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The life of John Walker has many facets that together have formed a story dedicated to God, the downtrodden and racially misunderstood.

With service spanning from Japan to Bonner Springs and many places in between, Walker, a former pastor of the First Christian Church in Bonner Springs, has spread his message of equality while helping the needy, oppressed and poor.

Among his own messages he shares with his various congregations, Walker’s journeys have led him to hear many important messages of others.

Life in Japan

“Life is like the cherry blossom — very brief and very beautiful, so make the most of it.”

As one of Walker’s favorite sayings, this Japanese quote speaks volumes of a life that has been chased across the globe.

Born in Galveston, Texas, Walker graduated from Phillips University in Enid, Okla., before going on to the Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky.

As a child of the War World II era, Walker said he grew up in a mind-set that was almost hard to believe when one knew the man he had become.

“My early memories were that the Japanese were our enemies,” Walker said. “I grew up hating the ‘Japs.’ It wasn’t until college I went to a summer retreat, and I roomed with a young Japanese man. He was the first I’d ever met. I saw that the Japanese were really people, too.”

From then on, Walker made the most of his new passion and eventually traveled to Japan as a missionary, where he stayed and worked for 15 years.

While in Japan, Walker taught English Bible classes, began a Christian coffee house and was the first Caucasian disc jockey for a radio station.

Most importantly to Walker, however, is his work with the Korean minority group and survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing.

“I just care very deeply,” Walker said. “I began to see minorities in all countries, which I didn’t realize until I went to Japan. The Korean were ill treated in Japan. As I went to other countries, people in the minorities were oppressed and depressed.”

Walker said since seeing those conditions, he led with a message of helping those in need. To illustrate his point, Walker said if you took out every passage in the Bible referring to helping the needy or poor, less than one-third of the original content would remain.

“That means two-thirds of the Bible is about God’s care for the downtrodden, and that has always influenced me,” Walker said.

Life in Bonner Springs

“Don’t let what you can’t do keep you from doing what you can do.” — John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach.

Before joining the First Christian Church in Bonner Springs, Walker paid a visit to his perspective new home. He visited with congregation members, and one made a lasting impression.

“A young person asked, ‘What do you think about working with people outside the church?’ I liked that question very much,” Walker said. “I am a person who is interested in looking outward.”

That question, along with the realization of the Bible’s message of helping others, ignited Walker’s need to do as much as he could to give back and get the church involved in the community.

Walker officially joined the First Christian Church in September 1982. Despite limitations and tough times, for years Walker forged a legacy in Bonner Springs.

The church began raising money to buy Christmas gifts for children in need with Vaughn-Trent Community Services. Thousands of dollars were raised from countless garage sales that went toward community events such as the former Octoberfest.

Walker also played a role in starting the annual community Thanksgiving dinner and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, still going on today at the church. He was instrumental in initiating construction of three Habitat for Humanity homes in Bonner Springs.

Walker said he was proud of the churches reaction to the vandalism of a pizza parlor during the first Iraq War because the owners were an Iranian family.

“They came in a tore up the whole parlor. They graffitied demeaning messages on their home,” Walker said. “The church took the lead in protesting that through a letter to the editor in the paper and went in and helped clean up the mess.”

During that time, Walker said he called upon a lesson he learned in Japan.

“I learned in Japan that to get anything done for a community, you have to work together,” he said. “You can’t do anything by yourself but you can do it if you work together.”

Life in retirement

“Things turn out best for the one who makes the best out of the way things turn out.”

Leaving the church and passing the torch hasn’t meant that Walker has fallen off his community service mission.

Walker is still active with the community through such projects as working on the bond issue to refurbish the turf at the Bonner Springs High School field or helping to start the senior project program that is required of all graduating BSHS seniors.

He serves on the band commission and the local Wyandotte Center Advisory Board to improve the mental health care system. For the last 15 years, he’s been the announcer of the annual Tiblow Days parade and has served on the Bonner Springs Library Board to help get the new library built.

Walker has also begun writing a children’s book and would like to find a publisher to make the book into a series. The book “What if God never made a cat,” looks at the unique offerings cats give the world. The series would highlight beautiful things God has given people that are often underappreciated.

Through all those interests and activities, Walker said it was the people he’d remember most.

“I always remember the people. I’ve officiated 200 weddings in my life and a lot of memorial services and funerals, and I always remember the people,” Walker said. “I guess I’m a people person if anything else. Wherever I go, the memories I hold closest to me are not of the places themselves but of the people. I’ve been well blessed, there’s no question about it.”

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