Ray Bakke

Street Signs

Evangelism & Missions

Foreword

“Leong fires my imagination . . . He uses biblical, historical, theological, missiological, and contextual lenses to show me what urban communities once were and what they could become . . . Believe me, you'll love this book!”

Taking It to the Streets

Church Leadership & Ministry

“After thirty-eight years of studying, living, and ministering in inner city Chicago, I recognize an authentic tour guide when I see one; they wear Jesus glasses, and they are incarnate and not in a car. Reverend Harry 'O. G.' Williams takes us to school with lessons from Oakland. His teachers are tenured by streets, courts, and prisons. But Harry speaks another truth: Oakland is disappearing. The people with power to steer the survivors of slavery, Jim Crow, and every other injustice you canimagine by systemic disinvestment, have returned, this time to take the neighborhood back for the expanding tech empires of the Bay Area, as we see happening across this country and many others. Harry meets gentrification, and it's ugly in differentways. Harry's people are being forced out so that Oakland may be safe and secure for those who will profit from massive social displacement, making the community safe again so those pastors who function like 'those religious cruise ship directors' will move back to the city. Thank you, Harry Williams, for telling it like it is. We know that CCDA will empower some to stay and that is good, but what will urban ministry look like when the poor are scattered into the unincorporated collar counties distant from cities and community services?”

Transforming Power

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Transforming Power is spectacular. It is the finest biblical work on relational power I have ever seen. It also provides a wonderful connection between the biblical and the contemporary, particularly in community organization and resources available for urban ministry. We'll be using it heavily in our work here.”