NPR Lauds LCMS WR-HC

One doesn’t normally expect National Public Radio to laud the activities of organizations generally perceived as conservative. Imagine, then, my surprise when I discovered a glowing report on NPR, praising LCMS World Relief and Human Care for its largely successful efforts to provide affordable housing through the Nehemiah Project.

The report commends Nehemiah homes' initial affordability and the home-buyers' pride of ownership not only in their houses but also their community. However, it especially singles out the extremely small loan default rate, even in the current economy, crediting Nehemiah's "own layer of tough income guidelines and credit checks" which not only protect the project but also prospective buyers.

I thank God for those in WR-HC — including Executive Director Matt Harrison, the Atlantic District of The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, and others elsewhere who have established and fostered several successful projects of this nature.

Read Low-Cost Brooklyn Housing Sees Few Foreclosures or follow the link to listen to the story.

My next post will be a fairly brief essay on these past two days I've spent learning from the Rev. Harrison. At our pastors' conference, he went beyond his accustomed Mercy Journeys in order to unwrap the history and to offer hope for the future of the LCMS.