Millard Fuller

Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, passed away yesterday. I read Fuller's book No More Shacks two decades ago and have been an admirer ever since. In the 42 years since Fuller and his wife, Linda, founded Habitat, this nonprofit organization has built more than 300,000 houses around the world. Buoyed by the efforts of high profile volunteers like Former President Jimmy Carter, Habitat has been able to provide affordable housing for more than 1.5 million people. I have had the privilege of working on Habitat homes in Musicians' Village in New Orleans and in the Providence Park neighborhood in Nashville. 

In a speech to the National Press Club in 1996, Fuller explained his motivation for starting Habitat for Humanity: "After spending most of my adult life in the pursuit of success in law and business, I wanted to make my life count for something of more lasting value. So I made a radical change. Linda and I divested ourselves of our wealth and sought a very different kind of life - a life of Christian service." May Fuller's tribe increase.

"If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:16-17)