A charismatic praise worship leader, Washington, D.C.-based Stephen A. Hurd wears all the hats one can possibly wear as a contemporary gospel artist. He has done spoken word pieces, sung many more, directed choirs and arranged vocals, led countless praise worship workshops, and written several songs that are regularly sung at Sunday services, including Undignified, Great Praise, and Zion Is Calling, all while attending to his first calling as a Baptist minister. Hurd worked on various recording projects with Rev. Donald Vails' D.C. Choral Kaleidoscope and the Gospel Music Workshop of America before going "solo" with a pair of custom CD releases, 2000's Minister Stephen A. Hurd Corporate Worship, Vol. 1 and 2001's In the Overflow, Vol. 2. A fan passed on one of these CDs to an Integrity Records A&R man, who ended up signing Hurd to a recording deal a year or so later. Call to Worship: Live in DC appeared from the label in 2004, followed by My Destiny in 2006. By 2008, when Times of Refreshing was released, the "A" had vanished and he was listed simply as Stephen Hurd, and he had his own publishing company, Hurd the Word, in place as well as an online short video series called #Hurd TV. ~ Steve Leggett, Rovi