In this 2013 presentation, the speaker traces the origins and growth of Habitat for Humanity, beginning with Clarence Jordan—a Georgia peanut farmer, agricultural scientist, and New Testament scholar who founded Koinonia Farm in the 1940s and later conceived the Fund for Humanity to provide decent housing. The narrative follows how Jordan’s vision was carried forward by Jonathan Reckford, a former Minnesota businessman who became Habitat’s president, and how the movement spread to Charlotte in 1983 when a coalition of churches adopted Jeremiah 29:7 as a guiding principle. The talk weaves biblical references, including the Cotton Patch Gospels, to frame housing as a spiritual mission. It highlights Habitat Charlotte’s current scale—thousands of volunteers, thousands of homes built, and leading international funding—while emphasizing its ability to unite people across political lines. Local examples such as Tom Cousins’ urban revitalization projects illustrate the broader impact. The speaker concludes with a call for the audience to become “God’s light” by participating in Habitat’s work, suggesting that each nail hammered is a smile from God.
Chapters
How you doing? I want to start off with a little bit of a test here today, see what you know about the history. Many of you do know this. Don't answer out loud, but A, B, C, or D? Who really got Habitat started? A, a peanut farmer. B, an agricultural scientist. C, a biblical PhD scholar. Or D, an ex-president of the United States. All right, how many say it's A, a peanut farmer? How many say it's an agricultural scientist? How many say it's a PhD Bible scholar? How many say it's an ex-president of the United States? You are so dead wrong. The first 3 are all right, and they're all about a guy named Clarence Jordan. I never met him, but I feel as if I would very much like to have known him. Clarence Jordan grew up in a small town in Georgia from a fairly well-to-do family. He got really concerned when he was a young man about inequities and inequality and racial tensions and wanted to do something about it and figured the best thing he could do was to, in his rural area, to study agriculture. So he went off to the University of Georgia, graduated in agriculture, and then he had this deep sense that the roots of poverty are not just economic, they're also spiritual. So he went off to Southern Seminary up in Louisville and he got a PhD in New Testament. And along with all of those things, he started a little farm in 19— around 1942 down in Americus, Georgia called Koinonia, the community, Koinonia Farm, and started to grow peanuts and teach people how to do that, and then started to grow pine trees. And then as that vision grew, sometime in the 1940s, he had the idea of starting the Fund for Humanity. To provide decent housing for people. Well, Clarence Jordan passed on. When he did, a neighbor said down there in Americus, Georgia, "He be gone now, but his footprint is still here." Because he passed on that vision, his son describes his life from peanuts to partners. It was a young businessman who came to spend two hours with his wife to see. what was happening down there at that little Koinonia community. He stayed and moved forward and got Habitat started. I had lunch at the Delphi Star Services here several years ago with another young businessman from Minnesota who'd had a career with Best Buy. He said, I feel that God has something else for my life. That was Jonathan Reckford, who now is the president of Habitat for Humanity. From peanuts to partners, it kept growing and it kept going on. He be gone now, said the neighbor, but his footprint is still here. One of the ways his footprint is still here is that Clarence Jordan was also a translator of the New Testament. Have any of you ever read the Cotton Patch Gospels? It's a real folksy translation in everyday language, kind of country language. This is one of his translations of something Jesus said. They were going along the way and someone said, I'll live your life regardless of where it takes me. Jesus replied, foxes have dens, birds of the sky have nests. The Son of Man has nowhere to hang his hat. Well, Jesus had no habitat. For him, Jesus inspired Clarence Jordan. Here's another translation. He put another comparison before them. The God Movement is like a mustard seed Which a man planted in his garden. While it's the smallest seed there is, yet when it's full grown, it's one of the largest plants. In fact, it becomes a bush big enough for birds to build their nests in it. From peanuts to partners, from a little seed down in Americus, Georgia, to what is now a global movement, and you and I have the privilege of being part of that. From peanuts to partners here in Charlotte. A group of churches, 1983, including some young men, How old were you, Pete? 35. 35 years old. And they picked up that verse in the Bible which is on the very bottom of the front of your program. Take a look at it. From Jeremiah 29:7, the Lord said to his people— they were in exile in Babylon— seek the welfare of the city and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Seek the welfare of the city. Pray the Lord for it. And a group of folks here 30 years ago said, we need to pray for the welfare of our city, and we need to do something about it, and why not start with housing? And eventually all of that grew into Habitat. Pray for the welfare of the city where you live. You know, when I was growing up, there was a little spiritual we used to sing. Some of you remember this. This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. I'm just a passing through. Steve, you remember that? This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. The Lord was saying to his people, you may be passing through to another place, but right now you're living where you are. And the Lord is saying to us, seek the welfare of the city where you are here right now. And that's what Habitat is certainly doing. Think of what's growing out of that seed right here. 1,200 houses. I believe that's right. More than that maybe now. 5,000 to 6,000 volunteers, all of these thousands of people. And something you may not know is that Habitat Charlotte ties what comes in outside of the United States. And I think this deserves special note. Habitat Charlotte is now number one in the country in terms of funds going outside the United States to build homes in other parts of the world. That deserves an amen, a clap, a hallelujah, or— Amen. What a happy day. We can sing that again too. I asked Frank the other day, why Habitat? Why do you think it matters so much? Well, houses, obviously, for people who have a place, a decent, good place to live, to own, and to be their place. But think of the other ways. Frank said, how many things are there in our city which draw people from not only the 7 churches but so many other churches in so many parts of the city together? When I worked with my brother in our crusades years ago here in Charlotte and other places, it was one of the few things that would draw churches together to say, we can stand together to say what we believe. There aren't that many things around now, but Habitat is one of them. Frank said something else. He said, I think a lot of people can get behind Habitat because whether you're more conservative or more liberal in your social leanings and convictions, You can be for Habitat. If you're conservative, you can say, what can be better than people having a stake in their own house, putting some of their own capital into it? And if you're on the liberal side, how can we seek justice in a better way than providing homes for people and to have a global impact? You know how Frank got involved in this? He had a career, as many of you know, I think after Harvard with John Crosland, and then with his own company. And then did you know he has been studying for the ministry? And he was sitting at home going to school at Union Seminary a few years ago, of all things, with his Hebrew Bible, learning to translate Hebrew. I asked him today if he could translate Jeremiah 29:7 for us today. He said, I don't have my Hebrew Bible here. But he was sitting there doing that and a call came at that very moment saying, would you consider heading Habitat in Charlotte? He said, now if that's not a call, I don't know what is a call. So here we are today to hear in many ways a call to us to say let's be part of this as it moves from peanuts to partners and even further on. I have another friend who's very Concern about housing. My friend Tom Cousins in Atlanta, Georgia, many of you will know Tom, one of the great builders and entrepreneurs and developers. Tom's been behind a project that a lot of you know about called Eastlake, around the old country club which was so run down in Charlotte. The area around it has so deteriorated, the average age of the grandmothers was 33. 80 to 90% of the kids were in trouble. And Tom Cousins and the people in that area, Shirley Franklin, who's the mayor of Atlanta, had the vision of changing that in many different ways, including housing for working people right in the midst of people who couldn't afford it. Transformation has been wonderful. It's been national attention. But the interesting thing is, do you know how that started for Tom Cousins? He said, I had— he said, I don't know whether I'd call it a dream, Or a vision one day, and he said, as if I saw God looking down on the city of Atlanta and shaking his head and saying, why can't my people work together down there to make something happen in Atlanta? And something has happened and is happening, and it's happening here. I don't know how God's going to call you or me today, but here's some more words Of the Cat in the Cotton Patch version. You all are the world's light. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Have you ever heard of anybody turning on a light and covering it up? No. Don't you fix it so it will light up the whole room or the whole city? Well then, since you are God's light which he's turned on, go ahead and shine so clearly that when your conduct is observed, it will plainly be the work of your spiritual Father. Peanuts to partners. Let's join together again in even a bigger way. Instead of seeing God shaking his head, maybe we can make God smile. How would that be? That's right. I think every nail, every house, God smiles. And maybe people who come to Charlotte or visit here or live here will say, you know, this is a special city. They really want to take care and make sure everybody has a place to live. And they might even say, maybe God lives here. Thank you. I'm going to wear this throughout the day.
