super inspired to see what God is doing on the other side of the world.  I’m excited to be a small part of what he’s doing in our generation.  Pray for the Krosswerdz crew and The Embassy church as they are breaking new ground over there.  They are pioneering in their country.  I’m looking forward to watching what God is going to do with them in the next few years.  You can check them out at www.krosswerdz.com 

11-15-11 - Just got back from the “Uprok Conference” in Sydney, Australia!  It was the Aussie’s first Christian Hip-Hop Summit and it was amazing.  About five years ago Pastor Evan was looking to start a church to engage Urban/Hip-Hop Culture in Sydney and they wanted to see if anyone else in the world was doing it.  They googled it and found Crossover Church.  They emailed us and we started a relationship with them online and we sent them some Soulmags and other resources that we’ve produced.  It was exciting to see something was jumping off on the other side of the planet.  About a year after that Pastor Evan came and visited us and spent a few days at our church just observing and building with our team.  He even stayed at the infamous intern house at our former campus - lol.  Not long after that his brother Matt aka Mistery came and spent some time with us and also stayed at the intern crib.  He did some grafitti pieces for us, went to a show with me and hung out with several of the guys from the church.  We were hearing the exciting news that they had jumped off this ministry called “Krosswerdz” where they were putting on Hip-Hop events once a month tied in with Pastor Evan’s new church “The Embassy”.  Two brothers working together playing on their strengths.  

In October 2010 their ministry sent over an entire team to our 10th annual Flavor Fest.  They built a lot of new relationships at the Fest and really got inspired to what could happen next over in Australia with the scene over there.  They told me they had been dreaming about doing a conference and they felt like 2011 was the year… in fact they said… you guys did 10/10/10 - we’re gonna do 11/11/11 - LOL.  

Through much prayer, planning, hard work and sacrifice the first “Uprock Conference” popped off with great success.  I had the honor of being invited to come out and speak, do workshops, preach at their Sunday service and perform at the concert.  My man Braille Brizzy was also in the house from the US.  We had a great time hanging out together throughout the weekend and we even flew on the same flight from LA. It was dope as it really reminded me of our first Flavor Fest as we had about the same amount of people (70) come to the conference part.  But, Uprock was even more organized then we were in our first year as they were able to take notes last year at the Fest and props to them as they really did things in excellence.  Everyone got conference bags, T-Shirts, CD’s, resources and they had 4 workshop tracks going at the same time.  Really fresh!  I met so many guys that were there from all over Australia as the “Krosswerdz” ministry has expanded to several different cities across the country where they are regularly hosting Christian Hip-Hop events.  Many of these guys were all getting together in the same room at the same time for the first time… there was a great sense of unity and excitement.  Don’t sleep on the Aussie’s as there is some real talent over there and a real hip-hop purity vibe as they really live, eat and breath their craft.  Groups like Brethren, Oakbridge, Broadcast, Purified, Izzy, Dying To Be Alive, Longjohn and so many others are really getting it in.  There are several B-Boys and a grip of graffiti writers as well.  Mistery is an internationally known graffiti writer and he got over $1,500 of paint donated for over a dozen artists to do this big piece on the side of the community center where “The Embassy” Church meets - it was dope - I’ll post some shots of that coming up.

On Friday Night I also got to go to the well known “Hillsong Church” in Sydney.  I performed a set at their main campus youth night.  The place was packed with lots of energy.  Immediately after my set we jumped in the car and drove 30 minutes to another Hillsong Campus that was much more urban and I performed and preached at that location.  Afterwards we got to connect with the youth pastor James and chop it up about what God is doing through their amazing church.

We got to see a little bit of the city - Sydney is a beautiful place and the weather was perfect at this time of year.  I even got to try some Kangaroo meat… actually B-Boy Dyzee from Korea was brave enough to order it and he gave me a piece.  It did NOT taste like chicken.  It had a unique taste and it was a little tough… so one piece was enough for me - lol.  I had a great time building with Dyzee - he is a humble brother that has incredible skillz.  He was so excited to be at the event and see what God is doing through hip-hop.  The neighborhood we stayed in was called Canterbury and it was super diverse.  I felt like I was in the middle east with all the Lebanese, Greek, Turkish and Muslim people and shops and eating spots.  We ate Lebanese food, Thai, Vietnamese and I had an Aussie Beet Burger.  All good stuff.  It’s truly a mission field that “The Embassy” Church is planted in.  Their church has over 25 nationalities represented in it.

On Sunday we had church in the park at this big outdoor amphitheater.  Worship was real dope as their worship team had Mistery and Oakbridge rhyming and doing some crowd chants. I felt at home! We sparked it off with a super cypha with about 15 MC’s.  Pastor Evan interviewed B-Boy Dyzee and the TMD Graffiti crew from New Zealand who were world champions at the biggest Graf contest… and they fully rep Christ!  Braille spit “Blessed Man”, and then I had the privilege to bring the word and shared from Mark 5.  Several people responded to the gospel and several others that needed prayer.  It was a great service.  Then they had the huge B-Boy battle there in the park for the rest of the afternoon with dozens of B-Boys gettin’ it in. Mistery hosted this along with DJ Ranksta Boogie (when he wasn’t dozing off - lol) and DJ Mathematics.  There were also graffiti writers piecing up a huge portable wall.  There was lots of great building that went on with people all afternoon.  I got to connect with several cats throughout the afternoon as I just hung out talking.  It was crazy to find that at least half a dozen of them had bought my Un.orthodox book and CD a few years back in the store over there.  Big shout out to all the volunteers from The Embassy Church - you guys did a great job throughout the entire weekend!  You were so welcoming and hospitable.

Overall, I came back to the states tired, but super inspired to see what God is doing on the other side of the world.  I’m excited to be a small part of what he’s doing in our generation.  Pray for the Krosswerdz crew and The Embassy church as they are breaking new ground over there.  They are pioneering in their country.  I’m looking forward to watching what God is going to do with them in the next few years.  You can check them out at www.krosswerdz.com 

CROSSOVER’S ONE YEAR CELEBRATION 11/6

I can’t believe that a year ago we were preparing for our official grand opening in our new 43,000 square foot facility.  It has been a crazy year… a year of incredible growth and learning.  It has been the most exciting year of my life and the most challenging by far.  Sunday Nov. 6th we are having a huge celebration.  We’re combining our 2 morning services at 11am (instead of 10 and 11:45) - so it’s going to be super packed and we are still doing our 7pm service as well.  We’re going to have some people share some testimonies, God has given me a special message and we’re going to have our largest baptism in our church’s history - we can’t wait to see what God is going to do.  We also have our friend “Benjah” who will be in the building in concert!  We have several surprises in store that will make this day one to remember for eternity.  Plus we have FREE FOOD so that’s all good!  If you are in the Tampa area then come celebrate with us - www.crossoverchurch.org for details!

Flavor Fest 2011… we UNITED!  I’m still recovering from the conference.  Big shout out to all of our Crossover Volunteers (over 150!).  You guys killed it!  This year was our best and biggest conference to date.  God really blessed it.  Also giving a shout to DJ Dash who stayed up all night on Saturday to have this recap video ready for our 3 Sunday Services.  There are several committed people like him at our church that make it excellent!

The 11th annual Urban Leadership Conference - “Flavor Fest 2011 - UNITE” @ Crossover Church in Tampa, Florida is just days away!  Don’t miss this EPIC event - register for the conference or get your concert tickets today at www.flavorfest.eventbrite.com 

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Themed by: Hunson