A Chicago pastor spent 345 days camping out on a rooftop in an effort to raise $35 million to build a community center in the city’s South Side.
Pastor Corey Brooks, the founder of Project H.O.O.D., has raised $28.5 million out of his $35 million goal since he started living in a tent above eight shipping containers at 6615 S. King Dr in November 2021. He came down from the roof last October but has become affectionately known as the “rooftop” pastor. He spent his time away from his family, friends and church.
“Our goal has been to build a center on the South Side of Chicago, where it’s in a block called O Block,” Brooks told the “Edifi With Billy Hallowell Podcast.”. “It’s named after a young man named Odee Perry, who was shot and killed, and the gangs took the name the O and started calling it O Block.”
When asked how he managed to live on the rooftop for 345 days, Brooks said, “My commitment, first of all, [is] to God.”
“God gave me a vision, and I wanted to … bring it to fruition. I wanted to do everything that I could possibly do within my power … to do my part, to make it work.”
“I want the young people in our neighborhood to have an opportunity to live the American dream,” he added. “I just focused on God, I focused on the community, I focused on these kids and what they need in order to make it in this life.”
According to The Christian Post, Brooks hopes to meet the $35 million goal so he can build The Leadership and Economic Opportunity Center to provide a safe space for youth amid Chicago’s rampant gun violence.
“It becomes imperative that we have churches and organizations like ours to intervene, to make sure that these neighborhoods do not continue down a vicious cycle of violence,” Brooks said.
“But that’s happening not just in Chicago, but we see it happening in a lot of places across America this year alone.”
The new community center will have an entrepreneurial school, a trade school, a health and wellness facility, a trauma counseling center, a media and arts center, a computer technology center, a pool, basketball courts, a theater, restaurants and more.
“Our goal is to raise $35 million. That’s what the center costs,” Brooks explained. “At this present time, we’ve raised $28.5 million, and we’re really excited about it.”
The pastor also shared two powerful lessons God taught him while he lived on the rooftop.
“Be committed. … Trust God all the way,” he told Hallowell.
“There are times when you just want to give up and throw in the towel, but when you are convinced that God is giving you a vision to do something, you gotta be convinced that He’ll also give you the provisions,” he continued. “And so, I have learned that God, if He gives you a vision, He will give you the provisions.”
Photo courtesy: Sawyer Bengtson/Unsplash
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.