(soft serene music) (plane engine revving) - IL Lansing traffic, Cessna 52062 is taking runway 27 departing to the North Lansing.

(plane engine revving) All right, here we go.

(plane engine revving) As you look at the city, they have visible boundaries are sorta kind of given away by the skyline, right?

You can almost tell, where the money is, where the opportunity is, where the power is, where the control is.

When I moved to Chicago, and I saw how segregated it was, I was really shocked.

I had heard the stories, but it's segregated on so many different levels.

and it's so obvious, and it's so blatant.

People who can see the Sears Tower, from standing in their street, but they had never been downtown.

That blew me away.

IL Lansing traffic system 52062 is turning final.

The unfortunate part about it is, much of what plague does in the south, it still plagues us here, it's just in a different location.

♪ You are here Lord ♪ ♪ I give myself ♪ ♪ I give myself to you ♪ I got my private pilot's license, at the age of 24 years old.

With gray veracity and commitment, I studied and I studied.

At this point I was full steam ahead for a career as a commercial pilot.

Only one problem, I said cockpit, God said pulpit.

Well, if I hadn't have obeyed God's voice, for starters we wouldn't be here now.

There wouldn't be anything to celebrate.

And I would be busy, but not blessed.

(instrumental music) I am super excited about today.

On a morning like this, we're getting ready to celebrate three years as a church.

(upbeat piano music) New Creation Church is located in the Hyde Park Woodlawn area.

The majority of the people in our church, live in Hyde Park proper.

And then we've had people come from (chuckles) as far as Northwest Indiana to as far as Gold Coast.

♪ I will not die ♪ ♪ In Jesus name ♪ The best way I can describe our church, is that it's a multi-ethnic intergenerational group of people.

Who just love Jesus, and wanna see their world impacted by his love.

(choir singing indistinctly) Before I share this third anniversary message with you, man, I just need to say thank you to all of the members.

And I especially wanna say thank you to my lovely bride, Amber, give her a hand.

(congregation applauding) 'cause she has been my rock.

(congregation applauding) She has been my constant.

I'm gonna ask if you would stand for the reading of God's word.

Luke 10:38-42.

I did not mind taking risks, I mean, I fly airplanes.

And I just really felt like God was placing, church planting on my heart.

And I'm like, man, this is one of the riskiest things in ministry you can do, starting a church.

"She had a sister called Mary."

The truth is, you're starting a multi-ethnic church it's gonna grow slower.

It's not gonna move as fast.

You can be seated.

If I planted an all-black church, then, that would be easier for me.

That's my home, that's my upbringing.

This is absolutely harder.

You see there's too much cotton candy theology that we're listening to.

It sounds good, it looks good, it tastes good, but it has no nutritional value.

(congregation clapping) I absolutely think that multi-ethnic ministry can cause a harmony and a coming together, and to combat some of the division in our city.

Because what a great testimony, right?

What a great sight to see, people who don't look like they would normally be hanging out.

People who don't look like they would normally be fellowship together.

And, I can tell you the reason why it's important for us to have a church that is both multi-ethnic and multicultural, is mainly two reasons.

One, it's biblical, okay?

We see this in the Book of Revelations, "Every tribe, every nation, every tongue."

Number two reason is because, Hyde Park is multi-ethnic and multicultural.

And I believe that the church should reflect the community that we're in.

God use us despite of us, in the matchless name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Now please, give God praise in this house.

(instrumental music) Let's worship the Lord.

(bright instrumental music) Anyone who'd stay, I'd loved to meet you.

God bless you, thank you for coming.

So one of the things that I was not as aware of, was how many people who would say, "I don't wanna be a part of a multi-ethnic church."

How you doing brother?

- I'm well.

Congratulations brother.

- You're inspiring me.

Thank you, man.

You know, many African-Americans in the city of Chicago, know what it's like to have to feel as though they need to watch their mannerisms, watch how they pronounce their words, watch how they dress all throughout the workweek.

That when they come to Sunday morning, they just wanna be black.

They just wanna be who God has made them to be.

(people chattering) And so, I began to realize that, wow, maybe not everybody is ready to take this journey of being a part of a multi-ethnic church at this particular place in their life.

I think that that's one of the biggest hindrances to multi-ethnic ministry, because we cannot heal and move forward, until we acknowledge the pain of our past.

This is my favorite meal, Lasagna.

- [Amber] I know, I know.

- [Pastor Rick] Cooked by my favorite chef in the world.

- Well it's only dad that did lasagna when you come to town.

- [Girl] I like the peas.

- Is that right?

(all laughing) - [Pastor Rick's mom] I gotta come off.

- [Man In red] Yeah, that's right.

- Having my mom and dad here, to celebrate our three year anniversary means everything.

To have them fly in and to be here, and to eat some of my mama's cooking, makes this weekend very, very special.

I guess Daddy, you have shared some things with me growing up in Jackson, Mississippi.

About, the freedoms that you had as a child and the freedoms you didn't have.

You wanna share a little bit about that?

- I can remember vividly, segregation when I was growing up as a child.

I do, I remember seeing the black and white signs right at the water fount.

And then I'd not remember that when the, state fair came around, there was, two weeks for the blacks and two weeks for the white.

But the whites sometimes did come doing the black fair, but you didn't dare go when it was their turn to go.

So they had the freedom to do whatever they wanted to do and when they wanted to do, but you know, you didn't so.

- [Pastor Rick] Wow.

I knew in Chicago, that things were different.

And this is me coming from the south.

I was working downtown.

And when I got on the train downtown, the train was very diverse.

- [Amber] Yap.

(chuckles) - Within three stops, (Amber hums in agreement) I've headed south on the red line.

Everybody on the train was black.

And I was like, I'm headed on the wrong direction.

(all laughing) Because I know that white is not, it's not majority black populated on the north side.

So, then I had to get on the other side of the tracks, cast the next red line north.

And then by the time we got down town, the train was diverse.

And by the time we had gone, three stops north, almost everybody on the train was white.

(all humming in agreement) And I was like, oh my God, where did I move?

- [Girl] The red line runs along the the Dam Ryan and the Dam Ryan was built apparently, - To split, yeah.

- [Girl] To split the city.

- [Pastor Rick] That's right.

- [Girl] So that it was black and white.

Segregation is real.

- Thank you, mom.

- Aaaaw!

'Cause this weekend would not be what it is without you.

And that pan of Lasagna.

- All right.

- I would definitely say the effects of segregation, has affected us, it's affected everybody.

(all laughing) You know, my parents dealt with it and then even my generation is still dealing with some of these things.

- Wow.

- Here we are today, you know, this house is located in Jackson Park Orleans, a predominantly black neighborhood.

Though the houses are the same size of the houses in Hyde Park.

They don't appraise for what the houses do.

And you can see, when black people get their houses appraised by an appraiser, they have to quote unquote de-black their house.

In other words, take photos down or anything that will significantly give away the fact that the house is owned by African-American person.

And, the appraisal is as much as a hundred $100,000 high.

(Amber chattering) - [Man Speaker] We got a message up here, let's just do pauses right there.

- [Pastor Rick] So today I'm so glad to be here, at Community Christian Church.

They have been wonderful partners.

They are very much proponents of multi-ethnic ministry in the multi-ethnic church.

- [Man Speaker] Lock yourself to every course, 'cause he's gonna jump in and just give us-- - All right, there we go.

- You know, Naperville is uniquely one of the best, suburbs in Chicago land.

(man singing) - But it's also largely white and probably a fluent as well.

(air whooshing) - We have a special guest worship leader, our one and only Ricky Brown.

- Amen.

(crowd cheering) - Our teacher this evening, who can help us pull this out.

(crowd clapping) (Pastor Ricky chuckling) - Dave Ferguson has played a huge role in my life.

Huge inspiration.

When I was terrified to death of the word church planting, he and I were sitting at a table together, eating a hamburger and the rest is history.

What time is it?

- [All] Church time!

(Ricky laughing) - Dave Ferguson and Community Christian Church, they're not just looking to get different people, of different skin tones in the room worshiping together.

They're actually looking to move the conversation forward from just a presence to (chuckles) prosperity and to action.

They have been actively involved in Justice Deposits, which deposits cash into black banks.

And now black banks have more capital, to loan to black families to purchase real estate.

Hey man.

- How's it going?

- My understanding, what a lot of minority families need, what they really need is access to capital.

- That's right.

- The majority of banks only loan about 1% of their total assets to black families, for mortgages or black business owners to help start businesses.

- Right.

- Whereas black-owned banks about 65 or 66, 67% of all their assets get loaned to black families for mortgages and black businesses.

If we could just find a way, (Pastor Ricky hums in agreement) to encourage businesses and churches.

- Yeah.

- You know, and individuals to move money from, you know, majority owned banks to black owned banks, it would actually make capital so much more accessible.

- That's right.

- So I mean the community, - Yeah.

- I mean, we shifted, 'cause we've been in a capital campaign, so we had some money sitting there.

So we shifted a million dollars into-- - Whoa!

Man.

- Into four different black-owned banks.

- Come on.

- And part of it, here's the thing that it's gained a lot of momentum.

- The Justice Deposits, sorta kinda moves beyond just recompense.

And that's really the only thing that can make things better or make things right.

I don't know that you can clear up a 400-year head start.

You know, (chuckles) I don't know that that's possible in this life.

But there are things that we can do, to make things right in this lifetime.

And so I'm really excited, man, that you guys are doing this.

- We just want you to be the focus thing God.

We gotta pray that you just bless Ricky as he shares, - Hallelujah.

all his heart today God.

I pray just for divine intervention through his word from his heart to yours.

- Amen.

- Thanks Jesus, Amen.

- [All] Amen.

(people chattering) - Thank you Lord.

So how does it feel to come at Community Christian Church, in a majority white affluent area?

If I was here for anything other than preaching, it might feel pretty nerve wracking to be honest.

But that's the beauty of being a follower of Christ, because of it, when I come here, I truly feel at home.

(drums beating) ♪ Oh yes I will ♪ ♪ You're too high ♪ ♪ In the lowest that I've been ♪ ♪ For all my days ♪ ♪ Oh yes I will ♪ (audience clapping) - Well, good morning Community, can you put your hands together and give God praise this morning.

(congregation applauding) I had missed you all here.

(Ricky laughing) God has been good to us.

My name is Ricky and I'm so excited to be here.

If you don't know me by now relax.

I'm your brother, I'm your nephew, I'm your cousin.

I'm a part of your family.

I am your family, Amen.

(congregation applauding) That's right.

There are people of all ethnicities that don't wanna see, the fallout, the effects of segregation continuing to erode, mostly a certain group of people.

And when I look at Dr. King's rallies and marches, he was flanked by a multi-ethnic crowd.

And one of the ways, that we as the body of Christ as Christians combat segregation, is by worshiping together on Sunday morning.

Can you say Amen.

(congregation applauding) Isn't that awesome?

(congregation clapping) You know, one of the things that could potentially change a large city like Chicago, I believe is the gospel.

You know, here we are, in a city that has perfected red lining.

Here we are in a city that has been notorious for how the lines are drawn.

And, if we were gonna change on our own, we would have done it by now.

But the beauty of this is, is that no matter who you are, no matter what you are, there is a person who comes to level the playing field and his name is Jesus.

Samuel remind us of something that's important.

The benefits of God are not temporary.

They are eternal.

In the book of John, he says, Jesus is saying, "I pray that you all would be one."

- [Woman Speaker] Into the waters of baptism and celebrating, Jesus as your king, publicly-- - Partnerships like this, give us the opportunity to show the world, and the community around us, that yes, New Creation Church is in a predominantly black area, on the south side of Chicago.

And Community Christian Church is in Naperville, Illinois.

Where it's mostly white and affluent, but yet, what binds them together is their faith.

(congregation cheering) And that is the most important thing, that we give the community and the world at large.

A picture of what it means to come together for a greater purpose and cause.

- [Voice over] All right, thank you guys so much for celebrating with us.

We'll see you guys next week.

(upbeat music)