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"I think the church has got to understand that if we're going to be relevant in the modern age, you've got to be creative in presenting the message. You can't just go to church, open up the hymnbooks and sing 'Just As I Am' for the 9,876th time. Our example is Jesus. Some of his most powerful teaching was by a pond, standing in a boat, talking about fish, talking about what was going on at that time. Habitat takes the Christian message and puts it out in a subdivision and says, 'Here's what Christianity is about. Let us get together and build houses for these people who are living in squalor so they'll have a good place to live, and you'll see the kingdom.'

"I'm very sincere about this: we need the evangelical influence in Habitat for Humanity. You can read all the literature about Habitat, and it is very plain that the Christian witness is very important. It is front and center in everything. But what has happened is that Habitat has become popularized. When I'm on the video of 33 flights a day of United Airlines going over to Europe, it's not just a bunch of evangelical Christians that are seeing the video. You've got people of every belief on earth watching the video; but that's a wonderful opportunity. It seems to me that evangelicals ought to see Habitat for Humanity as a vehicle for communicating the Christian faith.

"Habitat for Humanity invites the world to join us, and more and more of them are coming. When Oprah Winfrey gets on the tube and says, 'Let's build some Habitat houses,' thousands of people respond.

"Well, that's a glorious opportunity if we've got an organization in place thoroughly infiltrated with dedicated Christians. Then these people will hear the Christian message. But if all the evangelicals have retreated to the sanctuary and have locked up the doors and they're back there meditating on Jesus behind stained-glass windows, where is the witness?"

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June 14 1999, Vol. 43, No. 7