- The situation here inSanta Monica, California.

- [Reporter] A chaotic night in Denver,

after protesters as they move

through the city of Ferguson.

- [Andrew] This is astory about my journey,

trying to learn what I should do,

what I should say, andhow I should respond.

In the wake of George Floyd's death.

- [Witness] You know,we were standing today,

not far away from where fourpolice officers were shot.

- [Protestor] We just got here to the site

where George Floyd was killed.

- [Andrew] We're believinglike we actually believe

that our worship and our prayercan change the atmosphere.

- [Preacher] As we worship.

I believe God's goingto bring restoration.

I believe that would you believe that God

might do a miracle allover the America tonight.

- [Andrew] Though the nations are raging.

Jesus is speaking, as thecultures shout, he is listening.

The world is waiting andwatching for the sons,

and daughters of God to arise.

To simply say, we hear you.

- Well, joining me now viaSkype is Andrew Chalmers,

the founder and director of Take the City,

and the director of the newdocumentary, WE HEAR YOU.

Andrew thanks so muchfor being with us today.

- It's great to be here.

- Yeah, well let's talk aboutyour ministry, Take the City.

What exactly do you guys do,and what are you all about?

- So our ministry is reallyfocused on a couple of things.

We partner with localchurches here in Georgia,

where we're based, andall over the country

to help promote unityin the body of Christ.

It's one of our primaryfocuses, and then also helping

to train and equip the bodyof Christ in evangelism,

and really reaching out in the communities

where they are based up.

- I love that.

Well, why do you believe unifying,

and mobilizing churches is so imperative?

- So I just believe that, you know,

when we look at the scripture, we see that

the scriptures perspective,and God's perspective

of the church is notthat he sees, you know,

one church versus another one,

but he really sees us allas one church altogether.

He doesn't see us asthese divided entities.

And so we really believe that his heart

is to help bring us togetherin spite of our racial

or denominational differencesthat we would work together.

And another thing, you know, that I think

is really important is ourcommunities and our city.

Our cities around America desperately need

the hope of the gospel.

And so we want to helpencourage churches to go out

into those communitiesand share the gospel.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Well, you have a documentarycoming out called, WE HEAR YOU.

And it follows your journeywhen you went to Ferguson,

and Minneapolis, to the very street corner

where George Floyd died.

Well, tell us about that experience,

and how you decided to evenmake a documentary about this.

- Yeah, it's been, honestlythe past three weeks

for me have really been a life changing.

When I started seeing, notonly with George Floyd,

but just recently, I startedseeing all of the injustices,

and just painful thingshappening in our nation.

My heart was grieved and Ihonestly ended up in a place

where I felt like I didn'treally know how to respond

or what, I didn't really know what to do.

And I wanted to do the right thing.

I wanted to respond in a Biblical way.

I wanted to respond in away that honored the Lord.

And so I just kind ofwas struggling with that.

And the Lord spoke to meabout three weeks ago,

and said, I want you to goand just begin to listen,

and learn from your friend JT.

And so I prayed about it.

I was really uncertain.

And the next day I booked a one way ticket

to go see JT in Ferguson, Missouri.

He's been a friend ofmine for a few years.

And he is really one of, Ibelieve that the most significant

voices from the church rightnow concerning social justice.

Speaking out against racismand helping really bring

reconciliation, andunderstanding in this area.

And so I went out and justspent five days with them,

and we filmed and capturedsome incredible things

about what God is notonly doing in Ferguson,

but we also went to Minneapolis.

And here's what I want tosay is, you know, honestly,

the film that we createdis you just come with me,

and you get to see melistening and learning

mostly from the African American leaders

that I was able to interact with.

And one of the most exciting interviews

that I was able to capture,happened just before 60 minutes

interviewed him and hisname's pastor Curtis Ferraro.

He's the pastor of thechurch across the street

from where George Floyd was killed.

We got in and interviewed him.

And I just want to tellyou that the 15 minutes

I got with that pastor,it changed my life.

And we captured it, andactually put it in the film,

and yeah, it's, I'm still even processing

what happened honestly.

- It's powerful I know.

When I watched it,

that was one of the most powerful moments.

There was many, but when you talk to him,

it was really great.

I feel like a lot of times,especially Christians,

even though we're believers,

we forget that we'refighting a spiritual battle.

Why do you think it's soeasy for us to forget that?

And what would you sayto Christians out there

to remind them that we're not fighting

against flesh and blood,but against principalities?

What would you say to us?

- Yeah, I think for me,

and I know for anyonethat's following Jesus,

it's hard when there's a lotof voices speaking to us,

and speaking just in a lotof different directions.

And that was kind of my experience.

The past month is justa barrage of voices,

and I didn't know how to respond.

I didn't really know how to, you know,

how to find out what God was saying

versus what all theseother voices were saying.

- [Ashley] Yeah

- And I think for me, oneof the most important things

was getting, you know,into the word of God.

And being in the Christiancommunity, talking to my own,

you know, pastors andleaders in my community

that help remind me, listen.

You know, this personis not your enemy or,

you know, this political partyor this persuasion or idea,

you know, way of thinkingthat's not your enemy.

Those people are not your enemy.

You know, we're notfighting against people.

We're actually fightingagainst Satan and his powers

that want to bring division,

and to destroy our nation,destroy our churches.

- [Ashley] Yeah

- [Andrew] And I thinkit's just important.

It is important to be reminded of that.

- [Ashley] Absolutely.

Many people are asking themselves

a lot of the same questions that you did.

And you mentioned thatin the film, you know.

What do I say?

What can I do?

What would you say to those people

who are asking those same questions?

- Yeah, so I guess what I've learned

as a white Christian in America.

The first thing that I'velearned is that really

what I need to learn todo a lot better is listen.

You know, I think my firstresponse or my first desire

when everything startedhappening is why I just need

to say something or I need to,you know, say what I think.

And I think it's, I thinkwe do need to be vocal

as the church and speak outagainst racism and injustice.

We should never shut ourmouths concerning it.

But I think the first thingwe need to do before we speak

is we need to learn to listen.

And so for me, what I discoveredis the power of listening.

And outside of the documentary we did,

I've had many other conversations as well.

And here's what I want to say is,

it's even good for me tolisten to some conversations

with people that I don't understand,

or I don't even agree with them,

or I don't get quitewhere they're coming from.

I think it's also important for me

to listen to them, and try to understand.

There's something powerfulthat happens in my heart

when I humble myself.

- Humble my, may beopinion or perspective,

and try to hear what they'resaying in their perspective.

- Absolutely, there's a powerfulmoment when you're talking

to your friend JT, and he says

to ask God for tears, ask God for empty.

I mean, what, talk a little bit about that

in that moment when he said that,

because to me that was powerful.

- Yeah, and I just thinkthat's one of the main themes

of the whole film is thatGod give us his heart.

You know, the reality isif we even had a small

inkling of God's love and the way he feels

about what's happening in America,

I believe that we wouldrespond with weeping.

And I think one of the mostdangerous things we can have

as Christians is a lack of empathy,

or just being apathetictowards the whole thing.

Just kind of turning offour emotions and saying,

I'm done with that.

I don't want anything to do with that.

I'm not even going to care.

And I just believe that Jesuswould respond the opposite.

I believe that Jesus would mourn

with those who are mourning.

I believe that Jesuswould lean into the pain

as opposed to turning away.

And just to be honestlike, my natural go-to

just from my personality,and the way God wired me,

or just, I don't know why I'm this way.

But my natural desire is to go

the opposite way of feeling pain.

And I believe most people are that way.

- [Ashley] Yeah

- But I believe that Jesusdoes want us to lean into that,

and ask him, God I wantto feel what you feel

when it comes to the issuesof injustice in our nation.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Well, Andrew thank you so muchfor chatting with us today.

And to learn more and inviteothers to see the documentary,

which I highly recommend you watch and do.

Go to the page WEHEARYOUFILM.COM.

And be sure to join the live watch party

this Sunday, June 21stat 7:30 PM Eastern time

on the WE HEAR YOU FILM Facebook page

or Take the City YouTube channel.

You can also join us directlyfrom our Facebook page

at 700 ClubInteractive at 7:30 PM as well.

Andrew thanks again.

God bless you and everythingthat you're doing.

- Yeah, thank you so much for having me.