The last day...

Seems hard to believe that yesterday was our last full day here at the Perkins Foundation. It is has been an incredible full week filled with study, reflection, and work. We, for the most part, finished the projects that we were given. The interior of the house on Alta Vista has been repainted and the fixtures installed. Dave Stock made that his personal mission and it is exquisite.

We ended the evening and our time with a period of reflection on the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Dr. Perkins, Lowell Nobel, and some of the board members from the Foundation. In one of the reflections, Perkins said that he remembered being in a pickup truck hauling some supplies with a ministry leader of his, Herbert Jones, when King came on the radio of the truck. The moment he spoke, “I have a dream…” they not only immediately pulled over, but they knew that it was the most important speech that King would give. He said that in that moment King spoke to the deep longing for a different life held by most African-Americans.

At the end of our time together Mycah Bain poised the question that always propels, haunts, and motivates me following experiences like this, “what should we do when we get home?”
Mycah and others, my answer is the same as another Micah, go and “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your [our] God.” Don’t be paralyzed simply because no one is doing anything but always ask the question, “what am I called to do?” and go do it.

On the Journey (home)
Mike

MLK...

40 Years ago today America's greatest prophet, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. He was killed 1 year to the day after coming out against the Vietnam War while speaking at Riverside Church in New York. In that speech he connected the dots and confronted what he called the giant triplets of evil; materialism, racism and militarism and said; “Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak”.
Dr. King challenges all of us to take back the world from those “who possess power without compassion, might without morality and strength without sight.”
So I ask the same question that Genesis 37.19-21 asks and the one inscribed under the memorial stone at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated.
“They said one to another, behold, here cometh the dreamer. Let us slay him…and we shall see what will become of his dream”
What will become? A profound question to be asking this our last day of our Jackson experience. Then again maybe it is just the beginning of the rest of our lives lived with eyes and hearts that are wide open.

Mike
John 14.27

Added Power...

Our Bible study took on an added dimension with the presence of Dr. John Perkins and Chris Rice. John moved us with not only an impassioned study of the texts that have motivated him during his life. Primary among them has been 1 Timothy 1. With added power he stated that, “he knows his time on earth for ministry is coming to and end but that in obedience he presses on.”

During his ranging study (truly, you have to be there to appreciate his command of scripture) he pointed a finger squarely at the evangelical church for its tepid response towards the issues of the day. Issues like poverty, health care, debt, foreign aid, and the like.

We were also joined by Chris Rice, who is one of the Directors of the Duke Center for Reconciliation. Chris and his wife Donna lived in Jackson in intentional community with John’s son Spencer (d. 1998) and his family. He had joined us this day as he was bringing one of his kids, Christopher, to revisit his early childhood and celebrate his 13th birthday. What was significant, at least in my mind, was that we are the first group of families to come to Jackson on a mission experience. It was as if what Chris had started those years ago was finding some sense of fulfillment in our being there.

The rest of the day was spent going on a tour through Jackson and then on to Mendenhall. Our first stop was the Meadger Evers home. Meadger was the field secretary for the NAACP who was assassinated in 1963 and the subject of the movie, “Ghosts of Mississippi.”

From Meadger’s home we traveled to Mendenhall the birthplace of John & Vera Mae’s ministry. We toured around seeing the significant places that marked their ministry. We were particularly marked by our time spent on the “other” side of the tracks. Literally the black side of town is separated from the white side with a set of RR tracks. The other side of the tracks is called the “quarters” as in slave quarters. Yet in the midst is the Mendenhall Ministries a sure sign of light and hope in a desolate place.

Our day ended with some great time spent on the playground with the kids from the neighborhood. A true joy for all!

Have a Blessed day!
Mike

A great day

We have arrived at the hump day of our experience and things are going fantastic. It’s great to have the Bains back from their jaunt to New Orleans where Mycah was visiting Tulane University. As is our practice we had a morning teaching, this time on the Kingdom of God, by Lowell.
I think for many, yesterday will be seen as the best day of the trip for the group interpersonally. Everything was working. The weather was working, there was plenty of age appropriate work projects for everyone, and the evening was spent filled with laughter and games.

Tomorrow the group is excited to go on our tour of the area. Stops will include:
• Mendenhall, MS - Place where John Perkins started his Mississippi ministry
• Piney Woods School – Historically Black Prep School
• Meager Evers House – place where Civil Rights leader was assassinated in 1963
• Old Capital and other sites in Jackson, MS

Peace
Mike

Pictures so far...

Over lunch today I had a chance to upload our photo album. You can check it out at: http://picasaweb.google.com/cpcmission/JacksonSTM

Jackson STM

Blessings!
Mike

They brought people to town to learn how to hate…

Yesterday started with rain like only it can do in Mississippi. Which is to say very, very heavy.

Yesterday was also very special day for the group as we had the opportunity to hear a staff member of the foundation, Charlotte Grahm, share her story of growing up in 1956 in a place called Laurel, MS. Laurel is more famous, or infamous, for being the home of the Ku Klux Klan. It was in Laurel that the Klan brought people to, “learn how to hate black people.” Charlotte talked about the pain of seeing her family members being terrorized by the Klan and wounded by the overt incidents of systematic oppression at the hands of the Mississippi public schools.

While there were several vivid stories of the treatment and oppression this 52 year old experienced one distinct story rams home the absolute ruthlessness that families like Charlotte’s experienced then and still live with today at the hands of the “religious officials.” She called the Klan the religious officials because they often were the pastors, deacons, and elders of the church, that while they were beating people they often quoted scripture and made reference to the created order of things.

Charlotte started by sharing with us that at a young age her brother had died in childhood of sickle cell anemia. The reality of this she explained was actually a good thing because of the treatment that the boys and men of her town experienced at the hands of the Klan. She explained that it was very routine for members of the Klan to approach a house and "pull out "the men of the family and proceed to beat them, humiliate them, and degrade them in front of their wives and children. The purpose was to emasculate the men and destroy the family. With tears in her eyes she said it was a good thing her brother never had to experience that.

The rest of the day was filled with painting, tiling, cleaning and other kinds of work but it seems strange to talk about those activities after sharing the horrors that Charlotte experienced. How do we respond when death is better than life?

I suppose the best way is to respond is by doing what they do at the Perkins Foundation. They bring people to town to teach them how to love.
Thoughtfully
Mike

72 Hours

3 day, 72 hours seems like such a short period of time. Hardly enough time to do much of anything really. Sure you could start some projects, do a couple of things here or there. But what can you do really?
Well our courageous team of 28 has manged a whole lot more. It started with a nightmarish travel complication in Memphis that resulted in the team loading into vans and driving to Jackson to start our journey. The reality was that the nightmare forced our team to throw all their expectations about the journey out the window and to draw close to each other in a period of time that normally would take a lot longer.
In the process we learned to preserver, we learned a thing or two about patience. We learned that God would meet us in our times of need. Maybe not with what we wanted (Lord knows the airline didn't) but with what we needed. Guess that sounds like a song.

Anyhow, we did arrive and the reception by our friend in Jackson has been wonderful. We were moved by powerful preaching at New Horizon Church on Sunday at their 2 1/2 hour service (hey announcements took half an hour!) We have been shaken and inspired by the powerful teaching of Lowell Nobel. And we have even begun to do some of the work we "wanted" to do. Not bad.

Really, it is amazing to see 8 families from two congregations come together in such a wonderful way. We appreciate your prayers as we work as the family of God.
Talk with you soon!
Blessings
The Team