Pastor Tommy Kyllonen aka Urban D.

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 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.

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. His new CD/DVD has major distribution through EMI, and Zondervan published his book. This project is now in stores 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.

Tommy is also a frequent writer, authoring articles for Relevant, 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 urband.org and myspace.com/urband813

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