Roosevelt Park Rising

A timely, inspiring true story of Christian spiritual growth and the courage to redefine success in our deeply divided world. Roosevelt Park Rising offers an honest roadmap for pastors, community organizers, local leaders, and anyone trying to build community amid cultural, racial, and religious conflict.

This Christian memoir provides a masterclass in the gritty, everyday heroism required to spark real change. In 1994, the Rev. Dr. Reginald “Reggie” Smith, a Black pastor with roots in Chicago, took the pulpit of a historic white Dutch Reformed church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Over the next two decades, he navigated a relentless crossfire — battling neighborhood gang violence and advocating for affordable housing, a new library, and new schools, while struggling against the “managed racism” of his own congregation. In the book’s Foreword, journalist Paul Kix writes that Smith has “something like Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s courage, something like Saint Francis’s big beating heart.”

Unlike polished, triumphant leadership narratives, Roosevelt Park Rising is unsparingly honest about the pain of ministry and the exhaustion of fighting for the marginalized. Rooted in Reformed theology and a deep commitment to Christianity and justice, it is ultimately a story of letting go of dying institutions to discover that true resurrection happens in the streets and in the hearts of those who refuse to walk away.

Filled with gripping examples of courageous peacemaking in action, Smith’s “vow of stability” — refusing to move his family even after bullets hit his house — will challenge readers to rethink their own commitments. A vital read for anyone navigating Christian church leadership, racial reconciliation, or the call to be God at work in the city.