An Army of Normal Folks - Corey Brooks: The Rooftop Pastor (Pt 2)

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

When a naked and bloody victim of gang violence ran into his Sunday service, Pastor Corey Brooks committed to staying on the rooftop of the motel that was the headquarters of this nonsense until he had enough money to buy it. 94 days later he succeeded and today his $38 million community center is being built there. The Pastor, along with his nonprofit Project Hood, has improved their neighborhood of Woodlawn from Chicago's 3rd most violent one to the 15th. And they're just getting started.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Pastor Cory Brooks right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers, and so many other fascinating people, like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? And author David Sedaris.

You know, like when you meet somebody and they'll say, well, I want to be a writer or I want to be an artist. And I say, well, is it all you care about? Because if it's not, it's going to be pretty hard for you if you're not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven. And it's like, wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think fire. It's like opening the door of an oven and it's like wow you know you take a step back. It's all they think about it's all they talk about

it's all they care about they don't have relationships they not good friends for other people. This is just what they're all the energy. Listen to the new season of here's the thing on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need

to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more

trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the

Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's talk a little church business. Okay. Let's talk the back office. Absolutely. The work to church for the unchurch is a beautiful thing and I get it. And I think the corporate church since the 50s and 60s in the United States in large part has been its own worst enemy in terms of declining membership and participation

because the narrative, believe like me or you're going to hell is a pretty tough sell. For sure. And my faith is grace and forgiveness and love and compassion and service. Yes. I think in large part the church has reversed course, seen their ways and started to work hard to put the narrative of what my faith is out there. But there was a long time where that was secondary.

And I think in large part, the church has been its own worst enemy. So there's a large population of the unchurched who had family members who were Christians or who had been introduced to the church that are reachable. And guys like you plopping down in areas of need and reaching out to those folks and starting to church the unchurched is, I think, incredibly valuable and needed, okay? But there's a business side of a church. We're not talking about Tammy Faye and jets and massive stuff. All right, that's a different world. What I'm talking about is the reality of a church is it costs some money to run it. RG Absolutely.

KB You've got to keep the lights on, you've got to pay... I think you have to pay... I know you don't have to pay income, but I think you do have to pay property tax, don't you? No, we don't have to pay property taxes. Okay. So you don't have to pay property... But you got to keep the lights on. Got to keep the lights on.

The men and women running the church have to have a salary. They can't work for free. And you don't want them to be paupers, so you're not going to make them bajillionaires, but they have to feed their family and take care of their children. So there's salaries that have to be paid, there's phone lines that have to be paid. You gotta pay for maintenance on the building. I mean, it has to take money. Absolutely. And the church gets its money from tithing. Yes. So many of the pastors that I've talked to over the years who have started churches for unchurched were

afraid that Commitment Sunday was one of the things that really turned off parishioners because, oh, here they go, ask me for my money. Here comes the offering plate. And they walked a difficult fine line reaching to people who'd been chased out of the church to have the church run churchdom while still explaining that tithing was part of the deal. Right. Because without the tithing, the church doesn't exist and frankly, we're called to do it. Right.

How'd you handle that? Because? And was that a thing? Yeah, absolutely. Here's how it's, I'm not just spouting off here. You're right on point. I've always handled stewardship from the standpoint of financial responsibility and accountability. So for us, teaching the tithe was just part of it.

So even to this day, when we teach about finances, we're teaching about budgeting, we're teaching about living below your mean, not overspending, learning how to be content. We're talking about savings. So we teach people the 10-10, 80 rule, stuff like that. So from the very start, we've always taught not just tithing, but we want you to be better financially.

And I think that's one of the things that kind of appealed to the younger group that we were reaching is that they understood, look, we're not just trying to get you to tithe. We want you to be financially accountable. We want you to be- And literate. Yeah, we want you to be in a position

to take care of your family. We're not just trying to get something from you. We're trying to give something to you. Now part of that is learning how to give to God, putting him first. And when you establish that, I think people receive it a lot different. So they know at our church,

they know we're not just talking about finances and money just so we can get something from you. Yeah. That's good stuff. But it is a thing. It is, it's a big thing. Even now, just Sunday, I was saying, Yeah, that's good stuff. But it is a thing. It is. It's a big thing. Even now, just Sunday, I was saying I don't look at weekly and monthly tithes and offerings

and things like that. Annually, I'll go back and look and say, okay. And so this year when they brought me to report, I was a little taken back because I looked at the tithing report of our leaders and the tithing report of some of our staff and people who work and I Was like whoa, and I was really really upset and I was gonna just write a model letter and you know go off But I but the Lord convicted me of and I you know It was and I felt you know what it's really more of an indictment on my teaching and preaching Maybe I need to be a better communicator in teaching about financial

responsibility. So that's the way I started keeping my approach there. It's about financial responsibility and financial literacy. The greatest measure of the success of a leader is the actions of the followers. Absolutely. Yeah. And if they ain't getting it right, you got to look at yourself first. That's the first place. So go to leaders, so go to church. That's right. All right. So here comes the Route 66 church, and you're in Woodlawn, and across the street is a hotel. Yeah. So we're in Woodlawn. We're in the toughest area in Chicago on the most dangerous street in Chicago. 2014, the Chicago Sun Times called it the most dangerous neighborhood in all of Chicago.

Some think it's even the most- Which might make it in the country. Yes. I was going to say some people think it's one of the most dangerous streets in the country. So here we are. We got this church and it's across the street from this motel and this motel gangs are using it for drug sales and gun sales and prostitution is going on. You know, it's called the stroll, you know, where prostitutes are using it to walk in front of and sell themselves. So it was really, here we are, this church,

and this place is right across the street. So something has to be done. So we tried talking to the owner and negotiating with the owner, and none of that worked, and two things happened. Well, you wanna buy it? happened. We want to buy it? Yeah, we wanted to buy it. We, and he wouldn't sell it.

Now I understand why he wouldn't sell it. You know, the gangs were involved and he was making a lot of illegal money. So, and I later found out that he, that these sleazy hotels were part of a, a lot of sleazy hotels across America owned by a group that was participating in these types of activities. But I didn't find that out until it got later on in the process. But this hotel is a sleazy hotel. We're trying to, you know, we want to take it on. We want to buy it. So he wouldn't

sell it. Could you see, I mean, were your parishioners and your parishioners' children walking out and seeing all this mess going on across the street? Absolutely, especially the prostitution. One Sunday... Were they walking the streets in front of the church? Yes, there were prostitutes walking the street in front of the church. Now, I know from hearing you already, you weren't condemning them.

No. You probably wanted to reach out and church... We were reaching out. We were reaching out. We were trying to get them in programs. We were trying... We never would condemn them. We never would talk down. But still...

Yeah, but it was... They were there. And one Sunday, you said? So yeah, one Sunday, the gang, somebody beat this guy up so bad. And he ran into our congregate. Our church was jam-packed. He ran in the lobby, butt naked, bleeding. He had gotten- On Sunday morning, during services? He had stripped him. We were like, okay, we gotta do something.

So from that point, we were like, this is it. Monday, I'm going over and talk to this guy. He's gonna have to sell this hotel. So I can remember going over and having this big discussion with him. And I remember him saying to me, look, there's a church over there. And he pointed at this church that was not too far from us.

And then he said, there's a church on that corner down there. And they were there before you got here. And then he said to me, and what makes you think you're gonna do something different? And right there is when I felt like, okay, he's throwing down the gauntlet.

So the next Sunday, I told our church, we're gonna be protesting out in front of there every Friday and Saturday night. We're gonna act like we're filming people going in, doing illegal stuff, and we're gonna try to shut it down. And so for a whole summer, we cut his business off. And it's- But hang on, weren't the gang members

not too happy with that? Were you not worried about a little shooting? It was confrontations. The good thing is that we had been in a neighborhood and so people had started joining our church from the neighborhood. So some of these same gang guys were related to people who were in our church. So our members... Hey, you better not mess with our vice-general mama.

Our members were able to quiet stuff down a lot. Right. So we hadn't had that connection. It probably, in the words of our neighborhood, it would have went up for sure. Yeah. Okay, so you're protesting. So we're protesting all summer.

We're cutting his, drying his business up. He's hurting, so we got him on the ropes. So- In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. You grinding him up. We grinding him up in the name of Jesus. Real bad. So I tell people we were gangstering for God. So the end of the summer comes, the fall comes,

he's in a tough situation. And in November, a young boy in our church gets shot and killed. And that's when things went to a whole nother level. We had the funeral at the church. It was a warm day on a Saturday. The kids were walking into the neighborhood from five, six blocks away, a very large funeral.

And I'm up in the office getting ready and all of a sudden I hear semi-automatic gunfire and my heart sank because just like she said, she was worried exactly happened. The kids from the block that our church is on started shooting at those kids. And thankfully no one got shot and killed. And it was chaotic. We were still able to have the funeral after the police came. We debated should we even have it, but I decided, you know, look, this many young people here, something positive needs to be said about the Lord. So the police stayed, they were everywhere. And we finally were able to have this funeral. And that's when things kind of like, I made a commitment to God, look, I'm all in. I thought I had been all

in, but something has to be done about the violence in this neighborhood. What does it say about a society that has to have a massive police presence so a child can be buried? Man, it's very sad. It's nothing like it. I mean... Broken is that neighborhood? I can remember thinking even while the worship service was going on, it's going to take a miracle to change this neighborhood. And I was thinking even while the funeral is going on, man, I should just leave this

neighborhood. Why am I here? I shouldn't... I was starting to doubt. Yeah, I started to doubt and I was really internally wrestling about the whole situation. But at the end of that funeral, something happened that had never happened to me ever. I really believe that Lord still speaks

and urges you by the Holy Spirit, I believe that. And I really believe that the Holy Spirit was just unctioning me to say something to those boys who had brought illegal guns into the church. And so I said, at the end of the funeral, I stopped the present, I stopped everybody and told everybody, sit down. And I said, you know, I'm not trying to scare anybody.

I'm not trying to be spooky. I'm not trying to be prophetic, but I do believe when God speaks to me and gives me a certain unction. And I said, there's some young brothers in here who brought guns in here illegally. And this is what I said. God wants you to turn those guns in today

because if you dis him by going out these doors with those guns, he's gonna dis you. So I'm gonna say a prayer. And at the end of this prayer, we're gonna have a gun turning in. And I got the police to agree that I could do it. They wouldn't arrest anybody. We could do a gun turning in. And I said a prayer and I thought it was gonna be, I don't know if you're familiar with Billy Graham, but I thought it was gonna be like one of them Billy Graham crusades, you know, when he prays and then everybody comes down and- Like at Oral Roberts, where the whole place is up front. Everybody's crying.

Yeah. Everybody's- So I thought it was going to be like that, but I said, amen. And it was so quiet. Nobody moved. I thought, oh my God, I've made a big mistake. And then all of a sudden, after about a minute of quiet, this young brother with a t-shirt on, saggy pants, locks, pulls up his pants and he's got a 9mm Glock, holds it up in the air, turns it in. Another person turns in the gun, another person turns in the gun. And I said, God, this is a miracle. Whatever

you want me to do from this point, I'm all in. So as we're walking out at the end of the funeral, the sergeant of police stops me and she's crying and she says, Pastor, thank you so much. She said, underneath the seat, we found this gun and it was another nine millimeter, but it had an extended clip. And so I just recommitted again, the same thing I just committed. God, I'm all in. Whatever I got to do with this God. I'm all in whatever I got to do this violence

I'm all in and little did I know I would walk from the back of our church to the front door of our church and there that motel is the first thing I put my eyes on and The same auction I had in the funeral. I got the same auction again this time it was I got the same function again this time. It was more like go on top of the roof of that motel and stay there till you raise enough money to purchase it and tear it down and start building a community center. Okay, so now we're gonna get to this part of the story, which is phenomenal.

But brother, are you crazy? Because- Yeah, I think I was. Because I think you gotta have a little crazy. How you gonna go up on a roof and buy a hotel? I mean, here's the truth. You can go on the roof of this building right now, but that don't mean you're gonna buy nothing.

Yeah, which is, are you gonna find enough quarters on the roof that you're gonna be able to buy? How you gonna buy a motel by going on the roof? That doesn't even make sense. It doesn't make any sense at all. And I tell people, I know it now looking back, it made no sense. And I didn't even think it,

I wasn't even thinking it through. I just really believed in my heart and mind. I'm hearing from God. I was believing that. And because I was, and that gun turned in, kind of like just messing me up and have me believe it man you got brothers turning in guns I believe it

we'll be right back hey it's Alec Baldwin this past season season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers and so many other fascinating people like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? Ha ha ha ha. And author David Sedaris.

You know, like when you meet somebody and they'll say, well, I want to be a writer or I want to be an artist. And I say, well, is it all you care about? Because if it's not, it's going to be pretty hard for you if you're not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven. And it's like, wow, you know, you take not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven and it's like wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about. It's all they talk about. It's all they care about. They don't have relationships. They're not good friends for other people. This is just what they're focused on.

Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast

also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Dan Belkin about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup.

Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. One of the reasons why at the beginning of our conversation, I really wanted to establish your pedigree, your educational pedigree, political science and Dallas and got into

law school. I'll tell you another quick story. I've done more stories on this. I love stories. The Ray Motel over here on Mulberry Street is where Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. Memphis was a major manufacturing area prior to April 4th, 1968. There were riots and riots and riots and a lot of big companies, Caterpillar, International Harvester, Firestone. Firestone had a plant over here that was 700 acres, couldn't deal with it and pulled up stakes.

And it set back this city 30 years, not only culturally and racially, but economically. Memphis is still dealing with it. I mean, Memphis at one time was one of the top 10 largest cities in the country and the crossing of the river. I mean, the Memphis has struggled and it's coming back and there are great corporations still here like International Paper and AutoZone and FedEx and others. But that incident, and I don't mean to downplay the social impact of that incident, which is most important, but it had a devastating economic impact on the city.

As a result, the area around the Laron motel went to hell. And so in 1987, I'm at Ole Miss in college, minding my own business. Well, not really, but that's where I am. And this TV, the news comes over and the city and county and a private-public partnership have raised enough money to buy their own motel, do millions of dollars worth of renovations and make it the National Civil Rights Museum and honor Dr. King and make it a museum that's DC New York quality, which stands today. Great, great deal. But the woman who was running that motel's name was Jacqueline Smith, not the Charlie's Angel Jacqueline Smith, an African American woman named

Jackie Smith, who was using the hotel to house beaten, battered, abused children and mothers, and people who are on the streets caring for the very people that your heart cares for. And her argument was, museums and monuments don't perpetuate the memory of Dr. King, actions do. And if we're going to spend $25 million on this place, why don't we rehab it into a center for the people that need it the most? Well, nobody understood that. All the news showed was this black woman having all her stuff thrown on the curb and being dragged out by her feet and hands down the stairway, hollering loud. And you know what she looked like.

She looked like a crazy street woman. Crazy black woman. Angry black woman, yeah. Crazy, angry black woman, just raising hell. And then they drop her on the curb with all her stuff and put a tarp over it. It's 2024 and that woman is still there. Wow.

Tonight. Because she believes so desperately in her heart that actions, not monuments, better support and perpetuate the memory and the works of a man like Dr. King. Now you can argue whether or not the Civil Rights Museum as an educational tool and as a monument to the greatest civil rights leader of our time is appropriate or not. I personally think it probably is, but I also understand her. JL So I drove up there and now this was not a place in the city that many folks went and

certainly not redheaded, white dudes, right? I ended up spending two nights on the sidewalk with her and heard her story, wrote it down and wrote an article that ended up getting published in Reader's Digest and Time and all that. So, it was my first full way into storytelling, frankly. But what I learned about Jackie Smith is she had a degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and was a lead soprano in the

Chicago Metropolitan Opera at one time. And she left all that to come back home to serve the most disadvantaged in her community and her protest was righteous. I'm telling this story for this reason. When I first heard the story of a black man camping out on somebody's roof in Chicago, I thought you were just a crazy angry black man. Yeah. You know, and I can understand that. And I think it's not just was your thought. I think that's probably what a lot of people thought.

Even people on my staff thought, Pastor, this is crazy. Don't, you know, they were trying to talk me out of doing it. But I was so convinced, and still am to this day, that that's what God wanted me to do, that I was not gonna, no one could have changed my mind. So tell us what you did. So on November the 20th, 2011, about four a.m. in the morning,

Rafa, who is our church maintenance engineer, we snuck up on the roof and we put a tent up there and I just refused to come down. And I said I wasn't gonna come down until we raised enough money. How tall is this building? It's about three stories. So you're three stories up there. Three stories up in the air. In a tent. What are people lobbing your cans of

beans? How you eating and stuff? So at first I was fasting. So I was on the 21 day fast because I was thinking, this is what I really was thinking. I was like, okay, I'll go up here on this roof and people are here about it. This crazy black preacher on the roof. In a tent, not eating. Yeah, in a tent, not eating. Seven days, I'll be down. I really thought that's what was gonna happen. You're going back to Manute Bowel with the 21 day fast, brother.

But it did not happen like that. I'm thankful to a lady by the name of Hermine Hartman, who was really close to Reverend Jesse Jackson. And she's, you know, she's really historic in Chicago as far as media is concerned, on black radio, and she knows everybody. She just happened to hear that I was on the roof, and she did not believe it. And so she came by there on the second day in her car, her and her friend, and she was hollering up, Revy, Revy, Revy. And so I come over to the side of the roof. She said, I did not believe you were up here.

I'ma go and tell everybody. And sure enough, she started. She went and told everybody. Yeah, she started spreading the word. I started getting the tension. The mayor called and we got into a big argument. And who was the mayor at that time? Romney Manuel on the 30th day.

Well, now he's supposed to be a big, progressive, Democrat, support the people kind of guy. Yeah, I tell people, I didn't know he could cuss, I didn't know you could cuss preachers out like that. He cussed me out real good. Cause you know, he's like, I'm gonna have people off the roof. I'm gonna have people on roofs all across the city

if he allows it to go. And so. Oh, is that, that's what he was worried about. Yeah, he was right. You're gonna start. I'm starting something. You're starting something that everybody gonna do and I ain't never gonna be able to control it.

Absolutely. Get off the roof. Get off. And you told the mayor, nah. No way. You have to come and get me. You let me buy this hotel I've been down. Exactly, and he was like,

I can't help you buy them hotel and you're gonna come off that roof. Matter of fact, if you don't come off by three o'clock, we're gonna come and get you. And I tell everyone, he shouldn't, he made a big mistake. He told you a time. He told me the time, when he told me the time,

I called every gang banger I knew, every grandmother, everybody, the whole, the block was packed. It was so many people that the police and the fire department couldn't come up to get me off the roof. Because what would it look like? The press was there.

Exactly, the press was there. So he called back and he's like, okay, okay, I'm gonna let you stay on the roof, but you gotta let us inspect it and make sure it's safe. So by that time we had got a lift, rented a lift so they come all the way up there. So the fire chief gets on and here the fire, the chief of the fire department in Chicago

coming up on the roof. So he comes up there and he's really laughing cause he's laughing about Romdom trying to make me get up. So he's like, listen man, just do this, do this. And all the things he told me to do were safety things. And I'm glad he did. Cause on the third day, once we got everything up that night, it was the only snowstorm

that hit while I was up there. Hold it, this is the winter? Yes, November. Did it cold up there? November the 20th. It winds blowing, you gotta be freezing. Wind is blowing, I'm freezing. I'm really not prepared for a snowstorm.

And I was like, oh my God. But when that snowstorm hit, we had sealed the inside of the tent down with two by fours and drilled it to the roof so it wouldn't blow away. And so I was glad. What's this man saying about you being on his roof? You're on private property.

He's going crazy. The bank's going crazy. So we're fighting with the bank. We're fighting with them. But they couldn't get me off because the neighborhood by that time, they were like in full support. And it was like, it had become a thing of,

man, Pastor Brooks is on the roof. We're gonna, so everybody, so the gangs, instead of being mad, they started protecting me. And it was amazing. It was an amazing sight to behold. And it lasted? 94 days. That's over three months.

Yes, I thought it was gonna take- Did you come down for Christmas? Nothing. I didn't, I came down. The only time I came down- Who preached on Sundays? I preached and they streamed it in. So before all the streaming and stuff was going on,

we had already figured out the streaming. So they would put me on the stream. You were pastoring from the roof. I was pastoring from the roof. I would preach a sermon from the roof and they'd be in there. It was different. I've been wondering about this.

What about using the bathroom? So you know, I'm a country boy, so I knew. Well, I ain't got no holes. I don't remember a lot about my childhood, but I do remember being six and seven and we had an outhouse in Kenton, Tennessee. So going and using it outside was no big deal to me. So I got this camping little thing.

It's used for camping that you use it to a porter potty. With the powder. Yeah, the powder and you bought like a little, it's like a little trash bag. You use it in the pot, you tie it up and throw it out. So by that time I was- Did you have a hot plate? I was a porter pot expert.

Did you have any electricity? We finally got some electricity up there because after that third day, I almost froze to death. I was like, I'm not going to be able to make it. So we hijacked the electricity from across the street at the church, wired it all the way across the electric poles without the city knowing. Yeah. We use some ghetto tricks. And we- Right. So man, just sitting across from you, you got this warm smile and this warm presence, right?

Yeah, I appreciate it. I gotta believe though, you were tight-lipped and you weren't showing that warmth from the top of that roof. No, no, no. You know, I have a warm side, the nice, fuzzy, c have a warm side, the nice, fuzzy, cuddly warm side, but I also have that side that, you know,

I'm edgy and I think I have to be that way because I don't think you can pass her in our neighborhood without being a man's man. I don't know how to- You're a Peter disciple. Yeah, yeah, definitely that would be me. I'm always learning to turn the other cheek and I'm always learning to how to be humble,

but the guys laugh a lot with me because I've gotten into some major confrontations with guys who from the neighborhood. But I try to be as golly and golly examples I can, but I'm just not going to let you bully me. So you were up there for 93 days and at this point, I still don't know how that's going to help you to buy the building. It may bring attention to the plight.

So I tell people, I'm on this roof for two reasons. One, to bring attention and awareness to the violence in the Woodlawn, Chicago area that is out of hand, is too much. No one should have to deal with this much violence in any neighborhood. Children should be able to walk to the store

without being shot. They should be able to go to the playgrounds and play without being shot at. They should be able to walk to the store without being shot. They should be able to go to the playgrounds and play without being shot at. They should be able to go to school safely. So I was trying to bring as much attention that I could to the violence, and that's what I did. So even while I was on the roof, the one time I did come down,

it was for a young boy who had gotten shot at a Lee's Chicken, and New York Times came and did a story on it, but that was the only time I came down to do that funeral of that young boy. But I was committed toward that effort and bringing attention and awareness. And then number two, I would tell people,

I'm raising money to purchase this motel to turn into a community center. Now, I'll be honest, I think one of the reasons why it took be honest, I think one of the reasons why it took so long, I think one of the reasons why it took so long is that in our community, people are used to preachers saying they're gonna build something and do something,

and sometimes we don't do it. So I think I had that uphill struggle to deal with and getting the message out to convince people that hey, I'm serious, I'm gonna do it. But I think over time, once people saw, man, this man must be serious because he's not coming down. It's Christmas, it's Martin Luther King's birthday,

it's Groundhog Day, it's Valentine's. Tell me the truth, didn't your wife get pretty angry at some point? She glad it got tired of you being on the roof. The only thing my wife got mad about All day is Valentine's. Tell me the truth, didn't your wife get pretty angry at some point? You know what? She glad it got tired of you being on the roof. The only thing my wife got mad about is I kept begging her to come up there, you know. Conjugal business?

Ha ha ha! Conjugal pastor roof business. I did some conjugal business. Oh. She wouldn't cooperate. She used to tell me, she used to tell me, I don't want to come up there. People are going to think we're doing it. And I'm like, that's cause we're going to be if you come up here. Come on up here, baby. Let me show you my roof. Please let me show you the roof. Please let me show you the roof. Rooftop.

You'll believe the view from up here. Lord have mercy, I did not expect this to go that way. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing. I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers, and so many other fascinating people like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? And author David Sedaris.

You know, like when you meet somebody and they'll say, well, I want to be a writer or I want to be an artist. And I say, well, is it all you care about? Because if it's not, it's going to be pretty hard for you. If you're not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven and it's like, wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about. It's all opening the door of an oven and it's like, wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about. It's all they talk about.

It's all they care about. They don't have relationships. They're not good friends for other people. This is just what they're focused on. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast.

The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Dan Belkin

about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I kept a diary and I wrote every day in the diary on day 92.

I wrote about God. I'm really expecting you to do something soon. I just feel it. And I said, I just want to thank you right now for what I believe you're going to do I know you're going to do it. So thank you in advance That was day 92 on day 94. I Got a I got a bunch of calls people calling me saying they're talking about you on the radio They're trying to get in touch with you and keep my phone It was so many calls that I'd never experienced this that my cell phone got locked

because so many people were trying to call me. And so finally Tyler Perry got through. Tyler Perry? Yeah, on the 94th day. The Tyler Perry? The Tyler Perry and Tom Joyner. He was on the Tom Joyner morning show and somebody had told him about what I was doing

and he called me and they had me live on the radio. And he said, is this the crazy black preacher on the roof in Chicago? And I was like, yes, it is. And he was like, hey, this is Tyler Perry. And I got a movie coming out called Good Deeds. He said, I wanna give you the motorcycle from the movie, Good Deeds. And I was like, oh man, thank you. But I'm thinking in my mind, man, I need give you the motorcycle from the movie, Good Deeds.

And I was like, oh man, thank you. But I'm thinking in my mind, man, I need more than a motorcycle. I'm trying to get off this roof. But I didn't wanna say that on live. Yeah, thank you for the motorcycle. But you know, so he goes on, he said, I got this movie coming out called Good Deeds.

I want you to attend it. I said, Mr. Perry, I mean, I really would love to attend the movie. I said, but I can't come down. Unless you're gonna have the... Yeah, unless I had the money to come down off the roof, so I'm going into it now. Unless I had the money to come down off the roof, I can't. And then he's like, well, how much more do you need?

And I was like, we need $100,000. And he's like, I'm gonna give it to you, come on down. I said, Mr. Perry, I would come to give it to you. Come on down. I said, Mrs. Perry, I would come down, but I made a vow to God. I couldn't come down till we have it all in our possession. So they started laughing. He said, okay, my people are going to talk to your people. They're just going to be done by two o'clock.

This is early in the morning. Sure enough, by two o'clock they had transferred the funds. I had learned a little bit about PR and all that stuff and I knew that we're gonna need the momentum to build the center. So even though we had the money at two o'clock, I said, we're gonna wait until five o'clock so we can catch the five o'clock news

and the six o'clock news and all of that and it'd make a big deal out of it. And we had the streets packed and the neighborhood was packed and it was a real big thing. And so that's how I got off through Tyler Purigate the last $100,000. And then- For a total of 500 and something?

Yeah, that made us have 450,000. And then that's what the building costs. And then we had a gentleman by the name of Marty Ozinga from Ozinga Concrete that came. He came up there probably around about three o'clock wanting to see me. His Ozinga Concrete is like four generations of Ozinga's, the Ozinga Concrete company. And Marty came up on top of the roof and said, hey, he hadn't heard about Tom Jones. They don't listen to Tom Jones. So he says, me and my brothers, we wanna give you something. And it was $100,000.

And I was like, Marty, thank you so much. I said, but in all honesty, I cannot take this because Father Perry gave us all the money that we needed. And so I had the money to purchase the building. And then he said, well, well, I don't wanna take it back. I wanna, we wanna give it to you. He said, well, how much money, you gotta tear it down, right? You gotta tear this building down? I said, well, I don't want to take it back. I want to, we want to give it to you. He said, well, how much money you got to tear down, right? He's got to tear this building down.

I said, yeah. He said, well, how much is it going to cost to tear it down? I said, probably about a hundred thousand. So he gave us a hundred thousand. Just so happens a hundred thousand dollars. And so he gave us the money and that's how we tore it down. Then we started our journey to, we wanna turn this into a community center.

And that was a long, long journey. That is a phenomenal story. One of the things we talk about all the time is when our discipline and our passion meet opportunity is when amazing things can happen. I believe that. You're passionate about this neighborhood. You had the discipline to bring notoriety to it.

You saw an opportunity and for 94 days, you filled it. So you got the thing down, right? Yep, that's 2000. So in 2012, the building came down. It was just vacant land. And so we put some basketball courts up there. We drew up some plans to the type of center that we wanted to have. We created an organization called Project Hood. While I was on the roof, Project Hood stands for helping others attain destiny. And we started looking at all the issues that we needed to deal

with to get rid of the poverty and the violence in the neighborhood. And so that was in 2012. And so the land was there, we put some basketball courts on it, we used it as a place where kids could play, we beautified it, made it look nice. But we didn't have... At that time, it started off being a $20 million building. That you wanted to build? That we wanted to build. That we wanted to build.

Community center. A community center. Now is this a community center for the church or like a private community center for just the community? Yeah, it's a community center for the community. It's a place where we're gonna be teaching the trades. We have a culinary art school, construction, automotive, electrical, plumbing.

We have a theater, two gyms, a golf simulator, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, three restaurants. This is all in the plans. This is all in the plans. What I like though is it's a place for kids to come and everything else, but it's also a place people can learn hard skills. Yes, it's a place to learn skills.

It's a place for transformation. For young people, it's about them having safe spaces and places to go because in our community, unfortunately, so many times young people just don't have safe places. The YMCA is about a mile and a half and kids in our neighborhood, there's no way possible they can walk to that YMCA because they have to walk across so many gang turfs to do it. So... So I didn't understand that.

I bet you know Arshay Cooper. Yes. Arshay was a guest and he said from, he's also from not this neighborhood, but that area of the city. South side, right? West side. I mean, west side, right? West side. I mean, west side, right? So he said one of his dreams as an eight-year-old, he could see the top of Sears Tower from the top of his apartment building.

And one of his big dreams was just to go one day, be able to see the Sears Tower. And that means one of the kid's biggest dreams was just to be able to drive 10 miles across his city or ride on a bus. And I said, well, why didn't you just go over there and see it? He said, I'd have been killed. Because I had to cross four or five or six different neighborhoods with different gangs and I'd have never made it there and back. You never ventured off your block. Never. You know, there's a guy as a kid, he lives with us, his name is Demarius. He's my son's best friend. And I can remember when he was 16 years old, I was taking all of them to open up an account at Chase Bank. And Demius, Chase Bank from our church

from their neighborhood is exactly nine blocks away. We're on King Drive, they're on Stony Island. And I can remember as we're going across like four or five blocks, he's looking around. I'm like, I noticed he's kind of anxious and nervous. And I thought, it's like, what's going on? What's wrong? You all right? He's like, what's going on? What's wrong? You all right?

He's like, I have never been over here. I was like, never been over where? Five blocks. Five blocks. He said, my mom would not allow us to cross Vernon. Vernon is only two blocks. And I thought, man, this is crazy. So when people say, I don't get, this is crazy. So when people say,

I don't get it about these people, quote, these people, we got free education, you can go get you a breakfast and a lunch, you can study up and learn, we give away food stamps, government assisted housing. I mean, as a country, we literally provide free education, free meals, all of this stuff, all people got to do is take advantage of opportunities, pull themselves up by their bootstraps and go to work. How are you ever going to grow as a child when you can't even go beyond two blocks? And what

does it say about a part of our culture? They're not dreaming to be doctors. They're not dreaming to be accountants. They're not dreaming to go to college. Their dream is to be able to go eight miles to downtown Chicago to see a tower. If that is the apex of your ability to dream, what are you ever going to achieve? Yeah, exactly. And the lack of exposure with a lot of the kids in Chicago

is tremendous. People would be really amazed that there are young people in Chicago who have never, ever been downtown. They would be amazed that there are kids who don't need their blocks. They've never seen Lake Michigan. Never been to the beach at Lake Michigan. That's a mile away away a straight shot it's not like they have to go zipping around corners a straight shot and they've never been to

the lake. Because they're too afraid to walk outside. Absolutely. Now how you gonna learn? How you gonna dream? How you gonna achieve? How you gonna be anything? Yeah absolutely.

You know one day I remember probably about a year and a half ago, it was some gunshots that rang out near the school ground and all the kids knew to hit the ground. They teach the kids shooting drills on how to hit the ground on the playground. And when you're in environments like that where kids don't feel safe, they don't want to go outside their environments, it's hard to get them exposed, it's hard to get them to dream, it's hard to get them to think that they can be something, it's hard to get them to believe that they can achieve anything that people tell them they can achieve. It's just a hard, hard sell. heart, heart, seal. We have all kinds of organizations that are dealing with our greater and greater understanding

over the last decade and a half about our service people coming back from Afghanistan and Iraq, wherever they serve in their PTSD and the trauma and the anxiousness and the triggers associated with violence that they're involved in defending our country and for a living. When our children know more about how to respond to gunfire than they do about Curious George, what is the trauma in their lives? What is their PTSD and how do you expect those people to learn? Second point is, man, the first time I ever heard the term white privilege, it pissed me off so bad. Corey, you made me so angry. My mama did her best, but we didn't have much of nothing. I went to school on a scholarship. I worked three jobs. It wasn't no white privilege.

White privilege. I've worked hard and I'm going to tell you something, I've got a nice business and all, but to this day, I owe the bank a bunch of money. And if I don't make my notes, they're coming to get my house and my wife's car. And it's a lot of stress. But I can tell you this, I wasn't dreaming about walking across the block. That was no big deal. And the truth is, despite how hard I've worked to do everything else, by comparison, the kids that grow up in the neighborhood you're serving, I was quite privileged. And you got to understand why privilege is not a knock on white people who've done well. It's just trying to open eyes to there's a segment of our urban populations that is largely African American that children don't even have the chance to go two blocks from their home safely.

And the fact that I never experienced that is a privilege. That does not mean it makes me bad or discredits any of the hard work I've put in. In fact, most people celebrate it and that's great. But we also have to remove ourselves and our ego from that and try to start understanding the desperation these children are growing up in. Yeah. You know, I may not agree with the term white privilege, but I'll say this, that

I think all of us have different situations and circumstances that make us privileged. Even I would call myself, as it relates to those kids, I was privileged. I wasn't in an environment, even though my stepfather was abusive and crazy and deranged, I wasn't in an environment where I couldn't walk to school. I can remember walking to school safely. I can remember going to the playground,

not having to worry about was gunfire gonna break out. I can remember having friends, not having to worry about was anotherfire gonna break out. I can remember having friends, not having to worry about was another gang gonna jump us or we're gonna get in a fight. Those were environments that I was pretty bad. How many of your friends when you grew up were shot and killed as a kid? Just one. One. Yeah.

The kids you're pastoring, according to what you just told me, they've all had at least 25. Exactly. My son, my youngest son, Kobe, deals with a lot of trauma. And at first it was hard for me to understand, but then I realized how many friends he had that were actually shot and killed or in prison because we never sheltered them from the neighborhood. or in prison because we never sheltered them from the neighborhood. We grew up, they grew up in the neighborhood. Those kids are their friends, their brothers, their sisters.

And so he's had to deal with a lot of traumatic experiences, you know, of people that he's been close with to be shot and killed. And we, and I really didn't understand it at first. And, but when I started looking at it, I'm like, man, even though he has a mother and a father that love him and siblings, he still has a traumatic experience because he's in this environment with all these young people who have been killed. Did you ever worry about him getting brought into the life by his friends that he was making? Unless you had to keep a close eye on all that.

Oh, for sure. You know, we definitely had to keep an eye on the two youngest ones, my daughter Danielle and Kobe. They were our hardest cases, but thankfully they're turning out to be some great kids. But Kobe definitely, you know, because those boys, the group that he was with, that was a tough little group. Rounders, huh was, that's a tough little group. Rounders, huh? Yeah, definitely a tough little group. We'll be right back.

Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers and so many other fascinating people, like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? And author David Sedaris. You know, like when you meet somebody and they'll say,

well, I want to be a writer or I want to be an artist. And I say, well, is it all you care about? Because if it's not, it's going to be pretty hard for you if you're not on fire. It's like opening the door of an oven. And it's like, wow, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about. It's all they talk about. It's all they care about. They don't have relationships.

They're not good friends for other people. This is just what they're all their energy goes. Yeah. Listen to the new season of here's the thing on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. John Stewart is back in the host chair at the daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the daily show years edition podcast. The daily show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment,

politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more

trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant, about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

So, you're not just being nice to try to build this community center. It's a need. Yeah, it's a need. It erases some of the lack of privilege. You can go across the street. You can get exposed to trade. You can get exposed to ideas. This thing is a way for children to eradicate themselves with a trauma of what is their daily lives

in your church's block. Absolutely. The block is called O Block. And the reason why it's called O Block is because it's named after a young man named O.D. Perry who was shot and killed. And the gangs picked up the O in his name and they started calling it O Block.

If you Google it or, well, you know, it's going to talk about O Block as mentioned in all kinds of rap lyrics, all kinds of things is being said about O Block. Well, we decided, you know, okay, cool. We're going to keep the O, but we're going to turn it to Opportunity Block. We're going to transform it and we're going to take this and make it a place Where people's lives can be totally changed and not a destroyed and so This center is a beacon of hope of what can be done When you work hard to transform a community not just so you can have a big community center But when you work hard to transform something to help change people's lives, and so that's what it's really all about

So we're we're really adamant about how it looks But when you work hard to transform something to help change people's lives. And so that's what it's really all about. So we're, we're really adamant about how it looks. We're adamant about the excellence that it's going to have. We're adamant about the programs that it's going to have, because we want it to be a model for what can be done. Even in places like Memphis, where they're having situations with gangs, you know, they just had some big murders here. 464 last year.

Exactly. So we need to be in places like Memphis showing a different way. St. Louis, New Orleans. So we're creating a model for something that we know works. We can change O block. We can change any block in America. And you've been thinking about this since you tore that building in 2012. Every single day.

So now you're on a 12-year mission and you hadn't broke ground yet. Yeah, so no, we broke ground. So recently then. Yeah, we recently broke ground. How much money does this thing cost? So now it's up to $38 million. 38 million. You had to stay on a roof for 93 days to get 450 and Tyler Perry to bail you out. How you gonna get 38 minutes?

So on the 10th year anniversary of when I was on the roof the first time, my son and Brian came to me. They were like, listen, either you got to build this center or you got to change your vision. Because you've been talking about this center for 10 years. What are you gonna do? So I said, okay, you guys... How much money did you have? That's what I... I asked him, I said, go to see, you know, look to see what we got, what we can work with. They came back, they said, man, we don't have any money. We got zero to work with. We got zero to work with. And so I said, okay, I'm gonna pray and figure it out. And so I came back to him and said, I wanna get eight train containers.

I wanna put them together. I'm gonna build a deck on that property on the train containers. And I'm gonna go up there and stay and raise the money. And everybody was like, oh, no, not again. We don't wanna go through this ordeal. It's not gonna work. You already done that.

Some of the people on my board, one of my mentors, Patrick Millican, this old Irish guy, he's about 77. He's like, oh, pastor, you already did that. Let's not do that again. So everybody was against it. But again, I just felt that unction that I think this is going to work and I think the Lord is going gonna do it. So I went up there on the roof again and this time I thought, okay... Did you at least do it in the summer this time? Well, part of the summer. But I went up on November the 20th again on the exact anniversary

date and I thought, okay, this time maybe it'll take 100 days because we raised 550 in 94 days, and so I think we can raise enough money in 100 days. Back then, we didn't have any of the social media stuff. We didn't have any of the- But now. Yeah, we got social media, we got a little movement. People know about us. So this was in 2022?

This would've been, so would be answer in 2021 so I thought a hundred days at least and So I committed to a hundred days and you think you're gonna waste thirty something million dollars on a hundred. Yeah I'm thinking I'm gonna raise this 25 because at that time they become 25 million dollars That's how much it was gonna cost So it went from 20 million to 25 million because we changed some stuff and prices had gone up. I'm like, okay, I'm going to raise this money. I just believed it. I didn't know how, I just believed it.

And so we started getting the word out and people started giving. And somewhere around like day 65, Fox called me and asked me, hey, can you do a story about what's going on in Chicago from the rooftop? And I was like, sure. And I was like, what's the parameters?

So they said, here are the parameters. You can do the story any way you want to do it. We won't edit it, just stay within our parameters. And I was like, okay. So I did the story and it ended up being one of their top stories on their website. And they were, I think they were a little surprised too. I didn't tell them, but it was also the top money day

as far as people donating to our cause. And so they called me again and they said, hey, that story was really good and it went really well. Can you do another one? And I was called me again. They said, hey, that story was really good and it went really well, can you do another one? And I was like, sure. So I did another one. And again, we had a great response. And so then they came back, they said,

hey, why don't you do something until you come down? I was like- Every day? Every day. And so they let me do this. That's a, they're giving you a national national commercial five minutes. It was about five minutes. It's about five.

And I wrote a story five minutes of national air. Yes, I wrote a story for every every everything. We called them rooftop revelations. And so so I wrote a story and I would tackle issues that people were concerned about around America. We wouldn't just talk about the violence in Chicago, but we would talk about just a lot of views that people were concerned about. Would you get off into race and things? Race, school choice, rap music.

Yes. Woke, DEI, everything. I talked about it. Really? DEI, everything. I talked about it. Yes. And people loved it and responded well. And as a consequence, I ended up being on the roof for 343 days. A year? Yes, almost a year. And didn't come down? The only time I came down was for my mom's funeral.

My mom's funeral. You're out of your mind, bro. Yeah, yeah. But after that- The only time I came down was for my mom's funeral. My mom's funeral. And- You're out of your mind, bro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But after that- Did you still have the extension cord and everything? I did it. This time I had it right though.

We had the extension cord still and we set up three tents this time. We sat, we had my tent. Then we had a guest tent where we invited CEOs from around the country and people with influence to stay all night and people would come and stay all night. And then we had a middle tent that we call the tent of meeting and tent of prayer

that we would have meetings and things like that. So we had figured it, we had kind of figured it out a little bit and we really used social media. Fox was so gracious to let us do the platform, the stories on their platform. We went from about having a hundred national donors to having over 21,000 new donors from across America. And we raised about $25 million

after it was all said and done. We had two really big gifts from a $1, $8 million gift from a foundation and another $5 million gift from Ken Griffin who moved from Chicago to Miami. Who? Ken Griffin from Citadel. Yeah. That movie, have you ever seen the movie Dumb Money? Yeah, Ken Griffin is one of the financial guys in that movie.

Yeah. So he gave us $5 million and then all the rest of it came from all over the place. From $10, $100, $500 dollars. $5, $10, $20. Yeah, yeah. All across the country. And now a 12-year vision and you have broken ground. We've broken ground.

The building is being built. If you go to our website projecthood.org you can see a wonderful facility being built there. Now this week we reached a milestone because they're pouring concrete on the second floor now. So the second floor is being poured and it's an exciting time in our neighborhood. The building, because it's taking us so long, the cost is now $38 million. We've raised $31 million. So our goal is to raise another $10 million so we can pay for our, we want to pay for debt-free so we don't have debt. And we want to make sure that we have some money in our endowment so that if something ever happens to me or that the center can go on and

continue to do all the wonderful programs because that's what's really important. I mean this this thing's the money you're talking about, the size you're talking about, the sense got to be able to serve a lot of people. Yes a lot of people and we're not charging for membership. So we're not like the YMCA where they charge you for a membership or we're not charging like a school that charges you to take the construction classes We just recently

You know the need is so great in our neighborhood that we have these cohorts construction cohorts where we teach construction and Our that cohort that's getting ready to come up this month. There's only 30 slots 30 people get in we had a 360 sign up but only 30 can get in. But when we open the center, we'll be able to take on hundreds. So we're really excited about that. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers, and so many other fascinating people,

like actress and director Cheryl Hines. They were looking for an unknown actress to play Larry David's wife. I said, well, how old is that guy? Isn't he old? Yeah. Yeah. And author David Sedaris. I said, well, you know, you take a step back. It's all they think about. It's all they talk about. It's all they care about. They don't have relationships. They're not good friends for other people. This is just what their

all their energy goes. Yeah. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. The Daily Show podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports, and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content

you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to The Daily Show, Ears Edition on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who changed the world.

Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman, about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm so encouraged to hear you talk about carpentry courses and all of that, you know, learning the skills like we talked about. I just want to kind of go down a list of stuff I've read

and then just have you comment on this thing because Project Hood is phenomenal. You've got Chicago Adventure Therapy, which I love that, especially for kids who are afraid to go more than two blocks from their house. Reentry services to prevent recidivism, which is huge because I imagine a lot of people returning to your neighborhood are returning from prison and trying to get it right. And we know that if we don't have intervention

for returning citizens from prison, that 85% of them will be back in jail within three years. Lennon P years. Absolutely. So you're working on cutting that off for project hood. You've got entrepreneurship courses. You've got coworking office space. Yes. Camp refugee. You've got the world's largest baby shower. Yes.

Hoops. You've got violence prevention. Yes. I mean, this is more than a, this ain't a YMCA. No, it's not a YMCA. We tell people it's more like a YMCA church trade school on steroids all mixed together. Talk about a few of those things that Project Toot is.

I love the Chicago Adventure therapy after hearing what the kids, and then maybe the reentry project. Tell us about this. Chicago adventure is about the, when we discovered that kids were not being exposed even to the city of Chicago, we start taking excursions, taking trips downtown so they can see certain sites, taking trips to museums, taking them to the beach, taking them to sporting activities. We even take them camping, which is phenomenal.

You know, we're even now trying to find land where we take his camping. I'm thinking about Harsha Cooper. He told me the first time they put him in a boat. All right, now this is a kid, he ain't ever been swimming, that he had a gang banging, one of the toughest guys he knows sitting behind him on a lake right off Lake Michigan, but just like one of those downtown lakes just to train in.

Before they ever put a paddle in the water was crying like a baby, scared to death. Couldn't swim, never been in a boat. You can go back and I'm not even gonna say it, but what Arshay said about his friends talking about black folks in a boat with whores, you can imagine the humor. A lot of kids don't know how to swim.

That's one of the reasons why we're, that's a big, big reason why we have an Olympic-sized swimming pool. But I'm thinking about taking kids from the hood and putting them in a tent in the woods. Oh yeah. You know, I'll tell you a great story. There was one of the kids, we took him camping.

Brian was with this group and he said, they were trying to get this kid to go to sleep in the tent but he wanted to stay outside and they kept asking him, what's the big deal? And all he kept doing was looking up in the stars and he said he had never seen so many stars in all of his life. And he was just amazed to see the stars.

So taking these kids camping, exposing them is really important because they get to see a lot of things that they don't get to see. Even now, we're planning our first trip out of the country. We're trying to take 30 kids off the block. It's called O Block Goes Off the Block and we're trying to take them to Africa. So we're going to take them to, I think it's Uganda and South Africa. And our goal is for them to see the Zambia or South Africa or Uganda. I can't remember which one is near South Africa.

Unfortunately, I'm not good in geography, but we're going to those two countries in Africa and taking those kids and we're going to take some adults with us. But the goal is to expose them that, listen, I know you're on O Block and you're in a tough area, but we're gonna show you there's some tougher areas and some areas in the world where people are really poor and depoverished and impoverished and we're gonna teach them how to serve people who are in a worse off condition than them.

And so we're really hoping that that's gonna turn into an annual trip to take kids. So that's what the Chicago adventure is all about. What about the returning? Yeah, so we have a big recidivism program. It's going to be featured on the news in Chicago coming up in the next week or so. But we get brothers and sisters who are coming back home from prison, and we try to make sure we remove every obstacle that would keep them from going back.

So we help them deal with the trauma of family counseling. We help them find jobs. We help them do training. We help them get housing, IDs, licensing, anything that would make sure that we help them stay on track. That's what I've learned is huge. After doing this show now a year and talking to a lot of people that work in that space,

just getting an ID and a license. The basics. The basics. And you're like, what's the big deal? Well, if you ain't got transportation and you don't have $45 and you don't know how to do it, and you're intimidated by the system. That's it, you're intimidated,

having to go and wait in a line and never have done that before and not really knowing about the system. That's it. You're intimidated having to go and waiting in a line and never have done that before and not really knowing about the test. That's challenging. So we help prepare them to face those challenges so they can make sure that they get back on track. So that's one of our better programs. And then our violence prevention program is made up of, which is our top program to stop violence in our neighborhood in Chicago, violence was going up

and we were featured on CBS because we had a 52% reduction in violence in what they call the worst neighborhood in the city. And that was because of our violence prevention program. We have 14 full-time employees, all made up of the different gangs in our neighborhood where we teach them about conflict resolution. We send them to trauma counseling. We get them to recruit for us for our construction classes,

for our other programs, and their goal is to mediate conflicts. And so those individuals help us to curb violence a big deal in our neighborhood. And then they help to oversee 40 part-time workers from the different gangs who are part of our violence prevention team as well So those programs are some of the things that are helping us to make a major Transformation of the neighborhood. Yeah, this community center ain't basketball courts and if you know answers handle with you know, sir

No, sir. No, sir. Not at all. This is a revitalization of an entire neighborhood project based around a community center type model. Right. We call it a leadership and economic opportunity center. It's phenomenal, dude. So you're not only shepherding and pastoring to this community, you are now literally providing

workforce training, financial literacy. Yes. We have a bank right now in our church lobby, Wind Trust Bank. They're gonna be in the center, but they decided, which is unheard of, hey, let's get a jump start and can we have a portion of your lobby? So they came and put a bank, Southside Community Bank, in our lobby until we get the center open.

So we have a full, full bank with tellers and everything. You're turning this neighborhood on its ear. Exactly. That's the goal. When Chicago sometimes wrote that article in 2014, the most dangerous block in all of Chicago, everything in me from Dallas came up. And I can remember being at Missions Week, I can remember them talking about, if a church is in a neighborhood and it's not making any difference in a neighborhood, what are you

there for? I can remember them talking about, if you have a church in a neighborhood and your church has moved out of the neighborhood, would they know that you were ever there? And that article and the fact that our church was there made me say, listen, we have got to transform this neighborhood and we need to do it not just for the kids on this block who are suffering and struggling

and the adults who've been living in this community, but we need to do it for American cities across the country who are dealing with the same issues that we're dealing with every single day because if we can prove that this model works then we can go to other neighborhoods and that's really the ultimate goal to show them that look we changed the toughest block in the country we can take this and change any block, any city, if we have the resources and the manpower

and the passion to do it. I believe that with all of my heart. A dude from Union City learned how to go to the bathroom in an outhouse. Real foot lake. Real foot lake, really? Caused by the earthquake of 18 something or the Mississippi River flowed backwards for two days and created the lake you grew up on.

That's right. Chicago, left, started, and you've turned a roller skate rink and a drugged out gang banned prostitution pimped trafficking house into a church in a community center, all to turn the worst neighborhood, the most violent, dangerous neighborhood in our country into an oasis of hope in the middle of a lot of despair. Only God, that's all I can say. A kid from Ken, Tennessee, Union City, Tennessee, growing up in Muncie, Indiana, I would have never in my wildest imagination and dreams thought that God would allow me to serve His purpose and His people to do such an awesome thing. And I realized, man, I don't have enough sense to do it.

I don't have enough wherewithal. I don't have enough sense to do it. I don't have enough wherewithal. I don't know enough people. And it's only through the grace of God that we've been able to accomplish what we're accomplishing. And I'm probably, you know, I have big faith, crazy faith, but I am probably the most amazed person out of all of it because I know what God is working

with, you know? I got one question for you. Sure. Do you think if your mama would have let you build a tree house, you'd ever got up on that roof? I think you just didn't grow up with a tree house. I didn't grow up with a tree house. You just want to get on the roof.

That might be, that might be. No tree houses. If somebody wants to support you, which I hope people hear this and want to support you, Project Hood, the church, the community center, how do they reach you? So they can go to projecthood.org, projecthood.org, and they can learn about all the programs and everything that we're doing, specifically, the community center that we're building, or New Beginnings Church of Chicago, which is right across the street from where we're building the center.

And that address is 6620 South King Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60637. And I tell everybody this, that if you really wanna get in touch with me, call me on my cell phone, 312-813-5211. You know, I found out a long time ago when people are trying to get in touch with you to give something to help you build a vision, they don't need to be going through secretaries and red tape.

So anybody can call me at any time and I'll be glad to answer. If I don't answer, just leave a message. I'll call glad to answer. If I don't answer this, leave a message. I'll call you back. As a matter of a fact, I've been reached out by a number of pastors who I know listen to the show. I've been emailed by three or four. I also give my personal contact information and weekly I get a bunch of emails. So you understand. I do. And I'm the same. I'm glad you gave your phone number because my hope is some of these pastors hear you and if their church is not on fire for the true calling of a Christian,

maybe they might want to reach out to you and talk about how to get their church aligned the way your church is aligned. Because I think ultimately, just as in the past, the corporate church may have been its own worst enemy. If we follow your illustration of discipleship, I don't know how anybody wouldn't want to be involved in that. Yeah. I would love for any pastors or any churches to reach out to me. I love the church. I love the church for the church has helped me to become. I know I wouldn't be anywhere near the person I am if it were not for the church. So I love the church. And my hatred for pastors has grown to a deep love and passion for pastors. I love pastors and I want to help as much as I possibly can. So anything I can do to

help anybody anywhere, man, I want to do that. So they can call me anytime. Master Cory Brooks, the founder of New Beginnings Church, the founder of Project Hood, who turns dilapidated skating rinks into sanctuaries and whorehouses into beacons of hope in the most dilapidated neighborhoods and wants to export this idea to areas across our country and all you have to do is email and we'll call them and I'll help you and if you feel called to help him raise the last seven

million dollars he needs to do the work he's doing he will take your money. Corey thanks for coming to share your story It has been my honor to meet you. It's been a blessing to meet you. Thank you so very much. I appreciate it. And thank you for joining us this week. Guys, if Pastor Corey Brooks or any of our other guests has inspired you in general, or better yet, inspired you to take action by volunteering with Project Hood, by donating to them, by starting something like it in your own community, or something else entirely, please let me know.

I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at billatnormalfolks.us, and I promise you, I will respond. You can just ask Badger. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends and on social, subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it. Become a premium member at normal folks dot us. All these things that will help us grow an army of normal folks. Don't forget, the more people, the more impact.

I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. Hey, it's Alec Baldwin. This past season on my podcast, Here's the Thing, I spoke with more actors, musicians, policymakers and so many other fascinating people, like jazz bassist Christian McBride. Jazz is based on improvisation, but there's very much a form to it. You have a conversation based on that melody and those chord changes.

So it's kind of like giving someone a topic and say, okay, talk about this. Listen to the new season of Here's the Thing on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. John Stewart is back in the host chair at The Daily Show, which means he's also back in our ears on The Daily Show Ears Edition podcast.

Join late night legend John Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind. Listen to The Daily Show Ears Edition on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart, and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you.

I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane about creating a billion dollar startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who change the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.