By Staff
PRAYER BREAKFAST PREPARATION Donna Huff, left, and Charlotte Scott, director of Mission Meridian, hold a sign Huff created to promote the 2nd Annual Mayor's Leadership Prayer Breakfast which has been titled "A City in Unity." The breakfast, sponsored by Mission Meridian, will be April 2 at Central United Methodist Church. PHOTO BY KYLE CARTER / THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Ida Brown / religion editor
March 13, 2004
At the Mayor's Leadership Prayer Breakfast last year, many who attended experienced a renewed hope for racial and denominational unity among the city's residents.
The event's sponsor Mission Meridian, an affiliate of the racial reconciliation movement Mission Mississippi, was lauded for its efforts.
Organizers of the local event anticipate an even greater response at this year's leadership prayer breakfast set for April 2 at Central United Methodist Church, 1004 23rd Ave. The breakfast will begin at 6:45 a.m. and conclude at 8:15 a.m.
An estimated 300 Christian men and women of different racial and denominational backgrounds attended last year's breakfast, which was held in the fellowship hall of First Baptist Church.
Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith said this year's breakfast is of great significance to the city because of events of the previous year.
Guest speaker is the Rev. Dr. John M. Perkins, president of the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation and Development in Jackson. A mentor of Dr. Dolphus Weary, executive director of Mission Mississippi, Perkins and his family have ministered among the poor for more than 40 years.
In 1960, Perkins and his family left a successful life in California and moved back to Mendenhall to begin his ministry. In 12 years, Perkins helped start a day care center, a youth program, a church, an adult education program, a cooperative farm, a thrift store, a housing repair ministry and a health center.