Honoring the Legacy of John Perkins

Would they begin with the law which defines the whole of obedience criteria?  Passages like:  Deuteronomy 6:5-6 The commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" Additionally, the second commandment is to "love your neighbor as yourself." Or tackle the teachings of Jesus, revealing the heartbeat of the Father. Stories of Jesus like “The Good Samaritan”, “The Prodigal Son” or “The Rich Man and Lazarus”.  They didn’t begin with either of these, however.  They would come later.  They chose to begin our tutoring with the Prophets. “Turn to the table of contents”, they would have to say, unsure we could find the hidden books; ironically, a quarter of the entire Old Testament.  Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah … these would become new friends and mentors.  And so it began, my pilgrimage with the word of God.  Jesus, and our followership would make sense now.  The Prophets would lead the way.  This way, Micah (Micah 6:8) would say:  The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.” This way, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 22:16) would point, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me? declares the Lord”.

It was in this summer seminary institute that we met what many of us would call a modern-day prophet, John Perkins.  Dr. Perkins loved the Word of God.  He was introduced to us as a great example of how all of this biblical content was to be understood in each of our contexts.  He would be our educator for the greater part of the summer.  His context was the South, rural Mississippi with its entrenched racism and battle for voting rights.   He taught us the framework that was just beginning to be articulated, the three “R’s” of Christian Community Development:  Relocation, Reconciliation and Redistribution.  We memorized his message, vowing to God to attempt to live it out. 

1980’s -- For me, by God’s grace, it was these teachings that established the framework for our work when it began.  Phoenix, Arizona was far from Mississippi and so unlike it in countless ways, but the heart of God for the marginalized poor compelled each of us into our communities to live and serve.  My husband Wayne and I and our two small children “moved into the neighborhood” as we say … in 1983.  Our work had been launched the year before, in 1982. Our practice would be organized around the scriptures of God’s heart, the three “R”s and love of neighbor; an incarnational ministry of love, the kind we remembered hearing from John Perkins. ⁽²⁾

Unlike Mississippi, which had a legacy within the Civil Rights movement, the church in Phoenix was still getting caught up on its role in the city as a representative of the love and grace of God among the poor.  My friend and mentor, Carol Eaton, had heard John Perkins speak.  She and I were meeting regularly, and she asked if I would help bring Dr. Perkins to our city and begin a series of conferences where the church would begin to hear about God’s heart for the poor, so that we could increase our efforts at justice and build holistic ministries.  These conferences were in the later part of the ‘80’s. 

1990’s -- In the early ‘90’s, we became an example of the work of CCDA in the Southwest.  We used John Perkins books as formational for the mentoring work we were doing among the next generation.  Many of our young people heard about John Perkins and CCDA and began attending the conferences annually.  For a few years post 2010, when Arizona had a national presence as ground zero for immigrant rights and reform, these young people were prominent on the stage at the national CCDA conference.  Phoenix was no longer hard to find on a map but had a voice in our movement. 

2000’s -- Over the years, JP has visited our work countless times, blessing it with his wisdom, presence and affirmation.  I have been a CCDA member almost since the beginning, representing a Latino and Native American community on the CCDA board for nineteen years.  Wayne and I still live in the house we moved into at the beginning of the ministry.  My doctoral dissertation (which became a book) was called The Ten Core Values of Neighborhood Ministries … reading it, there is no doubt that John Perkins and CCDA have had their handprints on this mission. ⁽³⁾

From the 1970’s to today, 2026, our beloved friend, brother, mentor and guide, John Perkins has spoken into our work.  He taught us how to live these words: