John M. Perkins Tribute | Lawson Wijesooriya ‘02

A boy in black skin born into God’s story in rural Mississippi in 1930. His young life too full of loss, injustice, racism, and violence. A girl in white skin born into God’s story in suburban New Jersey in 1980. Her young life too full of privilege, access, and greed. God has each of their names written in His book, and in 1999, He wrote their stories together for His kairos moment of my salvation.

The Bible says “give honor to whom honor is due.” Thank you to Theological Horizons for giving me the gift of an opportunity to publicly honor this hero in the faith, Dr. John Perkins. I hope to honor Dr. Perkins today by giving testimony to how God used Dr. Perkins’ humanity in the saving of mine. My pastor, Don Coleman, often prays “Lord, take advantage of my humanity for your divine purposes.” These are stories of answering that type of prayer as Dr. Perkins has been both an evangelist and a prophet in my life.

I came to the University of Virginia as a first year student from a culturally catholic, white, wealthy family. I was open and curious about things of faith and was raised with a strong moral compass, but when some friends invited me to go to Mississippi for our spring break to participate in racial reconciliation of the body of Christ, I had no idea what I was in for. I actually did not even know what any of those words meant, but because our God is a gracious God, I said yes and hopped on a bus heading south.

There are many stories to tell from my first week at Voice of Calvary, but suffice it is to say I have been forever grateful that I did not instead go party at Myrtle Beach that week, because I met Dr. Perkins, I met my best friends, I met my husband, I met my future, and I met Jesus. We worshipped together, we painted health clinics, we cleared brush, we had bible studies with local ministry leaders, and we were welcomed by Dr. Perkins and his team into a life of seeing and connecting with the oppressed, the down and out, and the poor.

About half way through our week, we loaded onto a bus and were taken on a tour of Jackson to see directly the legacy of chattel slavery, failed reconstruction, Jim Crow, and red lining. Dr. Perkins has called this bus tour my moment of repentance, because as I experienced deep anger at the oblivious, self absorbed white perpetuators of this unjust system, God turned the camera onto me and gently, compassionately helped me to see myself and the chains that my privilege had me in.

Later that night, two days before my 19th birthday, I was born again as I admitted my morality was not strong enough to save me and received the gift of grace. Jesus had found me and I had found Jesus inside of Dr. Perkins, inside of this reconciling community, inside of this movement and struggle for justice and once we found each other there, I wanted to be where He was at any cost.

The life of pursuing the beloved community was the full life, and if there was sacrifice, I have only experienced it as the giving up of worthless things for the real treasure. Dr. Perkins, in both his words and his actions, invited me into a WHOLE gospel, a lived theology, and a life where my liberation was bound up with the liberation of the widows, the orphans, the oppressed, the imprisoned.

So fast forward in the story, I left the Jackson trip, headed straight to a bookstore the next day, bought the Bible I still have to this day, and started to read it. I signed up for classes with this wonderful new professor named Charles Marsh, listened to MLK sermons, went back to Jackson for all my spring breaks, wrote my thesis paper on Dr. Perkins, and I fell in love with Romesh who had unwavering commitment to this whole gospel living.

As a young married couple we formed an intentional committed community with three other couples and relocated to the East End of Richmond at the invitation of Don Coleman, pastor and God’s appointed indigenous reconciler of the community. From 2004 to 2007 we were living the life we felt called to and trying to pursue those three R’s faithfully. In November of 2007, I had another fateful bus tour with Dr. Perkins. He was brought to Richmond by the Navigators to tour the CCDA work around our city. After the bus tour, Dr. Perkins sat on my best friends’ couch with an eager group of young followers hoping to absorb more wisdom and desiring this spiritual father to look upon us and say, “well done, my good and faithful servants.” As he shared his perspective on Richmond, he celebrated the work of the Christ-centered tutoring, job training, and health clinics that he has visited. And then he took a pause, and said, “but you all need to be worshipping together.” As a prophet, God spoke through him to our community to remind us that all this work to uplift the poor is in vain if not from the foundation of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. We received this good medicine with conviction and clarity. Our monthly gatherings called East End Fellowship grew into a local church expression with a weekly public worship service within three months of Perkins visit. God was on the move.

Thank you Dr. Perkins, for responding to your own call to follow Jesus back to the place from which you came and for your life-changing invitation to me and so many others to join you in Beloved Community. Inside of Beloved Community we are a rich people, with a good God, and the eternal grace to see us through.

Lawson Wijesooriya is the Chief of Staff for Richmond's 81st Mayor, Dr. Danny Avula. Before leading his successful bid for mayor as campaign manager, Wijesooriya spent 15 years leading local non-profits—with a focus on strategy and community development—to serve some of the city's most vulnerable residents. Lawson moved to Richmond, VA in 2004 with a heart for the inner city and a dream of living towards MLK’s vision for “beloved community”. She lives in an historically under-resourced neighborhood with her husband, two sons, and several others in need of housing. After growing up in New Jersey, Lawson graduated from the University of Virginia as a Phi Beta Kappa Jefferson Scholar, and enjoyed her honors interdisciplinary study of Christian community development in the Political and Social Thought Program. After teaching abroad for several years, she helped start Blue Sky Fund, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide transformational experiences for urban youth through outdoor adventure and served as its Founding Executive Director for 10 years. She was highlighted as Mentor of the Year by Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine and honored as Richmond Style Weekly’s Top 40 under 40 in 2010. After leaving Blue Sky in capable hands, Lawson opened an ice cream business in her neighborhood as a new social enterprise adventure. The for-profit company was formed in 2017 with a mission to provide a gathering place for all in the rapidly changing Church Hill neighborhood while creating job opportunities for youth. She was also the Director of Development and Strategy for a small, faith-based affordable housing organization that provides homes for extremely low-income residents and that saught to protect against the displacement of Black households. In addition to being Chief of Staff, she serves along side fellow members of East End Fellowship’s congregation, a church she helped plant in 2008 as a founding elder.