In this edition of the Reading Wheel Review, Dr. Jordan Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, interviews Dr. Paul Marshall, Wilson Professor of Religious Freedom at Baylor University. They discuss Marshall’s book, Called to Be Friends, Called to Serve, which documents the long and fruitful
How does one of the richest white men in America become a lifelong friend with one of the poorest African American men in America? John Perkins barely survived his infancy, being nursed by his mother as she died of malnutrition in the South. Howard Ahmanson Jr., the sole heir to
Paul Marshall’s Called to Be Friends, Called to Serve is the story of an unlikely friendship that changed the face of Christian philanthropy. It’s a short and fascinating read, and no reader will walk away from it without experiencing some level of bafflement or even offense. That might even be the point.
In 1982, Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. journeyed to Mississippi to learn more about the ministry of John M. Perkins—the African-American Christian leader and activist. Throughout his life John had struggled, at great cost to his welfare and flesh, to alleviate poverty and bring the gospel and justice to the people
