By David A. F. Sweet
In 2011, Christ Church in Lake Forest sought to bless the families of North Chicago. David Weil, then its executive pastor, felt God stir his heart to lead that effort. He walked into Senior Pastor Mike Woodruff’s office.
“We’re out in the streets expressing God’s love for people,” says David Weil (center), who gathers with Renew Communities Accountant Chris Hartrich (left) and General Manager John Revenaugh.
“Mike, you and I have discussed two church initiatives,” began Weil, who grew up in Highland Park. “We’ve talked about launching small groups or doing something in North Chicago. I have built small groups at a large church and can make that a home run, or you can direct me to North Chicago. Perhaps God is leading me there.
“Mike directed me to North Chicago.”
“Weil helped launch ReNew Communities, a nonprofit, where he serves today as president and executive director. Its focus is home ownership in the city of North Chicago – where only one-third of residents in the struggling community are homeowners. The vessel is ReNew’s Matthew Homes; the name comes from Matthew 5:14-16 in the New Testament, where Jesus talks about loving your neighbor as a way to glorify God.”
“We didn’t know a whole lot about how to do this at the start,” Weil explained. “It’s funny because I’m not a builder at all, but I have some very talented builders. Honestly, I don’t understand half of what the construction guys are saying.”
In 2015, Weil was writing his PhD alone at a house in Lake Geneva. He asked God to lead him to the Rocky Mountains, which would have ended his North Chicago ministry. God had other plans.
“He wanted me to up my game and build 300 homes in North Chicago,” Weil said. “I thought, ‘I can’t do that.’ I started praying, asking, ‘How can we fund this?’
“I didn’t let phone calls come through as I needed to focus on my PhD. But a phone call came through. Jason Surber, who attended Christ Church, had passed away at age 44. He had been excited about Matthew Homes. I was told the Surber family was going to launch a golf outing to fund Matthew Homes. God was certainly before us.”
To date, that outing has raised more than $2.2 million. Other funders have appeared, such as Schreiber Philanthropy, the Gorter Family Foundation, and many generous individuals. The influx of money and partnerships have helped prepare Weil for the 300-home challenge. He believes these new homeowners, placed two or more per block over about 150 blocks, will signal the tipping point (a reference to the Malcom Gladwell book, where ideas become trends) for the city. To date, nearly two dozen homes have been completed, and ReNew is on track to construct 10 annually. Though the original volunteers were all from Christ Church in Lake Forest, the 1,700 or so volunteers today come from eight churches, the U.S. Navy and companies like Abbvie.
Volunteers prepare to raise an interior wall for a home in North Chicago.
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham praised ReNew’s dedication.
“Just to get that first house to get rehabbed and get a family in was a challenge,” said Rockingham, the mayor since 2005, in a podcast. “But tears come to their eyes when you hand them the key and say, ‘This is your home.’ Now that they own the house, they want to make sure the grass is cut. What ReNew is doing makes people feel good that they’re part of a community.”
A former architect for Orren Pickell Builders – one of Matthew Homes partners — designed a method to systemize home building while serving with Solid Rock Carpenters (SRC), who builds homes in distressed areas. SRC then shared its talent with ReNew, making the building process much easier.
“It’s like a Legoland – you don’t have to think about it,” Weil said. “It takes us two months to get ready, and then in one day, with the help of SRC and 200 volunteers, we can raise the exterior and interior walls with doors and windows cut out and the exterior fully sheathed on four houses. It’s an amazing sight to see.”
The homes are so nice that an appraiser told suggested to Weil he cut costs. All appliances are new in the three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes with full basements and a garage. The donated wood flooring is nicer than oak. US Gypsum donates the drywall, tape, and mud. Windows abound, and each home features a large porch, “because we want them to know the neighbors,” Weil said.
ReNew bases qualifications for purchasing a home on the area’s average medium income. A family typically pays a mortgage between $1,350-$1,700 per month, and qualified families may receive down payment assistance. Free credit repair and budget counseling is available.
ReNew also asks that the new homeowners give back by volunteering at least 150 hours of their time. Josh and Shakea Franklin were the first new homeowners through ReNew, and they launched a non-profit called Faith Awareness Action, which provides winter kits that include hats and gloves for the homeless in Chicago, Christmas toys for kids in shelters and raised money to purchase school uniforms for students at A.J. Katzenmaier Academy in North Chicago.
Rod Walton is a more recent homeowner. In April 2016, one block from his home, he was shot. Sadly, he ended up paralyzed.
“My life was turned upside down. When I realized that I’m going to be in a wheelchair for a while and this was my life, it was hard,” Walton said. “The main thing was I had to learn how to do things on my own. Dressing myself without help was a big thing. But people had to do everything else for me like cleaning my living-space area, making my food and laundry.”
Eventually, Walton moved in with an aunt. But he had to be helped upstairs to the bathroom and shower. After his aunt died, he was forced to move into a small hotel room that was hard to navigate in a wheelchair.
But he had heard about Matthew Homes when he saw a home being built by the group. He explained his situation to them. They agreed to work with him on building a wheelchair-accessible house which would feature lower countertops, wider door openings and a roll-in shower, among other conveniences.
At the beginning of 2022, the house was ready. When Walton cut the ribbon and crossed the threshold, a feeling of joy, peace and happiness came over him. He cried.
“The feeling of having my own home was amazing,” Walton said. “This home allows me to move around freely with minimal assistance. My home gives me the ability to feel normal — it’s big enough for me to move around, and I can still keep it clean on my own.
“Matthew Homes was there for me when I just wanted to give up.”
Though Matthew Homes is helping homeownership rise in North Chicago, the city’s 33 percent rate remains far below its neighbors. In nearby Lake Forest, according to the 2020 U.S. census, the homeownership rate among residents is 87 percent.
“The research shows that children do so much better when they’re stabilized in a home. Their school attendance is consistent, and their grades and graduation rates go up,” said Weil, who noted that once 300 homes are built, the city and schools should receive an additional $900,000 in property taxes a year. “So many things improve as the result of home ownership that is 65 percent or greater in a community.”
Weil shared a story about how perceptions in the community are changing.
“Before you build a house, you have to store all the wood there,” he said. “I walked on the property, and a guy next door was backing out of his house. He said he was a former gang member. He told me, ‘I own this house now, and I stopped three different people from stealing wood from your house because I want you to succeed.’”
All in all, what Weil has learned in North Chicago the past 13 years has been earthshaking.
Steven Wells and Tanais Valdillez celebrate moving into their first home.
“As I met the people, I began to see how full of life they were,” he said. “I was so inspired by their bravery. For the first time, it dawns on my how privileged I’ve been. We’re all trying to hit a home run, but I was born on third base. I learned how to have a bank account by fifth grade. When you need a doctor, you have a network to ask. Not readily so in the under-resourced communities.
“Galatians 5:6 says, ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’ We have a genuine love for God, and we’re out in the streets expressing God’s love for people.”
Go to renewcommunities.org/matthewhome to learn more.
