Meeting in Colorado and California, some of the nation's top urban outreach leaders agreed in November that racial reconciliation is not solely a black and white issue.

In Denver for the seventh annual Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) conference, opening night keynote speaker Manny Ortiz of Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, California, challenged the crowd of 2,000 to "move the discussion on race past black and white to include Latinos and Asians."

CCDA board chair John Perkins and president Wayne Gordon joined Ortiz, the keynote speaker at last year's historic gathering between the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and National Black Evangelical Association (CT, Feb. 8, 1995, p. 48), in calling for reconciliation efforts targeted to all Christians.

Meanwhile, in Long Beach, California, at the second annual Alianza de Ministerios Evangelicos Nacionales (AMEN) conference, Jesse Miranda of Azusa Pacific University confirmed this Latino-focused association is a willing partner with Christian groups of all ethnicities in accomplishing the mission of the church.

"Latino Christians coming together under the umbrella of AMEN is about specialization on a key area of need--Latino church development--not segregation from the church at large," said Miranda, AMEN's president.

Miranda noted that AMEN leaders have discussed joint ventures with Promise Keepers, AD 2000, the NAE, and Discipling a Whole Nation (DAWN) Ministries.

ROOTS OF RECONCILIATION: John Perkins, publisher of Urban Family magazine, is the force behind CCDA. Years before racial concerns gripped the evangelical church, Perkins urged leaders to be reconciled across racial lines.

Operating from Mississippi, and later California, Perkins carried ...