This past weekend I traveled up to Minneapolis, Mn to be part of the first annual “Operation Hip-Hop Conference”.  The event was hosted by Pastor Stacy of Urban Jerusalem Church.  Pastor Stacy, his wife and his “Urban J” fam has been holding a Saturday Night Hip-Hop Worship Experience for 5 years in the twin cities.  Their ministry has created a platform for several area hip-hop artists and has inspired a handful of other church planters in the region.  It was encouraging to see this movement sparking off over a thousand miles away from Tampa!  They had a live DJ, MC’s, poets and painters during their worship experience… I thought I was at home - lol!  Dozens of church leaders and hundreds of music fans were part of the weekend.  There were several workshops featuring Phil Jackson (Da House in Chicago), Elwood “Uncle L” Jones (from Virginia), Rob Torres (from Milwaukee), Dr. Daniel Hodge (California) and several other local pastors and youth pastors.  Workshops ranged from “Hip-Hop and Evangelism” to “Hip-Hop and Gang Culture” to “Developing a relevant worship experience” and “Planting a church to reach Hip-Hop Culture”.

The weekend reminded me and took me back to the very first year we hosted Flavor Fest in November of 2000.  It was beautiful to be able to be a part of this first conference in the twin cities and be able to speak and pour into these leaders and encourage them “They can do it!”  Dozens of these leaders are planning on coming down for the 11th annual Flavor Fest Conference in October (www.flavorfest.org).  I’m excited to see other conferences like this popping up in other parts of the country as not everyone can make it down to Florida every year for our event.  Tomorrow I head up to Atlanta to another conference “City Takers”.  This will be another similar event as the movement is sparking off there in a major way with Scott Free.  Hundreds of leaders and artists will be gathering in the A.  Check the invite that I did with my daughters on my youtube page!