DATELINE DUMAGUETE CITY

My travels have brought me to Dumaguete City, provincial capital of Negros Oriental in The Philippines. The folks here are celebrating their 20th year of following Millard’s vision, going about the business of eliminating poverty housing from this corner of the world. 840 families now have a decent home as a result of their efforts. Dumaguete City has joined us as the newest Fuller Center for Housing covenant partner, bringing to the number of countries in which we have a presence to 17.

FCH Board member Tom Dineen, who has been a supporter of the work in Dumaguete from the beginning, is joining me on this trip. We arrived in Manila late last night from Tokyo, had a little rest, and left early this morning for the short flight to Dumaguete. We were met at the airport by members of the local board and some homeowners who greeted us in grand style. It was great to see how appreciative the people are of Tom’s continuing support of their work.

We had lunch with Mayor Perdices, who has been a stalwart support of the work here, and then went on tour, visiting all 8 of the communities that have been built, ending at Balugo which we dedicated as the Millard Fuller Village. It was a lovely ceremony with speeches, singing and plenty of ‘Oyees”.

This is a fascinating place. There is a quality of gentility about it. I first noticed it with the traffic, which seems to flow with ease despite there being no stoplights, warning signs or street striping. You never hear a horn honking or angry words. They call it ‘gentle chaos’. Everyone makes eye contact and smiles and the clerks, waiters and bellmen are universally polite. Millard and Linda visited Dumaguete in 1993 and Millard writes in “Theology of the Hammer” that this affiliate represented the very best of Habitat. I think this is due to a social contract they’ve established that encourages kindness and respect.

This promises to be a great project for The Fuller Center. We can be proud to be associated with such an outstanding organization and fine group of home owners.

DATELINE INDIANAPOLIS

It was a great day in Indianapolis. I’m here for the official announcement that this will be the hub city for the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and what an event that will be. The plan is to build 10 new houses and rehabilitate 20 more, all to be dedicated during the week of September 6. All of the new houses and 10 of the rehabs will be done during the Legacy Build week, and the remaining 10 rehabs worked on in the weeks before. Another 70 houses will be built and rehabbed around the world for dedication during the Legacy week, although with so many going up in Indy I’m wondering if we shouldn’t bump up the worldwide numbers.

There were some real concerns about whether or not Indianapolis could serve as the hub city due to the difficulty they were having locating 10 building lots that were close enough together. Then a couple of weeks ago Jeff Cardwell, one of the key folks in the Indy Fuller Center and member of the Fuller Center’s international Board of Directors, got a call from Mark Stewart, president of Southeast Neighborhood Development. Turns out that SEND had received a neighborhood revitalization grant that allowed them to buy derelict houses, raze them and prepare the sites for new construction. The terms of the grant didn’t allow them to build new houses on the sites, though, so they were looking for a partner organization. Talk about a marriage made in heaven!

To add a little frosting to the cake the properties they were buying are on St. Paul St., St Peter St., and Churchman Avenue. You don’t have to have your spiritual antennae extended too far to recognize this as Providential intervention! The partnership with SEND will allow the Fuller Center for Housing of Central Indiana to build more than 10 houses in a neighborhood that is anxious for revitalization.

The announcement of Indianapolis’ selection as the hub city was made in a press conference that was well attended by the local media. As I write this I’m listening to a story about the announcement on the channel 13. I got a chance to speak about The Fuller Center’s international work and FCHCI president Chuck Vogt invited the community to join in the project. Mayor Greg Ballard spoke about the importance of this effort in revitalizing the neighborhood and SEND president shared about their work in the area. Christ Church Apostolic led us in singing Building on Higher Ground and, as we ended the event with a walk through neighborhood, led us in Marching to Zion. Millard would have loved it!

The weather forecast called for rain, and it was looking a little ominous as we got things underway. I figured that with Peter, Paul and Millard all smiling down on us we should be able to get things done before the rain fell. And we did. As we rounded the last corner on our stroll through the neighborhood we felt the first drops of moisture, and it’s been damp out ever since.

There were a number of neighborhood residents at the press conference, many from a local group they started as ICAN and is now called WECAN. This group started on Churchman to clean up their street and get rid of the crime. They called themselves Indianapolis Churchman Avenue Neighbors and had great success, so much so that folks on St. Peter and St. Paul wanted to join, so they expanded to West and East of Churchman Avenue Neighbors—WECAN—and continue their efforts at making their neighborhood a better place to live. The good work of the Fuller Center will certainly advance their efforts as new and renovated owner occupied homes replace the abandoned and derelict houses that mar the landscape and invite crime. It’s a great day for Indianapolis.

The Adventures Continue

Things are a poppin’ here at The Fuller Center for Housing. We are on the move, and I feel like I’m just being pulled along with the flow. I’ve got a travel schedule over the next few weeks that will take The Fuller Center to new a whole new level. If I survive. Well actually my survival is incidental—The Fuller Center will still move to a whole new level. Be watching this spot for updates from along the road. Highlights:

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct 27—I’ll be attending the kick-off press conference for the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build that will be held there during the week of September 6. The Indy crew is hard at work getting ready for what will be one of our largest building events yet.

THE PHILIPPINES, Nov 1-4—Our Dumaguete City Covenant Partner is dedicating a project to Millard, and FCH board member Tom Dineen and I will be on hand for the celebration. This is a place I haven’t visited, so I’m excited to see a new part of the world.

PYONGYANG, Nov 10-12—our initiative in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea will get underway with a groundbreaking in the outskirts of Pyongyang. FCH Board chairman LeRoy Troyer, DPRK Initiative Director Don Mosley and our friend, mentor and guide Han Park will join me for this truly momentous event.

PERU, Nov 15—Ryan Iafigliola, who is stepping up to help with the international work, will meet me in Lima (I’ll be coming in from Beijing if my travel agent can figure out how to make it happen) and we’ll travel with Zenon Colque, Peru Director, to La Florida. There we’ll have the great privilege of dedicating the first 20 Fuller Center houses in that country.

What continues to amaze me about this is how individuals, folks like you and me, all around the world have grabbed hold of this vision and are working hard to fulfill the dream of eliminating poverty housing. Just this week we got calls from groups in five US cities asking about becoming Covenant Partners, one on an Indian reservation. The Fuller Center now has partners on every continent but one, and from what I’m told the housing needs in Antarctica are minimal. We are truly engaged in something significant.

Spotlight Nigeria

(Helping get the houses built!)

This started as a travel blog, but as my circumstances have changed and my international travel become more restricted I’ve had less travel to write about. I’m told, though, that I need to become more disciplined in my postings, so I thought I might spend a few minutes sharing a little about out projects. From time to time I’ll do a spotlight blog telling of some of the remarkable work The Fuller Center is doing around the world.

One of The Fuller Center for Housing’s first international covenant partners was Nigeria and it remains one of our strongest national organizations. The Fuller Center Nigeria operates under the able leadership of Sam Odia and an outstanding board of directors which includes Chair Archbishop Josiah Idowu Fearon, an internationally recognized arbiter of Christian-Muslim relations, Apostle Hayford Alile, a leader in Nigerian banking, Delphine Arenyeka, an architect and long-time affordable housing advocate, Mrs. Victoria Audu, a highly regarded philanthropist, and, to assure the inclusion of a weak link, me.

FCH Nigeria just dedicated its 50th house, a remarkable achievement. With limited funding they have aggressively pursued the dream and have built more houses than any covenant partner. They stand as a model and inspiration to the entire organization.

FCH Nigeria is building at Luvu Village on the outskirts of the nation’s capital city, Abuja. Located in the heart of the country on the line that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south, Abuja is a new city that was established some thirty years ago expressly to serve as the country’s capital. It is a remarkable place with broad avenues and striking architecture, surely one of the premier capitals of Africa.

One of the biggest problems facing Abuja is that housing costs are so high that many of the people who work in the city can’t afford to live there. This has resulted in a ring city of poverty housing with thousands of families who, with a little help, could have a decent place to live but who are, by the simple lack of capital, consigned to poverty housing. This is the need that The Fuller Center Nigeria seeks to meet.

FCH Nigeria has a novel approach that provides a vehicle for homeowners to gradually improve their housing situation. Families begin by purchasing a small unit in the Luvu Housing Estate which they purchase on a short-term, three to five year mortgage. Once the mortgage is paid the family has the option of selling their home back to FCH-N to use as the down payment on a larger unit. This can continue for additional cycles until the family’s circumstances are such that they can purchase a home with a conventional mortgage thus freeing FCH-N funds to help other families in need. The program is young, so its benefits are yet to be realized, but it is a truly innovative approach to meeting a need found around the world.

So we salute our partners in Nigeria and wish them continuing blessings as they go about the important task of making decent shelter a reality for God’s people in need.

(50th house dedication)

THANKS!

Just got back from a weekend getaway to northern Wisconsin. We celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary there, but mostly just enjoyed being away. Sheilla’s from that part of the country and we’ve been going there for years. There’s a quality of isolation about the area that makes it a perfect place to recharge, and after a busy couple of months it was great to be away.

But I find that my thoughts never stray too far from the Fuller Center for Housing, and I found myself reminiscing on the Millard Fuller Legacy Build we just completed in Lanett and around the world and on the hundreds of volunteers who gave of their time for that event and who share their time throughout the year helping God’s people have a decent place to live.

We are so grateful to those who share of their wealth to help this ministry grow, and know that none of what we do would be possible without their partnership. Now’s the time to thank those who give of their time, and that’s a significant gift, because time is the one thing we can’t make more of! There’s really no way to adequately thank the volunteers who give of the non-renewable resource of their time. Fortunately the work itself is a great reward—the camaraderie of the work site, sharing the joy of the new homeowners— these are pretty good gifts in trade.

But we do want to thank the volunteers, and give them all a great Oyée! for the work they do. Thank you to those who have spent a week each year for twenty years and more to build houses. Thanks to those who have just discovered the joy of a Fuller Center work site. Thanks to those who pay their way to travel to distant sites to work on international projects. Thanks to the youth groups and Sunday school classes, the student groups and families who give of their time on weekends to build a house.

In these difficult times when the media bemoans the loss of civility in our culture you only need to visit a Fuller Center work site to have your faith in the basic decency of humankind restored. On behalf of the many families whose lives you’ve changed, thanks!

The Millard Fuller Legacy Weekend and Build

(A view of the Millard Fuller Celebration event)

Greetings from the Chattahoochee Valley! We are here for the 2009 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and what a great event it’s turning out to be. Today was just the second day of building, and it got rained on mightily, but it’s been a weeklong series of events.

Sheilla was able to join me for the first part of the trip and we got to Americus late last Wednesday night. We spent Thursday and Friday doing office work and visiting with friends. We came over to the Valley Friday afternoon to get ready for meetings on Saturday with the Board of Directors and Advisory Council. These are always good sessions. I’m amazed at the quality of the folks who have agreed to serve on these two bodies. Of course most of them were brought in by Millard who had a remarkable knack for attracting dedicated, talented people.

Sunday morning board members split up to visit area churches. We got to go to the First United Methodist Church in West Point and had a great time. This was the last Sunday of their Camp Meeting Month and it was old time religion in action! We sang hymns that were so old that they were no longer in the hymnal. We were honored to be included. It was also the last Sunday of their casual dress summer so I was about the spiffiest guy there in my tie and jacket.

When we first started planning the Valley Build a year ago Sunday had been set aside to celebrate Millard and Linda’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. Come February we had to change the focus, so on Sunday we celebrated Millard’s life. Over 1,000 people showed up to honor the Valley’s favorite son. Linda shared memories of the incredible 50 year journey she and Millard shared. Millard’s brother Doyle reminisced on their childhood and Morris Dees on their years together when fortunes were being made. President Carter came to honor the time they had at Habitat for Humanity and I had the privilege of talking about Millard’s last great ministry, The Fuller Center for Housing. Debbie Tollett, a Habitat homeowner and Fuller Center volunteer reminded us all of why we do this work, and The Young Singers of West Georgia and the Valley Gospel Choir provided musical tributes including the Fuller Center standard On Higher Ground. It was a fine tribute to a great man.

Monday was the first day of building and Sheilla and I showed up with our tool belts on, ready to go to work. Sheilla did a great job and represented our household well. I, on the other hand, had a hard time staying on the job. I got called for a TV appearance in the morning and then into a series of meetings with board members throughout the day. I’d pop in for a few minutes, pound a nail or two, and then get called away. Sheilla’s probably the better builder of the two of us, so the house crew got the best we could offer, but they pretty much wrote me off before the day was done.

Sheilla had to go home today, so I drove her to Atlanta. Saying goodbye is the hardest part of this job, but we are both grateful that we had a little time together. We lived in Americus in the 90’s and enjoy this part of the country, so we relish any time we get to spend together down here. It was overcast and misty for most of the trip, and by the time I got back to LaGrange it was raining buckets. The rain let up for a while and I was sending positive thoughts to the work site, but by the time I got to West Point it was pouring again. Turns out there was enough rain that by 2:00 they shut down work and everyone was sent to pray for better weather. It doesn’t look like the project is too far behind, so with a little extra work we should be able to get things back on schedule. For my part I hope to do some actual work tomorrow and try to regain a little credibility with my house crew. I’ll report in on the results.


(An overview of the Lanett building site)

From Africa to the Florida Gulf Coast

(Me and the Bolomba kids)

It’s been a full couple of weeks. In my last message I wrote about the trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the house dedications in Bolomba with the promise to finish the tale. In the meantime I joined the Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure for the last leg of their 1300 odyssey from Michigan to the Gulf Coast. Now I’m high over the plains on my way back to Colorado Springs for a short break before the Millard Fuller Legacy Build in the Chattahoochee Valley, which starts August 31.

I’ll take a turn back to Africa, first. After the trip up the Ikalemba to Bolomba we returned to Mbandaka and then to Kinshasa. The next phase of the trip involved crossing the Congo River for Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. The river between Kinshasa and Brazzaville is really more of a lake, called the Stanley Pool after the 19th century explorer. There are a number of ways across, all involving watercraft. There’s a ferry, but it’s a little scary. They pack in as many people as possible—many more than they should—onto the vessel. Policemen with canes help herd the crowds. When I had better connections at the embassy I could cadge a ride on the embassy boat, which is a speedboat that the two US embassies, in Kinshasa and in Brazza, use to stay in touch. Then there are a number of ‘VIP’ boats that take passengers for a fee. We opted for one of these.

Getting across the river isn’t a major undertaking—it’s a 20 minute trip and the river isn’t rough. The challenge, though, is getting through passport control. Twice. The process is not an easy one on either side, and for every minute we spent on the boat we spent 10 being processed in or processed out.

We made it, though, and were greeted by the ROC Fuller Center leadership. We partner there with the International Partnership for Human Development, a US based NGO that is involved with a number of humanitarian pursuits. Their former director, Jim O’Brien, was serving as our country director and when he moved on his replacement, Kristina Brayman took over. She and Landry Koufoundila from the Embassy are keeping things moving at our project in the village of Makana II. We had four in our party—Hon. Maloka, his assistant Thomas Denga and Gabriel Sobila from the TV station joined me for the trip. We all climbed aboard the IPHD Nissan and, cheek to jowl, made our way through Brazzaville and on to Makana. This is an easier journey than the one to Bolomba. There’s a road the whole way and it’s a short 1 ½ hour drive.

We got to Makana at about noon and the village members were waiting at the Chief’s house. We talked philosophy some, and program. There has been some discussion about which families really want to participate in the program. It looks like there are 21 who have a good understanding of how things work and want to be a part of it. There are four houses standing, so we have another 17 to go. The pace has been slow in these early days, but the experimentation is done now and I think things will be begin to move quickly.

We returned to Kinshasa and I left for home on Tuesday evening. It was an uneventful trip except that we were late getting out of Paris so the connection was very tight in Minneapolis (an odd reentry site I thought), so my luggage didn’t get all the way to Americus until Friday. I got to Atlanta on the Wednesday evening, had a couple of days to rest up, then on to Florida for the Bicycle Adventure!



(Ryan and I at the start of the ride)

On Saturday I rode the last 30 miles of the bike trip from Tallahassee to the beach. It was a grand event. Apparently, though, I have a city rather than a road bike. The big differences appear to be weight, which wasn’t much of a problem, and gearing, which was. I could pedal just as hard as the real bicyclists and not go as fast. So my role turned out to be the sweep rider. I likened it to being the good shepherd, bringing in the lost sheep to put as good a face on it as possible. The result was that I was generally the last man in. But Jesus said that the last shall be first, so I was feeling pretty good about myself. What I got out of it was two and half hours of peace as I pedaled my lonely way across the coastal plain. It was really quite pleasant.

We arrived at the beach ahead of a storm and the intrepid bikers dipped their front tires in the Gulf—they’d dipped the rear tires in Lake Michigan five weeks earlier, so the adventure was now complete. What a great group! The ride was billed at 1300 miles, but they actually rode 1400, stopping all along the way to raise awareness about our work and to help build Fuller Center houses. Through it all spirits were high and attitudes positive. Ryan Iafigliola will have a special jewel in his heavenly crown for making the ride possible.

Now I’m looking forward to a few days of quiet before heading to the Chattahoochee Valley for the Millard Fuller Legacy Build. It’s hard to keep up with a movement!

Back to Africa

I'm on the road again, traveling back to where it all began. I started writing this from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 35 years ago, when this was known as Zaire, Millard and Linda Fuller turned a sand and block mission into a house building ministry and created the model for what was to become Habitat for Humanity and later The Fuller Center for Housing. I’ve come to dedicate the first ten houses in the 2009 Millard Fuller Legacy Build; six here in the DRC and another four across the river in the Republic of Congo. In this dispatch, which I’m trying to send from Paris with little luck; I'll talk about the first part of the trip—the voyage to Bolomba.

I arrived in the DRC a week ago Sunday. We spent Monday and Tuesday in Kinshasa in meetings; talking FCH philosophy and making plans with government officials and potential partners. I'm the guest here of the Hon. Pierre Maloka who represents Bolomba in the National assembly. Pierre knew Millard and Linda when they were here and has a heart for this ministry. He also has a heart for Bolomba and wants to see it develop. He has the insight to know that the Fuller Center model is potentially transformative and offers great hope for his territory and who whole country.

On Wednesday we flew to Mbandaka. It's an hour away from Kinshasa by air; but in true Congolese fashion the trip took the better part of the day. We met that evening with the Governor of Equator Province; a true friend to our work and another leader who sees the tremendous potential of our system. He arranged for a boat to get us up the Ikalemeba River to Bolomba.

I’m not really sure how far it is from Mbandaka to Bolomba. The only way in is by boat. Our first trip took 6 ½ hours. We had a faster boat the second time and made it in a little more than 5. We broke records this time and made it in 4. I learned after the fact that the boat we took this time actually belongs to the President of the DRC! We're traveling in good company.

The plan was to leave Mbandaka on Thursday morning; spend the night and return on Friday afternoon. As it happened the gasoline shipment from Kinshasa was delayed-- they'd been two weeks without fuel-- so it took most of the day Thursday to get gassed up. By the time the boat was ready it was getting dark; so we decided to leave at dawn on Friday. The river is a dangerous place for a fast boat after dark.

We did leave at dawn on Friday and got to Bolomba at 9:30 There were a series of public events-- there's no electricity there; no television; no internet-- so our visit had major entertainment value. We finally got to the build site a little after noon; had more speeches; and set about dedicating the houses. They're not all quite done yet; but are very nice. The families have made all the bricks from local clay. We've had to bring in steel; cement and roofing from Mbandaka. We ship on a pirogue-- a huge canoe-like vessel carved from a single tree trunk. We have an outboard motor for ours; which reduces the trip from four days to 24 hours. The level of sacrifice in the Bolomba project is stunning.

The dedications were very sweet. These folks have very little exposure to outsiders-- on my first trip they told me that I was the first white man to visit Bolomba in 20 years. So I was accorded great respect and the house blessings were a serious matter. We gave each family a Lingala Bible and encouraged them to continue the work so that every child there could someday have a decent home.

We left Bolomba at 4.30. The custom is for a departing boat to travel a little ways up river; then turn around and steam past the pier to wave goodbye. Hundreds were gathered on the shore to wish us bon voyage.

More to follow. . .

Summertime!

(In a moment of weakness the Atlanta folks set me loose with a hammer in my hand!)

Summertime! What a great season. Family reunions, watermelon, baby birds. It’s what those of us who live in cooler climes dream about as we slog through months of snow and cold. It’s an exciting time for the Fuller Center for Housing as well. Covenant Partners are building around the world, Global Builder teams are heading to far-away places, the Bicycle Adventure is underway and the folks in the Chattahoochee Valley are hard at work getting ready to host the Millard Fuller Legacy Build. It’s a great season.

A number of events have already taken place. There are two many to list here, but highlights include The Greater Atlanta FCH hosting 112 young people for their 16 unit extreme makeover, Lenoir County NC completing their first rehab projects, North Central AR weatherizing eight houses, Indianapolis dedicating their first home, and the Disaster ReBuilders firing up in Orange City TX to continue their great hurricane recovery work.

Looking forward there are a number of events, some possibly near you, that are in the works:

• The Bicycle Adventure left Michigan last Sunday on their 1300 mile ride to Florida. They’ll stop at a number of cities along the route to build, including Louisville KY for FullerStock (7/20), Springfield KY (7/22), Winchester KY (7/24), Union City GA (8/3), Lanett AL (8/6), Americus GA (8/9), and Tallahassee FL (8/14). They’re also welcoming riders to join them along the way—learn more at fullercenterbiketrip.com. I’m joining them for the last leg, from Tallahassee to the coast. Should be great fun.

• Global Builder teams are traveling the world. Dianne and Chris Fuller just returned from a trip to El Salvador. Their 26 member team is the largest yet. Another team is just returning from Peru, and a second Peru trip is planned for early August. There’s a team in Armenia right now and another three trips planned for late summer and fall. And our first Africa GB team leaves for Nigeria this weekend. Those who have gone on a Global Builders trip report that they are life changing experiences. Learn more by clicking the Global Builders tag on our web page, fullercenter.org

• For something completely different consider swinging through Cusseta GA on August 1 for their Kiss the Pig event. I’m not really sure what this means, but it is intriguing and the proceeds will help Cusseta FCH build another house!

• The big event this summer will be the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, anchored in the Chattahoochee Valley, where Millard was born and reared, with companion projects around the world. The goal is to dedicate 100 houses during that week. The Chattahoochee Valley project kicks off on Sunday, August 30, with an event celebrating Millard’s life. Building begins on Monday, the 31st and will go through the week. There are still openings for volunteers and sponsors—check it out on our web page fullercenter.org.

On other fronts we have been overwhelmed by the response to the Vada & Ted Stanley match. They agreed to match $500,000 in donations and the goal was to have it met by the time of the Legacy Build, but we got there early! The match has been met! We are so grateful to our many faithful friends for their continuing support. None of this would be possible without those gifts.

So the work goes on. We miss Millard greatly but he built a firm foundation and the work he started continues to grow. The first phase of the Millions for Millard campaign has been reached, with $1,000,000 raised through the generosity of the Stanleys and the many friends who helped meet the match. The next phases will take a little more time—housing a million people and engaging a million volunteers and supporters. But we are on our way!

Sadness in Shreveport

This last Sunday morning a bus carrying 23 members of Shreveport’s First Baptist Church, traveling to a church camp in Macon GA, crashed, killing one of the young people aboard and sending another 20 to area hospitals. The bus was new and equipped with seat belts, and designed to prevent this sort of tragedy. Apparently a tire blew out and the bus went off the road. A bus carrying military personnel, including medics, was following and was able to offer immediate help, physically lifting the bus to free two young people who were pinned beneath it and providing emergency medical care.

This tragedy is especially sad for us at The Fuller Center for Housing. The First Baptist Church is one of our stalwart partners in Shreveport. From the earliest days of Building on Higher Ground the church has been a part of the project, sending volunteer work teams and sponsoring houses. Millard preached from their pulpit. As the local covenant partner was being organized Pastor Greg Hunt came forward to offer leadership and the church has been active in encouraging others to join the effort. We are deeply indebted to our friends at First Baptist and we share their grief.

Events like this leave you wondering what to do. You wish you could reach out and say, “It will be alright” and wipe away the tears. You wish you could explain it in a way that would comfort the families and friends. But you can’t, so we will do what we can—we’ll pray for the injured and the family of the boy who died. We’ll pray for First Baptist that they have strength and faith as they work through the difficult days ahead. We ask you to pray for them as well.

The relationship between The Fuller Center and the church is a deep and abiding one. From the earliest days of his ministry Millard looked to the church for support and began establishing partnerships that survive to this day. We’re not a church, but a servant to the church, and when the church is hurting we hurt as well. May the good Lord enfold the folks at First Baptist in his comforting arms.


Members of the 1st Baptist team in front of a house they sponsored at the Millard & Linda Fuller Build

The Bike Adventure Begins

(Ryan Iafigliola and me at the send-off!)

I just got back from a bike ride—I’m in training for the big event. I’ll be riding with the Bicycle Adventure on the last leg of their trip, from Tallahassee to the beach. I’m having some real Lance Armstrong moments with this. I do need a pit crew, though, or maybe a chase vehicle. I got halfway into my ride tonight and my rear tire went flat. I have a lot of trouble with my rear tire. I think that it doesn’t do well on hills, so we should be alright on the beach run as it’s mostly coastal plain. Or so they tell me. But they told me that it was a 25 mile jaunt, which then turned into 30 and is now hovering around 40. So my confidence is shaken.

Anyway, I’m halfway through my ride and the tire goes flat. I’m proud to say that I was a good distance from home when this happened. It was a longer walk home than a ride out. I lost the wind-through-my-hair thing as well, so it was a hotter, sweatier walk home than a ride out. I guess this is what they mean by training.

All of this is to say that the 2009 Bicycle Adventure is days away from lift-off. The riders will leave Michigan this coming Sunday and will arrive 1350 miles and 5 weeks later in Florida. They’ll be visiting a number of Covenant Partners along the way and will be building in places like South Bend IN, Winchester KY and Lanett AL. There are twice as many full-trip riders this year and we expect a good number to join the trip for shorter jaunts along the way.

Ryan, our intrepid leader, left Americus yesterday morning. We have a new van as the chase vehicle, well new to us. It’s a 14 passenger Ford with, get this, 750,000 miles on it. But it’s a 2001 and a diesel, so it’s almost like new. It’s pulling the trip trailer which we had repainted and is looking sharp. We had some great sponsors come forward to help pay for the paint job—SB&T Bank, Southwestern Georgia State University, Café Campesino and Client First Financial will all have a little cross-continental exposure. (With this addition The Fuller Center now has a fleet—we have a pirogue and a motorcycle in Congo, another motorcycle in Sri Lanka and the jumbo van and trailer here. I hope we’re not getting too fancy too fast.)

We had a nice send-off for Ryan. Pastor Purtill from the 1st Presbyterian Church led devotions and Father Hutchens from the Episcopal Church blessed the riders and the van. We had a great time. It was a little wistful sending Ryan off—sort of like waving goodbye to your firstborn as he heads off for college. Actually I was wishing I was in the van with him. He’s off on a grand adventure. The riders will be blogging all along the trail—you can follow them at fullercenter.org. I know I’ll be following them, until they get to Tallahassee that it, when, fit and buff (or still old and a little flabby) I’ll get to join their ranks.

On the road (and off) again

We just got home from a week long trip to Americus. We drove this time—1500 miles each way—so that we could bring some things from Colorado for our Georgia home. Sheilla, who has a natural decorating sense, wanted to civilize the place as well, and did an outstanding job with limited resources. We lived in Americus in the 90s and truly enjoyed our Southern experience. We made a lot of friends there—many are gone now, but those that remain are welcoming us back home.

We’d forgotten about the climatic challenges. It was in the high 90s all week with humidity in the same range. They now have what they call the heat index (sort of a chill factor in reverse) that made things seem worse. When we got back to Colorado Springs a storm blew through and lowered the outside temperature to 57°! Sometimes I feel like I live in parallel universes.

We had a good week. I always enjoy my time in the Americus office. The staff is motivated and energizing and we always come up with a slew of new ideas. The staff picture above was taken last week. Sharon Tarver is missing—she’s been through a courageous battle against breast cancer over the past year—and she’s winning! Going through this with her and watching her faith give her strength has been inspiring to all of us at The Fuller Center.

One of the highlights of the trip happened on our way home. We stopped in McDonough where The Fuller Center of Greater Atlanta was hosting 120 student volunteers who were spending the weekend helping rehabilitate 16 homes. They are part of the River of Life Program of the United Methodist Church’s North Georgia Conference. It was great spending some time with these kids and the homeowners. They let me up on the roof of Miss Lillie Miller’s house to pound a nail or two. I don’t get to do that very often and it was a treat. I’m proud to say that there were no injuries as a result of my engagement on that roof.

Miss Lillie lives in a house that was built about 60 years ago and she’s lived there for 54 of them. The house is solid but needs work. Some of the floors are giving out and the roof leaks. But soon she’ll have a restored home where she can live with dignity and comfort. And, through the Greater Blessing Program, she’ll have the chance to share her blessing with others as all of the payments she makes will be gifts that will help another family have a restored home as well. Mark Galey and his team at the Atlanta Fuller Center deserve a tip of the hat for putting this great event together.

These are exciting times for The Fuller Center for Housing. A Global Builders team led by Millard and Linda’s daughter in law and Fuller Center Board member Dianne Fuller just returned from El Salvador. Other GB teams are getting ready to head off for Armenia, Peru and Nigeria. Next week the Bicycle Adventurers will set off from Benton Harbor, Michigan, on their 1300 mile trek to the Florida Gulf coast. And building projects are underway all around the world. It’s a great time to be a part of this ministry.

It’s good to be home, though now I have the mixed blessing of having homes in two very distinct parts of the country. But as they say, home is where the heart is, so I’m almost always at home.

Little Miss Madeline

It’s been a somber day in the Snell household. Our old dog Madeline is nearing the end of her trail and we thought this might be the day we had to say goodbye. We took her to the vet who did all manner of tests. It turns out that there’s a tumor growing inside her but Madeline is 13 now, 75 in people years, and a little too old and too frail to safely go through surgery. The vet thinks that she has some time left, though, and gave her some pills to see if we can buy her a few more months of happy life.

Madeline came to live with us in 1996. We were building a Christmas house in De Soto that year, and I went out on a Saturday to check on progress. There were several dogs out there, but one clearly didn’t belong. She looked like a cross between a Dalmatian and a hound, which, it turns out, she was, and she was just too refined, too regal, for life in the woods. She was thin, wounded and incredibly sad, so I decided to bring her back to Americus to find a good home for her.

When I got to the house we took the poor thing right into the back yard. She was covered with fleas and we didn’t know what else. Our own dog thought that this was a curious event, but he’d grown accustomed to curious events in our lives, so he sniffed her a time or two and went off to take a nap.

We were going out that evening, so we left some food and water in the yard and went on our way. We got back home to find the little dog curled up on a lawn chair. When she saw that we’d actually come back to her she got a look of such profound gratitude that she worked her way right into our hearts and found herself a new home. We called her Madeline because—well I’m not sure why, it just seemed right.

I don’t know what Madeline’s life was like before she came to live with us, but I get indications that it might have been rough. She’s terrified of spraying water and goes into meltdown when the smoke detector goes off. I know that her time in the woods convinced her that food is a scarce commodity and that just about anything organic should be consumed as soon as it’s detected. She’s the only dog I’ve met that begs for lettuce, carrots and potato slices. It makes entertaining difficult—her table manners are under-developed and despite her regal bearing she is an inveterate beggar.

But she’s had a good life at our house, and she may be the sweetest animal I’ve ever known. She’s incredibly gentle and very kind. I’d like to be more like her. When I come home from my travels, and I come home from travels more than most folks, she greets me with whimpers of joy. Her tail, which wags most all of the time she’s awake, beats so hard during these reunions that small children have to be kept at bay.

So we’re entering a new phase in our lives together. We don’t know how much time Madeline has left, but our goal will be to use that time to show her that we love her as much as she loves us. I’m convinced that God gave us dogs to show us what love is all about. I’m also one who believes that their good service will be rewarded in heaven, so when the time does come that we have to bid Madeline farewell I’ll have the comfort of knowing that we will meet again.

The fine art of giving

This was a great day. I was the speaker at the Kingdom Building Conference held by the Good News Ministries church here in Americus. This is a small church that has given money to sponsor a house for five years now, the most recent two or three in Nigeria. I’m working on their pastor, Bishop Wallace, to go there with a Global Builders work team (the first GB trip to Nigeria will happen this summer).

I spoke a good deal about Africa, a place that has become dear to my heart. I never had much interest in traveling there, but since my first trip three years ago I’ve gotten hooked. I hope to travel back to the Congos later this summer. It’s a compelling place.

Most of my talk was about the fine art of giving. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. We periodically get asked about why we have the beneficiary families help with the construction and then pay for the house. Some feel this isn’t quite Christian.

I don’t think that way. There are times, surely, when people need to be outright given something—after natural disasters, for example. But I’ve come to believe that outright giving is generally not respectful of the recipient of the gift.

Let me explain. In any giving circumstance there are two parties, the giver and the receiver. By definition the giver has more than the receiver, which is why he or she is in a position to give. But living, as we do, in a world where a person’s value is too much tied to material success, a giving situation places the giver above the receiver. Most of the families we build with have been pretty well beaten down by life; they know that they somehow rank lower on some scale than those who give to them. And it is in this that outright giving works to the detriment of the recipient. This sort of giving seems to affirm the lower status of the recipient and denies dignity.

For a better way we only need to look to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Repeatedly He was called on to heal the lame, the blind, and the infirm. Not once, though, did He take personal credit for the gift He had given. In every case He follows the healing by the words, “Your faith has made you whole”. In every case He not only heals the infirmity, He restores dignity to the previously infirm. It is astounding, really, that this man, who stood above all other men, would ascribe His gift to the one who received it.

This is the model we seek to follow at The Fuller Center for Housing. We aren’t lifting people out of poverty housing; we’re providing them with the tools to lift themselves out. By helping to build their house the family learns that they can do what they didn’t know they could do. By paying for the house the family moves from being receivers to being donors. Their payment help build houses for other families in need. What a great concept!

So the good folks at Good News Ministries know that they are giving artfully, they are giving in a way that will build dignity, not diminish it. They are true partners in this important work.

Back to El Salvador

I’m on the road again, back to El Salvador. This trip wasn’t really planned, but as events unfold in our lives we have to move to meet them. The reason for this trip is pretty interesting. You may have gotten a preview if you watch the Today show or Larry King Live.


Mike Bonderer is our man on the ground here and he is an aggressive advocate of the work in El Salvador, always looking for ways to bring attention to it. In pursuit of this he was able to connect with former NC senator John Edwards and has, over the last couple of months, had a number of conversations with him about our work generally and the El Salvador project. Edward’s interest was piqued, so he decided to travel down to check things out for himself. It seemed like a good time for me to stop in as well to see if there were ways that the Fuller Center and the Edwards could be helpful to one another.

It’s been a tough couple of years for John and Elizabeth. Everybody knows the story, or at least what we see in the papers. But everyone doesn’t know John Edwards, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to get the measure of the man. I can report from the front lines that he is a decent guy, he has a great heart for the poor, he’s tremendously well connected, and he and Elizabeth want to do good. Seems like a perfect match for Fuller Center.

We’ve already taken a little heat for this. There are some strong feelings out there. But we see an opportunity, and figure if we weren’t taking a little flak we probably wouldn’t be living close enough to the edge. Those who know Millard and Linda’s history understand that if it weren’t for the domestic crisis that they had to work through Habitat for Humanity and subsequently The Fuller Center would never have been born. We’re content to leave the judging up to the Lord and just try to thoughtfully take advantage of the blessing He sends us, sometimes through mysterious means.

We’ve had a full week in two days. Senator Edwards is known here in El Salvador and so we’ve had meetings with some key government leaders—the Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Legislative Assembly among them. Last night we had dinner with members of the presidential transition team. Elections this spring turned the presidency over to the liberal FMLN party from the conservative ARENA and the new president takes office on June 1. ARENA has been in power for 20 years, so this is a significant change. We may be able to meet with the President-Elect later today.

In these meetings the Senator has been consistent with a couple of messages: we need to maximize the opportunity presented by new administrations in Washington and San Salvador, and we need to use this opportunity to improve the plight of the poor. I’ve felt more than once like I was watching history in the making.

Today we’re going down to San Luis Talpa to turn some love into sweat. Should be a great day. I haven’t been back down there for a while, so I’m anxious to see the developments. The sewing machines are in for the Many Miracles project, which will turn the women on SLT into entrepreneurs. I understand we’re still having a little trouble getting the power and light company to get us up to speed, so there’s not much sewing happening yet. But they are training on the equipment so things should take off soon. I’ll report in on developments.

I live a life of amazement these days, watching this ministry unfold. I’m convinced that the Lord is rooting for our success. Otherwise He wouldn’t be sending so many blessings our way. We are on an interesting journey.

A Thing of Beauty. . .

I read myself to sleep at night—something I’ve been doing for years. Most of the books are pure escape. It’s a little refuge I’ve created from the realities I face during the day. I just finished one called An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England. I confess that I picked it up for the title, which you have to admit is compelling. I’m a sucker for guidebooks anyway—I spent a fair amount of time with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy years ago and my den has become a veritable Lonely Planet reading room. So I guess it make sense that An Arsonist’s Guide would catch my eye.

It wasn’t a bad read. I’m struggling to get its message—sometimes our personal set of life experiences just doesn’t go far enough to help us understand those of others. But there was one line in the book that spoke loudly to me, so much so that I actually turned down the corner of the page—something I haven’t done since Mrs. Briscoe sternly counseled me against such behavior in the third grade.

The narrator has just come through a storybook part of New Hampshire, with white clapboard churches and a gentle snow mantling the mountainsides and into an area of extreme poverty. The perfect little houses have given way to rusted out trailer parks and the kind of neighborhoods that we at The Fuller Center for Housing have set out to fix. The beauty he’d so recently passed through is forgotten, and he says, “This is what poverty does, I guess: it ruins your memory of more beautiful things, which is just another reason why we should try as hard as we can to get rid of it.”

What a great line, and how utterly on point. I’ve spent a good deal of my adult life working in areas of poverty, both here and abroad. The one thing that is universally absent in these places is beauty. Poverty doesn’t just rob the memory of beautiful things, it denies access to them. And that is a true disservice, because there is so much beauty in the world that it’s a sad that so many never see it.

I keep my eyes open for beautiful things—a piano or violin, a painting, a little plot of flowers. But people who are truly poor, who have to worry about tomorrow’s food, or whether the roof will survive another storm, or how to keep snakes out of the house, have little time to devote to things of beauty. Poverty itself argues against beauty. Fixing this is, like so many things, easier said than done. We have to understand not just the root causes of poverty, but the affects it has on people’s dignity, sense of self worth and initiative.

Helping families get into a decent house that they actually own is a good start. Today’s Gospel reading was from John—the powerful piece where Jesus compares himself to the good shepherd. There are a couple of lines in that reading that speak to the issue at hand. I’d never realized it because the entire sermon is such a powerful discourse on love that this little piece gets lost. Jesus explains the difference between the shepherd, who has a vested interest in the sheep, and the hired hand, who does not. When the wolf comes the shepherd stays, but the hired hand flees. This shows the power of ownership, and tells us that we’re on the right track with our approach.

As we seek to build decent homes in decent communities we need to remember that including some things of beauty should be part of the process. More important is finding ways to trigger the memory of beauty so that our homeowners seek it themselves. It takes very little for people with resources to help those in need have some beauty in their lives. In our case it starts with the elegance of a well built home, and then we can add a splash of color or help plant a garden or a tree,

This whole human adventure got started in a garden, and our lives are really a quest to return to Eden. I’m hoping we can build some mile markers along that path in the communities we build—splashes of beauty that will remind us of Home.

It's the 21st Century

--and we at The Fuller Center are marching boldly into it. We were pretty proud of ourselves four years ago when we came up with our first web page and I’m still giddy about the whole blogging thing. But the world marches on. Now we have Facebook, Twitter, social networking and the unfortunately named viral marketing. In order to keep up we’ve organized our own Tech Team, with Faith, Ryan, Kirk and Erica leading the way. They let me sit in on the meetings, as long as I don’t say too much.

But I’m learning. Check this out—



This is a widget, created by our very own Ryan Iafigliola to promote his upcoming Bicycle Adventure. What’s even more remarkable is that I imported this into the blog all by myself. And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.

As we learn more about the marvels of the age you’ll be seeing us communicate in more interesting ways. Our web page will be going through some major upgrades. We’re learning to be interactive. I invite you to help us with this by offering suggestions and sharing your thoughts.

Since I’ve got the Bike Adventure widget successfully imbedded here I should say a word or two about it. All of the details can be found on our web page, fullercenter.org, or on the Adventure’s own page at fullercenterbiketrip.com. This is going to be a great trip. There are 17 riders signed up for the entire tour—from Benton Harbor, Michigan to Panacea Beach, Florida, a distance of a mere 1300 miles. Riders who can’t go the whole way are invited to join the trip at any point along the way. For my part I’ve signed up for the Tallahassee to Panacea leg. They told me it was a 25 mile run when I committed, but then they changed the route and now I’m told it will be closer to 50. I don’t think there’s time for me to get this old posterior of mine in shape for that much bike time.

Do check this out. There are lots of ways to get involved beyond riding. Those living along the route may want to host the riders, offer them a home-cooked meal or lend them a washing machine. They’ll be building at Fuller Center sites along the way as well. It should be great fun. I’ll let you know for sure when we get to Panacea Beach.

Email blast-- unredacted version

I was asked to create a message for an email blast, which I dutifully did.  Turns out there's a whole science to this and, being new to such things, my message was a little difficult to cast into a good email message.  So I went through the painful process of being edited.  The results, though, were good and you may have received the blast in your email last week.  (If not, drop me a line and I'll make sure your name is added for future messages.)

I kind of liked my original message, though, so thought I take advantage of this space to post it.  It has a lot of the same information, but also a flight of fancy or two.  So here you go---

It’s springtime, and the earth on this side of the equator is starting to show signs of renewal.  I’m writing this from Colorado Springs where we celebrated Easter with four inches of new snow on the ground!  But there, by the front door, our garden of daffodils was standing in defiance of the storm with their little yellow flowers poking up through the snow.  I love these little guys—they’re always the first of nature’s gifts to announce that spring’s a’comin’ and all will be well.

We had a glorious Easter—the church was packed and the spirit was strong as we reminded ourselves of our Heavenly Father’s great gifts, not just that he gave His Son to die for our sins, but that He rose Him up to show us that there is life after death and that the reward can be ours.  Much of what we honor about Jesus’ life we share with those of other faiths—living worthy lives, loving one another, striving to be holy—but two things separate us from all other religions:  the redemption and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  What a great testament of hope this gives us.

The messages of renewal we get from the glory of Easter to the humble daffodil are especially meaningful to us here at The Fuller Center for Housing.  We suffered a tremendous loss with Millard’s passing and have had to ask ourselves what that means to us and the future of this ministry.  But just as Easter and those little flowers give us hope and promise our Covenant Partners and our supporters around the world have come forward with a unanimous voice saying this work must go on.

And so it shall.  I spent last Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis, meeting with some of the folks who are working on the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, which will be held there in 2010.  The excitement there is palpable as they begin developing their plans.  In the Chattahoochee Valley, where this year’s Legacy Build will be centered, the excitement is turning into action as plans are firmed up and volunteers begin to register.

I just got a note from Sharon McFalls, director of The Fuller Center of Spartanburg—the little Covenant Partner that could!—with updates on a dozen separate projects they are working on or just completing.  Houses are going up in Shreveport and Webster Parish LA, and Greater Blessings projects are going on at covenant partners across the country.

There’s excitement on the international front as well.  Nigeria will soon be completing their 50^th house in their Luvu project near Abuja, and work is moving forward on both sides of the Congo River as the covenant partners in Makana and Bolomba build new houses in places that have seen more than their share of tragedy.  There’s great news out of El Salvador where the Many Miracles sewing project has begun.  This will provide the women of San Luis Talpa with a real and steady income. 

So we are filled with hope in this season of renewal.  We are being blessed and those blessings tell us that we are on the right track and that we need to redouble out efforts.  We know that the best way we can honor Millard’s memory is by keeping his dream of eliminating poverty house alive. 

Of course none of this is possible without the support of friends like you.  We appreciate you interest in our work.  We have some outstanding opportunities for service, opportunities that give more than they ask for.  There’s the Legacy build this fall in Lanett AL which will use hundreds of volunteers.  We have Global Builder Work Teams forming for Armenia, Peru, Nigeria and El Salvador.  There isn’t a better way to see the world than on a Fuller Center Global Builders Trip.  And the 2009 Bicycle Adventure is coming soon.  Riders are invited to join the adventure for a day, a week or for the whole tour.  And there are always opportunities to serve in one of the ever growing list of communities with a Fuller Center Covenant Partner.  Learn more about all of this by visiting our web page, www.fullercenter.org.

And, of course, we can always use financial support.  This is a great ministry, but an expensive one.  I’ve often said that if Millard’s dream had been that all of God’s people have a decent pair of shoes we could have declared victory years ago.  Helping all of God’s people to have a decent home takes a little more work and a lot more cash.  We are grateful for the many gifts we receive and promise to use them wisely so that the funds we’re entrusted with build as many houses as possible.

God bless us now as we enter this grand season of renewal.

 

 

FCH & HFH, Different approaches, similar goals

I got to travel this last week, so I have a certifiable entry to make here. (I’ve come to consider my back-and-forth to Americus as a commute, so it doesn’t qualify as travel any more). I went to Indianapolis on Good Friday to meet with some folks. It was my first trip there and I was impressed. I was hosted by our board member, Jeff Cardwell, who is something of a local institution and seems to know just about everybody in town.

Indianapolis will host the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and work is getting started for that big event. They plan on completing 33 units, some new, some rehab, during the Legacy Build week. 33 is the number of cars that start in the Indy 500, it’s the number of years that Jesus spent here on earth, and it’s the time Millard worked on eliminating poverty housing through Habitat and The Fuller Center. It will be one exciting project.

In my last post I said I’d work on answering the third of the major questions I’ve been asked since Millard died: “How is The Fuller Center different from Habitat for Humanity?” This is a tough one, not because the differences don’t exist, but because it’s hard to compare yourself to something else without implying a certain quality of superiority, and there’s no reason for us to do that. Almost everyone at The Fuller Center has Habitat experience in our background, and all of us have great respect for what that organization has accomplished and what it continues to do, and we pray for their continuing success.

As Habitat has grown, though, it has changed and will continue to change. It’s an inevitable feature of life, both for individuals and for corporations. The Fuller Center has moved the clock backwards, and we subscribe closely to the earliest foundational principles that got both ministries started. I like to think of us as the Old Order Habitat—we’re the ones in buggies and snoods.

Rather than line out differences between the two organizations I’ll list the basic principles that we at the Fuller Center seek to follow. (This is a preview of my article in the next FCH newsletter Building Materials, which will come out later this week. You, as a premium member of the FCH website, will get this before the rest of the world does.)

We at the Fuller Center for Housing believe that--

-- We are part of a God movement, and movements don’t just stop
-- We have been called to this housing ministry; we didn’t just stumble into it;
-- We are unashamedly Christian, and enthusiastically ecumenical;
-- We aren’t a church but we are a servant of the Church;
-- We are faith driven, knowing that after we’ve done all we can do the Lord will help finish the job—something that requires us to stretch beyond our rational reach;
-- We are a grassroots ministry, recognizing that the real work happens on the ground in communities around the world through our covenant partners, so a large, overseeing bureaucracy isn’t needed;
-- We try to follow the teachings of the Bible and believe that it says that we shouldn’t charge interest of the poor, so we don’t;
-- Government has a role in our work in helping set the stage, but that we shouldn’t look to it as a means to fund the building of homes;

These are our foundational principles and we’re sticking to them. And we know that there is plenty of need, as well as plenty of bounty, for us, Habitat and a thousand more like-minded organizations to get involved and it will still be a year or two before the work is done. We may do things a little differently; the families we serve may come from different economic situations and our funders from different parts of the charitable world, but we share the vision of eliminating poverty housing. So the differences probably don’t matter all that much.

The Fuller Center marches on, building in small towns and large, partnering with churches wherever we can, and inviting all who will join us to help eliminate poverty housing. Our goal, though, isn’t just the building of houses. We seek to build decent communities for the decent houses to be part of. We seek to raise families not just out of poverty housing, but out of poverty. We seek to make the activity of building a house an opportunity for people of all backgrounds and ideologies to come together in a common act of kindness. Every house we build is both a sermon of God’s love and a sermon of His peace. May the good Lord continue to bless our efforts.

Questions about the future

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately and I apologize for that. In my defense my life has gotten a good deal more complicated over the past few weeks. Since my last posting a number of things have happened. Most significant for me is that the board of directors has named me as the new president of The Fuller Center. I’m honored by this, but humbled. Millard was a giant of a man, and the shoes he left are too big to be filled by any single pair of feet. I’m confident, though, that with many pairs we’ll be able to do a credible job.

There are a number of questions out there about the Fuller Center and its future and my role going forward. I’m going to be taking a stab at answering some of them here. I may have to change the title of this from a Travel Blog to a Standing on the Prow Looking into the Fog Blog. But the future is bright and I’m filled with confidence about it.

As you may know I live in Colorado Springs so the first question I usually get is “When are you moving to Americus?” That’s a tough one to answer right now. Sheilla has a business here in the Springs, and we own a home here. Given the economic situation it’s probably not the best of times to try to sell either one. And then of course, there are the grandkids, Ryan and Griffin. They live with their folks in Dillon, Colorado, and one of the reasons we came back to Colorado was to be near family. The other reason is that I woke up one day and found that the department I headed at Habitat had somehow disappeared over night.

So the short answer is that we won’t be moving to Americus anytime soon. We’re going to let this play out for a while and see what the future brings. We do have a home there now—a great little apartment next door to the Presbyterian Church in the heart of the city and I’m spending a good deal of time there. One of the great blessings of these challenging times is the way technology has improved our ability to communicate over long distances, so even when I’m on the western side of the continent I can keep up with things in the east.

The second question I often get is, “Will The Fuller Center continue?” The answer to that is an unequivocal yes. There are now covenant partners in 50 US cities and 14 countries around the world, all reaching out to families who need a decent place to live. We have commitments to these groups and the families they serve. The board of directors and staff have committed to honoring Millard’s memory by aggressively pursuing his dream of eliminating poverty housing. Most encouraging is the tremendous outpouring of support we’ve received from our supporters around the world who want this ministry to grow and prosper.

The third most frequent question is how The Fuller Center differs from Habitat. This is a significant question and one that deserves its own posting. And the night is drawing nigh. I’ll cover this soon. In the meantime, thanks again to all who have been so kind and supportive during this challenging time. God bless us all.