Flavor Fest X wrap up

The 10 year anniversary of Flavor Fest was huge success… but almost didn’t happen. Crossover’s new facility was scheduled to go through it’s final inspections on Thursday afternoon. The inspections lasted longer than expected and the 5:00pm cut off passed. In order to pass inspection the building had to have back up power for all the lighting in the entire 43,000 square foot facility. When they checked the back up generator they discovered the wires had been cut and the battery was stolen. Some of Crossover’s mechanics immediately went to work as the inspector was checking the fire alarm system. Within 30 minutes they bought a new battery hooked it up and cranked it… and all the lights in the building worked! The building was passed with a temporary certificate of occupancy at 6:40pm on Thursday night in order to open up Friday morning. The Thursday night pre-event had to be moved to the Comfort Inn Conference Center.

On Friday morning it was on as hundreds of registrants poured into Crossover’s new facility. The first general session sparked off at 9am with worship led by “Dominic Balli” and his band from California – bangin’ Reggae/Rock/Hip-Hop worship flavor! Urban D. opened up with a video from the parking lot as he shared about the countless times he prayed walking around the parking lot. He and his wife Lucy then came out and welcomed everyone and we then had a “Plastic Party” as everyone took the plastic off of all of Crossover’s brand new chairs (864!). Efrem Smith then brought it and challenged us to “Jump!” Breakout workshops then included the artists track (with Lecrae speaking), the UYWI youth track, the outreach track, the purpose track and the urban church track. Then it was time for lunch as everyone enjoyed some classic Chic-Fil-A sandwiches and had some great fellowship. The last general session of the day kicked off with worship by “Alert” from Chicago (these guys are so dope – check out their new audio Bible over Hip-Hop beats!). We were then blessed by some dudes from Krosswerds hip-hop church in Australia as they rocked a joint, and then Larry Acosta killed it as he challenged leaders to be balanced.

The Friday Night Concert at Flavor Fest was crazy as the kick off pre-show jumped off in the parking lot as the crowd kept growing and growing. Inside everything was getting ready as the doors opened up a little after 7pm. It was an incredible night as artists like Brinson, Trip Lee, Rawsrvnt, K Drama, R Swift, D-Maub and many more ripped it. Over 1,500 people were in the building… but there was plenty of space in Crossover’s new spot as there was a large space in their office complex next to the lobby that held a 2 on 2 break dancing competition with DJ Dash on the 1’s and 2’s. The gym held all the vendors and the main lobby was full of round tables and people hanging out eating and building. DJ Lopez was holding it down in the main room where the MC’s were spittin’. The media at Crossover’s new spot is ridiculous with 3 huge screens with the middle one being a rear projection screen showing images of each artist and Fest sponsors. The side two screens showed the four camera angles of the stage. The concert rocked until after 11pm and the crowd flooded into the main auditorium as Lecrae capped off the night and rocked some new joints from Rehab. The entire 116 clique also came out and prayed over their new artist “KB” who is a member of Crossover Church. It was an epic night as Lecrae ended out with sharing the gospel and praying for everyone.

Saturday morning was a slow start as everyone was tired. But people kept rolling in as the general session sparked off a few minutes after 9am with Crossover’s worship team “Remix” – they were 35 strong rockin’ it with a live DJ, band, rappers, singers and dancers. After worship it went directly into a documentary style video narrated by Urban D. that led into Rick Warren speaking to the leaders at Flavor Fest. He killed it with a great message about what it takes to last in the ministry. The break out workshops then took place as there were speakers like KJ-52, Broken (Crossover’s youth pastor), Eric Mason (Epiphany Fellowship), Lily Perlaza (Crossover’s Finance Director), and several others. Lunch featured some great Puerto Rican style arroz con pollo (Rice and Chicken!). The last general session of the conference featured Flavor Fest’s “Revolutions Awards”. The organization honored for making an impact on the culture was “Tha Message Mag” and the Church honored was “Elements” Church from the Bronx, NYC (Pastor Brother E). Crossover then presented a 12 minute arts mash up on Phil. 2:3 that featured interpretive and Krump dancing, live buckets, beatboxing, mcing, Djing and spoken word – all to a video backdrop. It was HOT! Pastor Tommy then came out and shared about the miracle of the new facility as the tied it in with Joshua chapter 10 where Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still. Flavor Fest also created a new award for “Emerging Leader” as Tommy honored their general contractor “Francisco Diaz” and his company “Heaven Sent Construction”. As he shared about Francisco’s contribution it was an emotional time for most in the room. The session closed with everyone writing their sun stand still type of pray on the auditorium’s bare cement floor.

The Saturday night concert was even larger and more electric than Friday night’s! DJ Wil from Jacksonville held down the pre-show stage outside as the crowd was blessed by Brinson, K-Drama, Broken and several others as it led up to 7pm. Doors opened and Jai, This’L, Michelle Bonilla, Sho Baraka, Heesun Lee, Hazakim, KB and the whole 116 clique rocked the stage among many many others. DJ Promote held it down in the b-boy room as Saturday night featured a 1 on 1 battle and was hosted by Crossover’s b-boys and b-girls with guest judges and legends “Skillmethodz” B-Boy crew from NYC. These dudes were sick on the floor! The breakin’ room was packed throughout the night! The lobby was full of fellowship, networking and building throughout the night as the round tables were packed with people hangin’ out. The end of the night was capped off by KJ-52 rockin’ it live with his drummer and DJ Morph on the tables. KJ always rocks a live show and he didn’t disappoint as he had the crowd’s hands up throughout the auditorium! At the end of his set he brought the gospel and prayed for those building a relationship with Christ. Dozens responded and went to get a free bible and get prayed for!

10/10/10 was the culmination of the Fest celebrating 10 years of the conference and celebrating Crossover’s very first Sunday in their new facility. Wow. All 3 services were full of excitement and energy as close to 1,000 people attended. Crossover’s worship team did a live remix version of Lecrae’s “Go Hard” with 3 main MC’s, 2 dancers and stage full of back up singers chanting the lyrics. They also did a remix of Toby Mac’s “I was made to love you” along with some original slower worship songs that ushered in God’s presence. The church was doing a series called “Victorious” as they were coming out of the book of Joshua. This was the last day of the series as it was titled “The After Party”… the day after Flavor Fest and the day after the building was finally occupied. Pastor Tommy shared from 1 Kings 18 as he shared about Elijah praying for rain and believing even when his servant didn’t see it. There is a promise and an after party, but the time in between is usually the longest… that’s the process! We were encouraged to push through the process. The 7pm service featured an open mic at the end and MC’s from around the world jumped on the mic: Krosswerds from Austrailia, Eric E from NYC, Solomon Starr from NYC, George Moss from Michigan, Brother E from NYC and many more. DJ Will brought the open mic to a huge finale as the crowd was amped… and Flavor Fest X was then history! We’ll be talking about this weekend in eternity!

Mark your calendars for Flavor Fest 11 – October 6th – 9th, 2011
Early Registration and Artist Submissions opens on November 1st!
http://www.flavorfest.org

Chad Horton
Chad Hortonhttps://rapzilla.com
Chad Horton has been in the music business since 2000 with a focus on digital distribution, streaming, playlisting, and social media marketing. Chad is currently a Partnership Producer at hi5.agency working with clients such as Blizzard Entertainment, Google Pixel, and more. Chad also owns and operates Rapzilla.com. Originally from Northern California, Chad became a San Diego resident in 2004 where he currently resides with his wife and children.
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