Urban D.

Urban D. 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 200, 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 Hip-Hop Culture. The church has seen explosive growth as they now have 3 Sunday Services to serve the community. Outreach magazine listed Crossover as one of the most innovative churches in America. The church recently moved into their new 43,000 square foot facility (A former Toys R Us) and they are continuing to experience incredible growth with over 1,000 people attending. Crossover is also home of the annual Fla.vor Fest conference where they have trained over two thousand leaders the past decade.
Urban D. has recorded seven Hip-Hop albums since 1996 and has traveled across the U.S., Germany, Japan and England performing and speaking at conferences. His 07' project “Un.orthdox – church.hip-hop.culture” spans three spectrums of media; music, film, and print. His new CD/DVD has major distribution through EMI, and Zondervan published his book. His latest project "Un.heard" is a collection of 18 tracks featuring Braille, Brinson, Christafari, D Maub, K Drama and many more. It's physically available exclusively at www.urband.org and available digitally everywhere. 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.
Urban D. is also a frequent writer, authoring articles for Pastors.com, Rapzilla.com, and American Bible Society. He has contributed to several books including the Relevant Church Book, Relevant Nation, and penning chapter introductions and articles for the popular REAL Biblezine.
S.O.U.LMAG is a magazine that focuses on the Christian Hip-Hop Movement. The magazine relevantly speaks on urban life while it keeps faith in the center of the conversation. Urban D. serves at the publisher of the magazine along with Spec as the creative director and a committed team of incredibly talented volunteers. The magazine is now 17 issues deep - check out www.thesoulmag.com for subscription information.