The Happy Hour #339: Daniel Hill

My guest for The Happy Hour #339 is Daniel Hill. Daniel Hill is the author of White Awake, White Lies, and 10:10: Life to the Fullest. Daniel is the Founding and Senior Pastor of River City Community Church, located in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Daniel is married to Elizabeth, who is a Professor of Psychology, and they are the proud parents of two beautiful children, Xander and Gabriella.

Friends, I cannot fully put into words how excited I am that Daniel is joining us on the podcast today. I completely devoured his book White Awake earlier this summer and have been wanting to chat with him ever since. In today’s episode, Daniel tells us about growing up as a pastor’s kid, walking away from the church, and coming to Jesus again in his 20s. Daniel also dives deep into his journey of coming face to face with a culture of white supremacy and realizing how many things in his life he never had to think about as a white male. He talks about the distinct culture of American Christianity, and the reasons why there is pushback on race within evangelical spaces. This conversation has shown to be a difficult one over and over, and we see so many Christian leaders coming under fire as a result of being outspoken on the issues surrounding race. I really appreciated Daniel’s words when he said “Racism is built on a set of lies, and lies belong to the evil one.” It seems simple to grasp, and yet we still have a long way to go as we continue fighting for the things that Jesus deeply cares about. I’m so thankful for Daniel’s boldness and passion for racial unity. My hope is that we would all continue to seek Christ and allow Him to lead our steps towards reconciliation.

Photo image credit: Heidi Zeiger

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