Let Justice Roll Down

“Only the power of Christ’s crucifixion on the cross and the glory of His resurrection can heal the deep racial wounds in both black and white people in America.”

Here is a real-life story of the transforming power of Jesus Christ and one man’s response to Jesus’s call to love others.

John Perkins, founder of Voice of Calvary ministries, was born in New Hebron, Mississippi, in 1930. His family was made up of sharecroppers, and he grew up in grinding poverty, part of a system that preserved prejudice and racism. After his brother was killed, Perkins left Mississippi for California, where he found job opportunities, racism of another kind, and faith in Jesus Christ. He returned to Mississippi to share the gospel and help his own people find equality, justice, and economic independence through self-help cooperative efforts. And he made progress — too much progress.

Everything came to a head early in 1970, when John Perkins and others went through an unbelievable night of torture at the hands of white law enforcement officers. Beaten almost to death, Perkins somehow survived and so did his work, which moves ahead today with a threefold strategy:

• Biblical evangelism and Christian education
• The kind of social action that should come out of knowing Jesus Christ as Savior
• Visible community development that is creating new models for black housing, economic independence, education, and health care