Hip Hop Unity Conference in Nashville, TN
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. – John 17:23
On January 10, 2012, I received an intriguing email from Bobby “Tre9” Herring (co-owner of DaSouth.com). The email was promoting an 11 city tour for 2012 called the Hip Hop Unity Conference/City Takers sponsored by Hip Hop Hope and City Takers, DaSouth.Com, and HolyCulture.Net. The purpose of this tour, as stated in the email, would be to promote unity in Christian hip-hop (CHH) and to focus on making full-time CHH missionaries. As a mobile deejay that has been spinning Christian music in secular clubs, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities for a number of years, I immediately saw the need to attend this conference. I have witnessed God using CHH in these venues to convict the hearts of people and have seen them come to repentance and accept Christ in their life. For me, I needed to know how to get the funding to do more of these kinds of missions on a larger and more consistent scale from experienced CHH missionaries, like Tre9 and Scott Free (pastor of City Takers in Atlanta, GA). In addition to this, the kickoff for the Hip Hop Unity Conference in Nashville, TN was happening one week after a CHH unity fellowship in Boston, Massachusetts (where I’m from). This was confirmation to me that God has a strong desire to see His people working together in unity, and He has placed it on the hearts of His people to bring the body together.
The Hip Hop Unity Conference in Nashville was held at The Foundry (the 1st Christian coffee shop in Nashville) on the morning of February 4, 2012. Oracle, one of the members of The Foundry, was very instrumental in coordinating the conference to be held there. Several artists, pastors, and laymen from all over Tennessee were in attendance. Ricky B from B4 Entertainment was also there to video tape the conference and to interview some of the artists and other attendees.
The first half-hour of the conference was a meet & greet. After the meet & greet, Tre9 started the conference with an informative workshop he put together on Hip Hop Missions. Some of the topics were: What is hip-hop missions and its objectives; who are the missionaries and what do they do; what are the characteristics of a hip-hop missionary; and how do you develop your strategy to become a hip-hop missionary. After this workshop, there was a brief transitional break that Tre9 used to acknowledge some of the artists in the room who would be ministering later on that night at The City Takers outreach concert. He also acknowledged some of the other Christian laborers in the room and had them briefly speak on the work they’ve been doing for the kingdom.
After the break, Scott Free presented the next and final workshop called, “Missing the Mission?” Scott challenged all of us to think about why we do what we do by posing some of the following questions: Have we made ministry about music and product or is it about people; do we get so focused on the methods that we lose sight of the mission; are we examining ourselves and ministries to see how we can bare more fruit? Scott’s workshop was very instrumental in teaching you how to become a hip-hop missionary and how to gain and maintain support for the mission. He provided me with the answers I needed and made the conference well-worth attending.
Following the workshops, the conference provided us with a free lunch from Zaxbys, and conference attendees were able to network and ask any questions they may have had from the workshops. After lunch, and before breaking for the afternoon, people were asked to help spread the word about the evening outreach concert.
When I arrived for the evening City Taker’s concert, DJ Sematic was spinning music as people were coming in. The Foundry worship band took the stage and did a great job with setting the atmosphere to receive and hear from God through the other artists who ministered that night: Enlitement, Double, Gideon’s Army, and D-Maub. Scott Free gave the altar call and benediction, which concluded a great conference and outreach. Make sure you catch this tour when it comes to your city!
