Civil Rights Activist To Speak At Chapel Feb. 25

by Marianne May, student writer

Baylor University will welcome international speaker and teacher Dr. John M. Perkins to speak to Chapel audiences at the 10 and 11 a.m. services on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Waco Hall.
Raised a sharecropper's son in the heart of impoverished Mississippi, Perkins fled to California at age 17, after his older brother was murdered by the town marshal. Though he vowed never to return, his eventual conversion to Christianity led him back home to share the gospel with his people in 1960. With the help of his wife, Vera Mae, he started Mendenhall Ministries, a thriving non-profit organization that helps the Mississippi poor by providing childcare, adult education, a health center and many other services.
Perkins took an active role in the civil rights movement, which led to repeated harassment, beatings and imprisonment. Against the odds, he has created Christian reconciliation ministries in both Mississippi and California. In 1989, he founded the Christian Community Development Association, a combination of evangelism, church and social justice ministries.
Despite the fact that Perkins dropped out of school in the third grade, he has received seven honorary doctorates and authored nine books, including With Justice for All, Beyond Charity and More Than Equals.
For more information, please contact Lisa Garrett at (254) 710-3517.