\\ W
e all know some people that talk a good game,
but they just don’t deliver. This can be with sports, their career, their hobby, or simply just coming to pick you up. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there like that when it comes to their faith. We all know the type - quick to tell others what to do, but then they don’t live it out themselves. They don’t practice what they preach. Many people steer far away from Christianity and the church as they’ve had some bad experiences with people like this. Some of you reading this right now are still very shaky about this kind of stuff because of what you went through. The Bible actually addresses this in many passages throughout, but in particular it has a whole book in the New Testament that is dedicated to this topic. The book of James is a book of ACTION that was written to challenge and inspire believers to really be about their faith. It shares that if we really believe, then our actions and lifestyle should be an automatic result of our belief as it represents our true transformation. James stresses in chapter 1 verse 22 “Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!” So many people will just sit and listen to God’s word, agree and have good intentions, but then they never truly apply it to their lives. The writer said those who hear and don’t act are like people who look in the mirror, walk away and in just 2 minutes they forget what they look like. Eugene Peterson says, “This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air.” Real faith is the kind that takes ACTION and reaches out to the homeless, the outcast, the outsider, the loveless, and even the hip-hopper! Real people with real faith apply the WORDS of scripture to their everyday lives as they guard their hearts against the corruption of culture. The magazine you hold in your hands is the result of a talented group of creatives that took ACTION as those WORDS in the scripture jumped off the pages. We pray that as you read these WORDS about this amazing faith community and this movement that it’ll inspire you to take ACTION in your faith! Taking ACTION,
Tommy Kyllonen aka Urban D. About the Editor: You can catch him in ACTION every Sunday @ Crossover Church in Tampa, Florida @ 10:00am, 11:45am and 7:00pm. If that’s too far of a drive you can catch the 7pm EST service live in ACTION or on demand on crossoverchurch.org - You can also follow his ACTION at: twitter.com/urband813 S.O.U.L | Pg06
Hey! Welcome to Crossover! We’re glad you’re checking out our latest issue of S.O.U.L. magazine. If you have recently attended one of our services or events, we thank you for coming to be with us. If we haven’t already personally met you, we look forward to that opportunity in the near future. You can usually catch us hanging out after services. Maybe you are reading this and you haven’t actually been to Crossover yet. We hope you’ll have the chance to come out and see us real soon. Either way, this magazine was designed so you could better get to know who we are and what we are about. As you are holding this you may be thinking, “Wow, a church that publishes their own magazine… and it actually looks really professional.” If you have visited us there were probably several other things in our worship service that smashed some of your typical stereotypes about church. We love to do that! If you really get to know Christ you’ll see there was nothing typical about Him either! He’s real, He’s relevant, and He’s relational! That’s what we’re about here at Crossover. That’s why we have planned our music, our prayers, and our messages and basically everything we do to be real, relevant, and relational as we point you to Christ. Our presentation is definitely different than most, but what we’re presenting is real truth. It’s not watered down as some may assume because of our appearance. Instead, you’ll find a solid leadership team that teaches the Word of God in context. We believe that when you come to church you should feel comfortable so you can be real. We believe that coming to church should be a fun and exciting experience, not a boring one. We’re here to celebrate what God as done for us, and learn how we can develop a closer relationship with Him and make the right choices in our every day lives. There’s definitely going to be some challenges to stretch us to grow, but we’re here to push each other and help support each other. More than half of the people that now attend our church previously did not go to church or have a personal relationship with Christ. For some, it had been several years since they walked into a church because they had some bad experiences or just thought it wasn’t relevant. Others had never been to church at all. There are also some that already knew Christ, but were looking for a place they could feel more comfortable and get involved in ministry reaching this culture. At Crossover Church we believe we are supposed to be a family…we are a growing multi-cultural faith community with people from all different backgrounds. Our family is on a journey together. Our goal is to continue to invite others to join us on this journey as we get to know our creator and fulfill the purposes he has for our lives. God has an incredible vision for our church, and we hope with this magazine you can get to know us a little bit better, and if it’s God’s plan… even become part of our family. It’s an exciting time at Crossover as we are in transition because of all the growth. As we follow God’s direction we know our greatest days of impact are ahead! If you have any questions please feel free to email us or call the church office. We look forward to seeing you soon.
Peace and God Bless,
Pastor Tommy, Lucy, Deyana & Sophia S.O.U.L | Pg09
Table of Contents:
Pg.06 – Editorial w/ Urban D. – Actions Speak Louder Pg.09 – Welcome to Crossover… Pg.12 – Crossover’s History Pg.13 – What We Believe & Why Pg.14 – Meet our Crossover Staff Pg.16 – New Mail Pg.18 – Sunday Vibe Pg.19 – Sunday Night Vibe Pg.20 – Crossover Kidz Pg.22 – Connection Classes Pg.24 – Life Groups Pg.28 – Media & Video Team Pg.30 – 3rd Rail Teens Pg.34 – Moving Forward… Pg.36 – What’s NEXT! - Crossover’s “GROWTH” Pg.43 – Tears from lockdown Pg.44 – Bobby TInsley Pg.46 – 1st Impressions Pg.47 – The Network - Crossover Resources Pg.48 – Picture Imperfect Pg.50 – They Said What? Pg.51 – Some Real Drama Pg.52 – Unmasking the faces (Cover Story) Pg.56 – Crossover’s Journey Over The Past Year Pg.58 – Street Stories Pg.61 – Remix Worship Pg.63 – Do Not Conform Pg.64 – On the 1’s and 2’s w/ DJ Lopez Pg.66 – C.H.O.S.E.N. Pg.68 – Corey Hicks Pg.70 – Inside of CrossoverChurch.org Pg.76 – Music Reviews Pg.80 – Spiritual Recession (Final Words) Pg.81 – Crossover @ Innovate 2009 (photos)
The S.O.U.L. Team:
Publisher: Tommy Kyllonen aka Urban D. Creative Director: Edward Bayonet aka Spec Contributing Editors: Rawsrvnt, Lucy Kyllonen Contributing Writers: Tiffany Langudoc, Tone Bruno, Kenneth Godbolt, James Cole, Lucy Kyllonen, Lily Perlaza, Clok, Brandon Brinkley, Legacy Review Team: Brovah Greg, Clok, Cisco, Marz, Jarell, and DJ Dash Photography: Spec, Carlos Espinel, Brandon ‘Dash’ Brinkley, Phillip Rood and James Cole. Contributing designers: Spec & Ameen Hudson Design Department: IAMSPE©.com * Printed by Adcoprinting.com in Tampa, Florida
For information on advertising visit:
thesoulmag.com and download the current press kit for detailed demographics, ad rates and specs. S.O.U.LMAG is published three times annually (in 2010) by Crossover Church. Crossover is a non-profit 501 ( c ) 3. Crossover’s mission is “To relevantly introduce the Truth of Christ to those influenced by urban/hip-hop culture as we develop worship, purpose, unity, and leadership in their lives.” S.O.U.LMAG exists to build on this mission as we take it to a global platform through print.
S.O.U.LMAG / Crossover Church – Tampa, Fl thesoulmag.com / crossoverchurch.org
Weekly Service Times:
Sunday’s Sunday Vibe: 10:00am, 11:45am Sunday Night Vibe: 7:00pm
children’s programs available for ages... Infants-11yrs, during all 3 service times.
Thursday’s 3rd Rail Hip.Hop Teen Service •• 7:00pm-9:00pm Junior High & High School students
Small Group Bible Studies
* Crew Groups meet in homes at different times throughout the week. check out our website for details!.
C
rossover started with a small community of people that wanted something different. They were burned out with “organized religion” – tired of the politics, the tradition, and the masks people hid behind at many churches. They saw the needs of people on the streets that weren’t being met, and they wanted to do something about it. Pastor Joe McCutchen founded Crossover with a few other people in the early 1990’s. They moved into a facility that was basically abandoned and very run down on N. Orleans Avenue. Al Palmquist was a member of the church who met Tommy Kyllonen on some basketball courts in Clearwater. Tommy was running an urban b-ball league while completing his college internship. Joe and Al challenged Tommy to start an urban youth ministry at Crossover from scratch. In December 1995, Tommy graduated from college with a B.A. in Pastoral Theology, with a concentration in Youth Ministry. He married Lucy in February of 1996 and together they founded Crossover’s Youth Ministry with only 4 teens. Over the next six years, they developed a first of its kind Hip-Hop Youth Ministry, which grew to 200 youth weekly. During this time, the Adult Ministry at Crossover maintained about 40 regular attendees as there were three different pastors (changing every two years), each of which were bi-vocational. In January of 2002, Tommy Kyllonen became the lead pastor of Crossover; a new vision and structure was birthed for the church. The church was basically re-launched as Crossover became “Purpose Driven” as the leadership team developed and implemented the mission statement: “To relevantly introduce the truth of Christ to the Hip-Hop Culture as we develop worship, purpose, unity, and leadership in their lives.” Crossover carefully and prayerfully began to make several changes to better reach the community. The services quickly grew as several new people visited and built new relationships with Christ. Many soon embraced the vision and began getting discipled and involved and serving others. God has called Crossover to be a pioneer church to reach those influenced by Hip-Hop Culture. The church has become internationally known through all of the favorable media articles, as well as the numerous CD’s, books, magazines and resources produced by Urban D. and other innovators at the church. Millions have visited Crossover’s website and thousands have attended the church services, looking to Crossover as a model. The once “run down” facility on North Orleans Avenue was been completely transformed into a unique thriving church campus that exploded with creativity for the Creator. The church has grown from 40 to over 500 that attend 3 Sunday Services. In addition, the Thursday night Youth services reach hundreds more each week. The campus was put up for sale in 2009 and was under contract. As this is going to print the closing of the North Orleans campus is just days away, so we are moving forward to a temporary location at a hotel before we move into our much larger permanent location later in 2010. Check the website out for our current meeting location. With all the exciting things God has allowed Crossover to accomplish, we know that this is still just the beginning of our story. These are the roots, the history, and the foundation of Crossover. Check out page 36 to catch a glimpse of the exciting days ahead and see “What’s Next…” as the church builds on this foundation and works to accomplish God’s vision for Crossover’s future.
”
RIST E THE TRUTH OF CH UC OD TR IN LY NT VA TO RELE WORSHIP, E, AS WE DEVELOP UR LT CU P HO PHI S TO THE IN THEIR LIVE D LEADERSHIP AN atement Y, St IT ion UN ss Mi E, s OS er’ ov RP PU -Cross
S.O.U.L | Pg12
”
In the essential beliefs, we have unity.
“There is one body and one spirit... there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of us all...” // Ephesians
4:4-6
In the non-essential beliefs, we have liberty.
“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls... so then each of us will give an account of himself to God... so whatever you believe about these things, keep them between yourself and God.” //
Romans 14:1,4,12,22
Many people describe us as a “Hip-Hop Church”, and that’s understandable as we target that audience and use elements of the culture in our worship services. We prefer not to use that title as it takes off the focus of what we’re really about and it can definitely bring up a lot of questions and even stereotypes. If you are reading this magazine, many of you have probably attended a service here and had a great time where you saw that church could be relevant, engaging, and real. At the same time, you may still have some questions about the details of what we believe. You may think it’s all too good to be true. You may also be a parent reading this whose child or teenager recently attended Crossover and brought this magazine home. You’re probably wondering what this Hip-Hop styled Church is all about. Nothing at Crossover is traditional…that’s quite obvious. However, everything we believe and practice in our services is Biblical. There is a big difference. The “church” [as a whole] has gotten the two a little mixed up. Jesus was not a traditional guy! As a matter of fact, he was constantly in conflict with the religious leaders of His day because He kept challenging them. They tried to look “all good” on the outside, but on the inside they were “rotten”. Jesus is not so concerned with how we look on the outside, or how we dress when we come to His house, (they didn’t have suits and ties in His day), as long as it’s modest. He’s not concerned about the music we play, or the style we choose to worship Him with, as long as the lyrics are clean and glorify Him. Jesus wants our hearts to be pure! At Crossover, we will consistently change our presentation to stay relevant with the culture, but our message and what we believe will never change.
THE ESSENTIALS WE BELIEVE
1. About God: God is the creator and ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. // Genesis 1:1, 26-27, 3:22 / Psalm 90:2 / Matthew 28:19 / Corinthians 13:14
In the essential beliefs, we have unity.
2. About Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for all people by dying on the cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to heaven’s glory and will return again someday to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. // Matthew 1:22-23 / Isaiah 9:6 / John 1:1-5, 14:10-30 / Hebrews 4:14-15 / 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 / Acts 1:9-11 / 1 Timothy 6:14-15 / Titus 2:13
// 1
3. About the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is co-equal with the Father and Son. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He gives every believer a spiritual gift when they are saved. As Christians, we seek to live under his control daily. // 2 Corinthians 3:17 / John 16:7-13, 14:16-17 / Acts 1:8 / 1 Corinthians 2:12,3:16 / Ephesians 1:13 / Acts 2:4
“...If I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have faith that can move mountains - but have no love, I amount to nothing at all.”
Corinthians 13:2
4. About the Bible: The Bible is God’s Word to us. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of all truth for all Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is the truth without any mixture of error. // 2 Timothy 1:13, 3:16 / 2 Peter 1:20,21 / Psalm 119:105 5. About Human Beings: People are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. People are the supreme objects of God’s creation. Although every person has a great potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called “sin”. This sin nature (attitude) separates people from God and is the root cause of many of the problems of life. // Genesis 1:27 / Psalm 8:3-6 / Isaiah 53:6 / Romans 3:23 6. About Salvation: “Salvation” is God’s free gift to us, but we must accept it. We can never make up for our sins through self - improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer for forgiveness can any one be saved from sin’s penalty. When we turn from our selfwilled lives and turn to Christ in faith, we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into their life by faith. // Romans 6:23 / Ephesians 3:8,9 / John 14:6, 1:12 / Titus 3:5 / Galatians 3:26 / Romans 5:1 7. About Eternity: The soul of every human being was created to live forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through salvation and forgiveness. Hell is eternal separation from God. Heaven is eternal union with God. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence. // John 3:16, 2:25, 5:11-13 / Romans 6:23 / Revelation 20:15 / Matthew 1:8, 2:44-46
OUR AFFILIATIONS:
Crossover Community Church is a non-denominational church. We have people from all different backgrounds, ethnic groups, and races. You can see from our statements of faith on this page that we are a Christian Church that fully believes the Bible and teaches it in context. Our Pastors have degrees from Universities where they spent many years carefully studying the Scriptures. The Pastors are ordained Ministers under the laws of the State of Florida. Crossover is affiliated with the Purpose Driven Church Movement led by Pastor Rick Warren who is the pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Ca. He is also the author of the Purpose Driven Life book, which has sold over 40 Million copies. The Purpose Driven Church principles (from the New Testament Churches) focus on the five main reasons that the church exists: worship, fellowship, discipleship, serving, and evangelism (Acts 2:42-47). Each one of these purposes is incorporated into Crossover’s mission statement. There are several other pastors of larger churches in this movement that mentor, train, and support our leadership team. Crossover also partners with The American Bible Society, Urban Youth Workers Institute (Reload), and Southeastern University as they develop resources, provide training, and equip student interns. S.O.U.L | Pg13
Tommy Kyllonen aka Urban D. – Lead Pastor
Tommy founded the youth ministry at Crossover in 1996 after graduating from Southeastern University with a BA in pastoral studies and a concentration in youth ministry. Starting with just four teens, he and his wife developed a first-of-its-kind Hip-Hop Youth Ministry that over the span of six years grew to hundreds, far outpacing attendance in the main Sunday worship. In January 2002, Tommy became the lead pastor at Crossover and a new vision was birthed to specifically reach those influenced by Urban/Hip-Hop Culture. Urban D. has recorded six Hip-Hop albums since 1996 and has traveled across the U.S., Germany, Japan and England performing and speaking at conferences. His latest project “Un.orthdox – church.hip-hop.culture” spans three spectrums of media; music, film, and print. The CD/DVD has major distribution through EMI, and Zondervan published his book. In addition to his role as pastor and artist, Tommy’s perspective as a Christian leader and pioneer in reaching the Hip-Hop culture has led him to be a featured speaker at more than 50 church leadership, youth and worship conferences and workshops. Tommy is also a frequent writer as he is the publisher/general editor for S.O.U.LMAG. He also has authored articles for Relevant, Dasouth.com, Holyculture.net, Pastors.com, Rapzilla.com, The American Bible Society, and Interlinc. He has contributed to several books including the Relevant Church Book, Relevant Nation, and penning chapter introductions and articles for the popular REAL Biblezine. Check him out at www.urband.org - search for him on twitter, facebook and myspace under “urband813”
Ken Godbolt aka Broken– Youth Pastor
Kenneth was born and raised in Orange Park, Florida. He grew up in an urban community, which was heavily influenced by the culture of drugs and crime. Both of his parents were not involved in his life. His mother was addicted to drugs and his father was addicted to alcohol. Most of his childhood was spent in and out of the homes of relatives and friends. This left him confused and hurt. He turned to what seemed to work: drugs, drinking, and violence. In 2000, his uncle saw Kenneth’s incredible basketball talent and helped pay for him to go to Private Christian school. This led to him building a relationship with Christ and continuing his education at Southeastern University where he helped lead the team to their team to a national championship in 2005. After his mother passed away in 2005, Kenneth took some time off from school to heal and re-group. In 2006, God burdened his heart for the inner-city culture through hip-hop music. He partnered with others and ministered to the culture through local concerts. Kenneth first came to Crossover as an intern. While interning he served in Kidz Church, worship team, 3rd Rail and partnered with Pastor Tommy for Sunday services. Upon coming to Crossover, Kenneth met his wife, Nicole. She shares his sam e passion for the urban culture and young people. Nicole served with the Tampa Bay Dream Center for six years prior to joining Crossover in 2006. She holds a BA of Biblical Theology from Faith Theological Seminary and Christian College in Tampa, Florida. Kenneth serves as Crossover’s youth pastor where he ministers to over a hundred teens through the Thursday night service along with his team of over 20 volunteers. Together, Kenneth and Nicole focus their efforts on reaching and building up the youth of Tampa. They have a desire to see this generation rise above the cultural norms and authentically build a relationship with Christ. Ken also recently released his first hip-hop CD “True Freedom” as he frequently travels and speaks and does music. www.myspace.com/3rdrailteens
Tiffany Languedoc – Children’s Director
Originally from the windy city of Chicago, Tiffany moved to Tampa in the early 90’s with her family. In 2005 she moved back to Chicago to get her life focused and spend time with her older sister. During that time she began to build a relationship with Christ. Growing up and attending church your entire life does not always mean you really know who God is. In that time she found her true identity through her fellowship with God and she has not looked back ever since. In the midst of many life transitions and working in the corporate industry full time she managed to finish her AA degree in Business Administration in 2006 and is currently a senior at USF working on a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Previous church experience includes serving in the kid’s ministry and as a volunteer office administrator. Since joining Crossover with her husband Charles (aka C.L.O.K) in the fall of 2007 she has served with the kids’ ministry and the Angel Food ministries. Tiffany has always had a passion and a heart for working with kids. She currently serves as the Children’s Director overseeing a team of volunteers that minister to all of Crossover’s hundreds of children from infants to 5th grade. Tiffany shared “ I know I am doing God’s will for my life.” Tiffany and her husband recently had their first little boy.
Lucy Kyllonen – Administration & Women’s Ministry
Lucy came to Florida by way of Queens, NY where she was raised. She attended Southeastern University and graduated with a BA in Psychology and went on to complete her Master’s in Mental Health counseling at USF. Before joining the church staff in 2003, she worked with teens in various professional settings since 1994. Not only is Lucy the Lead Pastor’s wife, but also currently she works in the Administrative Department assisting with the day to day operations of managing a church. She is also involved in the planning of church events and activities. Her life has become the church, but more importantly the people in it- in specific, the women of the church. Lucy leads C.H.O.S.E.N. Women’s Ministry and is dedicated to equipping women in leadership roles and reminding all women of their worth and identity in Christ. Lucy is actively involved in teaching membership classes, small groups and mentoring women. She has also served in ministry as a speaker, alongside her husband and contributes articles to the S.O.U.Lmag you are holding. She is humbled that these accomplishments have been the work of God in her life and her willingness to be His vessel. As much as she loves being in ministry and fulfilling her purpose, using her gifts and talents, her favorite thing and what she enjoys most is spending time with her best friend (her husband) and being a mother, teacher and role-model to her two growing and curious daughters, Deyana and Sophia. S.O.U.L | Pg14
Lily Lorenzo – Small Group Director/Finances
Lily has been attending Crossover since she moved to Tampa in 2000, after graduating high school. Lily has worked in business settings and sales in Tampa. Prior to being on staff Lily worked for an international mortgage company and had a specialty of working with clients in their finances, home loan needs and foreclosure proceedings. Lily was born in Brooklyn New York and moved to Orlando when she was 8 years old. Growing up around hip-hop she was accustomed to the culture. She grew up in Orlando with both parents in the home. Growing up was tough in a family of six where income was never enough to catch up with the bills. Her parents always made sure to try and give her the best life; however through alcoholism in the home things were not always easy. Through high school Lily worked two jobs to try and help with the household expenses. After her father accepted Christ and gave up alcohol, Lily was inspired to build her own relationship with Christ in order to battle her own struggles. After accepting Christ Lily moved to Tampa to go to school and become part of the Crossover family. She went to The University of Phoenix where she recently graduated with Bachelors in Business Management. Lily has been a part of the Flavor Fest planning team since 2000 and is now assisting Flavor Fest through administration; grant writing and conference planning in order to further fulfill the mission. Several years ago Lily hosted her first small group by the pool of her apartment complex with some friends. Her love for seeing people grow in the word and get connected in relationships has led her to become Crossover’s small group director where she oversees all the groups. Lily uses her business management degree as she runs all the finances at the church and makes sure everything is done with accountability and integrity. Lily recently married Martin Perlaza in Orlando, Fl. They now both attend Crossover together as Martin can be found on the drums while Lily on the patio cooking some good food for fundraisers.
Edward Bayonet aka Spec – Creative Director
SPE© is no stranger to the hip-hop culture. His influences are close to home; uncle’s that were b-boys and cousins that were graffiti artists around NYC. Growing up in a single parent household, Spec was pushed to fend for himself on many occasions through out his life as he always looked out for himself instead of the well being of others. Now, SPE© spends his days giving of his time, talent, and more. After obtaining an AA degree in Graphic Design & Advertising in 2000; he has been the Director of Media here @ Crossover since. His graphic skills range from flyers, videos, DVD’s, CD’s, music, MAGAZINES, etc.; Spec has a hand in much of what you see produced out of Crossover. He has stood behind the vision/mission of Crossover since 1998 when he first accepted Christ here at a concert. SPE© also works as a teacher in graphic design at Tampa Bay Tech High School where he trains the next generation and lets his light shine. SPE© occasionally travels along side with Pastor Tommy around the country and overseas, speaking, teaching and performing at several venues and conferences. For more on SPE© visit: www.iamspec.com
Gordon Meetze – Head Elder/General Contractor
Gordon has been in Tampa since 1957, and started his relationship with Christ on July 3rd, 1960 at Crossover’s North Orleans campus. Gordon and his wife Carolyn have been a vital part of the several different congregations that have met here throughout the years. They celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary this past year! In the late 1980’s Gordon and his family were one of the last few people left at the church. Many people told him to let the church go as he was actually filling in as the pastor. But, Gordon followed God and held on. Although Gordon is one of our older members he is excited to see what God is doing as the church is now fulfilling a prophecy that was given many years ago. Gordon has always been willing to change and support the vision of the church as he provides priceless wisdom for the team. We always say he’s the coolest old guy we know! He had served as the church treasurer for several years, and helped maintain the church property, as he’s an incredible handyman. Gordon has run his own remodeling company for several decades. He currently serves on the Church Council and is the general contractor that is overseeing all the construction on Crossover’s new facility.
Delia Harris – Worship Director
Delia was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area (California). She grew up in a home that loved God and had a long history of serving the local church. At a very young age she was on the road every weekend, in her family group called “The Born Again Singers”. They ministered to churches and major prisons in the U.S. such as San Quentin, Chino, and Carson City Nevada and at state wide correctional institutions. She attended Patten University in Oakland, CA, were she obtained most of her musical training in Voice & Symphonic percussion. In 1988 she graduated from the Universidad Cristiana Latino Americana in Cali, Colombia South America with a B.M. in Sacred Music and a minor in Theology. While in Cali, Colombia as a missionary (1996) with the Julio C. Ruibal Ministries, she became a licensed minister. She has worked with several churches nationally in the U.S. and internationally (Cuba, throughout South America and Canada) Some of her experiences include: speaking in conferences, directing mass choirs, leading in worship, touring with Hosanna Integrity Music leader Bob Fitts and leading worship with YMAM at the Atlanta Olympics. She has played for several symphonic orchestras and sung with many choral groups. For the last 20 years she has played Latin percussion music. Through the years Delia has created and directed Hip-Hop dance troupes, Mime troupes and singing groups as she has the strong conviction that God wants to use every facet of the arts for His honor and glory. “I appreciate all forms of the Arts such as dance, painting, poetry, Rap, theatre, music and much more. God created all music and every style can be used as long as its focus is on Him.” For the past several years, though always involved heavily in the local church, Delia has worked in the corporate world as a seasoned professional to senior executives of Fortune 500 companies. In 2008 Delia married the love of her life John Harris, a minister and an amazing man of God. Together they desire to see people’s lives radically changed by their relationship with Jesus Christ. Delia serves as the worship director at Crossover and oversees worship in the 3 Sunday services as she works with singers, musicians, DJ’s, rappers, poets, artists and dancers to experience God’s presence in a fresh way each week. *These are our staff members as of December 2009. Check out the website for a current listing as we continue to grow. S.O.U.L | Pg15
Subject: Watching from Africa
I feel as if my feet are not touching the ground because of what I have received from your wonderful and uplifting conversation in the word from your website. I was so touched that I felt compelled to write you and thank you for how the Lord is using you. Our church is praying for you. Our congregation group here is very happy in the Lord through your teachings from the website. I’ve used some of the content for teaching and we desire more – keep it coming! Peace and Blessings. Your co-laborers in Christ, Bishop Peter Ayuma Choti Bible Light Christian Church Keyna, East Africa - Every week hundreds of people watch Crossover’s services live and on demand through our website and thousands now subscribe to our podcast and listen to services!
Subject: Coming to Tampa…
I wanted to tell the staff @ Crossover how much I appreciate your commitment to reach the lost. I am continually inspired and challenged by how Crossover has stepped up to the plate in making sure the timeless message of the gospel is communicated in a relevant way. Praise God for you all. We’re still praying about God’s timing for the move to Tampa. We hope to visit Nicaragua this year and will probably come through Tampa and see you guys at a service. May God continue to give you clarity, vision and courage rooted in His purposes! A work in progress, Gabriel -Thanks for the encouragement Gabe – hope to see you soon!
Subject: Great Work!
The Lord has privileged me to write this email to you. I am pastor Mohana from India. I visited your website and learned about your ministry. You’re doing a great work for the Lord. People like you are rare in these last days. I whole-heartedly praise the Lord for your wonderful ministry! May the Lord continue to use you. Sincerely in his service, Pastor Mohana
Subject: WOW!
Words can’t describe the impact you and your team had on our staff, volunteers and every church leader at Innovate. You truly busted us out of our box, challenged us to something bigger than we could have ever imagined and built bridges we didn’t realize needed built. The level of creativity and excellence was unlike anything we had ever seen before. It is OBVIOUS God has anointed your ministry in a truly unique and remarkable way. It was an HONOR AND PRIVLEDGE to host your team at Innovate. There isn’t a single person who is the same leaving the experience the same as they were coming in…and that’s because of Crossover. THANK you for your faith and investment in the Kingdom AND us. We’re in your corner… Kem Meyer Communications Director Granger Community Church (www.gccwired.com) - A team of staff/artists from Crossover went up to be a part of The Innovate Conference Arts Mash Up. Crossover was hand chosen with 3 other churches to give a 12 minute arts performance illustrating Philippians 2:3
Subject: Lifting Ya’ll up!
I was just talking about you guys the other day. I’m keeping you guys lifted up. I’m good on this end – staying busy! I’ll definitely reach out to Crossover the next time I’m in the area. If any of you come out to LA – make sure you do the same! Peace, Jamie Jones - We met Jamie and gave him a S.O.U.LMAG when he performed at a Super Bowl event that our youth ministry attended. Jamie was formerly in the R&B super-group “All for one”. He now does production and goes out and sings and shares his testimony about what Christ did in his life.
- We pray God will continue to use you in India in great ways!
Email S.O.U.LMAG... we love to hear feedback and or good news!
soulmag@crossoverchurch.org
S.O.U.L | Pg16
O
ur Sunday services give off a refreshing vibe as they reach a multi-cultural, multi-generational urban crowd with people from many different backgrounds. Crossover has experienced incredible growth over the past several years. Although the church is much larger and has multiple services, it has even more of a friendly family atmosphere now than ever before. It has become an exciting place where everyone is accepted in Love no matter how they look. Our church services are geared to be different and cutting edge because the crowd we reach is not into “tradition.” Although we attract people of all ages, the majority of our crowd is younger than your average congregation, [most people here are in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s]. Suits and ties are not required J…most people come dressed casually, and come to worship God in a comfortable atmosphere. Our First Impressions Team welcomes you with smiling faces. Each person also receives a program, which contains all of our up coming events, ministry opportunities, and additional information. Our praise and worship is done with a Hip-Hop/Rn’B style with a live DJ, worship team, and a mix of artists, poets, rappers, and live musicians. God’s presence is always evident as people genuinely seek Him.
...the crowd we
reach is not into
“tradition.”
The message is always brought in a creative, practical way where everyone can learn something that is applicable to their everyday lives. Pastor Tommy and the speaking team use message series that include various visual elements like original short films, drama, testimonies, object lessons and music to help illustrate the scripture and the topic. Printed handouts are often times distributed and the audience is encouraged to follow along and take notes with the teaching and “fill-in the blanks”. Many services end with a great prayer time or a strong challenge to make life changes, start a relationship with Christ, or to make a stronger commitment to Him. Our prayer area is open after each service with leaders available to pray for those who felt challenged from the message and need to share and get prayed for. After the service the patio turns into a great place of community where people hangout, build relationships, and eat together.
S.O.U.L | Pg18
Our Sunday night vibe service is the same worship and message as the morning with some added extra flavor for those that can’t make it out to the earlier services. We realize many people in our culture now have to work Sundays during the day, and we want to provide a time they can come out to a worship service. Crossover also desires to reach that tough crowd that just can’t roll out of bed Sunday mornings, and this service creates that time slot. This also gives people options if they want to do something during the day with their family and then catch the night service instead. The first Sunday Night of each month features an open mic where MC’s spit their verses and their freestyles and Break-dancers hit the stage with their moves. The freestyle session changes each month from topics on the screens, to objects picked out of box, even to reverse battles. We always have some creative MC’s wow the crowd with a fun time of rhyming that represents Christ. The break-dancers have amazing talent. Each of the other weeks always features a set by a guest artist after the message. This varies from local acts to nationally known groups. You can check the website each week to see the upcoming artists for that SNV. The urban crowd especially likes to hang out at night so there are people around for a while as break dancers hit the floor in the auditorium and people in the lobby talk, eat and pray together.
watch SNV live Sunday Night @ 7pm EST @ crossoverchurch.org
S.O.U.L | Pg19
What can your child expect in a Crossover Kidz classroom? Live skits, music, puppets, worship, videos and much more. Each class is created to appeal to children in an age appropriate manner. The ministry includes four departments including Nursery, Tiny Tots, Little Believer’s and Kidz Church. Our teachers are trained and skilled individuals who have a love for children and desire to see them grow in the Lord. The purpose of the Kidz ministry is to make sure our children are taught the word of God in a way that is not only fun but relevant and understandable for them. Children can learn a great deal from the classroom that will help them in their home, school and everyday life. The goal here is to make sure that God is made real to them as they are given tools on how to begin and maintain a true relationship with God at a young age.
S.O.U.L | Pg20
Nursery
Little ones ages 0-17 months enjoy sing-alongs, having books read to them and interacting with their teachers. Modeling God’s love to each child and introducing them to Him through mini activities and songs helps children begin the path to understanding who God is and His love for them. The teachers in this classroom have a special way of connecting and comforting each child while in their care. Parents can relax and enjoy the service knowing that their child is well taken care of.
Tiny Tots
Toddlers 18-36 months are taught through the Toddlerific curriculum which uses hands on activities, songs, bible stories, and arts and crafts to teach each lesson. Children are even taught mini prayers and scriptures each month.
Little Believer’s
3-5 year olds in this age group experience a unique learning time. The classroom uses curriculum that is designed to teach about God’s word using biblically inspired lessons that are formatted to reach preschoolers on their level. Music, puppets and group activities along with arts and crafts are just some of the different ways the lessons are taught.
Kidz Church
6-11 year olds are taught using the Kidmo curriculum. There are many different avenues used to reach the kids at their level. Music, videos, live skits, and obstacle courses are just a few of the ways lessons are brought to life. In this classroom kids are taught to pray for themselves and others. The purpose of this classroom is to give kids the tools necessary to be leaders and not followers in their classroom and communities by following God’s will for their life.
Crossover Kidz Classes are offered during our three Sunday services at 10:00am, 11:45am and 7:00pm. Parents check their kids into their class when they arrive at church and pick them up when the service is over. We encourage parents not to bring children into the main auditorium as the content is geared only towards teenagers and adults. Crossover is not afraid to address real issues in our adult services, so some of the content isn’t appropriate for children. Our staff and team of volunteers go through extensive training and background checks before they are approved to work with our children. Every Sunday around 150 children are part of Crossover ‘s Kidz ministry.
S.O.U.L | Pg21
These are a series of classes that help people grow in their personal spiritual commitments. Our goal at Crossover is to always help people take their next step of growth in their relationship with their creator. This series of classes is designed for adults and teens.
101 Membership Connection Class: In this workshop you’ll learn more about Crossover’s unique vision, strategy, structure, and goals. This class is all about connecting with Crossover (your family) as you also are connected with Christ (your leader). We’ll be sharing the story of our church’s beginning and our incredible vision for the future. If you feel comfortable at Crossover and would like to get more involved, we encourage you to come out and officially join the family!
201 Maturity Connection Class: In this workshop you’ll learn more about maturing in your relationship with Christ. You’ll learn several practical and important ways that your connection with your Creator can be strengthened.
301 S.H.A.P.E. Connection Class: In this workshop you’ll discover and reaffirm what you were shaped for. Each of us was made with passions for certain things. In this class you’ll get connected to a ministry where you can grow and fulfill your purpose as you serve others.
401Mission Connection Class: As Christians it’s our mission to share our faith with others around us. This workshop will better equip you to engage others in your community and around the world. Crossover has several local opportunities for you to fulfill you mission and several upcoming opportunities around the country and beyond.
*Connection Classes are offered quarterly on Sundays during the services @ 10am or 7pm – children can attend their regular classes. You can sign up on the back of your connection card or visit our website @ crossoverchurch. org to get the dates and register for our next class.
S.O.U.L | Pg22
Can’t Walk on Water?
life·sav·er: one that is at once timely and effective in time of distress or need. Do you ever feel like you’re drowning in all that life is throwing at you? You long to connect more in your community and grow deeper in your relationship with God? The Sunday Vibe services are great, but they are a time of celebration and growth with the whole church community. Life Groups, Sunday Vibe Services and serving in a ministry are all critical components to spiritual growth. Small group settings are a place where real relationships, real fellowship and real connections happen. Crossover “Life Groups” are groups of 8-10 people that meet in various places and homes throughout the Tampa Bay area on various days or evenings, in (3) Semesters: Spring, Summer and Fall. Life Groups impact believers in their knowledge of the word, building authentic relationships, and the desire to build community. They offer an intimate time of learning together in a smaller atmosphere where we can personally get to know one another in a group setting and how to apply the lessons we are learning to our everyday lives. Life Groups offer a variety of study topics from books of the Bible, to relevant issues to Christian books. Many of these groups are offered each semester, so if you see several things you’d like to learn about, you could choose it in an upcoming semester. There is a diverse range of groups to provide a place where participants experience authentic community and spiritual growth. You can choose from a Co-Op Singles group to an all Women’s group or Men’s group, as well as Couples groups.
S.O.U.L | Pg24
2010 Groups
Spring Semester launches the week of February 1st- week of April 23rd (12 weeks). Summer Semester launches the week of June 3rd - week of August 19th (12 weeks). Fall Semester launches the week of Sept 27th - week of November 19th (8 weeks).
Each Semester our Life Group Team puts together a catalog that lists all the groups offered including the details of days, times, study topics, teachers, locations and the demographics of the groups. You can choose which group is best for you and sign up after services at the Life Groups table during the sign up season, which is the weeks proceeding each semester. Groups close the second week of each semester. You can also sign up online @ crossoverchurch.org
Let’s walk the journey together.
S.O.U.L | Pg25
S.O.U.L | Pg28
Within the past year we have had tremendous
media and networking umbrella, since the summer
growth and attention in the world of social media.
of 2008 we also launched our official Facebook fan
In the summer of 2008, to add to the Sunday Night
page and Youtube site. There we send out blasts,
Vibe, we launched online streaming. It was an
status updates, videos produced by the Crossover
exciting jumpoff which grew in number Sunday night
Media team, and so much more! And recently, the
after another. Along with live streaming also came
new social networking site Twitter, the ever-so-
with VOD (video on-demand) which viewers can log
popular trend we also joined!
back in at anytime to catch the service they missed live or even catch up on archived services. Now, we
The future is really all in God’s timing. With recent
have incorporated live chatting, better VOD service,
relationships with JCTV, TBN, the Inspiration
and a well developed live audience that exceeds
Network, Steel Roots, and other various networks
about 300+ viewers per week!
who know whats really next for the media
“one of the most important ministries that Crossover has to offer
department! Dedicated volunteers and new faces to the team is was keeps the ministry running strong! The team growth has been tremendous…through frequent meetings, emails, text, media team outings, I can say that we really gelled together as a team. Our team consists of designers, photographers, videographers, audio/sound
engineers, camera operators, video editors, creative With the growing number of ‘i’ this and ‘i’ that ( and
planning teams, set/breakdown teams & more. With
by ‘i’ I mean ipods and itunes users) we have re-
the amount of DVD sales (online and on the patio),
developed the way we present our podcast by
online viewers, and the crowd the comes every
updating every week packing our recent series all to
week, the media team continues to be a blessing to
an easy to download bundle. Pretty dope right? So
all. We are by far (as least we think so!) one of the
dope even, the good fellers from Syntax Creative
most important ministries that Crossover has to offer
of Syntax Records put together an intro for our
and with media being at an all-time high demand
podcast! Find us on itunes, subscribe and download
we as the Media Department meet that need every
a couple!
single week! The Boys in Da’ Booth don’t sleep! •••
We recognize the growing trend of social networking… so what better way to extend our ministry! Along side of live streaming which falls under the whole social
S.O.U.L | Pg29
S.O.U.L | Pg30
“Hip-Hop speaks with lyrics and hot beats / While teens act out what Hip-Hop speaks / 3rd Rail is the place where teens get reached / With a message that is truly life changing / Amazing / We are not talking about change on the outside, but change within / This change is influence that teens can use to change a friend / 3rd Rail gives teens a reason to live again.” What goes down on Thursday nights? Every Thursday night, Crossover holds its hip-hop teen service. At 7:30pm, the doors open and over 100 teens rush into the building. The ushers are welcoming them at the doors, giving the teens high fives and saying their what’s ups. At 7:35pm, the 10-minute count down begins, while music is playing in the background setting the mood for
After worship, Pastor Ken brings a real and relevant message using dramas, hip-hop, video clips, and real life testimonies to help illustrate the truth of Christ. Eyes are glued to the stage as hearts pound as the message dives deep into their hearts. Teens then are given a chance to build a relationship with Christ or take the next step in their walk with God. After the service ends at 9:00pm, teens have the opportunity to hang out on campus until 10:00pm. Inside you will find the breakers on the floor showing off their latest moves. Outside, you’ll find teens building with each other while emcees circle up to spit their rhymes for Christ. The basketball courts are full of teens playing basketball or dodge ball. Many teens request prayer after services and have a time to talk with leaders. At the end of the night, teens are able to go home with a sense of purpose. They are empowered to go out into their homes, schools and the streets making noise for CHRIST. Most Thursdays feature a guest Hip-Hop Artist to perform a miniconcert before the message is presented. This is something that definitely gets the crowed hyped! Many weeks also feature a Hip-Hop music video from a Christian artist.
Why the name 3rd Rail? In the subways, the 3rd rail is the power source that moves the train. Without it nothing happens. We believe it is important for teens to be plugged into the right source. For us, the power source is Christ -He is our 3rd Rail. We believe if you tap into His power source, you will never be the same again. One touch and the rest is His-story!
the night. You can feel and see the excitement on all the teens’ faces as they come through the doors. If their faces could speak, they would say that this is a place where they feel loved and are free to be themselves. The clock gets down to the final 10 seconds and as soon as it finishes the teens go wild! Teen Remix hits the stage to kickoff the service with worship. A live DJ on the one’s and two’s, teens singing, emcees, a drummer, a base player and a human beat boxer all come together to lead us into worship with the Creator. They sing soulful songs, as the words are display on the 7 monitors displayed all around the auditorium.
We have to multiply. Pastor Ken believes it is important to raise up student leaders who can lead their peers by example. He has chosen 10 young men to poor into. They will be going through the 13 Letters curriculum from Reach Records and lectures from Pastor Ken and other mentors. These will be the leaders for the next school year. Several other leaders are constantly taking out time to pour into teens throughout the week and on Thursday and Sundays.
The most beautiful part of this worship experience is seeing teenagers building an authentic connection with their Creator.
S.O.U.L | Pg31
3rdRail
goes above and
beyond Thursday nights and flows out into the local community throughout the week. Every Tuesday, Pastor Ken and 3rd Rail teens partner with the City of Tampa Housing Authority, where he mentors over 25 unchurched urban youth. During each session they hit on real relevant subjects that teach the teens the importance of education, respect, true success, and character.
When
Thursday comes around during the fall you can find Pastor Ken at Middleton High School as he serves as chaplain for the JV football team. Since becoming the chaplain he has had many opportunities to share the faith and has seen over 15 JV football players encounter a relationship with Christ. The whole football team also attended 3rd Rail for a service. By getting out in the community 3rd rail has grown and planted many seeds in the lives of teens that otherwise may not hear the message of Christ.
As
the
news
spreads
about
uniqueness of Crossover’s style of ministry many people have wanted to implement that same flavor. Should we stop them? No! We are the body so we help build them. Team remix travels throughout the local community giving many youth groups that Hip-Hop flavor of worship. Teaching teens and churches how to put a relevant spin on it. Several youth groups are starting hip-hop flavored teen services and 3rd Rail has been their to support and help kick things off as we build lasting relationships. Up and coming artists from the youth ministry also travel to other churches performing at outreaches, youth services, and in local high schools. People are amazed to see young people going hard for Christ! 3rd Rail believes in having an impact on the community with the Gospel, not just with word but also with action. Come check us out on Thursday night & see what’s happen-en.
REACH IN AND REACH OUT.
S.O.U.L | Pg32
the
Pastor Tommy aka Urban D.
a Urban D.
Pastor Tommy ak
2009 was an interesting year with lots of ups and downs and opportunities for growing and learning. I must have told this story literally hundreds and hundreds of times over the past number of months. So, I figured I’d publish it and when I’m asked the question again I can just say, “see S.O.U.LMAG issue #15 page 35” :) The question of the hour has been, “When are you guys moving?” or “Have you moved yet?” Understandably, there has been much excitement and anticipation not only in our church, but also, with people who follow our ministry from all over the country. For years we have been planning to eventually move to a larger facility, and in 2008 we felt like God was giving us the green light to begin the process. Little did we know how involved this “process” would be and how long it would actually take? I began to meet with some outside supporters and potential donors in the summer of 2008 and shared the vision and asked them to pray for us and pray about how they may participate. At first it was a slow process, but soon several people began to get on board. In August our church council agreed to step out on faith and put our campus up for sale and do a capital campaign with our church to raise money for the new facility. On September 14, 2008 we combined our three services and had a vision service to kick off the “Growth Campaign” at the AMC Movie Theaters. We filled up their largest auditorium and had people on the edge of their seats. We had already raised close to $140,000 from outside donors and challenged our people that S.O.U.L | Pg34
we needed to raise at least $300,000. Two weeks later (The week the stock market collapsed) people in our church turned in their commitment cards and we took up our largest offering in Our church history as over $40,000 was given to kick off the campaign. This was truly one of those God moments where we could see his hand on our future. Our campus was put on the market in November of 2008 and we got a contract on it in February of 2009. The buying church was very aggressive and pushy and wanted us out as soon as possible. We tried to accommodate them, but most importantly we wanted our church to have enough time to get the word out, to pack and get ready for the transition. They even offered us $75,000 more…if we’d get out in a week. We refused as this wasn’t about money or business, it was about our people and we don’t take that lightly. We know it takes money to do things, but to us money and growth should never trump our people. We agreed we would vacate the building and move on within a month. Crossover began to get ready and make plans to move to The Comfort Inn Conference Center the first Sunday of April of 2009. Everyone was excited, there was incredible momentum, and lives were being changed at every service as it was packed, but as I said at the beginning of the article it was a year of a lot of ups and downs. The closing was scheduled for mid-March, but things kept getting delayed as the “cash” they were paying for our campus with was suddenly frozen in some mysterious trust fund. As time passed we got more and more uneasy with them and the stories we were hearing. On that Thursday, just three days before we were to move to the hotel, we still hadn’t closed and we made a decision to stay at Crossover and not go through with the buyers, as they couldn’t come up the money to close. We had to call, email, text, facebook, ect… 600 families to let them know “We
...it was embarrassing as we are not the type of church that says we’re going to do something and then we don’t...
are NOT going to the hotel this Sunday.” It wasn’t fun. Honestly, it was embarrassing as we are not the type of church that says we’re going to do something and then we don’t… we don’t roll like that! So, this was very humbling and disheartening to us, but the situation had ultimately been out of our control. That Friday (2 days before the Sunday we didn’t move) a different church came and put and put an offer on the property! It was for more money and we felt a real peace as they were genuine real people which was such a different feeling compared to the first church that fell through. We knew God was in it and we needed the extra time and finances… so we were learning patience. Our people were very gracious and understanding and many were actually happy that we had a little more time to enjoy our North Orleans campus as it was a special place for so many of us. The new church was not paying “cash” for the full amount, so they had to find financing. We were told it would take a few months, so we sat back and waited… and waited. Months and months passed and although they were trying to get financing they found it very difficult with the recession as banks have become very cautious to lend to churches. We actually had to give them three official extensions on the contract for them to find financing. God continued to move through this process at the church and our people continued to pray and give to the growth campaign. On the other end… the former Toys R Us building we were trying to acquire still hadn’t been finished up either. We were in limbo on both sides of the deal; leaving and then where we were ultimately going. Of course the question comes up “Why haven’t we moved yet?” I’m sure we don’t even have all the answers yet, but there were so many things that God showed us already; from practical things and procedures to leadership changes and personal spiritual growth. These are they type of things you don’t learn overnight. Waiting, testing and growing. Not always a fun place to be, but a necessary one. James 1:2-4 (NIV) says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” As we hit the fall of 2009 we did reach our goal in the Growth Campaign with over $300,000 given! The church buying our church was still not finding financing, but we continued to pray and trust. In November the other church closed on the sale of their building, which then enabled them to finally get financing! Yes! On the other end… we finally made some real progress with our attorney’s and Toys R’ Us attorneys as all the issues seemed to be getting cleared up so we could sign and get ready to get the construction started. So as this magazine is about to go to press at the end of December 2009, this is the very last article being written… as we have been letting more of the story unfold. We’re about to close on our campus in the next month or so and move within a month after that. We are currently waiting on the final signing papers from Toys R’ Us as all of the issues are now clear. We just got an email from their attorney’s saying they are going to advise them to agree to everything and sign. We’re in a series about taking it to the next level in our personal spiritual disciplines. We desperately don’t want to miss what God wants to do in this waiting season. We’re seeking God and asking him to complete the work in us so we can be ready to Move Forward! •••
S.O.U.L | Pg35
The Need Most urban communities have a church on nearly every corner, yet the same social, economic and spiritual is-
vision to reach unchurched people influenced by urban/
sues continue to remain unchanged. Many churches
hip-hop culture. They have seen explosive growth as
in the city struggle to connect with the younger gener-
they now have 3 Sunday services with 70% of the multi-
ations. As a result, more and more teens and young
cultural crowd coming from an unchurched background.
adults are growing up without a church background and
Crossover has become a faith community where solid
without a Christian worldview. There is a huge vacuum
Biblical teaching and discipleship happens in an urban
developing in our inner cities.
context that culturally connects with their community. Marriages have been restored, criminals rehabilitated
The Story
and countless teenagers and children saved from the
Crossover Church was planted in the city of Tampa in
in USA Today, Newsweek, CBS News and many local
the early 90’s. In 1996 Tommy Kyllonen founded the
media outlets. In both 2007 and 2008 Crossover was in-
youth ministry and over the next six years it grew to hun-
cluded in Outreach Magazine’s list of America’s 25 Most
dreds and became a new national model of urban youth
Innovative Churches. Their leadership team has trained
ministry. In 2002 Tommy became the lead pastor and
thousands of leaders at several different conferences.
the church became Purpose Driven with an overall
S.O.U.L | Pg36
street life. Crossover’s unique story has been featured
The Community Crossover is at a pivotal point of growth. They’ve been creative with their campus, their space and their service times, but they’ve outgrown them. They are looking to relocate a few miles away to a facility on Fowler Avenue. This will not affect the majority of their congregation as nearly all of them drive to their current location from the surrounding area. The new location will be much easier to locate, has a bus stop in front and a higher population density in the immediate neighborhood. The community is known as University West or “Suitcase City”. It was given this nickname due to its high eviction rates and it’s transient nature. Rand McNally estimated the 2003 population in this neighborhood at 33,200. Over two thirds of the population is made up of minorities. The median household income is only $22,090 and nearly one third of the homes live below the poverty line. In the past eight years several of the cities housing projects (College Hill, Ponce De Leon, Riverview Terrace, and others) have been closed and rebuilt. Many of the residents were permanently displaced to this community with section 8 vouchers. There are a few smaller churches and outreach ministries in the neighborhood, but the majority of the people are still unreached and in desperate need of services, support and spiritual guidance.
S.O.U.L | Pg37
The Facility The property fronts busy Fowler Ave. just west of University of South Florida and a little east of I-275. Over 55,000 cars pass the site each day. The location is strategic to Crossover’s target audience in five major ways; The immediate community (Suitcase City), USF (they already have several students attending), The University Mall (attracts a predominately urban audience), The International Flea Market (next door and attracts a predominately urban audience), and it’s easy access to interstate 275 which is just two blocks west (This will bring easy access to the entire city.) The property has over 300 parking spaces and has a 43,329 square foot building. This is more than triple the space they currently use. The inside of the building is one big empty room that is ready for build out. The building was a former Toys R’ Us building. Crossover is subleasing it at a below market rate. This is being funded from their in house donations, outside donors and the sale of their former campus.
S.O.U.L | Pg38
The Growth Opportunities The Mission Statement of Crossover is:
“To relevantly introduce the truth of Christ to those influenced by Urban/Hip-Hop Culture as we develop Worship, Purpose, Unity and Leadership in their lives.” These opportunities build on those purposes to serve the urban community locally, regionally, nationally and globally.
GROWING FAMILIES The breakdown of the family is evident throughout society, but in the urban community the effects are devastating. There are now generations upon generations that have gotten caught in a cycle of broken homes and dysfunctional families. This is a spiritual issue, but there are also tangible needs that must be met in order to help grow strong families and break the cycle. Crossover takes a holistic approach to growing families.
Classrooms Education, empowerment, and resources have always lacked in the urban community. We will have several classrooms that will be used for discipleship, connection classes, financial classes, homeownership classes, resume building, and leadership training.
Main Auditorium This space will be used for our multiple church services, special events and outreach concerts. It will be equipped with state of the art technology from lighting to sound to multi-media. This room will seat over 700 people and serve thousands each week with culturally relevant worship and biblical teaching.
Food Pantry This area will be open to the community during the week and run by several volunteers. It will serve hundreds of families in need.
Café/Hip-Hop Shop The shop will resource people with hot music, books, Bibles, magazines and more. The café will serve as a safe haven where people can meet, eat and build relationships during the week and before and after services and events.
GROWING CHILDREN The majority of the people who build a relationship with Christ do so before they reach their 18th birthday. Crossover is committed to reach urban children in excellence. The new facility will have an entire wing dedicated for children from infants up to 5th grade, as we believe in age appropriate teaching for children. These will be incredible spaces where kids can be kids and have fun as they learn about God.
GROWING YOUTH Nearly half of inner-city boys drop out of high school and 6 in 10 will spend some time in prison during their lives. The majority of the hundreds of teens that regularly attend Crossover would be considered at-risk. The majority of these teens’ families don’t attend church anywhere. Many families have joined the church and gone through total transformation through the influence of their teenager’s involvement. In the past 14 years there has been hundreds and hundreds of at risk teens that have been saved from the streets and with this new facility Crossover will have the ability to reach thousands more! S.O.U.L | Pg39
Computer Room/Tutoring Room Many homes in the urban community don’t have access to home computers or internet access. This space will serve as a training ground to teach youth basic computer skills along with graphic design, web development and film editing. These after school classes will also include tutoring from volunteers and interns to help students with schoolwork to encourage their continued education and empowerment.
Gymnasium Obesity and health issues are a growing problem in the urban community for people of all ages. The gym will serve as a safe haven for the community for people to engage in athletics and get healthier. This will be an incredible outreach space to serve youth and adults alike as it will be open several nights for teen basketball leagues, adult leagues, women’s aerobics, etc. This space will also be used for special events and outreaches.
Growing Leaders Crossover has a heartbeat for training up leaders to reach the culture from Tampa Bay to places all around the planet.
Flavor Fest Crossover’s annual urban training conference has trained thousands of emerging leaders over the past decade. Leaders attend from around the country and overseas. Flavor Fest’s mission statement is “To train, network and resource emerging leaders to impact hip-hop culture for Christ.”
Internships Over the years Crossover has trained several interns from around the country. We plan on continuing to do this and possibly acquire a house in the neighborhood that will house our interns as they serve and get trained full-time at the church.
S.O.U.L | Pg40
How can you get connected to WHAT’S NEXT? You can become a Ministry Partner and get involved in the “Growth Campaign.” By checking out this magazine many will quickly assume that Crossover has plenty of finances. In actuality, Crossover is made up of predominately working class urban young adults. Many of them are still in school and several have just recently started their relationships with Christ. Although our church is quickly growing in numbers, our finances are much lower than your average congregation of our size. Even though our resources are limited, we still believe in doing things in excellence. We have a committed staff that has financially sacrificed to work at the church. Many people in our congregation also volunteer countless hours.
We are building a team of like-minded people that will become part of our extended family through prayer and financial support. Although we started a building fund and many of our members are actively involved, we need people from the outside to come along side and join us. You can be a part of what’s next! We ask that you look over this magazine and prayerfully consider being a part of our extended family. You can financially support us on our website and check out the details on Crossover’s “Growth Campaign” - stay tuned and watch the growth! >>
www.crossoverchurch.org/growth
S.O.U.L | Pg41
Crossover Church has become internationally known for reaching out to those influenced by urban/hip-hop culture. Crossover’s creative approach has caused them to be considered one of America’s most innovative churches. The church currently holds 3 Sunday services as they are bursting at the seams. They are in the process of relocating to a larger facility so they can more effectively impact the growing needs in the inner-city. To help with this effort, Urban D. (who is the lead pastor) and several artists from Crossover have launched The Growth Tour as the proceeds go directly to Crossover’s new facility. Urban D. and some of his team are available to come to your event and do music, speak, train leaders or whatever your need may be. We’ll work with your budget and the first 50 people at your event get a FREE Urban D. CD! For details and available dates go to www.urband.org *Crossover artists, dancers and DJ’s @ select dates.
Visit: crossoverchurch.org/growth to watch the story and see the new facility!
It was in April of 2008 when I had one of the most powerful spiritual experiences within the recent past. It was the first time I had ever had any significant interaction with inmates in a correctional facility. We had just finished presenting the drama “Heaven’s Court of Last Appeal” at a local Juvenile Detention Center (JDC). I was speaking to an audience of 50 teenage boys inviting them to begin a relationship with God. Right in the middle of my appeal, without warning, I begin sobbing like a baby. Other than the audience, I doubt anyone was more surprised and embarrassed than me. Somehow I managed to regain my composure and complete my speech. How amazed we all were when everyone in the room stood up in response to the invitation, desiring to know God personally. Nevertheless, I still had no idea what the source was for all my tears during my talk, at least not until later that night in my quiet time with the Lord. It was as if the Lord said He wanted me to know how his heart aches for all those kids in the JDC. Since then, my commitment to those kids has continually grown. Just about every week the Crossover JDC team ministers to male or female teenagers in the Tampa Bay area. This might take the form of testimony, teaching, preaching, song, rap or dance. I’m awed by the spiritual growth I see in these teens and the bond that we now share. This has also been an opportunity to mentor those desiring to develop their leadership skills as we learn what being a disciple really means. Sharing Christ at the JDC has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. We may not be changing the world, but we’re changing it for someone. And while it is true that these young people have been arrested for their criminal activities, many of them have again been arrested, but this time, by the love of God.
S.O.U.L | Pg43
I believe every genre of music is necessary. Now hold on! Before you brand me as a heretic, let me explain. Music is a reflection of culture; it expresses a person’s influences, background, thoughts, and feelings in a unique way that can be understood by a multitude of likeminded people. If we as parents have a problem with what’s on the radio instead of blaming the culture, why don’t we look at the mouthpiece within the culture that’s putting out the music? Hence the phrase, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.” Hmmm... In saying this, is it wrong to listen to R&B music? Can it be tasteful and even glorify God? Meet Bobby Tinsley. If you haven’t heard his music, Bobby has earned praises for his soulful and positive sound on records like “Addicted”, “Missing You” and “Never Give Up On Love.” Now with his most current album “What About Bob”, be prepared to be blown away by a man that can not only sing but who understands the importance of bringing a godly man’s perspective of love to the mainstream world. That’s why former NBA star Doug Christie and his wife Jackie decided to help support Bobby’s mission by releasing his new album “What About Bob” on their newly founded record label Jean Rah Fya Records. So if you’re saying to yourself that there isn’t anything good coming out of R&B then I would have to ask you “What About Bob?”
S.O.U.L: Thanks for scheduling the time to do this. Your sound is incredible and very relevant. The first question I want to ask is, how did you start singing, and when did you start writing music? BT: Hey, first of all thanks so much for the compliments! Yeah, I started singing like a lot of people at a very young age...probably around 6 or 7. I was just always going on and on; my parents say that it was quite funny actually! Later on, around the age of 9 or so, I got into journaling, and that kind of snowballed into writing songs which I have been doing ever since! It really is my release and a way for me to always get what’s on my mind at the moment out. S.O.U.L: That’s what’s up man, but for real, you can really sing! Like you have a lot of range in your vocals...have you had any formal vocal training? BT: Well, not any “formal” training, but I have had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s most talented vocal coaches and singers, so I try to soak up anything I can when I’m around them. Honestly, my motto is “You can always learn something new from someone,” so I constantly am pushing myself to get better. That and I live a pretty healthy lifestyle when it comes to what I eat and drink (NO SODA...LOL) so that helps keep the pipes oiled, ya know! S.O.U.L: Wow, so no sodas! That’s really good. So with the type of music that you do, how do you stay relevant with the genre without allowing the negativity of it to influence your creativity? BT: That’s a good question, and something that I deal with everyday. I mean,
let me break it down...basically today’s R&B should be called R&S... “Rhythm and Sex” ...it’s pretty much the norm now. That being said, it is sometimes a challenge working within a genre that is so “sex based.” Especially me trying to really bridge the gap between mainstream R&B, and I guess what we would define as Gospel music, or Contemporary Christian. Being honest, it’s a battle every day. For instance, as a producer and songwriter, you wanna keep yourself up to date with the production in the top 40, but then so much of it’s content is so negative, you find yourself wanting to turn it off all the time! I find myself loving the sound of certain songs, and not the lyrics, ya know! For instance, a song like “Birthday Sex”; hot sound, but what about the content? At the end of the day, I always come back to the content...what are we
S.O.U.L | Pg44
portraying to this generation with the words that we write? I know as believers we have that responsibility, to be relevant, but still stay within the lines.
S.O.U.L: Definitely the content is key, as well as being relevant with the culture… Now with the project “What About Bob”, which is also the name of the first single, you talk about “Taking a vacation from my problems, it’s the only way that I can solve ’em.” Are you basically talking about getting away to self reflect on the problems your having with a female or just life in general?
BT: It kinda revolved around both when I was writing that song. That was actually my first single off of my “What About Bob” album that was released last year. At the time, I was living in Nashville, and it was basically the first time in my life that I was away from all of my family and friends for an extended period. During that season, the industry as a whole, my personal relationship, I mean everything seemed overwhelming at times. “What About Bob” was basically about me getting away from it all…’cause sometimes that’s the only way to deal with stuff. Trying to process certain things in the middle of going through them can sometimes be too much, ya know? S.O.U.L: I can definitely relate to that. You said that the song was from the “What About Bob” album that was released last year… I’m gonna have you touch on that in a second but you have another track on the album called “Casino” which I thought was real interesting. Explain the concept of the song and what motivated you to do a track like this? BT: That’s actually a funny story. I was out in Oklahoma City, where my manager Khalid is from, getting ready to do a photo shoot and I was picking up a red guitar that I wanted to use for some of the pictures. (By the way, I ended up buying that guitar, and I perform with it all the time. LOL!) Anyway, long story short, the guy that we were getting the guitar from was meeting us at a Casino there. After we got it I was walking out with the guitar, and I saw all these people putting their hard earned money in these slot machines, and they all looked depressed! So as I was walking out, the line came to me “I was dating this girl named ‘Casino’, but she never gave me no love!” Call it being frustrated with my relationship at the time, or whatever…but that look that they had with the money was the same look I had with my…how shall we say it, love life? Haha…but for real, I had most of it written before we got to the front door! S.O.U.L: Speaking of love life, do you have any advice for couples dating (those who aren’t married)? Is there anything that you can tell them so that they don’t end up in compromising situations? BT: Well, we all know how hard it can be sometimes when we are in those dating relationships, at whatever level, to keep things pure. Obviously, first and foremost is our personal relationship with God… but that is the cookie cutter “Christian answer” right? I mean, you can really be trying to put God first in your life, and genuinely wanting to honor Him and still get into trouble…I know I have. I know some people may not want to hear it, but I think a lot of it has to do with the whole “Garbage in, garbage out” saying. So many people listen to “Sex me up and down” music all day long, and then they wonder why they can’t control their hormones. LOL! I mean, just like your body, you are what you eat! That stuff wears on you after awhile. Another thing that has helped me stay on track over the years is the people I surround myself with. Having friends in your life that are pursuing God with you, and encouraging you to stay pure can make all the difference in the world. At this moment, I probably know hundreds, if not thousands of people as “acquaintances,” but I really only have a few close friends…and I spend most of my time with them. We’re not afraid to let each other know if and when we are slippin’, and as a young person today in this culture, you need that. S.O.U.L: Now I’m not sure if you want to answer this one (long
pause) but I heard that you were about to do a reality show on VH1!!! With what I see on their now, I don’t know if it’s safe to talk about that?!?! LOL! How did that come about?
S.O.U.L: All right, I guess we can let you slide on that one. On a
more serious tip, Christians who may not understand why you do the type of music you do could be a little skeptical with how God is moving in your life. Explain to them how God has used you and your music to minister the gospel?
BT: Do we have enough space in the mag for this one?? LOL….Ok,
for real, this one is very personal. Anyone that knows me knows that my relationship with God is the most important thing in my life. Let’s rewind back… In 2005, right after “Addicted” hit the CCM charts, I was finding myself in the same place a lot of Christian artists who make R&B or Hip-Hop based music also find themselves. Let’s face it, if you’re not Toby Mac, then chances are you are not getting played. LOL! I’m just keeping it real. It’s very frustrating as an artist, when you do shows and these kids are craving this stuff. Trust me, SO MANY of them want an alternative (speaking of Christian music listeners) but they don’t really ever get it. The Christian industry does a great job of reaching the soccer moms, but what about the 16 year old girl who wants to hear Kanye West? Where is her music’s place on Christian radio? Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful to all of the DJ’s and program directors that DID help me chart with that song; it really jump started my career. However, after going up against a brick wall so many times, you start asking yourself ‘Am I’m fighting the wrong fight?’ I mean, we were having arguments with CHRISTIAN program directors, who were telling us that my music had too much “thump.” Ok…ANYWAY…I got the opportunity to start performing in more of a mainstream setting, and the response was overwhelming! People were coming up to me, or sending me letters (thousands of them) about how my music had touched them, and even was changing their lives! As an artist…wait let me say, as a CHRISTIAN artist, that is what you look for…fruit. I mean, I have fans that have told me my music not only helped them come to know Christ, but they are now Pastoring! It’s crazy! And I believe Jesus set the best example of our whole teams’ mentality. When He would come before a crowd, or meet someone in need, HE always MET them where they were at. Feed the 5000 then they will listen to whatever you wanna say…That’s this whole movement. I talk about relationships, or emotions that people deal with every day. I put it in a way that is relevant to them, and that they can understand, and after that they always come back asking “What’s different about you? How come your music can sound so ‘hot’ and not be about sex?” And by that time, they are ready to hear why.
S.O.U.L: Wow! That’s some powerful stuff! It’s good that you are grounded enough in Christ that you aren’t afraid to go out into the world with your music for the purpose of pulling people into the Kingdom. A lot of Christian artists aren’t willing to perform in secular venues or go where there aren’t any Christians. So what’s the next step for your music? Tell us about anything that you’re currently working on or any future projects that we can look forward to? BT:
I am pretty much in the studio every day just writing and producing new songs. I just signed my first producer to my More Than Hype Music production company. His name is Delgado Cooke and he is from the Tampa Bay area also. The two of us have been cooking up some heat lately! Which brings me to my current project; the rerelease of “What About Bob” as an extended version album with 9 brand new songs! The release is through a direct partnership with WalMart…so get ready to see your boy as the cardboard cut-out guy in the CD section…Haha! So that whole venture has been keeping me pretty busy. I also just got nominated for a 2009 Hollywood Music and Media award as well. God has been opening some incredible doors.
S.O.U.L: men brother! Well Bobby, thanks again for the opportunity to rap with you and let our readers know more about you. Now if anyone wants to get a hold of your music and keep up with what’s going on with you in the future how do they go about doing that? BT: Again, check me out in Wal-Mart, or you can pick up my albums through iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby…etc. Also, hit me up on my MySpace page at myspace.com/bobbytinsley, or check out my website at whataboutbjt.com.
BT: Well…at this time the show has been put on hold. I can’t really get into it all…all I can say is ‘Don’t let people change who you are, because at the end of the day, it’s not worth it.’ Just ‘Take it from me’… pun intended. LOL! S.O.U.L | Pg45
First impressions mean a lot! Statistics show that most people that visit a church will already decide if they are ever coming back before they even hear the pastor speak. Pastor and church planter Nelson Searcy is an expert in this field. In his book Fusion he said, “In the first seven minutes of contact with your church, your first-time guests will know whether or not they are coming back. That’s before a single worship song is sung and before a single word of the message is uttered!” In the past few years Crossover has made great strides in trying to make a better first impression with our first time guests. Our team is helpful, welcoming and friendly, but not overly friendly or artificial. This group of people is the first ones that hold the door or shake a hand or smile at them and say hello as they hand them a program as they enter the service. They also run our guest information area outside the main room where you may have received this magazine or a gift bag. With hundreds of people attending our services our first impressions team assists people in finding seats and finding where the children’s classrooms are. The also assist in passing out additional material, keeping order and taking up the offering in services. This team also keeps things looking clean and fresh. We want people to come in and have a good experience and a good first impression so when it comes time for worship and the teaching they can enter in and listen without being distracted. If you are around @ Crossover and you want to help us continue to make a good first impression, then see someone at the guest information table or simply mark the back of your connection card in the SERVE area and one of the team will get you plugged in.
S.O.U.L | Pg46
Our mission at Crossover Church is not only to reach our community here in the Tampa Bay area, but to also equip other urban ministries across the planet with some tools that have proven to work here at our spot. We’ve been in the trenches for well over a decade building this unique faith community, so we know that ministry that engages the urban audience is not easy. It takes much prayer and consistency mixed in with creative innovation. Our prayer is that the church resources available here will help make your journey a little smoother so you don’t have to try to re-invent the wheel. We’d love to hear your testimonies and stories and if you have any suggestions feel free to hit us up! We’ll continue to add more resources over the upcoming months so stay tuned…
Festival DVD’s
The Flavor Fest DVD Series contains some of the highlight concert footage and interviews from over the years including artists: Lecrae, shai linne, Sho Baraka, 4th Ave Jones and many more. The latest DVD (Redirected) contains footage from the general session workshop and the Flavor Fest Sunday Service. This is a great resource for church leaders to show at their services, events or small groups.
Magazines
S.O.U.LMAG is published by Crossover and is nationally distributed in stores. It’s become the voice of the Christian Hip-Hop Community in print. It’s packed with relevant content from articles on faith, ministry and culture to music reviews and artist interviews. 15 issues and counting…
Short Film DVD’s
Press Play volume 1 and 2 are both a collection of short films from original message series at Crossover. This DVD includes a Crossover worship experience, commercials, intros and music videos. These films can be used for your personal enjoyment or to be used in small group settings or in large gatherings at worship services. If you are a church leader and you’ve been looking for a way to visually engage people as you speak to them – this is an excellent tool for just $9.99 each!
Books
“Un.orthodox”, written by Pastor Tommy aka Urban D. features Crossover’s story along with testimonies from members, a history of hip-hop culture and his personal story of transformation. There is also a matching CD/DVD set that features a full-length documentary about the church.
CD’s
The Crossover Cypha Vol. 6 – is the latest in our Cypha Series of CD’s. Artists from Crossover donate their tracks and DJ Lopez then blends them together to create a seamless mix CD that includes some testimonies from Crossover family members. These CD’s are used as an outreach tool and are available in bulk pricing on our website or at the hip-hop shop.
The “Reflections” double disc CD package is worship from Crossover with an R&B/ Hip-Hop vibe. Disc 1 contains 12 original tracks and Disc 2 has the instrumentals for your team to use with enhanced content (lyric sheets & power points!)
Free Content
Subscribe to our weekly service podcast of our services through itunes (There is a link on our website). Several videos of short films are available on our youtube channel (Crossover813). You can also view our services live on Sunday Nights @ 7pm EST or watch them on demand anytime through our website @ crossoverchurch.org
S.O.U.L | Pg47
W
hen we think of being or experiencing something that’s ideal, we might use the words “picture perfect.” Whether it be relationships, cribs, careers, skill, clothes, education, politics, religion, churches, and so much more that could be listed, everyone shares in common a striving toward experiencing the picture perfect in all of this. What we don’t share in common is what perfection would look like in each picture. Some would prefer a relationship partner that’s mostly funny and tall, while another would look for someone who’s more disciplined and rocks dreads. Some want a house in the mountains, and others one by the beach. Some like a church that’s large with loud preaching, others a smaller one with a coffee house vibe, and others like traditional elements to maintain a sense of history. Our tastes are all different, and no doubt, our diversity is a good thing, and something to be celebrated. I think we live in a day where there’s diversity in churches like never before. Here at Crossover, we have one of the most diverse groups of people that I have the privilege to commune with every week, and I never cease to be so proud of watching everyone do such a great job of showing love to each other. Now, as I set you up for the challenge in this writing, I’ll say that it isn’t directed toward diversity itself. Instead, I just want to share a few thoughts about the danger of taking our idea of the perfect picture to an extreme. This extreme is when we take our preferred choices in relationships, houses, churches, ect, and apply this principle to our ideal picture of God. I finally started reading the classic book by J.I. Packer “Knowing God.” I draw my thoughts from chapter 4 of this highly acclaimed writing, which deals mostly with the 2nd commandment in Deuteronomy 20:4-6. This is the command to not make any idols or images of anything in heaven or earth. For a long time I’ve understood that this applies to making anything that we think will visually represent what the true God what must look like, as well as it applying to the ancient attempt to invent false gods. Packer’s un-Packing on the subject has refreshed my thoughts on it, and helped me to see how easily we can fall into the trap of what we mistake to be only an ancient problem. Most of what we see in the Old Testament when dealing with problems of idol worship is Israel having blended their worship of Yahweh with the worship of idols that were supposed to be other gods. What Packer deals with in chapter 4 of his book is the example of Moses’ partner Aaron when he made the golden calf for the people to worship while Moses was at the top of the mountain hearing from God. His view on the situation is incredibly striking to me as he writes, “Aaron made a golden calf (that is, a bull-image). It was meant as a visible symbol of Jehovah, the mighty God who brought Israel out of Egypt. No doubt the image was thought to honor Him as being a fitting symbol of His great strength. But it is not hard to see that such a symbol in fact insults Him, for what idea of His moral character, His righteousness, goodness, and patience, could one gather from looking at a statue of Him as a bull? Thus Aaron’s image hid Jehovah’s glory.” In other words, the people would become fixed on one particular aspect of God, as if other characteristics wouldn’t equally define who He is. Packer explains later in the chapter how we tend to repeat the fault of Aaron by constructing mental images of God based on our favorite attribute, and before you know it, we think others are not Biblical when they emphasize a different and equally real attribute of God.
S.O.U.L | Pg48
I always wondered how Aaron, after having experienced the incredible deliverance from Egyptian slavery in such a miraculous way, could have later made up a cow out of gold and led the people to worship it, which I thought was the worship of another supposed god. But considering it from this angle that Packer points out, it makes it so much easier to see how so many of us are often guilty of a similar action. I guess there’s not too much that can be done about us tending be drawn toward certain attributes about God more so than other ones. I do, however, think it’s a necessary discipline for us to acknowledge those other attributes and
characteristics that we’re not as naturally drawn to. I say that because, I understand that we will worship and conduct ourselves as believers based on those things about God we tend to favor. But on the flip side, we’ll also tend to treat other very true aspects about the LORD, other expressions of worship and conduct from other Christians and other churches, as though they’re not as important or as good as ours. I know that there’s a particular tendency in our day to emphasize God as a God of love, and if not explained properly, I see the danger in doing that, for they treat the passionate confronting of sin as just “mean preaching.” I hear others who recognize this and know the necessity to explain God’s wrath (anger) toward sin, but it’s a long shot to ever get a loving impression from them. Neither extreme is good. Rarely are these people trying to be balanced and holistic in their representation of our gracious loving God who deals with sin, they just think their mental idol is more worthy of worship than that of another Christian. To be sure, I’m not referring to an extreme postmodern view of God that all beliefs in the world are equally true, if it works for that individual or particular group. What we believe must be Biblical, and scripture describes many things about God that we must factor into our lives and theology. We know we don’t like it when people try to limit us by their own descriptions of us. This happens to me all the time. Other Christians will like something I’ve said in a message I’ve preached or in a conversation, and then assume I go to their theological extreme on the issue(s). They quickly get disappointed when I burst their bubble by showing that I don’t. I’ll gladly agree with their appreciation of an attribute of God or a certain theological angle, but I refuse to bow down to their image. I just want to see Christ lifted up. We not only do this theologically, but culturally too. I so love the freedom to serve God and represent Him as someone who is a part of hip-hop culture. There are many of us who represent Him that way, and that’s just how it is, and how it’s going to be. But my cultural and stylistic expression, and the expression of those who share that with me, is not God’s favorite form of worship, and neither is any other cultural or musical style. Hip-Hop isn’t going to get special attention in heaven in worship to God, nor is liturgical reading, nor is neo-soul, or gospel choir music, or any other of the myriad of forms. I guess it’s safe to say that those expressions, will all be there. The beauty, though, and the point, is that we’ll all be singing together with the angels “Holy Holy Holy is the LORD.” We can’t help but be limited to our form of expression(s) because as people we are limited, and our expression is one that the world
the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[i] knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” 36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
needs to see about God in order to see that attribute of Him. What’s most important is that our representation, expressions, beliefs, and conduct are biblical, while not just representing our favorite parts of scripture. When we remember this, we avoid bowing down to our construction of God. For myself, I am one who quickly appreciates the proclamation of truth, and conduct myself that way in my calling. I need to often remember, however, that people don’t always need something taught to them, but just might need to be prayed for, or given a hug for comfort and encouragement, for God is “the God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3). We will, at some point, need to experience and represent Him in as many of the ways that scripture describes Him - love, wrath, judge, father, friend, ruler / King, giver of truth, kind, gracious, disciplining, all-knowing, all-powerful, forgiving. In it all, no matter how much we try and make the effort to depict what we think is the perfect picture of God in our lives, in this life it will always be an imperfect picture. We can look closer to His perfection, though, when we can appreciate what other Christians depict better than we do, so long as they are biblical, and trying to maintain biblical integrity. Recently in a church service at Crossover there was a hilarious but powerful video that was played in order to make a serious point about worship. It was a scene of a man dressed up in a devil’s costume (pitchfork and all), and it was supposed to be Satan being interviewed. Satan was asked, “What’s your strategy for keeping the church divided?” His immediate response was “Oh man, I just keep convincing certain Christians that they’re right all the time, and how everyone else they’re around is just so wrong…” I have to admit, even with a lot of humor in that video, it was convicting to hear those words. The problem is not in addressing and confronting wrong period, but it’s the “always” part that constructs the mental idol. As I’ve had to ask myself, I ask you, what are some of your mental “idols of things in heaven?” Is it your style, your theology, your music, your personality, your perfectionism? When it’s not your ideal of any of these things, do you feel like it’s less of God? Do you see these things as mere tools that uplift Christ and make Him known, or are they the only ways that He’s really worshipped in your eyes? Are you more in love with these things than the Christ whom they are to glorify? Is the answer to the church’s problems in our day being and thinking like you? I love the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 11:33-36. After discussing in chapter 10 various pieces of God’s historical work of salvation, all of which leave me with some unanswered questions, he writes:
33Oh,
I like this reminder that what we must know about God, more so than anything else, is that He’s worthy of the glory that’s necessary to give Him. When I understand that my representation of Him is imperfect and in need for others to fill in the gaps, then my imperfection still glorifies Him. But if I take the ways He’s equipped and called me and begin to treat it like it’s the only or best way to represent Him, then my focus is on the perfect picture of my idol, rather than the vast greatness of God. •••
S.O.U.L | Pg49
Magazine:
Purpose Driven Connection “God called us to reach the Hip-Hop Generation” Premiere Issue 2009 “Our worship services have many familiar elements – singing, prayer, announcements, teaching/preaching, offering and special music. Everything we believe and practice in our services is biblical. But, the way we do them is different. The Hip-Hop Culture wants realness. Because people are comfortable in our services, they authentically engage.”
Newspaper / Website
Tampa Bay Times (TBT) and tampabay.com “Kurtis Blow: Still catching breaks, even on Sunday!” Story by: Dalia Colon July 24, 2009 “The legend comes to Crossover Church on Sunday @ the 10am and 11:45am services where he’ll share his story and perform some of his new music. At 7pm he’ll do a longer set. The first 700 people get a free Kurtis Blow CD.”
Recently featured on podcasts: (search on itunes)
• DJ Wade-O • Rap Fest Radio • Holy Culture Radio
Outreach Magazine has featured Crossover in their “America’s 25 Most Innovative Churches” issues over the past two years.
Crossover has also been featured in:
S.O.U.L | Pg50
*To check out past press and news videos check out www.crossoverchurch.org
Crossover’s drama department has developed and performed several original productions over the years. These productions included acting, film, dance, song, rap and poetry. This creates a platform for people to discover, develop and display their talents and passions. Some of the events had a cast of over 40 people including a stage crew and set designers. Productions included, “Heaven’s Court of Last Appeal”, “To Hip-Hop with Love”, “The Convict”, “The Grinch” and many others. One of our recent productions “Rhyme and Season” featured a cast of 15 artists that rapped, sang and acted as about 90% of the production was done in rap format. Some of our cast members have went on to take acting classes, film classes and writing classes as they have pursued it as a career. These productions are always huge outreach events at Crossover as the greatest impact is watching so many people build new relationships with Christ and watching other believers get seriously challenged. Short skits are also frequently used during our services. They are sometimes live and sometimes filmed and edited on video. These skits are sometimes funny and sometimes serious as they deal with real issues that vividly paint the picture to illustrate the message that Pastor Tommy and the speaking team are sharing. Drama is not just entertainment, but a form of communication. We live in a visual culture where the younger generations learn visually now more than ever. As Christ-followers we must use the arts to engage culture and speak truth.
S.O.U.L | Pg51
By Pastor Tommy Kyllonen aka Urban D.
We decided to go in a totally different direction with our cover for this issue of S.O.U.LMAG. It’s actually a little risky in the current economy and the dying state of print, but we’ve never been the type of people to play it safe or follow the trends. We’re about creating trends and creating change and provoking thought. Instead of doing your typical cover with a known hip-hop artist, we decided to put a masked face of an everyday person that is unknown. This guy and the other people in this article are just like many of YOU. None of them grab the mic and spit rhymes or sing, but
S.O.U.L | Pg52
each one of them has incredible gifts and talents and they are using them to impact people in their community right where they are! Sounds good, but who will buy a magazine with a cover like that? Well, maybe not many, but it’s never been about sales or money for us. Over the years we’ve built a good following of loyal readers and now subscribers that will check us out and trust us anyways (Just wait until you see our next issue’s cover and layout – it’s REALLY going to be crazy!). We’re not too worried about it as we give away thousands of each issue for free anyways. Why? Because it’s all about impacting the community and that’s why we’re spotlighting these individuals from Tampa. Over recent years our culture has become infatuated with image and celebs. People follow them and go to crazy lengths to try to be like them. Many have become so focused on getting their 15 minutes, or should I say now, 15 seconds of fame. Reality TV, ringtone, twitter and youtube stars are born every minute.
Many of these people fight for fame and do things with a selfish agenda to be noticed. But, our culture quickly forgets them and then they move onto who’s next. The people featured in this article aren’t about getting any shine. They didn’t ask to be featured in this article and a few of them even tried to back out when they found out this was the cover story. These are the real heroes; humble everyday servants that are quietly making an impact on the community. As you’ll see this impact is
changing lives one at a time.
Each one of these individuals is part of the Crossover Church faith community. This has been their faith foundation for several years. They’ll quickly tell you that much of the reason they are active in impacting the community is because of what God is doing in their lives through being part of the church. Some of the things they do are directly a ministry under the church umbrella and some of the other things you’ll read about are things they just do on their own. Being that they are part of this faith community called Crossover, EVERYTHING they do in the greater community is really under the umbrella of this church. It’s a reflection of their faith foundation. They represent their local church and even more importantly they represent Christ! They don’t need permission to witness to someone or pour into someone’s life or meet a tangible need. That’s the church simply being the church. I love it when I hear stories of people from our church reaching into people’s lives and the church leaders didn’t even have to organize it or try to orchestrate it. They were simply living out what being a Christ-follower is. Jesus was once asked, “What matters most?” (What’s the most important commandment) and he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second most important is similar: Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.” (Matthew 22:36-39) If we can really get that, we’ll treat people in our community much different. The people featured in this article get that!
These are their stories...
S.O.U.L | Pg53
I remember talking with Travis Settineri after the first couple of services he attended at Crossover. He was like a kid in a candy store! He was amped! Travis had recently built a relationship with Christ and had a radical transformation on his college campus. He was on fire for God and wanted to reach people influenced by urban culture. Travis is an incredible artist… he doesn’t pick up a mic to spit, but he picks up a spray can, a paintbrush, a video camera, or a computer – and he creates art! One of his main canvases has actually been a head of hair. Throughout his years of college he had a barbershop set up on campus and after he graduated this is the field he pursued. He has been a full time barber for a few years now. The great thing about cutting hair is that once that person is in your chair you have a captive audience. Many times that person in the chair will open up to you about some real questions or struggles they have. I know this as I cut hair for many years myself. Travis has used his barber chair as a pulpit to share the gospel and how it’s impacted his life. Even though this was something he enjoyed, his passion spilled way outside of his regular work hours. He saw the need for relevant evangelism tools when it came to street witnessing, so he began to create relevant Bible tracks printed as full colored fliers. This all began to fall under the umbrella of a ministry God was birthing called “Will You Conform?” Several artists and members in the church began to rally around this cause as they started doing outreaches at USF and in Ybor City. In 2009 this became an official ministry of Crossover and they even received a grant to get sound equipment, a mac computer, an HD camera, more Bible tracks and a CD compilation. The future impact of this ministry is going to be explosive!
S.O.U.L | Pg54
I met Greg Cowans at the airport about five years ago as I frequently travel to do ministry events around the country. He recognized my face as he had seen one of my CD’s before. I handed him a flyer and a magazine and invited him to come check us out sometime. Well, he did and since then he has done the same thing I did to him, literally thousands of times! I’ve met countless people at our church that have been touched by Greg somewhere in our community. Whether it was his job at the airport, a restaurant or the flea market, this brother (or as we call him – brovah) is an evangelism machine! He is constantly talking to people about what Christ has done in his life and then passing them a flyer or a magazine or a CD and inviting them to church. If Crossover had more brovah Greg’s we’d have to add even more services! Greg is also a music lover and has been the manager of our hip-hop shop for several years as he’s probably helped many of you pick out a new CD if you’ve been to Crossover. He impacts people at all three church services every Sunday, as he’s an incredible servant helping in several different areas. Many people will reach out and serve as they are in the safety of their faith community, but during the week they clam up and never really reach out for fear of rejection. This is definitely not the case with Greg as he is constantly impacting people everywhere he goes all the time as Christ has changed him in such a real way.
Kristy Burchard aka B-Girl Eenk came to Crossover to break dance on a Thursday night almost ten years ago. She was a student a prestigious art school in Bradenton, Florida. I remember she really stood out with the breakers as not only was she a girl that had these really long fancy nails, but she was white and she could get down! Kristy soon graduated and came to a place in her life where she got more serious with God. She soon decided to make Crossover her home church and got involved in helping out with the youth ministry and traveling and dancing with some of the hip-hop artists at the church. Kristy continued working on her craft as an artist and developed her own company “Formulated Lines” clothing. Her company has produced several pieces of clothing and is currently working on a trademarked vinyl purse for ladies (you can see this featured in the fashion section of S.O.U.LMAG issue #14). She also regularly free lances doing murals and different art jobs in addition to her regular job at a company where she does video editing and graphic design. Kristy serves in the children’s ministry at Crossover and lets her light shine through her dance and her art. Those gifts are more visual, but for the past 12 years she’s done something that is much less visible to most. Kristy and her family go into the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch every week to minister to juveniles that are in trouble. She leads bible studies, prays with teens and encourages them. There’s a huge passion in her to reach out to people in hip-hop culture that don’t know Christ and she’s making a huge splash as the ink of her life leaks out on others around her.
James and Dr. Jawan Cole have a passion to reach minorities in the community with vital health care information in order to insure that they are getting the best care. They recently hosted a radio show called “Date with the Doctor.” You may have seen one of the many billboards that were around the city in 2009. The audience was the listeners of a radio station which has a mostly an African American audience. The show talked about disease that affect this audience disproportionately in laymen terms and made it easy for people to understand the disease and how it affects them as individuals. James and Jawan also talked about treatment options and sometimes even interviewed other doctors. They always closed with suggestions for action like talking to their doctor, changing their diet, smoking cessation etc. This had a huge impact in the community as they’d receive several calls and constantly run into people in the community that shared their appreciation. James also runs his own marketing company Media Sharp USA. He has helped several businesses in the community make great strides forward as he also let his light shine for Christ and did things in excellence. James’ impact is also frequently seen here at Crossover as he helps with teaching, connection classes and many times you can find him behind a camera shooting pictures for various events and projects. This dynamic couple also regularly leads a Life Group in their home for married couples.
Over the years Theo Meade has been involved in several different ministries at Crossover from putting on major drama productions to leading a small group or running the prayer ministry. He’s been an intricate part of touching so many lives at the church. About two years ago God began to do something different in his heart. At first he wasn’t quite sure what it was. I remember meeting with him a few times as he shared he felt God was leading him in some new directions, but it wasn’t totally clear yet. The doors soon opened up for Theo to take a few people to a juvenile detention center and do some ministry. The response was overwhelming. Theo’s heart was broken as he saw the incredible need of these youth that were lost, confused and broken. In 2008 Crossover received a grant to get a high quality portable sound system to take into the JDC’s. Theo began building a team of people from Crossover. The response has been so huge that many times there are more requests for our teams than we can handle. Nearly every weekend Theo leads a team of people that go in and rap, sing, share testimonies, preach, do drama and just build and love on teens in several JDC’s in the Tampa Bay area. Several of these teens have been released and found their way to Crossover as they are continuing to grow in Christ. Countless lives have been impacted for eternity through this ministry that goes behind the walls!
Many of you reading this are just like these people above. You may not regularly get on a stage and pick up a microphone to speak, rap or sing or play an instrument… but you have something huge to give back. God has given you a unique DNA, a one of a kind fingerprint that no one else on this planet has! There are some very specific things he has for you to accomplish. People are in your community that only you can touch. What will you do? Making impact takes courage and many times even great risk. It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. You probably may never get featured in a magazine or get the spotlight, but that’s not what it’s really all about anyways – is it? When you wrap your mind around what God has really done for you and I – it should be about that, and that should cause you to react and move! It should cause you to dig deeper and discover what your creator has for you to do. As you grow, you should desire to see the Impact God has made in your life spread to others in your community. •••
S.O.U.L | Pg55
December 21st, 2008
November 30th, 2009
“Rhyme & Season” – a Hip-Hop Production where over 15 artists performed an entire play in rhyme and song as we stressed the real reason for Christmas. Crossover is blessed with incredible talent!
“Soles For Souls” Day – people at Crossover generously donated 947 pairs of shoes to Soles for Souls that then shipped them to Sub-Sahara Africa where there is a ring worm epidemic due to people living barefoot.
February 1st, 2009
Our 2nd annual Super Bowl Party was hosted at Crossover as the Super Bowl was in Tampa! Hundreds came to the celebration after the services with DJ Will hosting the half time event with Rawsrvnt from The infamous Jesus Bus!
November 6th – 9th, 2009
Flavor Fest 2009 - our 9th annual conference at Crossover. Over 110 volunteers from Crossover served over 1,700 people that attended throughout the weekend!
Sept. 28th, 2008
Our first Growth Campaign offering raised over $40,000 with a total of $275,000 pledged to be given over the next 12 months!
Sept. 14th, 2008
Crossover goes to the movies and combines our 3 services into 1 as we launched our “Growth Campaign” for our future expansion. Pastor Tommy cut off all his hair!
August 14th – 15th, 2008
Crossover’s Women’s Ministry “C.H.O.S.E.N” took over 50 ladies to the Women of Faith Conference in downtown.
S.O.U.L | Pg56
August 1st, 2009
S.O.U.LMAG issue #14 was released with Braille on the cover. Our first magazine to drop with our new subscription program!
July 26th 2009
We capped off our “Transformers Series” with legend of the faith – Paul. We were joined by a hip-hop legend – Kurtis Blow as he shared his story and some of his music. It was another big day of ministry, salvations and overflow crowds.
June 17th, 2009
Father’s Day with Lecrae and Flame. We celebrated our children’s ministry graduation and we had a panel with the artists and fathers as we talked about what Christ-centered fatherhood looks like. Sunday Night Vibe @ 7pm had over 400 attend as we had to remove all the seats!
June 5th, 2009
Lisa McClendon was with us in all 3 services as she led worship and shared some songs from her new project “Reality”.
May 12th, 2009
Our services were reaching hundreds weekly online as we started streaming live and on demand with livestream.com
February 8th, 2009
“Hustle Day” – The release of Urban D.’s (Pastor Tommy) new CD and music video as he shared a timely message on King Solomon.
April 12th, 2009
“Rescue Series” kicks off on Easter Sunday as we touched on the things we need to be rescued from.
S.O.U.L | Pg57
“Street Stories / God gets the glory / Street Stories / God gets the glory / Who can be against me if God be before me‌ S.O.U.L | Pg58
Simon comes all the way from Toronto, Canada. His parents, being Catholic, brought him to church every Sunday. He was baptized, christened, and had his confirmation through the Catholic Church. But being raised in the Catholic Church environment he eventually grew very desensitized to his faith and only looked to God when he needed, or when he felt like it. Simon was even involved in a youth group leading music, but still not truly connecting with God. He moved to Tampa with his family. In 2003 he found out that these b-boys he knew have been practicing at this Hip-Hop styled Church. Simon decided to check it out one night and went into service with the Catholic mindset of the traditional mass. He dressed up nice and brought clothes to dance in later. Simon shared, “little did I know that everyone was dressed however they wanted, and it was a thought I had to get used to. Eventually coming to the Crossover more often, I learned that God wants you to come as you are, but expect to come out of service changed! Over the course of time, my b-boying started progressing, as Crossover became my new practice spot, as well as my new home church. It was here that God showed me how to minister to those in need, through my dance and through my artistic expression. Even to this day, my dance is dedicated to God. He gave it all to me. Now I dance to worship Him.” Simon has played guitar with the worship team, helped organize breaking events at Crossover and you can find him on Sunday nights on the dance floor after service bringing light the breakers.
Linwood Young was born and raised and attended college (URI) in Providence, R.I. Before building a relationship with Christ, he lived basically a self-serving existence always pushing for more, wanting it his way, his terms and in his time, but it never satisfied. Linwood viewed Christians as robots spouting biblical scriptures irrelevant to his worldview of life and its realities. He became a Christian in 1967 and now is no longer guided not by a worldview drawn from human intellect but from Proverbs 3:5-8 - the inspired word of God written to glorify Him while giving Perspective, Direction, Joy, and Peace to his life. He shared, “When I obey it works, when I don’t it doesn’t”. Linwood and his wife Maria have been married for 48 years and blessed with 9 children, 17 grandchildren, and 2-great grandchildren. “Our life experiences are situations that run the gamut of good, bad and sad. Through prayer, obedience and the hard way we learned (and are still learning) that no matter what the current situation, it is not forever, it is finite, it will pass and we are not to make it a lifestyle. Instead our lifestyle focus is on the bedrock of our existence; Jesus Christ the Son; our Savior and Lord, The Holy Spirit our earthly counselor and God the Father: eternal, infinite and sovereign,” he expressed. Linwood currently serves as a church council member at Crossover and he and his wife are involved in church growth and fund raising.
David grew up with both parents in Chicago and was raised with Christian beliefs. But eventually he went through a rebellious stage and was involved in gangs and drugs. At the age of 13 he moved to Tampa and continued with his ungodly ways, which lead to bad decisions and consequences. One of these bad decisions included a bad relationship, which resulted in David becoming a single father with sole custody of his daughter. He finally repented and came back to the Lord. Juliana also grew up with Christian beliefs but in a single parent household. She was raised by her mother whom she witnessed struggle to provide for her and her sister. Although she had a long distance relationship with her father who lived in Florida, she was being raised in Los Angeles, CA. Juliana eventually got involved in gangs and drugs. She then moved to Miami, FL and continued her rebellious ways as she hung out with the wrong crowds, which resulted in her becoming pregnant at the age of 15. She stayed in the relationship and had another child but finally after many years of disappointment and bad experiences she found her way back to the Lord and repented. Dave and Juliana met in January 2008 and got married June 2, 2009. They are using the lessons that they’ve learned along with Godly principles to teach their children so they don’t make the same mistakes. David has been attending Crossover for seven years and serving in various areas. Julie became part of the Crossover family after she met David.
Lon was raised in the South side of Milwaukee until middle school when he then moved to Tampa with his family. Things then changed as his grades slipped and he soon got involved in drugs and alcohol. During his high school years this led to selling drugs, stealing and getting caught up in the street life. He then met his wife and had his first child and around that same time a friend of his gave him a Cross Movement CD and invited him to church. He went and really was feeling it. Things were going well for a while until some drama went down at the church with the pastor which caused Lon to slip back away in some of his former ways, but God was still working on him. In summer of 09’ Lon started attending Crossover with his wife and kids and as he said, “I dove in head first by cutting off all my secular activities.” He now frequently watches Joseph Prince, listens to John Piper podcasts and is currently going through “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. “Now I’m able to witness to my clients in the barbershop”, he shared. You can catch Lon at BoyzIIMen Barbershop at University Mall repping for Christ, or at Crossover with his family on Sunday nights.
Elizabeth was born in Queens, New York but raised in Tampa Florida. She was raised in a Catholic home, but although she was forced to go to church, she didn’t have a relationship with God, or understand what Christ did for her. As she grew older her attitude got worse and her family began to fall apart at the seams. In the summer of ‘06 she went to Georgia for a month by herself to go visit her mom’s side of the family, which were true believers. Her cousin Michelle invited her to a weekend lock in at their church and she reluctantly went, as she really had no choice. That weekend on July 22, 2006, Elizabeth gave her life to Christ. When she went back to Tampa she didn’t have a church home. That school year she met Rafy who was a new Christian that attended Crossover. She had heard about Crossover since her freshman year, but never checked it out. When her new friend invited her she kept making excuses. Finally she went with her best friend Meli to a youth service and fell in love with it! Crossover became her home church and Elizabeth has been a follower of Christ unashamed for 3 years and still growing! She shared, “God has used Crossover so much to help me grow strongly. I’m currently plugged in the kid’s ministries, and now involved in the Juvenile Detention Center ministries, which has just been an awesome blessing! I’ve changed tremendously over these years and I just praise God for bringing me such a long way – all the glory goes to Him!”
Ameen Hudson, was born in St. Pete, Fl and then moved to New Jersey at a young age. Within a short time his mom and dad decided to separate, which led Ameen and his mother back to south side of St.Pete. Growing up in this area, Ameen was immersed in a lifestyle of sin and rebellion. Raised in the church for most of his life, he would go, but never had true genuine saving faith. Heavily influenced by the hip-hop culture, Ameen would use rapping as a means to glorify himself in freestyling, and battle rapping. But all that started to change in late 2005 early 2006 when he picked up a Bible and was convicted of His sin. From then on, this conviction weighed on him more and more. In 2006 he met a guy around his age at his job that went by the name of KB. This new friend shared The Gospel with him and shortly after discipled him. Today, by God’s Grace Ameen is a new creature, which has been fully transformed by the power of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ameen is an active part of Crossover’s outreach ministry “Do Not Conform”, as he frequently uses his music and his testimony to share his story of transformation.
Remix Worship: Brings together Hip-Hop elements within a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural expression of art and music that seeks to experience an authentically biblical encounter with our Creator.
John 4:24 / Revelation 4:10-11 Philosophy: We believe that God is the creator of art and music having its origin with him. Although we recognize the power and influence of Satan in music, we believe that God redeems culture and art through those he has transformed by grace. We use art and music to worship the living God, expressing His goodness and mercy to the world, and to uplift followers of Christ. Our Values: We accept the Bible as God’s Word to us, fully inspired and authoritative. It is our map and guide for worship. The book of Psalms was the main hymnal for the Hebrews and contains many songs full of theology, prayers, and desperate cries for help to God. They are a rich source of inspiration for the follower of Christ. Even though they do not contain a single note or measure or even any rhythm for that matter, each Psalm can be a well of worship insight today. While we are very orthodox in our view of Scripture, we see Jesus as one who would fully embrace those in culture and use those elements to communicate the good news of hope and reconciliation to God. Our musical form of worship takes place within the urban context, embracing multi-ethnic people groups and developing purpose and worship in their lives. Our Mission: (Is) …To Remix the worship experience in such a way as to lead our culture into a biblical, Christ-centered expression of love, thanks, and praise to God; as we encounter his presence, become transformed into his image, and fulfill our purposes on earth.
S.O.U.L | Pg61
m r o f n o C t ’ n o D am Street Team/Outreach Te d The Don’t Conform Ministry is base rm off of Romans 12:2. “Don’t Confo e to the ways of this world.” The uniqu
ts team plans outreaches at even rs, and places like movie theate a’s malls, college campuses, Tamp
es Ybor City, etc. Don’t Conform us les’ different methods to get peop ed attention while in these crowd
gh places. The main way is throu d blending in with the crowd an
starting a circle. Then evangelism d through beatboxing, freestyling, an us dancing is done. People get curio d and stop to see what is going on, an d that is when the conversations an n faith sharing begins. Our team the s gives out flyers for Crossover, CD
d and Don’t Conform’s customize in a flyers that break down the gospel ers relevant way. Don’t conform’s fly n, tackle topics like porn, evolutio materialism and more! ists The Don’t Conform team of art try regularly goes out to do minis y at events all over the Tampa Ba
rm area and beyond. Don’t Confo or outreaches happen every month m so and they are open for people fro out Crossover to come out and pass e flyers and share their faith. Thes at events are regularly promoted the Crossover’s Sunday services in programs and announcements.
for relevant Check out WillYouConform.com
re info.
evangelism resources and mo
S.O.U.L | Pg63
S.O.U.L | Pg64
I’ve been trying to keep up with the hommie DJ Lopez, but what can you say for the man that grinds hard for God? With several projects under his belt which include fully producing 5 of Crossover Cypha’s (The latest Cypha 6 “Warriors” just dropped!), 2ice-Born Mixtape, and a featured remixed track off the recent release of Urban D’s “Hustle EP”. Really, one would think that he just sits around producing and remixing tracks in all his spare time! What really gets Lopez going is that he has a heart for the culture… and he expresses this by extending his ministry in the public school system.
LOPEZ
“As a public school teacher, I have seen the impact of reaching students for Christ in such a major way. I run a ministry at school through Fellowship of Christian Athletes every Friday during lunch. It averages around 50-100 8th grade students in a given week and we hold events after school once a month to reach the entire school. In attendance we have at least 5-6 teachers who come and participate in the areas of praise and worship to bringing the word. We always create a hype atmosphere by playing a mix of cutting edge hip-hop songs that focus on the central theme that Christ is the answer. We currently have a men’s bible study for faculty and staff at school and we also started a girl’s bible study.”
DJ Lopez has an interesting and unique way of bringing the gospel to the kids he interacts with at school. One can think of it as bridging the love of DJing with the skills of communicating Christ to the youth. This started off with the vision of a “mixed tape” from back in the day where you could promote music just by passing cassettes hand to hand to promote artists and their albums. Lopez has remixed that concept and now uses the CD in a mix format to handout to students that will never hear the gospel by any other means.
LOPEZ
“I strictly recall blessing one of my students with a CD of one of the earlier Cypha CD’s that I produced for Crossover and remember her coming back crying. “Mr. Lopez, my mom stole my CD and I might not see her again for a while. I live with my father and she is always drunk and high,” she expressed. I simply smiled and said that was a good thing she took the CD, and simply gave her another CD. There are countless stories, in fact just this year one of my hardest to reach students just shared that students were bumpin’ my CD on the bus. He wanted to know how he could receive one, and I shared, join FCA and a CD will be yours. The rest was history!”
It’s really dope to hear stories such as these, being a blessing to someone… now that’s starting a revolution! Now I seen and heard the heart of DJ Lopez, or should I say Mr. Koter (ha!), but I really see Lopez as THE Family man! Its true what they say, your ministry starts at home…and that’s exactly what goes down there at the Lopez Crib.
LOPEZ
“My wife Liz Lopez is the driving force of much of what I do. At the beginning I traveled extensively across the country djing but realized I was missing out on the time with my children. I prayed, “God if you are calling me - raise my family to join me in ministry.” Now He has done just that, my son and daughter ages 14 and 16 preach the “Word” along side their dad, crazy, right? Nah, just blessed! My wife has taught me to stand still and wait on God, and till this day I call her my ‘Super Women’. I have seen God do amazing things through her life. I’ve been djing for a minute now and can’t keep track of the years, but what I can share is the profound effect it has had on my son and daughter. My daughter Keila Rose helps me with a lot of concepts you hear on the cypha CD mixes. If you listen carefully you will always hear her voice as well as my son and wife. My son has built relationships with brothers like Braille, Hansoul, DJ Dust and Manchild of Mars Ill, DJ Morph even Rob-Swift from the X-men. I am in awe of God when I see the brothers invest in my son, but I believe its God showing His grace to me.”
Continue to pray for DJ Lopez and his ministry as it continues to be a blessing for many others… students, fans, Hip-Hop heads alike! For more information on DJ Lopez visit www.djlopez.org or hit him on myspace at www.myspace.com/djlopez777. For booking hit up djlopeztheoriginal@tampabay.rr.com or call 813 234-9593
S.O.U.L | Pg65
C hoosing to H ope O bey S erve and E ncourage N ow …For such a time as this. Esther 4:14 C.H.O.S.E.N. Women’s Ministry is available to all Crossover ladies who are college-age and up regardless of background, ethnicity and economic status. Our vision is to empower and embrace every woman as a Daughter of the King. Each one “chosen” and placed exactly where God wants them, to accomplish His will for such a time as this. C.H.O.S.E.N. exists to provide teaching, godly counsel, accountability and fellowship, not only for the women of Crossover, but for our community and beyond. In turn, we can expect better women, wives, mothers, daughters, leaders, workers, etc. - who understand their full potential and their purpose and choose to serve God and others through this ministry. Our heart is to create community and intimacy between the women. Our attempt to accomplish this is through Crossover’s Life Groups, which are home-based small groups, many which are specifically for women. C.H.O.S.E.N. also offers Treasures, a quarterly activity that incorporates a time of teaching, small groups and fellowship time. Other events or activities include Secret Sisters, ladies night out, conferences, retreats and much more. On a global level, we sponsor a young child through World Vision, Esther Dismas. Esther is from Tanzania and lives in an AIDS/HIV infested community. We ask our ladies to donate only a $1 a month to help support Esther and be a part of helping her receive an education, provide clean water, food & necessities. For additional information on this ministry or to receive our bi-monthly Email Newsletter please email Lucy Kyllonen: lucy@crossoverchurch.org
S.O.U.L | Pg66
S.O.U.L | Pg67
S.O.U.L | Pg68
Let me tell you ‘bout my homeboy Corey - Corey Hicks that is! Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana and a product of the lower Ninth Ward, Co Hicks’ street appeal and southern slang make for great character on wax. While this might fool you into passing him up for your typical dirty south rapper, think again! His musical tastes may begin with locals, but they extend far beyond into regions thought unexplored by the southern wordsmith. Names like Rakim, Poor Righteous Teachers, Gang Starr, Kool G Rap, Nas, Biggie, and Jay-Z don’t often get dropped as the southern rapper’s influences, but in Corey’s case these were the standard. Lyricism and East Coast flavor mixed with New Orleans swag and flow make Corey Hicks one of the most dynamic rappers you’ll ever hear – Christian or secular! Quote me, I said it. Not because I know Corey or because I like him as a person (both are true though), but because when you get around Corey you just can’t get enough of the guy. What I learned quickly about him was that God had done the miraculous in his life and he was just so excited about God that he was always rappin, even when he wasn’t holdin’ the mic. Although he was raised on fried okra, red beans and jambalaya, Corey is absolutely not your run of the mill bounce rapper. By the way, ‘Bounce’ is a style of music, which originated from the ‘Big Easy’ - and Big Easy is a nickname for New Orleans. Now that we got you caught up on the lingo, let’s go!
• In August of 2005 Corey and his family drove to Atlanta to preach on a Friday night. That Saturday a storm was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and by Monday, life would change forever for Corey and the entire Gulf Coast region. Hurricane Katrina displaced the Hicks’ and New Orleans residents for the unforeseen future as the destruction and chaos brought upon the region unfolded as they watched from a television set in Atlanta. With every home owning member of Corey’s family losing their houses to the flooding that would occur after the levee failure, a total of 9 homes in the Hick’s family were submerged. ‘Everything was gone, everything.’ Corey had a suit he wore to preach, the clothes on his back and the bags he packed for his family trip to Georgia. Corey plugged into ATL’s Christian Hip-Hop scene and ministered when he could as it took his family a year to make their way back to New Orleans. He shared that the burden he and his wife Nicole shared for the city of New Orleans was strong and they sought to rebuild lives and homes. They had little if any money, few possessions and their own emotional baggage from the psychological impact of the storm, however they felt God had been with them and gave them strength throughout the whole ordeal. Corey’s passion for a rebirth in the city was too strong to keep them away.
people, not just those who have come from the hood like him, but those from all over the city. Corey’s spiritual journey began at the age of 7 when he first prayed to make Jesus his Lord. He fell away and found himself in the hustle and fast life of stealing, selling drugs, and whatever else goes with that. He knew God’s Word and the love of Christ but chose rather to walk apart from fellowship with his creator. After an encounter on Bourbon Street with a group of students from the School of Urban Missions, Corey had to face the reality of his lifestyle. Elliot Potter, a student at the time was sharing the gospel on Bourbon Street when he met Corey, who was not really in the mood to talk religion. You see, Corey used to do this sort of thing; you know, tell people about Jesus and meet them where they were. Now Corey was deep in a sinful lifestyle, using heroine, drinking heavily, and not at all looking for Jesus. Elliot sensed that God had called Corey to a better life and spent time with him there on the block. They exchanged numbers and somehow Corey did not throw Elliot’s number away. Thank God because 2 weeks later Corey overdosed on heroine and called Elliot for prayer. Elliot immediately prayed for Corey on the phone and his OD stopped. Elliot picked him up and spent 14 hours in the ER with him. I was a student at the time at SUM and was in my dorm room overhearing the call the whole time. After Corey recovered he came back to Christ and enrolled at SUM. Corey’s gift in music and his past as an emcee in the city gave him little reason to doubt that God had called him to use Hip-Hop. He briefly debated about a new name ‘Agape’ instead of ‘Corey Hicks’ or ‘Cali-Co,’ but after his old peeps bumped into him and kept callin’ him Co, he figured keeping “Corey Hicks” was a wise way to share his testimony and reach more people for Jesus. Corey’s personal label, Longevity Music is not what you might think either. He uses it of course for himself as an artist, but also hopes to mentor young artists in the future and through Longevity give them a platform for ministry similar to his own. Given the ministry of reconciliation by the Holy Spirit, Corey feels that we should not only be reconciling people to God, but also to each other through building relationships and bridging racial divides. Hip-Hop music and culture has done so over the years, and he feels that we can reach so many more people if we are ourselves and show the humility and love of God to each other and through each other. People will want to know more about Christ and be open to our message because we have exemplified cross-cultural and multi-racial relationships in genuine love. I would agree with Corey and hope that we can all be more loving and better examples of reconciliation to each other. If you want to find out more about Corey and his ministry you can go to: www.coreyhicks.com - Check out his new joint is ‘The Antidote,’ and don’t forget God’s gonna transform New Orleans!
Living in a Samaritan’s Purse relief trailer for the first year back, Corey began to reach out to the depressed, the drug addicted, the lost and the hurting all while dealing with his own struggles of seeing his beloved city in ruins. The scene was hard for us to see on our television sets, but waking up every morning to work in it must add an unimaginable challenges as well. Corey’s strength comes from the Lord and his easy-going personality has helped him as he now works with youth through a ministry called Next Generation. He does clubs in New Orleans area high schools; helping point youth to Christ as well as help them deal with life in general. Corey’s a natural with young
S.O.U.L | Pg69
S.O.U.L | Pg70
CrossoverChurch.org Stay wired in!
Everyday the internet continues to expand it’s influence and reach. We know the net can be
One of the most exciting aspects of the site is the
a huge outreach and resource tool.
audio and video components.
Crossover
Each week our
continues to push forward to be on the cutting
podcast and service on demand links are updated
edge as we connect with people and point them
from the previous Sunday service.
to Christ. Over the years our church website has
subscribe to our audio and video services. We
grown to become a big part of that. The past few
stream our Sunday Night Vibe service live at 7pm
years the site has averaged over 2 million website
as hundreds join us from around the world to see
and it continues to grow as we now average around
what a Crossover worship experience is like.
Thousands
10,000 views per day! We live in an internet driven age. Crossover has Our site is updated each week with the theme of
found that nearly half of it’s first time guests are
Sunday’s message, the upcoming guest artist at
now coming as they heard about it through first
Sunday Night Vibe, news and more. Practically
checking out our website. Google is a beautiful
anything you may be looking for can be found in
thing J! We encourage you to check it out on a
the links from the staff, to ministries to upcoming
regular basis and look for more new features to
events. Our Lifegroups (small groups) have their
be added as we constantly keep you connected.
own link with a detailed list of the current groups
Pastor Tommy also regularly sends out a weekly
available for the semester.
email to our database to update them on what’s happening and what’s coming up.
New interactive links have been added where people can submit prayer requests and praise reports, and even sign up for an event or to volunteer for a ministry. There is an invite link
Crossover also regularly updates our: Youtube, Facebook and Twitter... you can search for us @ crossover813
where people can send a custom full-color invite to a friend’s email. The site also features a donations link where people can give their offerings.
S.O.U.L | Pg71
The Christian Hip-Hop movement continues to grow every day. Many of you checking out this magazine are just discovering it. If you’ve been around this genre for a minute, you know it’s come a long way! The artistry and production quality continues to expand. The passion to rep the message of Christ is more evident than ever! There is a lot of incredible talent out there – established and emerging. Space doesn’t allow us to review all that we would like to, but we picked some Hot projects for this issue that are definitely worthy of recognition… we suggest you check em’ out and enjoy!
GodChaserz Entertainment “Dat’s Gospel Mixx 2” twitter.com/GodChaserz
- God Chaserz Entertainment
GodChaserz Entertainment is on their Grind again with “Dat’s Gospel Mixx 2! Brinson and his camp do it big on 24 high energy and thought provoking tracks featuring some of your favorites from J. Johnson and K Nine, to the likes of Fedel, JAZ, K Drama and Tre 9 who are all featured on the “Solar Powered Remix!” A lot of variety from the Maji produced Freestyle by Eshon Burgundy to the K Drama produced “Ric Flair On’em!” which is a remake of K Drama’s “Air Jordan On’em!” I’ll quote Ric Flair and say, “whether you like it, or you don’t like it… Learn to love it Wooooo!” This project is a definitely a true Gospel Mixx satisfying the appetite of all Hip Hop listeners. I won’t be surprised if on the next compilation my boy Brinson takes it Global with features from all parts of the world because that’s just the mindset of these true GodChaserz! - Clok
Hazakim
“Theophanies” lampmode.com
- Lamp Mode Recordings
To recognize the manifestation of God in your life is a glorious thing. To be able to describe these events as vividly as presented here in the “strong ones”, Hazakim’s sophomore album is just as glorious to the Lord our God. The lyrical theology that the brothers Michael and Anthony bring to their follow-up album makes it hard not to see the Messiah’s glory through each track. On top of that, each track is so original that you are eager to hear the next. After talking to Michael and Anthony, and finding that they want you to get a few substantial things from this album (education, originality, and a vivid perspective of God), the album does manifest these things to the ultimate. - Marz
S.O.U.L | Pg76
K-Drama
“Boombaptism” k-dramamusic.com
- K-Drama Music
This has to be one of the most musically versatile albums I’ve ever heard. K-drama hits us with 16 tracks of banging beats and heartfelt lyrics. The great thing about K is that his music reflects so much of his personality. My personal favorite would have to be “On the high” featuring D-M.A.U.B and Street Pastor. Tracks such as “Ambulance” and “Air Jordan”, expresses his ability to be eclectic. While songs like “Tear the walls down” and “Hindsight” present a more personal view of K- drama’s life. “The game needs a change rappers won’t be themselves and it’s such a shame.” With the current state of hip-hop it’s no wonder he would say that. - Jerrell
R-Swift
“Anthem”
- Cross Movement Records
crossmovementrecords.com
Many in our community know the past year hasn’t been easy for Swift and his family as their young son suddenly past away, but that hasn’t gotten Swift off his focus. He’s back harder than ever with his new album “Anthem”. “They Calling” talks about his old self, his old habits and his old people trying to get at him to come back to his old ways as he describes the struggle but shows how to live victorious. The track “NoNoNo” features a hot collab with Jahaziel, Sho Baraka, and Monty G. A surprising and wall breaking Collabo was “Flavor of Forever” that features Theory Hazit, KJ 52 and Braille! The grand finale track “Awesome God” which was produced by Marv4mobeats from New Orleans - this is a true anthem that has become thee favorite in my car as my young daughters constantly want to hear this one again and again… and again as there is a squad of children singing “Our God is an awesome God”. If you can get kids hooked… you know you got a true anthem! - Cisco
This’L
“Chronicles of an X-Hustler” twitter.com/thisl
- X Hustler Music
If you’ve been waiting for an urban testimony of a cat that’s passionate and truly transformed by God’s grace… then you need to cop this masterpiece. Along with Hazakim’s latest, this quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year, as I haven’t been able to keep it in stock @ Crossover’s hip-hop shop. I’ve been tracking this ‘brovah’ in Christ, since I first heard him on the 116 Clique compilation CD. My favorite track on this project is #11 “Daddy did me”, as it expresses This’l’s true worship. Another banger is track #16 “I ain’t turning” back featuring another St. Louis MC – Flame. This is an anthem of repentance. So whether you’re just off the block, or mature in the faith, this album will definitely speak to you. - Cisco
S.O.U.L | Pg77
There has been so much talk about the economic recession that has been taking place the past few years. Everywhere you turn, everyone is talking about it. If you watch the news, you’ll hear about the unemployment rate.
If you read your local newspaper, they will not fail to inform you about the housing market and the
slumber that it’s in. What about your friends and family? You get to see first-hand the day to day financial struggle that they are in. Well, how come no one is talking about the spiritual recession taking place in America? What about the spiritual recession in our communities, our churches and our homes? We have become so consumed and pre-occupied with the world that we’ve forgotten about our souls. Many people are worried, stressed, anxious and insecure about their future. But, are we concerned about the lack of respect for God’s Word? What about the decline in our faith-walk or the justification of sin? In the same way that America has been rocked and many have felt the effects of a troubled economy, the church of God has been silently suffering and many are experiencing the repercussions. We have been hurt and left confused by high-profile pastors whose marriages end in divorce; talented and well-known artists living a lie and who have been unfaithful to their spouses, fans and friends and most importantly to God. You hear of church leaders molesting and abusing God’s precious and innocent children. What about in our churches? You’ve got Christians stealing from God every single week by keeping for themselves the tithe that is owed to Him (Leviticus 26:30); Christian couples who live together but refuse to “commit” to one another in the same way that Christ is committed to the church; Christians who choose not to forgive and love one another the way God commands as they hold on to grudges, barely look at each other or inflict pain with their tongue. Printed on our currency are the words “In God We Trust.” As a believer of God, in God you MUST trust! You can trust Him to meet your needs and provide for your family despite your current circumstances or what the media tells you. You can also trust God to be a JUST God! God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7). He will judge according to works, which are seeds sown for eternity of either joy or woe. Excuses for not following God’s purposes (Gal. 6:6) may seem valid before men, but are not so before God (Ps 50:21). You can blame the government for what is going on economically, but you can only blame you for this spiritual recession. We are all responsible and will one day be held accountable for our actions, or lack thereof (II Corinthians 5:10). This spiritual recession is more important than what you may think and much more detrimental to your future. •••
S.O.U.L | Pg80
Crossover was invited with 3 other churches to Granger Community Church (Granger, IN) to give a 12 minute arts performance illustrating Philippians 2:3 for the Innovate 2009 conference. You can relive this incredible experience and watch Crossover’s performance by visiting www.innovateconference.com