When Claude and Cheryl Hurtt joined the International Mission Board’s master’s program for volunteers over age 50, they fully intended to make international missions a lifetime ministry. So they sold their house, their cars and most of their possessions.
Five years and three South American mission assignments later, the Hurtts haven’t changed their minds. But when they’re on stateside assignment, they’re able to enjoy many of the comforts of home in the missionary house owned by First Baptist Church, Trussville. The church established the house in the late 1990s when it bought three pieces of property adjacent to the church. The Hurtts have special ties to First, Trussville, as they were members there before going on the missions field.
“It’s wonderful to be around people we love and who love us,” Claude Hurtt said. “When we come in, the home is completely furnished, down to a carton of milk in the refrigerator. All we have to bring are our clothes.”
“When we sold our house (before going to South America), we donated lamps and other items to the mission house,” said Cheryl Hurtt. “So when we walk through the front door, we really feel at home.”
While the Hurtts have especially close ties to First, Trussville, National Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) maintains a nationwide database of housing available to missionaries while they’re on assignment in the United States.
“We have 524 sponsors and 568 houses available across the nation,” said Linda Peek, WMU’s missionary housing coordinator. “Of those, 37 are in Alabama.”
According to Peek, WMU has coordinated housing since 1990. She furnishes information and assistance to churches, associations or individuals interested in providing missionary housing. She also provides listings of housing to missionaries via a password-protected area of the WMU Web site.
In most cases, missionaries make arrangements directly with sponsors. “However, I may do the reservations if a missionary is in a high-security area or has a medical emergency requiring a house in a specific location immediately,” Peek said.
“Most churches and associations provide the houses rent-free and completely furnished, down to towels and dishes,” she said. “Although most sponsors ask missionaries to pay all or part of their utilities and phone bills, none ask true rental prices.
“While career missionaries receive a stipend while they’re home and it’s no problem to pay for utilities, it would be a hardship to pay rent and completely furnish a house every few years,” Peek said.
Some missionaries, like the Hurtts, book the same mission house when they’re home. “However, some stay in a different house each time they are stateside,” Peek said. “For instance, they may have a child attending college in Texas, and so they want to spend their time in Texas. Seminaries and universities are also good drawing cards. Fort Worth is our most asked-for location, and I could use more housing in Richmond, Chicago and the Northeast.”
Many missionaries, however, book housing close to friends and family. Craig Carlisle, pastor of Central Park Baptist Church, Decatur, said that a mission house had been a dream of his for some time.
“There are 10 families from Morgan County who are serving on the missions field, so I felt the need was there,” Carlisle said. “Then two years ago, Miss Ruby Preston, one of our members, died. She left her home to the church. Johnny Johnson, another dedicated member, rallied support for making it a mission house instead of selling it. We totally redecorated and refurnished it. It’s been a wonderful project for our church.”
Sheila Centers, housing coordinator for Faith Family Fellowship, Spanish Fort, said the church remodeled its missionary house this spring. The house was left to the church in 1961, but rented until 1989. It’s in constant use, with Mobile’s hospitals, schools and stores only a few miles away and the Gulf beaches nearby.
“We knocked out walls, painted and put in new furniture, carpet and fixtures,” Centers said. “Each Sunday School class had a room to fix up, so they donated money or raised it through yard sales or other projects. Almost everybody in the church got involved.”
JoAnn Beduerftig and her husband, Paul, Alabama residents now serving in Dresden, Germany, stayed in Faith Fellowship’s house both before and after the remodeling efforts. “The renovation was wonderful!” she said. “Everything was so new and clean.”
“We wanted to make our mission house an attractive, inviting home for the missionaries who live here,” Centers said. “One couple who stayed here, assigned to Mongolia, had been living with their two children in a hut about the size of a laundry room.”
Such housing not only is an economic boon to missionaries, but also brings the reality of missions home to members of sponsoring churches. While few churches place any requirements or demands on their visitors, most missionaries are happy to speak to Sunday School classes and other church organizations.
The houses also offer a direct way of saying “thank you” to Southern Baptist missionaries.
“We owe it to them,” said Centers. “Many of them are putting their lives on the line to serve.”
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