When asked why restoring this specific church was so important to him, Steward noted that, \u201cFor generations, South Bushwick Church has been a place of faith, hope, healing, and community in Brooklyn.\u201d Thankfully, while no lives were lost, a place of great worship, ministry, and connection was.<\/p>\n
In a\u00a0statement<\/a> from the FDNY, the large fire was escalated to a third alarm after just 20 minutes, bringing in 63 units and 192 EMS and fire personnel. While no evidence of suspicious activity was found to have started the fire, the investigation and cause are still ongoing.<\/p>\n Because the fire took place on Juneteenth, Steward posted on Facebook his additional concerns:<\/p>\n \u201cThis tragedy occurred on Juneteenth, a day that commemorates freedom, resilience, and the enduring strength of a people who refused to let oppression have the final word. As an African American pastor leading a historic congregation in Brooklyn, I cannot overlook the significance of that reality,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n \u201cJuneteenth reminds us that even after profound loss, there can be liberation. Even after seasons of hardship, pain, and struggle, there can be restoration. Even after devastating setbacks, there can be new beginnings.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo Credit: \u00a9Facebook \/ World Weather<\/p>\n Originally published June 29, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All around us, Church buildings are empty and forgotten. While some have moved on or created new spaces,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-281437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"amber](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/19673-amber-ginter-headshot.jpg\")
<\/a>Amber Ginter is a teacher-turned-author who loves Jesus, her husband Ben, and granola. Growing up Amber looked for faith and mental health resources and found none. Today, she offers hope for young Christians struggling with mental illness that goes beyond simply reading your Bible and praying more. Because you can love Jesus and still suffer from anxiety. You can download her top faith and mental health resources for\u00a0free<\/a> to help navigate books, podcasts, videos, and influencers from a faith lens perspective. Visit her website at\u00a0amberginter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n