I was a junior or senior in high school when I heard him speak. I don’t remember what he said exactly, but I remember how I felt when he said it. Something inside of me came alive and I believed I could be part of the solution. Looking back now, I realize that part of what I felt in that moment compelled me to pursue ministry as a vocation. He helped me to discover that there was more to life, that together we could really transform the world.
His name was Millard Fuller, and no one had really heard of him, but his organization, Habitat for Humanity, was only 3 or 4 years old and was beginning to add chapters around the United States. My friends and I were so motivated by that Youth Conference at TCU in Fort Worth that we created an “All Night Metro Wide Dance Marathon” to help build homes for those without a decent place to live.
A similar feeling rose up inside of me on Tuesday. A few leaders at Country Club Christian were invited to tour a block of Habitat homes newly built near our sister church in Northeast Kansas City, Independence Boulevard (where we help host Micah Ministry). The day was sunny and crisp and I felt hopeful as we stood on the front porch of a 4-bedroom home overlooking a verdant park filled with new playground equipment. Before Habitat arrived four years ago, that park’s activity was limited to human trafficking and drug dealing. For a moment, I stopped thinking about the massive need in Kansas City for 60,000 new affordable housing units and instead thought of a family unpacking their baby’s clothes inside that new home.
During a time of national dis-ease, the prophet Jeremiah spoke to God’s disillusioned folks, saying “Build houses, plant gardens, . . . Seek the welfare of the city” (Jeremiah 29). You and I are bombarded each day with the bad news and overwhelming problems of our nation and world. But there is still hope. Yesterday, I remembered why God calls us to come together. For the pure delight and overflowing joy of playing one small part in God’s transformation of this beautiful world.
Grace and Peace,
Carla
