Anyone familiar with Marcus Rogers knows he has issues. Marital issues, doctrinal issues, emotional issues, financial issues,. But he also has a fiercely loyal following, people who will not allow their much admired leader to be criticized. People who gave sacrificially when Marcus posted videos last summer about his “dream church” – an abandoned building in Chicago up for sale for only $650,000. Today’s question is, how will these people feel finding out the building was apparently donated to Marcus? Marcus denies this claim but there are many questions raised that indicate it is true.
Note: On July 31, a YouTube creator posted a video about this topic. The video named the church that donated the building. The next day, the church was flooded with harassing and threatening phone calls from Marcus Rogers’ supporters. Out of concern by the creator, the video was taken down. Out of this same concern, we will refer to this church as “Donor” Though this info is public information, we ask that no one contact this church at this time.
First a quick summary of the timeline, We have covered these events earlier in this section of our blog.
- August 2021- Marcus posted his first video of the church and made a tearful emotional plea to raise money so he could buy it to start a school “for the kids”
- October 2021-After less than 60 days, Marcus posted that he had raised enough to make an offer of $550.000. He posted a video stating his offer had been accepted. Some viewers pointed out that the building was not in usable condition and Marcus agreed that some repairs would be needed, and that he was spending all the money he had to buy the building. He would need to ask for more to make needed repairs, but at least he would have obtained it for such a good price.
- December 2021, after a month long delay, the closing came and went fairly quietly. A search of the city of Chicago permit status website shows that permits to replace windows and doors, and do surface roof work- no structural work, were issued on 12/27/2021
- January 2022: Marcus posted video with an update on the renovation costs. Altogether it totaled over $900,000 in repairs and that was just for starters. Again he claimed to have nothing and asked for donations. He then posted that he had raised $40,000. This was enough to remodel the church’s existing sanctuary to be usable for weekly services.
- February 2022: He then posted that a donor had given a $100,000. donation with a picture of an invalidly written redacted personal check. Shortly after this, he posted pics of a crew working on the roof and some windows being replaced
- March- August 2022 Regular requests for money in every video, with promises to build a new sanctuary, and of course the promise of the school, with no real progress in sight. Marcus claims, as he did in his former rental facility, that he just can’t livestream services because the audio echo is too bad in the sanctuary, but if people just keep giving, the new sanctuary will have perfect acoustics for livestreaming. As of August 8th, there are still no new permits to repair the major structural issues or even any minor ones. This week he did post an update, there is now a big hole in the floor to fix some plumbing.
Marcus has presented his supporters with the premise that he raised $550,000 and used it to buy a building to house his church and a school. But according to public records, there are some serious discrepancies with this premise
A search of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds reveals that the building was sold to Marcus Rogers for $10.00. Ten dollars.
Official deed documents often show a “nominal consideration” clause that indicates that a binding contract has been entered and a legal exchange has occurred. It is not always accurate, but we will explain that in this case, the nominal amount is actually more than Marcus paid.
To further support this, the detailed info on the Cook County Recorder of deeds page shows that total consideration for the transaction was $0.00
I searched other similar church properties in Chicago, and they all showed a legitimate property sale value.
Additionally, we have confirmed this with two phone conversations with two representatives of the church that donated the property, (we will refer to them as Donor) who both confirmed that they did indeed donate the property to Firehouse, and that not even $10.00 was paid.
Donor had acquired the property via a donation in March of 2020, from the former church, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, which had dissolved several years prior. It was explained by both parties we spoke to that Donor had no interest in investing one million plus dollars to repair this building, especially with zoning issues that were not resolvable. They just wanted to be done paying insurance and utilities on a building that had been abandoned for ten-plus years.
After talking to Marcus, Donor agreed to donate the church. Donor wanted to see the church continue ministry in the neighborhood. Their understanding was that Firehouse was trying to raise money to meet the selling price. Knowing that the building would need approximately $1 million in repairs, Donor said they would be glad to donate the property and that Firehouse should keep donations for repairs. Donor expressed surprise and disappointment to learn that Marcus told his donors that he paid $550,000 and was asking for $700-900K more for repairs.
Marcus’ only responses so far were a couple comments on social media. In the comments on a post now deleted, he claimed that he could “prove” he paid $550,000 and showed an MLS listing. The $550,000 sale price on MLS is not an accurate record of the amount paid. The MLS prices do not reflect any buyer or seller concessions made. A price has to be entered to close the listing, and the Donor representative said that the $550k number would serve as a property value for insurance purposes.
Another unanswered question- The denomination that the original church belongs to gives their guidelines for the assets of dissolved churches:
CCM – Guidelines for Constitutions and Bylaws of Lutheran Congregations – Page 9– Revised November, 2012
10.2 In the event that the congregation dissolves, all property shall be disposed of by the final voters
assembly for the payment of debts and all just claims against the congregation, and any and all
surplus and all rights connected therewith shall be conveyed to and become the property of the
District of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
In accordance, the Donor church’s Constitution reflects this as well.
((Donor)) Lutheran Church – Constitution May 18, 2014 | R e v i s e d 4 | P a g e
B. Dissolution
In the event that the Congregation dissolves, all property shall be disposed of by the final Voters
Assembly for the payment of debts and all just claims against the Congregation, and any and all surplus
and all rights connected therewith shall be conveyed to and become the property of the Northern
Illinois District of The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
The guidelines above, while specific to the LCMS denomination, are implemented because both federal and Illinois law state that proceeds from the sale of assets of a dissolved non-profit must go to another non-profit. (US Code Title 26) Non profits are also forbidden from making an excess profit on any transaction. Maybe it’s all cool but it seems like a loophole was exploited if Marcus actually paid $550,000. That is a huge profit for Donor church on a property that was donated to them by law.
According to Home Disclosure.com, this property has two title transfer transactions on record. The first was a transfer from Trinity Lutheran to Donor church in February 2020. The second is a transfer from Donor church to Firehouse in December 2021. Both transactions show a sale price of zero. We know the first was a legally required donation and the legal records reflect this. If Marcus paid $550,000 it should be reflected here.
There is also an ownership description of “heirs”. I’m no legal expert but my research on this term indicates a special warranty deed might have been a bad idea.
I reached out to both the Donor church and the Northern Illinois District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod for more information. The District referred me to the Donor church for more information. The Donor church did not respond to my request for clarification. The Executive director who signed the deed from Donor to Firehouse is no longer with Donor church as of July 2022.
Furthermore, in June, almost a year since the church fundraising was first presented, Marcus posted this- a request for money to buy a neighboring house, to be used as a halfway house.
Sounds very much like them same scenario- I want to pay all cash, oh please help me buy this, for the homeless! (What about the school?) This time, before opening wallets, lets hope his supporters have enough sense to ask more questions.
We believe Marcus should be accountable to his donors. Donors should be able to ask and receive answers to questions like these:
- While asking for money to buy the church and now the house, Marcus has continued to invest very large amounts of money in travel, his rap albums, album promotions and videos, gifts for friends and cash giveaways at services. Where has all of this money come from?
- Why is there no record of the $550,000 payment for this building?
- Why has there been so little progress on repairing the building?
- When will the school open?
- Why is the new sanctuary, and buying additional property a priority over the school?
- Why is the new sanctuary a priority when attendance at Firehouse seems to be about half the capacity of the current sanctuary?
- Would he agree that no matter what the circumstances, his supporters should not be harassing the Donor church?
- How was he able to raise $550,000 in one month and one year later, still have hundreds of thousands in repairs to be made?
- If this building was not sold to him for $550,000, why did he not disclose this at the time of the sale?
And a question for supporters of Firehouse church-Do you understand that Marcus Rogers
- has a 501c3 for tax purposes.
- uses a for profit corporation for sheltering income,
- all church property is in his name alone. He is the sole officer of Firehouse Fellowship.
- does the church even have a bank account? asked about payment for the building he stated this:
- Why was all the money in his account?
- Why then is there no record of a separate transaction and deed transfer?
With many more questions than answers, followers would be wise to wait for answers.