Picture
Found & CEO Bishop Connie C. Bansa
​Bishop Connie Crawford-Bansa became an ordained minister in 1989, but started preaching at the age of 12 while operating in many leadership and teaching roles at the Church of the Living God. In 2005  She was the first female to be ordained as Bishop of the Churches of the Living God by its Bishop Council and also by the American Clergy Leadership Council.

In her earlier years, as a former graduate of Roosevelt University, she worked in the Chicago Public and Private Parochial School system. She was instrumental in helping to organize several day care centers and worked tirelessly to fulfill her parents the late Evangelist Beatrice and Bishop Melvin Crawford’s, dream of opening the Church of God Day Care Center in 1976. As a result of these efforts, the Board of Directors hired her as the youngest administrative director in the city of Chicago.Bishop Connie has continued to work diligently to establish several community programs.

These programs have not only provided youth programs and food for the community, but also more than 5,000 jobs through C.E.T.A. She has worked with community and business leaders to vitalize and upgrade business; housing conditions and also acted, as an advocate for senior citizen needs. She has received numerous awards including: the Outstanding Musician Award (Oscar Brown Jr. “Opportunity Please Knock”), The Award for Outstanding Black Business Women from the (Elite Society), Congressional Awards, first African-American Queen Mom of University of Illinois Champaign Urbana Campus and many more.
 
As an executive board member of the American Clergy Leadership for Americans, she was invited to speak, pray, and prophesy at many national as well as international spiritual events. She was given one of the greatest honors when she was chosen to speak at the United Nations about striving towards peace and prosperity in Africa. She has led several mission trips to Ghana, West Africa along with her husband and children. The Divine inspiration was given to Bishop Connie to reach out to the spiritual and community leaders all over the world to become unified in a spiritual movement.

​This movement, the “Jericho Walk”, is the platform to Bishop Bansa’s vision of  “tearing down walls and building bridges”, tearing down the barriers that have so long separated Americans. Bishop Bansa has acted as CEO of Jericho Walk since it was launched in 1996. It was recognized by the United Nations in 2015 as a prominent peace festival.