Holy Change

About the Book

This book – the revision of a completed doctoral project – is a systemic approach to community transformation and revitalization that examines and evaluates the multiple factors related to the development and implementation of a neighborhood revitalization initiative. A primary premise of the book is that community transformation should be a priority and churches should be engaged in it and revitalization efforts. The author suggests that this engagement is necessary because the subject communities are prodigals from God’s purposes for them. This work considers as an example a successful partnership primarily between the Chestnut neighborhood and the David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. The relationship of the neighborhood and church is grounded in a neighborhood plan.

Another primary premise of this work is that churches that are engaged in neighborhood revitalization sometime proceed with their own vision for the community and without a true partnership with the affected neighborhood. The primary aim of this book is to offer the use of a neighbor

About the Author

Dr. Joseph C. Parker, Jr., a native of Birmingham, Alabama, is a longtime community transformer who has given leadership to the Chestnut Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative in Austin, Texas, among other community development initiatives. He has served as the Senior Pastor of the David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, “a church with a heart for the community” since 1992; and he has distinguished himself in ministry, law and civic leadership. KFIT Radio Station in Austin selected him as the “1998 Pastor of the Year.” He has been inducted onto the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College and serves as president of the Texas Congregations United for Empowerment, Inc. (TCUE). He is also a Texas attorney and mediator, formerly practicing law as a civil litigator. He has served as the first African American president of the Travis County (Texas) Bar Association, being named as a Trailblazer by the State Bar of Texas, and selected as the chair of the Board of Advisors of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. He has taught preaching at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary and has taught advanced Civil Litigation in the Trail Advocacy Program of the University of Texas School of Law. He has utilized this training and background in public administration, law, theology, and urban ministry to inform his ministry and community involvement. He is a graduate of Morehouse College, University of Georgia, Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, University of Texas School of Law, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.