Joe Gatlin

Joe and Nancy Gatlin have been building Christian communities, living in communal households, and starting and pastoring church fellowships in Chicago and Waco, Texas, since they were married in 1974.

Nancy, a true third-third culture child, was born in Costa Rica, Central America, and grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay in Central America. She has been a teacher of all elementary grades, a pastor of bilingual congregations, and organizer of many church and community efforts including peace vigils, immigration support groups, and recently a community prayer garden.

Joe, born in Waco, met Nancy at Oklahoma Baptist University. During their Chicago years he completed seminary and law degrees, served as associate director of a community dispute resolution center, and directed a neighborhood-based housing development group. He served as the founding executive e director for Waco Habitat for Humanity and then held various regional and national positions for Habitat for Humanity for more than thirty years until he "jubilated" (the English adaptation of the Spanish word for retirement) in May, 2018.

Nancy and Joe have traveled through most of the countries of Central and South America, including an overland road-trip from Chicago to Uruguay in 1979 and a bus trip from Waco to Guatemala and El Salvador in 2002. They have made about 16 trips to visit the Valle Nuevo community in El Salvador.

They were blessed to provide direct care for their parents in their declining years. Joe's mother lived the last nine years of her life in their home. After Nancy's mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, her parents built a house directly across the street. One of Nancy's and Joe's greatest joys is to have their two daughters, two sons-in-law, and a grandson living within a block of their home in Waco. They are also greatly blessed by the 60 or so people of Hope Fellowship, almost all of whom live within a ten minute walk of their home.