{"id":31814,"date":"2022-09-10T15:45:06","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/how-a-theology-of-work-is-transforming-hearts-in-a-violent-area-of-chicago\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:45:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:45:06","slug":"how-a-theology-of-work-is-transforming-hearts-in-a-violent-area-of-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/how-a-theology-of-work-is-transforming-hearts-in-a-violent-area-of-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Theology of Work Is Transforming Hearts in a Violent Area of Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"
Leo Cardelli photo – Pexels <\/p>\n

By Kristy Etheridge<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.\u201d \u2013Genesis 2:15 (CSB)<\/p>\n

Since the beginning, work has been a core part of what it means to be human. God placed His people in a garden \u201cto work it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They had purpose. Their purpose came straight from their Creator. And it was good.<\/p>\n

The South Side of Chicago is no garden of Eden, but Chicago pastor Corey Brooks sees a connection between the ancient, God-given gift of work and the postmodern tragedy happening in his neighborhood, where hope can be as scarce as a good job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number one problem is a sense of hopelessness that so many individuals have, especially young black men between the ages of 13 and 25,\u201d Brooks says. He lists fatherless homes, broken schools, and a lack of job opportunities as root causes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou put all that together in one place, and that\u2019s a powder keg waiting to explode. That\u2019s what we see happening every single day on the South Side and the West Side of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks\u2019 church, New Beginnings Church of Chicago, is intentionally situated between two of the South Side\u2019s roughest areas, Woodlawn and Englewood.<\/p>\n

The Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago showed Woodlawn had a 22 percent unemployment rate in 2014 (the latest year for which a report was available), with 16 percent of adults lacking a high school diploma.<\/p>\n

In Englewood, almost 40 percent of residents were unemployed, and nearly a third of the population didn\u2019t finish high school.<\/p>\n

These same neighborhoods are covered with crimson dots on maps tracking Chicago\u2019s homicides. While the city\u2019s infamous murder rate is slowly trending in a good direction, the poorest communities are still overrun with violence; 55 people were shot\u201410 of them fatally\u2014during a single weekend in Chicago this past summer.<\/p>\n

As the sounds of gunshots and sirens ring out like an ongoing playlist, Brooks and his congregation are determined to shine the light of Christ into the bleakest parts of their city.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe refuse to go anywhere until we make this neighborhood a better place,\u201d Brooks says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rooftop Pastor\u201d once spent 94 nights on top of an abandoned South Side motel\u2014in the middle of winter\u2014to draw attention to gun violence.<\/p>\n

Brooks says he spent many hours talking to God during those cold, sleepless, and heart-pounding nights. He especially remembers New Year\u2019s Eve: \u201cI heard so much gunfire it sounded like a war zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a sobering way to ring in 2012, but good things were coming. Brooks\u2019 bold act drew national attention and hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. The motel came down, and Project H.O.O.D. was born.<\/p>\n

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit is an outreach of New Beginnings Church. \u201cH.O.O.D.\u201d stands for \u201cHelping Others Obtain Destiny,\u201d and the ministry hinges on the holy union of work and the gospel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork brings dignity,\u201d Brooks says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for an individual to feel a sense of dignity when they\u2019re not working, when they\u2019re not able to sustain themselves, when they have to constantly ask for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

But having a good job, Brooks says, isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an area of our heart that no job can fill. The only person that can fill that void in our hearts is Jesus. The Bible teaches, \u2018What does it prosper a man to gain the whole world and then lose his soul?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With that truth at the heart of its mission, Project H.O.O.D. is leading South Side residents to eternal hope in Christ\u2014and simultaneously demonstrating the gospel in a tangible way as it attacks the root causes of poverty and violence.<\/p>\n

Brooks says 210 people have found work in the last three years through the ministry\u2019s job fairs. Project H.O.O.D.\u2019s construction school has seen two rounds of graduates, with a 93 percent job placement rate. And the ministry itself is a job provider: it\u2019s currently employing 11 ex-felons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose individuals probably would not have been afforded another opportunity outside of our church,\u201d Brooks says. \u201cWe have guys who have spent time in jail for over 20 years, and they\u2019re working here, and they\u2019re diligent, and they\u2019re faithful to the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfred Creamer is one of them. He was once well known on the South Side as a high-ranking gang member and drug dealer. When the FBI caught up with him in 2004, he went to prison for 11 years.<\/p>\n

Creamer was 32 when his sentence began. By that time he had collected 11 bullet wounds. He was also the father of four children including a 2-year-old boy, Almani.<\/p>\n

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When Creamer was nearing the end of his sentence, Almani was killed in a car accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my baby,\u201d Creamer says. \u201cWhen I lost my son, I almost lost my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creamer started acting out and landed in solitary confinement\u2014something he would later say was the best thing that ever happened to him, because it led him to pick up a Bible and encounter Jesus.<\/p>\n

When Creamer got out of solitary, he learned a local church had held his son\u2019s funeral, free of charge. He vowed to thank the pastor the day he got out of prison.<\/p>\n

The pastor was Corey Brooks, and he told Creamer to come see him if he ever needed a job. When Creamer learned about Project H.O.O.D., he had a burning desire to help stop kids from making the same mistakes that landed him in prison.<\/p>\n

After completing the ministry\u2019s discipleship program, Creamer started mentoring youth through ProjectCHOICES, a program for young men and women who have been arrested.<\/p>\n

He refers many of the teens to the ministry\u2019s alternative high school, which primarily serves students who have been kicked out of Chicago Public Schools.<\/p>\n

In June, Creamer watched 132 students graduate. He was bubbling over with joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome kids who were ready to give up, now they\u2019re able to walk across and get their diplomas,\u201d he says. \u201cNot a GED, but actually a high school diploma.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many of the students, a new world opened up the day they entered ProjectCHOICES. The program teaches them about career opportunities and job interview techniques, but the best part is exploring parts of Chicago they\u2019ve never laid eyes on before.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Fridays I take them out in the community and show them different things and eat at different places so they can see how to hold a fork, how to hold a knife,\u201d Creamer says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir pants aren\u2019t sagging and they don\u2019t smell like marijuana. I teach \u2019em how to be well behaved and how to talk with manners and how to speak with people. If I take them up north, they feel as if they\u2019re in another state, another country. They didn\u2019t even know this existed in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spark of hope ignites when young men and women from the South Side catch a glimpse of a different life. Many of them decide to put in the work to stay in school, get a summer job, and start earning a steady paycheck.<\/p>\n

As more teens are inspired to go to work, Brooks says, a visible change takes place in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a bunch of young men who are unemployed and they\u2019re just hanging out, that type of idleness leads to some bad situations,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, they have to go to sleep at night to get rest to be able to go to work. That alone changes a whole lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we get some guys jobs\u2014guys who had a lifestyle of being in the streets\u2014one of the things they say is, \u2018I can\u2019t hang out. I\u2019ve gotta go to work in the morning.\u2019 We hear that all the time, and those are some of the best words to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

As South Side residents, including former gang members and ex-convicts, start trading their time on the streets for time at work and church, others can\u2019t help noticing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys are taking classes, they\u2019re being discipled,\u201d Brooks says. \u201cThey\u2019ve become husbands and better parents. They\u2019re doing their part to make sure they make life better for everyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of their friends and family members see an individual\u2019s life changed and then they want it as well. When you have living examples, living epistles, it\u2019s always a great way to share the gospel. In our culture you need to see living examples.\u201d<\/p>\n

As one of those living examples, Creamer thanks God every day for using him to help resurrect his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna turn this around,\u201d he says. \u201cMy faith and trust that I have in God\u2014I know what He\u2019s gonna do with this neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange is coming. I\u2019m seeing it. We\u2019ve got a lot of violence, but kids participating in gang activities are walking up to me and saying, \u2018I\u2019m tired, man. Is there something I can do?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThey walk up to me almost every day, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. We got another one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

KRISTY ETHERIDGE (@KristyNEWS)<\/strong> is a New York City-based freelance writer.<\/p>\n

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Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n
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The Gospel Goes to Work: God’s Big Canvas of Calling and Renewal<\/h2>\n

Steve Graves<\/p>\n

FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Leo Cardelli photo – Pexels By Kristy Etheridge \u201cThe Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.\u201d \u2013Genesis 2:15 (CSB) Since the beginning, work has been a core part of what it means to be human. God placed His people in a garden … Continue reading “How a Theology of Work Is Transforming Hearts in a Violent Area of Chicago”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}