As racial injustice continues to rattle communities across the nation, religious leaders are finding ways to help ease tension. Former Iowa State University basketball player Jake Sullivan is a youth pastor at Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, and has worked with many students and parents in the local area. He says that protests and riots only create the perception of change, and that true change can only be made via the gospel at churches.

“Are we really creating change, or are we just settling for the perception of change? We march, we have protests, and we make a loud noise. And for a lot of communities like south Minneapolis, it turned to rioting and looting, and it turned to livelihoods being destroyed and shop fronts being destroyed. And in that midst, you think you’re creating change because there’s a tension. Any my stance, being a minister in a local church, is that the only way we’re going to fight sin, which is displayed often times through injustice and racism, it’s with the gospel administered through the local church.”

A complete interview with Sullivan can be found here.