By David Snell,
President, Fuller Center for Housing

Easter is coming early this year and winter is staying late.  Makes it hard to feel springlike when the folks up north are still shoveling snow!  Down here in South Georgia, the trees are starting to bud and some are in flower, so there's hope.

The good news is that the weather doesn't have much effect on the miracle of Easter, the one holiday that truly defines Christianity.  Many religions teach kindness and call on their believers to care for one another. Only one, though, can claim the redemption that comes through Jesus' death and the promise of salvation that comes through his resurrection.  In three short days, Christ fundamentally defined the relationship between God and humankind.

Those two miraculous events, while they define our belief system, we will most appreciate when we come to the end of this life.  It's what He taught during the three years before His death and resurrection that should guide how we behave before we get to there.

His message was a simple one — love one another. He walked us through a number of ways of doing that, but the basic message was always the same — love one another.  He gave special attention to the poor and the oppressed and He was always more interested in the lost sheep than in the righteous.  That could be due to the fact that lost sheep are generally more interesting than the ones who stay closer to the flock.  At least that's been my experience.

By David Snell,
President

“You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.”  Isaiah 58:12

We like to look in the Bible for scriptures that speak to the work we do, building and restoring houses.  This verse from Isaiah seems to be a call to the people to repair the walls and restore the city.  Actually it’s a promise to the people of what they can achieve if they will do the Lord’s will.  It comes at the end of a chapter where the people are being chastised for their false fasting.  Apparently they felt that God wasn’t giving them enough credit for their fasting and general righteousness.  The response is quick and clear.  “I haven’t recognized your fasting,” He says, “because it’s false”.

Isaiah goes on to tell the people what true fasting means.  A sincere fast, he tells them, involves casting off wickedness, letting the oppressed go free, feeding the hungry and housing the homeless.  Righteous fasting includes righteous behavior.

By David Snell,
Fuller Center president

Some 55 years ago a young Southern belle, who only wanted to date a man who was tall enough so that she could wear heels, agreed to go out with an anonymous caller who told her he was 6’4” tall. Little did she know what adventures and challenges that meeting would bring her way.  That young lady was Linda Caldwell, and her gentleman caller was Millard Fuller. Together they would make a fortune, give away a fortune, raise four fine kids, and found two housing movements that would change the lives of millions and redefine charitable giving.

Today, Feb. 17, is Linda's birthday, and on behalf of all the children around the world who went to bed last night in a warm and safe home and the many donors and volunteers whose lives have been changed by her good work, let me say Happy Birthday!

By David Snell,
Fuller Center President

On the fourth anniversary of his death, we should pause to celebrate the life and works of Millard Fuller. Humankind is blessed, from time to time, with individuals of great power and wisdom, people who can take a simple notion and turn it into a movement, who can inspire those around him to do things they never thought possible. Millard Fuller was such a man.

It was a short 44 years ago that the first family was blessed by the Partnership Housing idea that Millard and Clarence Jordan hammered out. This was a new kind of charity, charity that lifted up those that were on the receiving end of it and turned them into givers as well. It was a new kind of charity that engaged people of all backgrounds directly in the production side of the work, getting houses built. Since that day, 44 years ago, hundreds of thousands of houses have been built, fundamentally transforming the lives of the millions who live in them. Other millions have been just as blessed for the opportunity of helping pay for and build those houses.

By David Snell
Fuller Center President

Sheilla and I left Lima at 1:00 Saturday morning. For some reason Lima is hard to get into and out of at a decent hour. We got back to Atlanta at about 8:30 and spent the rest of the morning and a good part of the afternoon wishing we could get into the hotel for a hot shower. The wait was worth it — it’s hard to appreciate a full and consistent spray of hot water cascading down your back until you’ve been without it for a week. This is true of so much that we take for granted in this truly blessed place we call home, things like cold milk, sidewalks and washing machines.

Things went well in Peru. We got almost all of our assignments done and dedicated all ten houses on Friday afternoon. It was quite the event. The district mayor, a friend I’ve known since my first trip to Peru, was there along with a loquacious congressman and a brass band. We paraded through town, stopping at each house for a little ceremony — each family got their Bible and we gave each house a dedicatory prayer. They have an interesting but messy custom there of hanging a bottle of champagne over the door which is ceremoniously broken to inaugurate the house. And inundate the poor soul who has the honor of wielding the hammer.

This was truly a work camp for the record books. We were a small band of volunteers — some 40 of us in all — but what a crew! Everyone worked hard, which is always the case, but everyone worked joyfully, as well. Zenon and his team did a remarkable job of getting things ready and keeping them moving. Hailey and Ryan from our office made sure that the volunteer logistics worked, and Frank Purvis and Bill Lifsey did an amazing job of keeping the construction timetable. The families we built with come from truly meager circumstances, and over and over I heard them say that this was a dream come true, a miracle.

In addition to dedicating the houses we also dedicated Millard Fuller Boulevard, which runs along the canal that brings water to the area, and Richard Semmler Avenue, named for a true friend of the Fuller Center who has contributed greatly to our work both in Peru and in Haiti. Richard is a college professor who lives humbly and donates everything he can to work like ours — a true saint.

One day, as Sheilla and I were making the climb to our house (which was set on a hillside about as far away from the others as possible while still being in town!) we were stopped by an elderly man who wanted us to visit his home. I don’t really know how old he and his wife are — anywhere from 60 to 80 — and they were a kind and gentle pair. They live in a one-room structure made of woven mats with dirt for a floor and a tarp for a roof. They told us how blessed they’d be if they just had a single room with a concrete floor and a solid roof. At one of the celebrations in town a woman came and sat next to me and asked for a moment of time. Her situation is the same as the elderly couple’s, and she repeated their plea, to simply have a safe and healthy room.

By David Snell
Fuller Center president

It’s Wednesday evening as I write this.  We’re back at the inn, had hot showers and feel refreshed and ready.  They had a water problem here yesterday, so we got cold showers and then no water at all.  It’s the little things that make you grateful, things like toilet seats, which apparently haven’t made their mark here yet.

Work is going well on the site.  On Monday we poured floors in half the houses and put roof trusses on the others.  Yesterday we switched, so most all of the houses were ready for roofing and interior work today.  We have a relatively small work force here, so we’re doing things a little differently.  Rather than spending the week on a single house, the volunteers are moving around as needed to keep all of the houses on pace.  It’s working pretty well.  Thursday and Friday we’ll work more closely with a single family so we can establish some bonds, but the volunteers have been pretty generous with this new approach.  One outstanding feature of this build is the level of homeowner involvement.  At least one of the parents has been on site at every house each day.

By David Snell
Fuller Center for Housing president

Day one of the Millard Fuller Legacy Build was a great success. We’re building 10 new houses here. The masonry walls were built over the last month or so, and our assignment is to put down the floors, put on the roof and build the interior partitions. We have an outstanding corps of volunteers who have already distinguished themselves by their cheerfulness and hard work.

(View photos from the build here.)

Sheilla and I are on house 10 which will be the home of Juan Carlos and Kelly Lopez and their family. Juan Carlos is a pastor and his house sits next to his new church house on the edge of town. The biggest challenge we face is the long hike to get up to the site!

We got things kicked off yesterday with two welcoming ceremonies, one by the local government in Nuevo Imperial, the second by the families and their neighbors in La Florida. They were great events, full of speeches and music. Folks here do enjoy a celebration. This weekend was also the commemoration of Santa Rosa, the patron saint of Lima. Most of those celebrations seemed to take place at night and included a marching band that just wouldn’t stop marching and fireworks that wouldn’t stop booming. That was a little less joyful to these tired travelers.

By David Snell
Fuller Center for Housing President

There is giving and then there is giving. In too many cases the act of giving misses the mark and is dangerous to both the giver and the receiver. Gifts that are given with anything other than righteous intent rob the giver of the true joy of the act. And giving without regard to the spiritual and emotional needs of the recipient creates a social imbalance. Too often the act of giving results in the giver ending up somehow superior to the receiver; and while the giver may not even be aware of the fact, aside from a certain smugness that comes from having done a truly good deed, it is not lost on the receiver.

One of the hallmarks of Jesus’ ministry was the dignity that he showed to others. He had a meaningful conversation with the Samaritan woman, remarkable in that she was both a Samaritan and a woman. He saved the woman caught in adultery and treated her with respect and good counsel. Even as he hung suffering on the cross, he comforted the criminals who’d been crucified with him.

Throughout His healing ministry, Jesus did a remarkable thing. He was clearly the instrument through which blindness, palsy, even death was cured. But in nearly every case He turned the responsibility around with the simple statement “Thy faith hath made thee whole”. The recipient of his mercy became a partner in the transaction, dignity intact.

Here we are, August already and the summer’s activities are in full swing.  The Bicycle Adventurers are nearing the end of their third and final run, folks are hard at work in La Florida, Peru, and McDonough, Ga., getting ready for the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and I’m sure this will find you heartily engaged in making decent shelter a reality for God’s people in your corner of the vineyard. 

In the midst of all this activity I’ve been taking a step back to consider yet again what it is we’re all about.  Every now and again I like to take a minute to remind myself of the magnitude of this ministry, not just in terms of houses built and volunteer hours contributed, but in the philosophical underpinnings that make The Fuller Center significant.

In the earliest days, when Millard and Clarence were pondering the flaws in our economic system that left too many of the poor without means and too many of the rich without virtue, they came to the idea of partnering with God’s people in need in ways that would bring together the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.  Out of this came "partnership farming", "partnership industries" and, so important to us, "partnership housing". 

Clarence wrote, “What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers.  And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their overabundance.”  What an elegant response to serving the needs of the poor and of the rich, one that creates relationships, retains dignity and has a tangible outcome. 

Partnership Housing was built around the concepts of providing the capital resources to build simple, decent houses with, not for, families in need and selling those houses to the families on terms they could afford with no interest charged or profit made. That last part, selling the house, was critical for a number of reasons — it assured a true sense of ownership by the partner family, it retained the family’s dignity as equal participants in the transaction, and it provided a measure of sustainability to the Fund for Humanity.

It’s Easter, the richest day in the Christian calendar.  Today we celebrate the two events that define our faith—the redemption and the resurrection.  This is the day that the gospel is fulfilled.  It also marks the end of a truly remarkable week, one that started with a triumphal procession and ended with the crucifixion. 

It was in the hours before Jesus’ arrest that He shared some of the most profound teachings of his ministry.  After supper Judas left on his terrible task and it was just Jesus and the eleven, no longer simply apostles, but now Jesus’ friends, and as friends they spoke of what had been and what was yet to come.  Jesus foretold his death, but his friends didn’t quite believe him.  He told them about the challenges they would face after He was gone.  And He gave them gifts—He washed their feet, He told them that when He returned to his Father He would prepare a place—a mansion—for them there.  And He gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to guide their way and answer their concerns.  It was surely the most remarkable few hours of conversation in all of history.

Throughout their conversation Jesus returns to the central theme of His ministry, that the basic commandments are simply that we love the Lord and love one another.  More than once he tells his friends that this is the most important commandment, and one that comes with a promise.  He said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”.