Putting “church” and “hip-hop” in the same sentence is definitely unorthodox. Yet both these words helped shape my identity growing up as a pastor’s kid in Philadelphia. When I committed my life to Christ in m late teens, God soon revealed his calling for me. It became clear: My ministry was not going to be “normal.”

In Philadelphia, I ministered to kids in the streets and in a juvenile detention facility. They connected with me. Then after I graduated from Bible college in 1996, I founded a youth ministry at a young church in Tampa, Florida, called Crossover. We quickly noticed the majority of community teens and young adults were highly influenced by hip-hop culture. Many of the people accepting Christ in our services were talented rappers, dancers, artists, poets, and DJs. We wanted to give them every opportunity to use their gifts and talents for their Creator.

In places like Africa and South America, missionaries have learned to incorporate local society into worship, not wipe it out. So I said, “Why don’t we do that here in America, where so many subcultures have emerged? Keep it biblical, teach people how to defend their faith, but do it in a relevant, nonjudgmental way.”

We followed that plan, and by 2002 Crossover’s youth and young adult ministry had grown to hundreds. The church asked me to take over as pastor that year, since most of the 40 adults coming on Sunday were attracted by the youth ministry. As the year progressed, my wife and I realized God was calling us to reach the hip-hop generation—to dedicate our entire ministry to reaching out to this emerging culture.

We had a lot of questions and doubts. But a few pastors began to mentor me, and soon our church became purpose driven—focusing on the five purposes of the New Testament church.

Now our campus is bursting with three Sunday services. We’re experiencing true church growth; the majority of our congregation hasn’t attended church before. We have also become the model for a groundswell of young urban churches across the country that are focusing on reaching the hop-hop culture with the Gospel. Every year we host a conference called Fla.vor Fest to train, network, and support emerging leaders to connect with the hip-hop culture for Christ (crossoverchurch.org).

When people hear that Crossover targets hip-hop culture, I often get crazy questions like, Do you rap your sermons?  Or, Do you guys read and study the Bible or are your services mostly just entertainment?

Photo: Frank W. Ockenfels 3/Eye-Forward

I have to put myself in their place and realize that many people don’t understand our culture.

Our worship services have many familiar elements—singing, prayer, announcements, teachings, an offering, and special music. Everything we believe and practice in our services is biblical. But the way that we do these things is different. Remember, Jesus was not a traditional guy! He was constantly frustrating the religious leaders of his day. You can see this throughout the Gospels as he challenged many man-made rules and how leaders interpreted some of the commandments (Matthew 12:1-14 and 15:1-9).

Music is a huge element with our crowd. We have a DJ spinning Christian hip-hop or R & B. Our worship team sings many of the same songs other churches do, but with a remixed flavor. A rapper or two will mix in some of the faster songs and rap between repetitions of the chorus. The worship team will also sing some slower songs with R & B ballads, sing a cappella, or sing with someone beatboxing in the background.

The hip-hop culture wants realness. Because they are comfortable with our music, people authentically engage in worship with God. They clap, raise their hands, cry, sway side to side, or sometimes just sit quietly, deeply in thought. Worship, of course, is more than just singing. At many services, we’ll incorporate rap, poetry, Scripture reading, and an occasional dance or even an artist painting a mural.

Hip-hoppers are also visual learners. We keep that in mind as we present the message. Some churches may tie in special music, drama, or even a video at the beginning or end of a message. We tend to mix it into our messages at several points to illustrate themes and Scripture. The reality is our attention spans have become short, and for the younger generations, it’s even shorter.

We are very aware of that. Each week the regular attendees at our church—and new people alike—tell me that the service was perfect for them. They are not going to assimilate into your average church. That’s just not them. God has called us to build bridges to this culture and educate others about how they, too, can connect with this new generation of Christians.