Key Bible Verse: For Christ himself … has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us (Ephesians 2:14). Bonus Reading: Acts 4:16–22, 29

Our Mendenhall, Mississippi, neighbor, Gar-land Wilks, was juiced. My father [John] was taking him home when the police stopped them, pulled Garland out of the car, and took him to jail for public drunkenness.

We were concerned because we knew what had happened in a store minutes earlier. Sober, Garland wasn't one to step out of line. But this December 1969 night, after having too much to drink, he'd crossed the invisible line—he'd talked smart to a white woman. We knew that wouldn't be tolerated.

About 15 of us—kids who'd been practicing for a Christmas program along with three or four adults—made our way up to the jailhouse to protest Garland's arrest and keep him from getting beaten.

An hour later, all of us were peering out through those cold steel bars. This captured the attention of the black community and catapulted us into a battle of wills with the white community. They'd locked up girls as well as boys—and crossed our line. That night, through the bars of a second-story window, my father gave an impassioned speech to a jailyard full of people. "If somebody's got to die," he said, "then I'm ready." I was shaking in my boots, but proud to be standing there beside him.

My Response: A time I "stuck my neck out" for justice or for the gospel was …

Thought to Apply: Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest violence.
—Hebrew proverb