The Theology of the Hammer

It was just hotel chitchat, the kind that happens when a bigwig swoops into Dallas and the mayor and business leaders flock to his reception. They shook hands, swilled bottled water and bantered about goals.

In this case, the honoree was a tall, lanky fellow with a Jed Clampett drawl and enthusiasm so contagious that the world's poor and the world's rich, and a lot of people in between, champion his cause.

U.S. presidents pound nails for him. Celebrities paint walls. Corporations flex their bank accounts. He even stirs Republicans and Democrats to work together without a hint of political strife.

"Building homes is not just good religion...It's just plain good common sense."

Even so, it's not Millard Fuller's name, but that of his organization that the public recognizes.

"Most people in this country think that Jimmy Carter started Habitat for Humanity," said the 66-year-old housing visionary from Americus, Ga. Then he laughed and shook another hand.

Ever since founding Habitat 25 years ago, Mr. Fuller and his wife, Linda, have worked at putting their cause -- rather than themselves -- in the spotlight. Their nonprofit Christian ministry has built more than 100,000 homes in 76 nations.

Now in their 60s and balking at retirement, the Fullers said it will take just five years to build the next 100,000 homes. With a worldwide budget of $450 million, Habitat builds homes for low-income families, primarily using volunteers, including former President Carter.

"Building homes is not just good religion," said Mr. Fuller, the son of a Alabama sharecropper. "It's good politics, it's good sociology, it's good economics. It's just plain good common sense."

Although trained as a lawyer, Mr. Fuller sounds more like an evangelist when he gives speeches. He's more down-home friendly than flamboyant, and while unabashedly Christian, he draws people of every faith and of no faith to the table.

"That's the theology of the hammer," Mr. Fuller said. "People who may not agree on a whole lot else will agree that everybody deserves a simple, decent place to live."

A Habitat banquet with Mr. Fuller drew the mayor and corporate leaders, but also prison inmates, teens and retirees -- all volunteers on Habitat homes.

"I hear you're going to build 50 houses in Dallas this year," Mr. Fuller told them. "Why not 52? You don't want to build 50 houses and leave the other two weeks of the year out. That's just unheard of."

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