Un.orthodox: church. hip-hop. culture. by Tommy Kyllonen is a Finalist in the 2008 Outreach Awards.  Un.orthodox is written by a man who is both a hip-hop artist and lead pastor of the first church ever to target hip-hop culture.  Un.orthodox shares unique, inside perspectives on how to reach today’s urban culture with the message of Jesus. Fascinating, troubling, inspiring, and moving, this is a powerful resource for engaging today’s unchurched, thirty-five-and-under generation. Click here to read a sample chapter: 

Tommy Kyllonen (aka Urban D.) founded the youth ministry at Crossover Community Church in 1996 with just four teens. Over the next six years he and his wife developed a first of its kind Hip-Hop Youth Ministry which grew to 200. The adult ministry on Sunday remained much smaller as the different pastors were always bivocational. In January of 2002 Tommy became the lead pastor at Crossover and a new vision was birthed to specifically reach the hip-hop culture. The church became Purpose Driven in their structure and began to truly engage the culture in their community. Without compromise they carefully incorporated many elements into their worship context and campus with music, dance, visual arts, media, and relevant messages. The ministry has seen incredible growth as their weekend attendance has jumped from 40 to over 400 in less than four years. Their youth services reach hundreds more. 

Below is a video overview of Un.orthodox by Tommy Kyllonen: