CHICAGO–Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church on Chicago’s South Side publicly announced his endorsement for Republican candidate Bruce Rauner in the governor’s race weeks ago. He received backlash from members of the Black community, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle, he said. However, things drastically escalated when he began receiving threatening phone calls on his cellular phone. He was called names like “sell out,” “uncle Tom,” “puppet,” among other derogatory names.
The calls were bad, but things went from bad to significantly worse when $8,000 was stolen from a charity box in the church’s lobby, money the congregation had been raising for six months. Only coins were left, which he deposited into a local bank on Monday. A bank receipt showed that the change totaled $1,003. 65.
A church employee discovered the robbery Saturday morning. Brooks turned in all the phone numbers and the message he recorded.
“I was feeling like someone was trying to intimidate me, make me change what I believed and cause me to feel afraid,” Brooks said.
He said he took his family to a safe house, while local police investigated the break-in. The investigation is on-going. For those who may think that Brooks was running away to hide, he said that decision was made for the sake of his family.
“I’m not afraid, I’m more concerned, I have to take threats serious because I do have a family and I have a church, people are connected to me,” Brooks said, who is now back in his home. A surveillance system has since been added.
He said he won’t let this incident slow him down or shut him up. Even after the break-in, Brooks still let Rauner come to the church on last Sunday.
“People have the right to say what they want and I have discovered that they will say what they want, but at end of day I only have to stand before the Lord,” Brooks said.
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