The Faith Community Network’s Spiritual Servant Model
Founder/President of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development (JMPF)
Currently Dr. Perkins serves as the number one cheerleader for the John M. Perkins Foundation. Over the past ten years he has worked to establish the Spencer Perkins Center (SPC) which is the youth arm of JMPF. Through the SPC, the Foundation's staff has developed youth programs such as After School Tutorial, Summer Arts Camp, Junior and College Internship Program, Good News Bible Club, Young Life and Jubilee Youth Garden. JMPF also has a housing arm called Zechariah 8 which provides affordable housing for low-to moderate-income families with a focus on single mothers. http://www.jmpf.org
Founder of Mendenhall Ministries
John Perkins and his family have ministered among the poor for the past 40 years. In 1960 John Perkins, his wife, Vera Mae, and their children left a "successful" life in California and moved back to Mendenhall, MS to begin ministry. In 12 years, John Perkins helped start a day-care center, youth program, church, cooperative farm, thrift store, housing repair ministry, a health center, and an adult education program. Today, Mendenhall Ministries thrives under the leadership of Artis Fletcher and Ernestine Skiffer. www.mbc-tmm.org
Founder of Voice of Calvary Ministries
In 1972, the Perkins moved to Jackson, where they founded Voice of Calvary Ministries - another Christian community development ministry. Voice of Calvary Ministries started a church, health center, leadership development program, thrift store, low-income housing development, and training center. From this ministry, other development projects started in the neighboring towns of Canton, New Hebron and Edwards. www.vocm.org
Founder of Harambee Christian Family Center
In 1982, the Perkins moved to Pasadena and founded Harambee Christian Family Center in Northwest Pasadena, a neighborhood that had one of the highest daytime crime rates in California. Harambee is running numerous programs including after school tutoring, Good News Bible Clubs, an award-winning technology center, summer day camp, youth internship programs, and a college scholarship program. http://www.harambee.org
Co-founder and Chairman of the Christian Community Development Association
In 1989, John Perkins called together a group of Christian leaders from across America that was bonded by one significant commitment-expressing the love of Christ in America's poor communities, not at arms length, but at the grass-roots level. An association was formed and Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) held its first annual conference in Chicago in 1989. CCDA has grown from 37 founding members to 6,800 individuals and 600 churches, ministries, institutions and businesses in more than 100 cities and townships across the country. http://www.ccda.org
Publisher of URBAN FAMILY Magazine
In 1992 John Perkins began publishing URBAN FAMILY magazine in response to the breakdown of the urban family, the breakdown of the community, and the increasing violence within the inner city. The mission of URBAN FAMILY is to be a voice of hope and progress, offering solutions that emphasize responsibility, affirm dignity, build moral character, and encourage reconciliation. The circulation quickly rose from 13,000 to 35,000 nationally. This magazine name was changed to a more appropriate reconciliation title, the RECONCILERS FELLOWSHIP. Unfortunately, after the untimely death of the Dr. Perkins' eldest son, Spencer Perkins in January 1998 (who also served as editor-in-chief of this magazine), its publication was discontinued in the fall of 1998.
Founder of Harambee Preparatory School
In the fall of 1995, John Perkins founded the Harambee Preparatory School (HPS), an elementary school providing quality education to prepare neighborhood children for college. HPS desires to see the children of poverty level homes receive a quality academic training in a secure and loving environment.
Despite dropping out of school in the third grade, John Perkins has been recognized for his work by being awarded nine honorary doctorates from Wheaton College, Gordon College, Huntington College, Spring Arbor College, Geneva College, Northpark College, Whitworth College, Belhaven College and Nyack College. He is the author of nine books including A Quiet Revolution, Let Justice Roll Down, With Justice For All, Beyond Charity, He’s My Brother, Resurrecting Hope, and A Time to Heal, and has written numerous chapters in others. John Perkins formally served on the Board of Directors of World Vision, Prison Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), Spring Arbor College, and fifteen other boards. He is an international speaker and a teacher on the issues of racial reconciliation, indigenous leadership development, and community development.
Historical Background of Dr. John M. Perkins
• 1930 Born into a sharecropper's family, New Hebron, MS
• 1947 Moved to Pasadena, CA
• 1947-50 Organizer & Steward, Iron Workers Union
• 1951 Married Vera Mae Buckley
• 1951-53 Armed Services, Korean War
• 1957 Became a Christian
• 1958 Ordained Baptist Minister, Monrovia, CA
• 1960 Moved to Mendenhall, MS
• 1961 Organizer/Pastor, Berean Bible Church
• 1961-1970 Involved in creation of Voice of Calvary Bible Institute, Health Care Center, Leadership Development Program
• 1970 Co-founder, Southern Cooperative Development Fund
• 1972 Moved to Jackson, MS. Organizer/Pastor of Voice of Calvary Fellowship Church. Founder and president, Voice of Calvary Ministries. Initiated and developed programs in Health Care Leadership Development, Thriftco (cooperative discount stores), and P.D.I. (housing renovation).
• 1982 Moved back to Pasadena, CA
• 1982 Founded John M. Perkins Foundation
• 1984 Founded Harambee Christian Family Center
• 1989 Co-founder of the Christian Community Developoment Association (CCDA), Chicago, IL
• 1996 Moved back to Jackson, MS
Present Activities
International author, speaker and lecturer
President Emeritas, John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development
President Emeritas, Christian Community Development Association
Former Board Memberships
• World Vision, U.S.
• Prison Fellowship
• National Association of Evangelicals
Education
• Greenwood Elementary, Lawrence Co., MS (3rd grade dropout)
• Frank Wiggins Vocational School, 1953-56
Honors and Awards
• 2010 Honorary Doctorate of Humanities, Virginia University of Lynchburg
• 2009 Honorary Doctorate of Divinity, Seattle Pacific University?
• 2007 Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Nyack College
• 2005 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letter, Whitworth Collge
• 2005 Mighty Men of Valor Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1997 Honorary Doctor of Education, Belhaven College
• 1996 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letter, North Park College
• 1995 Honorary Doctor of Divinity, Geneva College
• 1980 Honorary Doctor of Laws, Wheaton College
• 1992 Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Spring Arbor College
• 1988 Personalities of America, 4th ed., Barthe’s Historical Society
• 1988 American Biographical Institute
• 1986 NAACP’s Ruby McKnight Williams Award
• 1984 Black Business Association of Pasadena/Altadena Humanitarian of the Year
• 1983 Honorary Doctor of Humanities, Huntington College
• 1982 Honorary Doctor of Public Service, Gordon College
• 1980 John W. Dixon Outstanding Community Service Award
• 1980 Who’s Who of International Intellectuals
• 1980 Mississippi Religious Leadership Man of the Year
• 1978, 1979, 1980 Distinguished Black American
• 1972 Ford Foundation Fellow
Lecturer
• Stanford University, Harvard University, Oxford University, University of Berlin, Howard University, Wheaton University, and over 200 other colleges nationally and internationally
Conference Speaker
• Promise Keepers, Heritage Foundation, Greenbelt Festival (England), Urbana General Session Speaker, National Association of Evangelicals, International Council of Biblical Inerrancy, President's Private Sector Initiative Program, Christian Community Development Association, President Reagan's Task Force on Food Assistance
Author
Magazine contributions include Campus Life, Christianity Today, Decision, Eternity, Family Life, Jet, Lifeline, Moody Monthly, The Other Side, The Quiet Revolution, Sojourners, Time, Charisma, New Man, Policy Review
Books and contributions include:
• Let Justice Roll Down (Regal, 1976)
• A Quiet Revolution (England: Marshall-Pickering, 1976)
• A Call to Wholistic Ministry (Open Doors Press, 1981)
• With Justice For All (Regal, 1982)
• John Perkins: Land Where My Father Died (Regal, 1987)
• A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (1988)
• Beyond Charity (Baker Book House, 1993)
• He's My Brother (Chosen Books, 1994)
• Resurrecting Hope (Regal, 1995)
• Today's Heroes: John M. Perkins (Zondervan, 1996)
• A Time to Heal (Baker, 1997)
• Let Justice Roll Down (Regal, 2007 updated reprint 30th Anniversary edition)
• With Justice for All (Regal, 2007 updated reprint 30th Anniversary edition)
• Linking Arms, Linking Lives (Baker, 2008)
• When Helping Hurts (Foreword, IVP, 2009)
• Heart for the Community (Foreword, Moody, 2009)
• Follow Me to Freedom (Regal, 2009)
• Welcoming Justice (IVP, 2009)
Radio and Television: World Vision Telethon, Focus on the Family, 100 Huntley Club (Canada), 700 Club, C-SPAN, ABC World News
Film Productions: Christian Community Development Seminar on video, Building Christian Leaders on Ghetto Earth, Voice of Calvary, Voice of Hope, Breaking America's Poverty Cycle: A Model of Development, Miracle in Mendenhall, John Perkins: Cry Justice (documentary)
Contact Info:
Dr. John M. Perkins
President
John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development
1831 Robinson Street
Jackson, MS 39209
Tel: (601) 354-1563
Fax: (601) 352-6882
Email: bigjohn@jmpf.org
Web: www.jmpf.org