Title: Faith is a verb
First published: 2005
Description: Chris Goodrich, author of books on Yale Law and the mystique of building your own sports car, thought writing about the world's largest non-profit home-builder would be a lark. But then he caught 'infectious Habititis'...and now spends every available minute volunteering with Habitat. "Hmmm...write tomorrow's fishwrap, or save the world?" he says. "In the end, it wasn't a hard choice." Faith is a Verb is both an account of the author's years building with Habitat and a history of the organization, which Goodrich sees as a model institution founded on grassroots, Jeffersonian principles. The reader looks over his shoulder as Goodrich helps restore a burned-out drug den to its Victorian glory in Bridgeport, Connecticut; understands the yawning gap between the rich and poor as he straightens nails with an impoverished teenager in the Dominican Republic; senses the importance of volunteer work as he watches, while laying a stone foundation in Paraguay, the Twin Towers fall on 9/11.

Goodrich traces Habitat's history back to an unsung American hero, Clarence Jordan, who in the 1940's founded a Christian community in south Georgia dedicated to social and economic justice. Koinonia Farm made headlines in the 1950's when the Ku Klux Klan and J. Edgar Hoover attempted to put it out of business for embracing integration and a seemingly "communistic" lifestyle, but is known today mainly as Habitat's birthplace. Millard Fuller, a millionaire businessman, arrived at Koinonia during a spiritual crisis in the early 1970's, and under Jordan's guidance realized that he was a "money-holic." In 1976 Fuller and his wife would found Habitat for Humanity, which in 2005 completed its 200,000th house.

In the book's Afterword Goodrich describes the Fullers' firing by Habitat in 2005 for Millard's "inappropriate behavior." Goodrich recounts his life-changing journey with humor and flair, while also showing that Habitat's do-it-yourself message transcends political, religious, economic, and cultural boundaries. "I've worked with Jimmy Carter on a couple of Habitat builds," says Goodrich of Habitat's most famous supporter, "and eventually he points out that while volunteers may lace up their workboots thinking, 'I'm really going to do some good today!', most of us get a lot more from Habitat than we give. Why? Because you know you're doing something that's actually useful, and lasting - that you're wearing a white hat. It's like finding your inner superhero." Faith is a Verb (the title is also borrowed from Carter) is an inspiring story of how building another person's dream can simultaneously produce your own.
Subjects: Christian communities, Inc Habitat for Humanity, Inc Habitat for Humanity International, Self-help housing, Low-income housing, Koinonia Farm, History, Habitat for Humanity, inc
Places: Georgia
Time periods: 20th century
LC classification: HD7287.95 .G66 2005