Hezekiah Walker

GC: You’re known as the Hip Hop Pastor You briefly talked about Puffy and Lil Kim How did those relationships develop?

HW: They started here in New York City Actually, that title, the Hip Hop Pastor, came from Puffy and Lil Kim They only said that because I was able to reach them and talk to them The Lord had fixed it so I was able to minister to Puffy during the time when Biggie [Smalls] was killed He went through a bad stage of depression and someone told him, “You should talk to Hezekiah Walker” He reached out to me and I prayed with him over the phone He was crying and said, “Pastor, would you mind coming up to my studios and meeting with me?” When I got there, we prayed and talked Later on, he introduced me to some of his other industry friends and I began to counsel with them and pray with them as well So I invited them all to church They were so blown away; at that point, Puffy hadn’t been in church in over 10 years And Kim said that she hadn’t been to church since she was a child. They understood that we came to church for one reason and that was to worship I preached and the Lord touched them They really felt the power of God From that point on, we connected It was then I was dubbed The Pastor of Hip Hop They said, “You’re the one that’s here and you look like us and dress like us, but yet you’ve got another message Your message is Jesus Christ.”

GC: Some feel strongly that the world and Christians shouldn’t mix What would you say to that?

HW: Well, Jesus said, “I didn’t come to condemn the world, but through me the world might be saved.” The only way the world can be saved is that we have to bridge the gap Scripture says go into the highways and the hedges We shouldn’t be afraid to go into the world, but we must be careful that when we go into the world that we don’t become the world That’s that line that we have to be careful of When we become the world, the world can’t be saved through us But if we’re going to go into the world and save the world, we have to remain the church.