It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. Usually I recognize most of the people around me, but not today. This is my oldest son’s church—Calvin Presbyterian in Corvallis. It feels really good to introduce myself to people as Mel McCracken’s dad. My daughter-in-law is an elder here and today she helps serve communion. We came to hear John Perkins, but we also get to worship and fellowship with a portion of the body of Christ that is unfamiliar to us even though it is an important part of Mel and Marta’s lives.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard John Perkins speak and I would have loved for him to take us through Samaria. But he is having us turn to Zechariah 8. John is a man who knows and understands the condition of an unredeemed world. He goes to the Bible as an instruction manual to find models for action. Then he does it and after that he shares what he’s learned.