Thank You John Perkins and CCDA

My roomate Ben and I skipped out on classes for the past two days to drive down to Miami for the annual Christian Community Development Association conference. It is truly a remarkable thing to be with thousands of frontline urban ministry leaders from around the country. It is a worshipful time with multi-ethnic worship and bible study every morning with John Perkins. There are many workshops with practical and Kingdom-driven insight on everything from how to respond to the housing crisis, to the developing a healthy prayer life while doing difficult ministry. But the stories and the people are the best part. I am hearing about how the Kingdom is coming in communities from all over, and meeting the people who are allowing the Word to become flesh in their own lives. It is so real and tangible. And it's making me feel even more restless about being in a classroom for the next three years.

John Perkins needs to be known in America like Billy Graham is known. He came out of the civil rights era in Jackson Mississippi, losing his brother and seeing his Father beaten from racially motivated hate. He moved out of the poor neighborhood he grew up in, but moved back after he became a Christian to minister incarnationally. He built a ministry called Voice of Calvary in Jackson that ran under three principles: 1) reconciliation to God and each other, manifested particularly as racial reconciliation, 2) relocation to disenfranchised neighborhoods, and 3) redistribution of resources that are empowering to the people and the community. These "three R's" became the motto for the CCDA, and now there are hundreds of ministries around the country who have learned tremendously from John Perkins and run under that model. This is what the Church in America needs to commit to if they want to do ministry that is wholistic. This model gets beyond the talk and makes Christians take a journey of living in the presence of suffering, doing the hard work of reconciliation, and rejecting the consumerism and materialism for justice in America. It makes the gospel more than just an idea, but something that changes society. It makes social justice more than just some sexy thing to talk about to feel like a progressive. I'm so thankful for CCDA. May God bless all those who are doing God's work in cities.