Joel Furrow is Executive Director of The Root Cellar, a Christian ministry established in 1984. It seeks the social, economic, and spiritual wholeness within an impoverished neighborhood of Portland, Maine. In 2009, The Root Cellar opened an additional site in Lewiston, Maine. The Root Cellar became a Local Leadership Foundation in 2015.
At The Root Cellar, Furrow has overseen development of initiatives to address needs within the surrounding neighborhoods by recognizing the God given dignity of each neighbor and welcoming them not as only someone in need, but as one who is also needed. The Root Cellar serves 1,500 to 2,500 neighbors annually at each site. It offers initiatives such as Abundant Food Shares, Youth Mentoring, Lew Crew Teen Work Experiences, and English Language Learning.
Before joining The Root Cellar’s ministry in Lewiston in 2012, Furrow implemented and directed the Bridging the Gap Juvenile Diversion program in Boston, serving nearly 100 juvenile offenders annually. Early in his career, Furrow was impacted greatly by work within refugee communities in Amman, Jordan and Clarkston, Georgia. He discovered God’s great love for these vulnerable communities, as well as the gift that refugees and immigrants offer to a welcoming city.
He is a graduate of Liberty University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Religion with a concentration in Intercultural Studies, Islam, and Arabic. Furrow and his lovely wife Hilary live in Wales, Maine, raising 3 beautiful, wicked-smart daughters.
You can contact him at joel@therootcellar.org and follow him on Twitter, @joel_furrow.
