Roosevelt Park Rising: A memoir of the renewal of a pastor, a church, and a neighborhood

Roosevelt Park Rising is a timely, inspiring, true story of Christian spiritual growth and the courage to redefine success in our deeply divided world. The Rev. Dr. Reginald "Reggie" Smith's story is an honest and profoundly helpful roadmap for anyone trying to build community amid cultural, racial, and religious conflict. Whether you are a local leader, a community organizer, a pastor, or simply someone trying to make a difference in your own neighborhood, this Christian memoir provides a masterclass in the gritty, everyday heroism required to spark real change. In 1994, when the Rev. Dr. Reginald "Reggie" Smith, a Black pastor took the pulpit of a white Dutch Reformed church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he stepped into a community struggling with conflicts inside and outside its historic walls. The Roosevelt Park neighborhood had transformed into a predominantly Latino, low-income community, leaving the congregation feeling isolated, discouraged, and grieving the neighborhood they once knew. Over the next two decades, Smith navigated a relentless crossfire. On the outside, he battled neighborhood gang violence and advocated for affordable housing, a new library and new schools.