John Onwuchekwa, Pastor of Cornerstone Church and Owner of Portrait Coffee, opened the March 5th Virtual Transform Westside Summit with a vibrant devotion. Drawing inspiration from the Bible’s book of Nehemiah, Pastor O offered parallels  between the efforts to rebuild Jerusalem and bringing equitable economic vitality to Atlanta’s Historic Westside.

This is not a tale of grand gestures,” said Pastor O, “this is a tale of acorns and oak trees.”

Offering praises to fellow community members Tangee Allen and Maria Armstrong, Co-founders of Raising Expectations, Pastor O emphasized the power of everyday people working in obscurity to uplift those around them.

If an acorn is okay to leave from a position of comfort and labor in obscurity for two decades, inside of that acorn is not just the potential to produce an oak tree … inside one acorn is the potential to litter an entire continent with oak trees.”

See Pastor O’s full devotion below.