Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church, whose campout began November 20 and is scheduled to run through the end of February, is also helping raise money for a center that will provide education and job training for people in the South Side of Chicago.
"If I chose May and June, I don't think we'd be having this conversation," Brooks recently told American Family Radio's "Today's Issues" program. "I don't think people would pay attention, but people are paying attention."
New Beginnings Church, a church plant in what Brooks describes as a very tough neighborhood, extends its ministry outside the four walls of its building and has grown to about 1,000 members in attendance on Sundays.
"We're really focused on changing our community, and that's one of the reasons why I'm on this roof," said Brooks. "We started an organization, an outreach, our missions arm called Project H.O.O.D. (Helping Others Obtain Destiny), and we're focused on eradicating the violence and the poverty in our neighborhood."
That, he said, is why he is camping out on a rooftop.
Brooks also went on to add that he has always depended on the hearts of people.
"We've never depended on government to give us anything, especially since … Chicago is one of the most liberal cities in America. And I'm hollering that I'm using conservative principles. I am conservative, and I'm using Biblical principles," said Brooks.
That is something that is "very frowned upon" in the city of Chicago. So while he does not look to the government for help, he says he has been blessed by so many "wonderful believers" and "wonderful people" from throughout the country and from around the world.
"I'd rather have the help of God's people than the help of government any day," Pastor Brooks declared.
