A ministry for life's second half

Wes and Judy Wick founded YES! in 2008 out of a conviction that the second half of life is a calling, not a slowdown. Both designated U.S. chaplains, they’ve devoted their ministry to helping churches engage their 55+ adults in meaningful, intergenerational service.

Since starting YES!, they’ve experienced the empty-nest jolt, the joy of welcoming three daughters-in-law and one son-in-law into their family, and grandparenting jubilation with thirteen grandchildren. With vocational backgrounds in church ministry, college administration, and consulting — and most importantly, with God’s prompting — they jumped in with all four feet to start this interdenominational ministry.

Through speaking, writing, and training, they’ve created resources used by churches across the country, including the 8-part Finishing Strong! series (in English and Spanish), the HALF TWO book, the YES! podcast, and live webinars.

Here’s a quick overview of the core values emerging from their first eighteen-plus years of YES!

YES! has been blessed with a capable board of directors, at times spanning up to five or six decades. Current board members are in their early twenties to seventies.

Churches commonly end up with closed-circle patterns where only older adults focus on older adults, and those younger are rarely invited into this leadership mix. The truth is, we know young people need us — but do we realize how much we need them?

Often to our own detriment, we try sailing through this second-half journey on our own. We know our own needs and assume younger generations are completely absorbed with their own lives and peer group.

YES! spotlights the biblical principle from 1 Corinthians 12 that the whole body needs to show concern for each part, and each part needs to concern itself with the whole. By design, generations don’t experience wholeness by themselves! Broader generational perspective and skill sets can help bring generations together and breathe new life into second-half adult ministry.

Serving together on this board, we’ve had single adults, husbands, wives, widows, widowers, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and (adult) children and grandchildren of living parents and grandparents. We love the variety of lenses and unity of purpose in a cause we all believe in:

God is not finished with adults over fifty-five! He loves every generation! And He wants us to work together to make disciples who, in turn, make disciples.