GOOD TROUBLE

by Wendell Griffen

Today, Judge Griffen asks us to consider how ordinary people with “the Gift of Help” can make a life-changing difference in the future of others. He also challenges us to contemplate what it means to take on the cross of activism and advocacy for the people with whom Jesus spent his ministry. He writes and speaks to encourage and challenge us “in urgent terms”  to bring an imperative message of Hope and Justice to the world. 

Judge Griffen is Division 5 judge of the Sixth Circuit, for Pulaski County in Arkansas. He earned his J.D. from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1979. He also pastors the New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is interviewed by Shine Your Light team member, Dr. Ellen Caringer of Maui, Hawai`i, USA.  You may access two of his most recent articles here:
1) “Hard Truth about the Hateful Faith and Our Endangered World,” in Christian Ethics Today
2) “George Floyd’s murder: knowing what cannot be seen,” in Baptist News Global 

Wendell Griffen is known as a lawyer, preacher, and activist who gets into “good trouble,” much in the manner of one of his heroes, the late Congressman John Lewis.  The story of his life is rooted in the nurturing, black community in Delight, in rural southwest Arkansas.  Here, his elders and ancestors partnered with God to encourage his remarkable journey.  As he relates his story we are reminded of how he grew up in the 1950s and 60s, experiencing firsthand the realities of segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, and the White Citizens Council. Framed and hanging on the wall of his office are his parents’ 1964 poll-tax receipts, required of blacks who voted.