Some churches move to hip-hop beat

The Rev. Timothy Holder, 51, is about the last person people would associate with the rough-and-tumble world of hip-hop.

The white, Harvard-educated Episcopalian priest is a mild-mannered, bespectacled fellow with a plump face, merry eyes and a genial Tennessean lilt that seems to melt like butter among the bodacious New York City accents that surround him.

He's also openly gay.

"When you look at me, you see a whole lot of hip-hop, right?" said Holder, his laugh tinkling with mirth. "God clearly has a sense of humor."

Holder is among the new leaders to emerge in the fast-growing, underground movement of holy hip-hop, a melding of religion, primarily Christianity, with the energy, lingo, dress and dance moves of the culture. The approach, created to attract young people and hip-hop fans, has produced a number of fledgling churches across the country, several traveling rap ministries, numerous Christian rap artists, a couple of awards shows and plenty of Wrath of God-like discussion.

Many traditional religious leaders seem hesitant to embrace the approach, while others reject it outright, because of hip-hop's fixation on sex, drugs and violence. Nevertheless, the movement is gaining traction as people such as Holder, whose street name is Poppa T, and a slew of hip-hop artists bring a message of God to a generation searching to embrace spirituality on its own terms.

"Hip-hop and religion is huge," said Bikari Kitwana, who is writing a book on the subject. "There is an entire generation that has grown up on hip-hop, so it just makes sense that that generation would express its spirituality in the culture that it has grown up in."

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