Dinner Ruined?

All is not well with Habitat for Humanity's founder, Millard Fuller. This balanced and thoughtful(!) AP story is rich enough for a longer entry. I'm a little pressed for time now, so here are some quick nibbles at it:

• When I was in college in the early '80s, Habitat was almost an explicitly Christian mission work in terms of its volunteer participants. The composition of the volunteer groups was ecumenical; but it was overtly Christian. Now Habitat projects are staffed by nearly any civic or religious group you would care to imagine. Its become a trendy charity, which in most cases, has only benefited the people Habitat tries to help.
• It is reasonable to assume that many people now in the management of Habitat might not necessarily share a common faith with Millard Fuller. It is possible they are motivated by no faith at all; but an entirely noble sense of secular altruism.
• The allegations of misconduct that Fuller is currently facing could have been avoided entirely if he had simply followed a rule that Billy Graham set for himself at the beginning of Graham's ministry: If you are in a public, high-profile ministry, never, EVER, allow yourself to be alone with a woman who is not a blood relative or your wife.
• I spent a week at Koinonia myself while I was in college. I went along with a touring choral ensemble. We did more than sing though. Koinonia was (is?) an actual working farm and we actually worked. The sense of fellowship and shared faith and desire to share it were tangible. Part of me was sorry to leave.
  
• I think Fuller's fears of Habitat "going corporate" are somewhat justifiable. He's worried:
  
  "that the board would hire a high-paid bean counter instead of someone with a "strong Christian commitment."
  
  "The danger, I fear, is that Habitat for Humanity will become a bureaucracy," he wrote. "If we lose the 'movement mentality' we will not go out of existence, but we will stagnate and become just 'another nonprofit' doing good work across the country and around the world."

The trick is to find a "bean counter" with a "movement mentality" and 2nd chapter of Acts faith. I know they're out there. But will Habitat's board go looking for them? I really hope so.