An Interview With Millard Fuller
Founder and President of Habitat for Humanity International
Millard Fuller is the Founder and President of Habitat for Humanity International. He and his wife, Linda, have four grown children. A native Alabamian who has lived in Americus, Georgia for the last 18 years, he is 60 years old. He is the author of six books including The Theology of the Hammer published last year by Smyth & Helwys with an initial printing of 125,000. Of him and his work, Coretta Scott King has said, "under Millard Fuller`s leadership, Habitat for Humanity has provided a vibrant power of love in action to those in need around the world"; and Jack Kemp, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Board member of Habitat for Humanity International, has said, "I have always been a strong supporter and admirer of the outstanding work Habitat for Humanity is doing across America–and indeed around the world–to make a dream of home ownership a reality for people in need. Tom Brokaw, NBC News Anchor said, "A lot of people feel that they do volunteer work and that it doesn`t have any impact–[but] those are houses–people are going to live there, and for many they`re going to be the first homes they`ve ever owned. It`s harder to have a bigger impact than that." And former President Jimmy Carter has said, "We believe in Habitat`s integrity, effectiveness, and tremendous vision. With Habitat, we build more than houses. We build families, communities, and hope." Millard Fuller is, indeed, caught up in an impossible dream that is coming true, a wonderful idea that works, an improbable movement that is changing the world.
Q. Do you believe in miracles?
A. Yes, I do. I think that God intervenes in human affairs when we are at the "end of our rope" in regard to doing God`s work in the world. I have seen that time and again in the ministry of Habitat for Humanity. We have gone as far as we could go with our human resources and God has "stepped in" in a magnificent way. That has happened time and again. The miracle only occurs, though, when we are at that "end of the rope." In other words, God responds with his miracles when we have exhausted our own human resources.
Q. Would you call Habitat for Humanity a miracle of God?
A. Yes, in a real sense, Habitat for Humanity is a miracle. It absolutely astounds me when I realize what has happened in this work over the past 19 years. We returned from Zaire after having served there for three years as missionaries with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and organized Habitat for Humanity. We initially set up a little office in an old chicken barn at Koinonia Farm in the fall of 1976. My wife, Linda, was the treasurer. That first year, our total income was about $70,000. In the spring of 1977, we moved into the city of Americus and set up headquarters in one room of my law office which, incidentally, was in an old house in a low-income neighborhood. We had paid $4,000 for the whole house. And, Habitat for Humanity was in one room of that house.
From that humble beginning, Habitat has now grown to be in over 1,800 locations in 48 nations. All of that has happened in just 19 years. In September, (September 15) we dedicated the 40,000th house. That milestone house was built in St. Paul, Minnesota. It took us 15 years to build the first 10,000 houses and then we built the next 30,000 in only four years. In our 20th year, 1996, we expect to dedicate both the 50,000th and the 60,000th houses. These houses are housing over a quarter of a million people. When you consider where we started and where we are today, it absolutely seems miraculous.
Q. What is the current status of Habitat for Humanity?
A. We are still headquartered in Americus, Georgia with a staff of about 400 people, including paid and volunteer. We have 15 regional offices in the United States and we are building extensively throughout Canada, Mexico and literally all around the world in a total of 48 countries. We are building over 10,000 houses this year and expect to build somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 houses in 1996. We also have national offices in many of the countries where we operate around the world.
In addition to the 1,800 locations, we also have nearly 400 campus chapters of Habitat for Humanity operating at colleges, universites, seminaries and some high schools. We also have over 900 associate groups in these educational institutions. Most of the campus chapters are in the
United States, but many are now in Canada, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and other countries. The Campus Chapters program, incidentally, was founded at a Baptist school–Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It was the idea of Gary Cook, now the president of Dallas Baptist University but who in November, 1987 was a chaplain at Baylor University. He invivted me threre to speak to some students who wanted to form a campus chapter. From that humble beginning on November 30, 1987, this little idea has expanded until it is what I have described. Again, another miraculous development in this ministry.
Q. When and where did Habitat for Humanity originate?
A. If you go back to the tap root of this ministry, it was at Koinonia Farm near Americus. It was there, in 1968, that my wife, Linda, and I worked with Clarence and Florence Jordan to create a ministry called Koinonia Partners. A part of that Koinonia Partners ministry was "partnership housing." We actually started the first house at Koinonia in the fall of 1969. While that house was under construction, Clarence Jordan died suddenly of a heart attack while preparing a sermon in his study out in the field behind the community at Koinonia. So, he never lived to see the first house completed. Linda and I, along with others, continued the vision and kept building houses in Koinonia until 1973 when, as I said, we moved to Zaire to work with the Church of Christ of Zaire to build houses patterned on the partnership housing program of Koinonia. By the time we left Koinonia in 1973, incidentally, about 30 houses had been built in an area we called Koinonia Village and I had laid off the streets and started the first houses in a place called Forest Park about a mile down the road from the first community.
While we were in Africa, the work continued and another 30 houses or so were built in the Forest Park community.
Q. Why did you as a very young man, about 30 as I recall, leave an extraordinarily successful business venture?
A. The personal thing that happened in my life was that my wife, Linda, left me. She and I had been married when I was a student at the University of Alabama Law School. At that time, my business partner and I were dedicated to making a big success in business. We were determined to become quite rich in our business activities.
After we moved to Montgomery, we had a law office in downtown Montgomery and we continued our business activities on the side. Running a law office and a growing business consumed all of our time. I literally abandoned my wife and our two young children, who had been born by that time. Eventually, my wife announced to me that she didn`t love me anymore and she was leaving to go to New York to consider a divorce. That revelation shook me to my foundations. I eventually pursued her in New York and we were reconciled after a tearful session on a street just off of 5th Avenue. Together, we decided to fundamentally change how we were living our lives. We wanted to follow Christ and we felt that we had to unburden ourselves of all of the stuff we had accumulated to make it possible to go wherever God wanted us to go. We then felt very led to Koinonia Farm where we encountered Clarence Jordan. Up until that time, we had never heard of Clarence Jordan, but it was clear that God led us to this dedicated man. He became our mentor. Our first visit there was intended to be two hours but it lasted a month. That was in December of 1965. We left for about two years and then returned in mid 1968 to work with Clarence and others to set up the Koinonia Partners program.
Q. Are you, then, a minister of Jesus Christ?
A. I am not technically a minister. I am not ordained but people do ask me if I have had seminary training. I always respond that I suppose I am trained because I milked cows with Clarence Jordan and we talked theology as we squirted milk in the bucket. I do preach in literally hundreds of churches all across this country and around the world. In all that I do, I seek to minister in the name of Jesus Christ.
Q. Do you feel called by the Lord to this work you are doing?
A. Absolutely! I have never felt more called to anything in my life.
Q. Will you tell us a little more abut your relationship to Clarence Jordan?
A. As mentioned above, we went to Koinonia for the first time in December of 1965. I was so captivated by Clarence Jordan that our two-hour visit lasted for a month. During that time, we talked about Christ. We talked about "the God movement" which was Clarence`s term for the kingdom of God. Then, in 1968, we moved back to Koinonia and I worked closely with Clarence from then until October 29, 1969 when he died suddenly of a heart attack while preparing a sermon in his study. I had the privilege of preaching his funeral when we buried him in a simple wooden box on a hillside behind the Koinonia community. Clarence Jordan was absolutely the most dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
Q. Why have you been so profoundly gripped by the plight of the poor that you have spent the last thirty years making your dream of helping them come true?
A. A big part of my motivation is that, through Clarence Jordan, I came to understand that the mandate of Christ is to minister to the poor in his name. My understanding of the gospel is that Jesus has taken care of the next life. Consider John where we are told that "in my father`s house there are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you." I often tell people that Jesus is in charge of Habitat for Humanity in heaven so we don`t have to worry about that. But, he told his disciples that they could do greater works than he had done. But, that is only true if we work together. It is the entire people that comprise the body of Christ. It is only together that we do greater works than Jesus did. And those works must be done on this earth. He taught his disciples to pray, "Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Our ministry is a present-tense ministry. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time to do God`s work. Clarence Jordan often talked about how the direction of the Christ event in history was from heaven earthward and not vice versa. God has given us the gift of life and also the gift of salvation through Christ. As a response, we should give back by serving in Christ`s name to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give water to the thirsty, invite the strangers in, visit the sick, and visit the prisoners." These simple things are the very essence of true religion.
Q. Of all the things poor folks need, why have you focused on building plain little houses, one at a time?
A. There was a niche that wasn`t being filled. There were many ministries, such as well drilling, feeding-the-hungry programs, Bible translation, church building, etc. But, there was no ministry of building houses motivated by faith and love until Habitat for Humanity came along. To be sure, there were many programs of building houses. Private individuals built houses. The government built houses. Some small organizations built a few houses here and there but there was no coordinated program to build houses as a Christian witness throughout this country and around the world until Habitat for Humanity came along. It was a niches. It needed filling. It was God`s idea whose time had come. So, we felt called to this work. We got started by building one house and it has steadily grown ever since.
Q. How do you account for the non-partisan, inter-denominational, apparently universal appeal of Habitat for Humanity?
A. I think there is something in Habitat for Humanity for everyone. It is not a giveaway program which appeals to more conservative people. It is a program which is full of compassion and reaches out to the poor and that is compelling and attractive to more liberal people. It is strongly Christian, without being dogmatic. People of all persuasions feel that they can participate in the work.
Habitat for Humanity is a servant of the church, but is not denominational and not doctrinal. We are openly and unashamedly Christian, but we welcome people of all denominations, Protestants and Catholic and even people who are not professing Christians are made to feel welcome. Those who know how to build can do so and we jokingly say that those who have no skills at all can serve as a bad example! There are also tasks which can be performed by those who have no construction acumen, such as speech making, writing newsletters, raising money, ordering supplies, etc.
Q. Will you tell us something about your personal background?
A. I as born and raised in a small cotton mill town in east Alabama. The name of the town was Lanett. My mother died when I was three years old and my dad remarried when I was six. My dad and my stepmother and my two stepbrothers routinely and regularly attended church as we were growing up. Going to church on Sunday was as normal as eating. We never had a discussion on Sunday morning about whether to go to church. We went every Sunday and then to the prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings. But, my understanding of what it meant to be a Christian was quite limited in those days. I gained a much deeper understanding from my experience at Koinonia and my encounter with Clarence Jordan.
I went to undergraduate school at Auburn University and then to Law School at the University of Alabama.
My book entitled A Simple, Decent Place to Live was published by Word Publishing in August, 1995 and Chapter 2 gives more information about my personal background. Incidentally, I have written a total of six books, Bokotola, Love in the Mortar Joints, No More Shacks, The Excitement Is Building, The Theology of the Hammer, and A Simple, Decent Place to Live.
Q. Where did you get your ethical bearings?
A. My father, Render Fuller, instilled within me a strong sense of moral and ethical behavior. He was a totally honest man who ran a small grocery store on the outskirts of Lanett, Alabama. My hometown church also gave me a sense of morals and ethics. But, again, my ethics deepened and my understanding of the gospel broadened when I encountered Clarence Jordan and the people at Koinonia Farm. I gained new insights and I developed a fervor for being a disciple of Jesus Christ as a result of my experiences at Koinonia.
Q. Have you done any special things to cultivate your fantastic organizational abilities?
A. Just "doing it" has been a big help. Of course, I think I have a natural inclination toward organizing things. I founded, with my partner, a business which was very successful. Even earlier in my life, I was involved in organizing companies in the Junior Achievement program and then when I was in high school and in my early years of college, I organized the regional youth program of my church. This regional youth organization included youth groups in the southeastern states.
I have studied organizations and organizational structures and I think that study has been of some help to me, too.
Q. What keeps you circling the globe on behalf of housing for the poor?
A. I feel a strong sense of calling to this ministry, as I said above. I am so painfully aware of the pitiful living conditions of so many people around the world that I feel God`s claim on my life to "invite them in." I also see this as a "new frontier in Christian missions." This is a creative and exciting way to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. All of this keeps me on the go. It is very satisfying and rewarding work.
Q. How would you rank (1) raw energy, (2) off-the-charts drive, and (3) spiritual vision as contributing factors in your life work?
A. I would put spiritual vision as the primary contributing factor followed by drive and energy.
Q. Do you have a regimen for maintaining your heavy, heavy work schedule?
A. I have the good fortune of being married to a remarkable woman. Linda is totally supportive of me and a very loving, devoted wife. She is as committed to this ministry, I feel, as I am. She and I work together and travel together. We support one another and sustain one another as we maintain a very heavy work schedule.
We talk about things and we pray together. I also have private times of prayer and quiet moments of brief meditation. Then two or three times a year, we go apart somewhere for a few days just to be quiet and get our batteries charged up again.
Q. Has your family life suffered because of the demands of your unique ministry, and if so, how have you dealt with this serious matter?
A. I think there has been some sacrifice, especially when I traveled and our children were still younger. Now, all of the children are grown and out of the house so this is not a concern.
Sometimes, I get so consumed by the work that other things get totally crowded out. But, the pluses far outweigh the negatives.
Q. What about your church life?
A. Linda and I are members of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. I recruited Jimmy Carter to be a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and he recruited us to be members of his church. We regularly attend there when we are in town, but we travel so much that we will often go several weeks without attending our local church. It is a very small congregation and does not have a very extensive program beyond the Sunday services. Occasionally, when Jimmy Carter is out of town and I am in town, I will teach his Sunday School class.
Q. Why on earth are your world headquarters for Habitat for Humanity International in Americus
A. The historical reason is because Koinonia Farm is nearby. But, now, we remain here because we can operate for a fraction of what it would cost to operate in a larger city. Just this week, for example, we had a visitor from a northern state. He could not believe the low prices on the menu at a restaurant where I took him for lunch. We are as connected to the world in Americus, Georgia as any other city, including New York City, Chicago, or any other major metropolitan area. The only drawback I have been able to discern is that we have some distance to go to get to a major airport. Otherwise, I think there are many advantages, especially the cost of operating our headquarters, and not that many disadvantages. It is also still good to be here close to our spiritual roots.
Q. How does a body go about helping extend the work of Habitat for Humanity?
A. Obviously, money is needed to build the Habitat houses. We will build over 10,000 in 1995 and, as I have already said, 12,000-14,000 in 1996. Volunteers are needed. Leadership is needed. People to serve on local boards of directors are needed. People in cities where we do not have Habitat for Humanity are needed to get the work started. We need International Partners to work in Habitat for Humanity projects in developing countries. Prayer is needed. Ideas are needed. Anybody who wants to be a part of this ministry can be a part. There is a contribution for everyone to make.
