Chad Martin. January 27, Have a comment on this story? Write to the editors. Include your full name, city and state. Selected comments will be edited for publication in print or online. Before that, they were co-managers at Highland Retreat, Bergton, Va. Peg Martin practiced nursing throughout most of those years. Recently, Chad Martin no relation met with them to reflect on their leadership, how it impacted their faith and their observations about service and care among neighbors in economic hardship.
Martin, who directs Chestnut Housing in Lancaster, Pa. LEE: I heard the term decades ago: holy restlessness. We had that restlessness for a couple of years leading up to the opening at SWAP in A sense that maybe a change was in the air. As a young adult I had spent three years working with a Mennonite service program in Mississippi, doing low-cost housing work.
I had done some construction over the years. I felt our gifts and abilities could maybe make a difference. CHAD: Do you think of a time when that sense of being neighbors clicked into place for you? LEE: I went through cancer treatment starting in We felt a lot of support from a lot of places. But I was blown away when local McDowell County people were very clearly concerned and supportive.
Financial gifts that surprised us. LEE: I have lived in a pretty middle-class American context, and that tempers how we read the Bible and how we pray. Reading scripture through the eyes of those who are economically disadvantaged makes a significant difference. The Beatitudes took on new life for me. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. Peg Martin with garden produce. How did your experience inform your view of that? At one point they had five locations. That was back when there was still some memory of and worry about the return of the military draft, and volunteerism was much bigger.
LEE: Volunteerism is down across the Mennonite church. SWAP began with the goal of helping youth experience and learn about service as a way of life. I am glad that youth groups are still a key part of Appalachia Build. I am a believer in short-term service done with orientation and education. CHAD: Getting to be in Kimball for a week, as a dad there with my daughter, I thought a lot about how differently the Mennonite service ethic is practiced today compared to when I was a youth.
