President's Blog

Easter message: Jesus' message was a simple one
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.
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Isaiah 58:12
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.
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"Beside every successful man is a good woman"
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!
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Millard — an inspiration to us all

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.

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Heading north

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.

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