Today I am heading to Tampa, FL, along with hundreds of other urban ministry leaders from across the country for Flavor Fest 2015: ReBuild. Flavor Fest is an urban leadership conference for current and future urban church and ministry leaders. The purpose is to bring us together to fellowship, share, pray, and network with each other to be further equipped for the ministry mission. Now in its 15th year, Flavor Fest has become one of the premiere national ministry and worship events and is attendees range across a broad spectrum of cultures, backgrounds and denominations. Focused mainly on the gospel hip hop culture, Flavor Fest began in 2000 with hundreds in attendance and now with The Lords blessing, thousands attend bringing a high level of energy and great expectation along for the ride. The conference is held at Tampa’s hip hop centric Crossover Church, which is pastored by Tommy Kyllonen (aka Pastor Tommy or Urban D in gospel hip hop circles). Pastor Tommy is an accomplished gospel hip-hop artist and the conference attracts a who’s who of the genre.
Having been a believer in glorifying God through the hip hop culture for many years, I am looking forward to hearing from this year’s featured artists such as Flame, This’l and Derek Minor. The weekend will be filled with live concert worship performances, God-glorifying spoken word, dance and other forms of creative arts. There will be preaching from urban pastors and ministers, ministry workshops and a 3on3 basketball tournament. The conference is capped off with a community outreach block party that has born much fruit over the years and is a recognized platform for believer exhortation, gospel proclamation and encouragement for all who attend.
As one of the main missional partners of Flavor Fest, World Impact has the privilege of facilitating the urban ministry, developing missional partnerships and prayer ministry workshops being offered this year. With our mission focused on urban ministry, we are thankfully positioned to equip and resource these leaders in cities all over America. I look forward to see what The Lord has in store for Flavor Fest 2015. It’s time to ReBuild! I’m out beloved. Gotta catch a plane. Pace and blessings to you. Lord willing, see you in Tampa.
Keith Wilks is World Impact East's Regional Director of Ministry.
