The Madness of March

Have we all gone mad?

Each year the NCAA delivers March Madness to America through the game of basketball. Earlier first-round upsets and more recent come-from-behind victories ushered in new levels of madness as winning teams now move on to the Final Four.

And, of course, in this media-frenzied presidential election year, it seems like every Tuesday has a Super prefix. Madness can just as easily describe our political climate. Everybody seems mad about something, and presidential candidates have tapped into the madness.

Between now and the November election, Ms. Clinton will turn 69, Mr. Trump 70, and Mr. Sanders 75.

Hillary, Donald and Bernie---three of the five final top contenders for president---are competing past the ripe age of 68. So much for our perception that America doesn't support the serving potential of older adults!

While hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in this trio of older presidential candidates, many churches sadly fail to capitalize on the serving potential of capable older adults sitting in their pews.

In spite of glaring examples to the contrary, we act as though adults over 68 almost universally want to retire, travel and fade comfortably into the sunset. We expect little beyond their tithes. And, yes, we sometimes encounter stiff resistance when trying to open older hearts to higher expectations. It goes both ways.

Let's return quickly to the more playful subject of basketball, adding a couple courtside reflections related to second half adult ministry.

The second half is often special and the most exciting. It's not enough to compete well in just the first half. Many games are decided in the closing minutes of the game. Let's perk up and move to the edge of our seats, and see what God will do with adults in life's second half. The game is far from over.

Finally, have you noticed how a full court press demands buy-in from every defensive player on the court? At YES! we see the need for all generations to share in inspiring each generation. Without the support of the whole team, a full court press breaks down quickly. 

We need all five generations showing concern for seasoned adults, and these adults need to spread their special seasoning to every generation. We come up short (literally, vertically challenged) when each generation fends for themselves. Horizontal, peer relationships are important, but they are just one part of God's overall game plan for us.

Allow this final buzzer three-point shot to sink in as the closing minutes of March swirl around us: 

1. Let's value older adult potential within our churches---not just in presidential politics!
2. Let's treat the second half like it really matters---not just in basketball!
3. Let's engage a full court press---with help from all generations!

Uniting the Charlie Browns

Celebrations of Advent are over. It’s now time to invent 2016. While we don’t have full control over how things will look by this time next year, we can see visions and dream dreams.

Sometimes we’re not quite ready to put the past behind as we go into the New Year. Some of us may still be surrounded by remnants of Christmas.

I struggled a bit in taking down our Christmas tree. It was still healthy, tall and vibrant, full of good memories and had a story of its own. But it was time.

If you saw our tree, you probably wouldn’t immediately associate it with a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Living in a redwood forest, it’s tough to settle for an artificial tree or pay for a pricey tree.

A few years ago I was determined to use a small redwood tree on our property for our Christmas tree. But redwoods are pretty sparse in the branch department. Our Jewish neighbor Michael, also frugal, saw my predicament and suggested that I tie two trees together. It was a huge improvement, but we still had a Charlie Brown rival that first year.

We have since upped the ante, and this time tied seven trees together. It was still a bit whimsical, but it was homegrown and had its own special beauty.

We’ve learned that when you tie enough Charlie Browns together you can have a healthy looking tree. Freshly cut and immediately placed in water, these trees have greater longevity than a tree you’d buy off the lot.

We’ve also learned that having just a base for our seven flimsy trees is inadequate. For this invention to succeed, we needed a secure connection above as well. By tying the tips to a bolt in the ceiling, our small cathedral of redwoods stood tall and secure---as one.

And, of course, we can’t help but reflect on how healthy a family, church or ministry can look when we stand together in unity. We may singularly feel inadequate, but when enough of us Charlie Browns get together, look out! We’ve got something beautiful.

Moving on from the past, let’s stay grounded, nourished and securely connected above---as we unify to invent 2016!

Lovin' Late Bloomers

I don't know if I had ever tasted persimmons before. They showed up unexpectedly at our doorstep.

No, it wasn't a gracious neighbor dropping them by. They literally fell out of the sky.

Let me back up a bit. We live in a redwood forest in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's beautiful but sometimes shade from the towering trees can be a bit overpowering. It starts getting dark pretty early at our home. A late afternoon drive into town, just ten minutes away, can feel like we've suddenly changed time zones, moving from the shadows into brilliant sunlight.

So earlier this year, being a thoughtful, problem-solving husband,  I surprised my wife, Judy, by cutting down four large deciduous trees on our property while she was away---to help provide more sunlight and to create a better view of our 200-foot redwoods. (We couldn't see the forest for the trees.)

As you might already guess, this was one of those thoughtful surprises that wasn't appreciated to the degree I was hoping. Summer solstice and climate change teamed up for some unseasonable heat. Judy immediately began cherishing the good ol' days of more filtered sunlight.

Some of our shade plants also protested, making it clear they too weren't ready for more sunshine.

(Be patient. Don't lose sight of the big picture. We can plant some new trees that will grow back in twenty years to cover my mistake. What's the big deal!?) 

Okay, enough of the downside and my failure to consult with the love of my life. We did have one occupant on our property that welcomed the new burst of sunshine. A sweet, unexpected surprise came in the form of a formerly barren fruit tree---now bearing persimmons!

Never Knew What We Had

We've lived in our current home for 17 years. One of our favorite deciduous trees stands right outside our kitchen door. Great shape, beautiful green leaves, lush, healthy. We never complained about it not producing fruit because it never even crossed out minds that it was a fruit tree. We just appreciated its other qualities.

But once the aforementioned tree-cutting invited more sunshine in, this particular tree surprised us with its deeper, unique, God-ordained purpose: producing persimmons.

Hmmm. It's not much of a stretch to make some spiritual applications. Know any likable, older someones who have yet to discover they were created to bear fruit? Are we as leaders quietly casting large shadows by acquiescing to low late-season expectations---also allowing former bearers of fruit to presume their days of harvest are over?

High-Hanging Fruit

We hear a lot about the practicality of going after low-hanging fruit. "Go for the easy ones." But in this case I didn't really have a choice. The fruit was all hanging high. It took a tall ladder and a telescoping pole pruner to reach the fruit. I then played a quick-handed game of snip and catch. (For the record, I was 11 for 11 until my streak ended. Then a few plummeting persimmons slipped through my bare-handed grasp. Next time I'll use a baseball glove. :)

Truth is, some of our folks are producing fruit that we as leaders may not easily see or affirm. It may not be of the apple and orange variety that we're used to, and some of it may even seem a bit far-flung, out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Some good fruitfulness is getting overlooked beyond the carefully packaged fruit baskets of our traditional programs of ministry.

Celebrate fruit-bearing wherever it may occur!

We understand how going after low-hanging fruit builds confidence, critical mass and momentum, but let's be honest. There is a lot of high-hanging fruit that we're completely ignoring, and it won't necessarily be reached through formally sanctioned programs of our church.

Some of our adults are going after this high-hanging fruit outside the boundaries of our established programs, and they need to be highlighted and applauded. It counts for the kingdom!

We're told only 1.2% of new Christian converts are over the age of 60, also moving older adults themselves into this hard-to-reach category. This high-hanging fruit can cause some church leaders to wonder if it's worth the effort. But the rewards are eternal and can lead to much more fruit-bearing and life change than our feeble minds can fathom.

December Harvest

Surprisingly, our vine-ripe persimmons are perfectly ripe and very tasty---even though we waited until mid-December to pluck them. It's a strange time of year to be harvesting fruit, but there they were, still clinging to the branches after an early frost helped strip nearly every leaf. Waiting patiently after all these years and late into the season, they were finally picked and appreciated.

I confess that I had some doubts as I looked up at those high-hanging persimmons. Had I waited too long? Will the fruit still be good? Will the risk of climbing a tall ladder be worth it, or am I just pursuing dying, mushy, overripe fruit?

We know some folks in their later seasons of life seem destined to die fruitless, never discovering their greater purpose in life. Sadly, perhaps we and other leaders aren't expecting anything special to emerge from their lives. Their spiritual fruit-bearing potential hasn't even crossed our minds. But they, like our late-harvested persimmon tree, deserve our understanding and enthusiastic support of who they were meant to be.

Their fruit may show up in higher branches, seemingly out of reach or out of touch with the mainstream. A bit more effort and ingenuity may be needed to steward this less common fruit---to keep it from wasting away on the vine and to avoid being bruised by indifference and unnecessary hard landings.

This can be especially true in the December of life when it's unseasonably late, cold, and difficult---when people are at risk of becoming overly ripe if put off too long.

Thanks, Lord, for this unexpected new gift of persimmons from an older tree we thought was barren! May it remind us of our urgent calling, as we trust You for more late-season December miracles.

These were his instructions to them: "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." Luke 10:2 (NLT)

Polar Opposites

Polar opposites.

The more we dig into Scripture, the more we see the value of connecting polar opposites.

·      Jesus said that it was the sick needing a touch from the Great Physician.

·      The rich young ruler was asked to give his riches to the poor.

·      The free are instructed to visit the imprisoned.

·      By Jesus’ example Christians are encouraged to hang out with sinners. Light needs to go into dark places.

We are also struck by how much we benefit from these connections. It’s not just a one-way proposition.

When the disciples tried to shove the kids away, Jesus didn’t start talking about how much the kids needed the disciples’ wisdom in their lives. He talked about how much they needed to become like children.

One of the hallmarks of YES! is our passion to see generations connect in more meaningful ways. Younger and older, polar opposites, moving from avoidance or dutiful tolerance to hearts that deliberately engage and love those at the opposite end of the age spectrum.

That’s one of our prayers as we finish this eighth year of YES! We thank you for your engagement in living a life intent on pleasing Him---as we continue this journey together.

May we finish 2015 well and look for opportunities to touch those far different from us.

And may the One who left the security of heaven and took on mortal flesh inspire all of us to reach outside ourselves.

Merry Christmas!

Overanalyze and Paralyze

Do you ever get stuck in an analytical mode, something not so fondly labeled the paralysis of analysis?

We recently enjoyed lunch with ministry leader Lars Dunberg, moving full speed ahead at the age of 71. (We featured Lars earlier this year in a podcast.)

We appreciate Lars’ refusal to let procrastination stand in the way of ministry. The ministry he directs, ServeNow, is followed by the tagline “Procrastinate Later.”  :)

On over-waiting for the right moment, we love the advice of Seth Godin:

You might be waiting for things to settle down. For the kids to be old enough, for work to calm down, for the economy to recover, for the weather to cooperate, for your bad back to let up just a little... 

The thing is, people who make a difference never wait for just the right time. They know that it will never arrive.  Instead, they make their ruckus when they are short of sleep, out of money, hungry, in the middle of a domestic mess and during a blizzard. Whenever.  As long as whenever is now.

Does this mean we ignore God’s timing and throw our analytical skills out the window? Of course not.

We want things done right, and we want to do the right things. It’s more of a question of getting unstuck.

Perseverance starts with consecration. Once we’re committed, confidence can grow and release momentum.

You’ll note in the last line of the YES! mission statement below that ‘serving’ is flanked by prayer and making disciples. With the Great Commission from the lips of Jesus as our end goal, we have an open door to communicate with Him now through prayer, asking for more specificity and boldness.

With help from all generations
YES! inspires adults over fifty
to become more intentional
in praying, serving and making disciples.

It’s important that we take steps now to follow His voice, leave procrastination and perfectionism in the dust, and do the next right thing. 

Move While Settling!

                Disheartening Downsizing Denial

There’s a whole lot of denial associated with getting older.

My wife Judy and I were flabbergasted in our early fifties when offered a senior discount for the first time---totally uncalled for! Savings we’d later grow to appreciate and ask for---but in the moment we weren’t quite ready.

When the check-in nurse measured my height recently, she matter-of-factly confirmed my stature at six-foot-two. “Excuse me, that’s six foot three and a half,” I asserted.

She rechecked and confirmed her earlier prognosis. “Sir, your vertebrae are compressing.” 6-2 and I was blue . . . devastating news!

And I'm still in denial! I have an unsettled feeling about gravity subtracting from my physical height over time.

Okay, we’ve all seen cereal boxes with the standard disclaimer, “Some settling of the contents may have occurred during shipment.”

Let's flip that around . . . Some movement MUST occur during settling!

1.    Don’t settle for a weak prayer life.
2.    Don’t settle for weak or missing relationships.
3.    Don’t settle for a life that omits making disciples.

We see many Christian adults settling for less spiritually in their later years. Common enemies include laziness, timidity, weakness, and impatience.

Some argue that adults in retirement are now entitled to settle for less important aspirations. While our physical stature may lose an inch or two, God calls us to keep growing and moving in our spiritual aspirations. And what could be more invigorating than following His desires for us!

We’re drawn back often to a stellar verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (NLT):

Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.

It takes determination on our part to counteract spiritual settling. Let’s rely on God's power to help us fight that temptation---in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Yes, more settling of our contents may occur, but let’s not settle for less than God’s best. He wants to breathe new life into our dry, settling bones!

War Room: Finishing Well Starts with Prayer

You’ve probably seen the Geico commercial, pointing out that Pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker. His nose grows as he points to a lackluster gentleman in the audience and declares, “You have potential.”

When we talk about the untapped serving potential of older adults, we know some folks probably expect our noses to start growing as we speak.

We recognize the reality that most adults will face significant physical challenges as they grow older, and practically many serving “projects” grow out of reach.

But we also know spiritual strength can gush like a geyser in older hearts conspiring with God.

The recently released movie, War Room, is a powerful portrayal of the serving potential of an older adult with a heart for prayer and making disciples. We highly recommend it as a poignant YES! Young Enough to Serve illustration---a compelling reminder of the very real impact older, praying adults can have.

We love the idea of investing to help finish wells in third world countries. And we're also grateful for those strategically investing in YES! and other second-half adult ministries in America---seeing the need to dig deeper here at home, tapping into older adults finishing well!

There is a significant spiritual drought in our nation that can be addressed in part by elder adults becoming more intentional in praying and reaching out to younger generations. We love how this potential is boldly proclaimed in War Room and in this prayer from Psalm 71:18 (NLT): 

“Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.
Let me proclaim your power to this new generation,
your mighty miracles to all who come after me.”

Please pray that more pastors, churches and Christian leaders will embrace this old and gray potential more deliberately. The potential is very real but must become a greater part of churches’ strategies to reach younger generations.

And it must become a greater part of our own lives, as we boldly surrender ourselves more fully to the Master.

We confess that we've been guilty at times of moving prayer outside its rightful first position:

"When all else fails, pray." 
"If you're not in a position physically to serve or financially to give, you can always pray." 

These have an element of truth, but they treat prayer as our last resort, not our first.

With prayer and financial support coming from those in nearly every decade of life, we're getting more opportunities to spread the mission of YES! throughout America---and gratefully, our noses aren’t growing! :)  

Thank you for standing with us and making a spiritual difference in the lives of those around you.

With help from all generations
YES! inspires adults over fifty
to become more intentional
in praying, serving and making disciples.

Slow Down. Save a Life.

Is efficiency over-rated?

In our fast-paced, tech-saturated culture, we hear a lot of older adults complain about young people over-using their smart phones. And obviously, we who are older, supposedly wiser, and a bit less tech savvy can be just as guilty and addicted.

FaceTime replaces in person face-to-face; text messaging replaces phone calls; and emailing replaces letters formerly written in the now-almost-extinct cursive script. By defaulting to our virtual communication methods, life in this digital age can begin to lose some of its richer texture, context, and personality---like touch, voice intonation, and handwriting.

While broadening our communication range and improving access, some of our tech choices can reduce face-to-face conversations---not only between friends but with others as well.

Because we live ten minutes outside town, I find myself banking and shopping more electronically. And even when in town I opt for the ATM rather than stepping inside a bank. This "efficient" behavior results in fewer relationships with bank tellers and store clerks---fewer opportunities to let the love of Christ shine in the marketplace of life.

For decades our neighboring state of Oregon has helped prod some of us toward meaningful interaction with humans: gas station attendants who pump our gas, clean our windshield and even check our fluid levels. (It’s illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.)

On our recent trek to Mexico, our efficiency-minded team members wondered why we were mixing concrete by hand instead of using a hydraulic mixer. Truth is, many of us needed the exercise, and we enjoyed the camaraderie and team building as we worked together productively, albeit slower than a noisier, automated approach.

And here I am, communicating with you via the world wide web, trying my best to keep it real and personal, while realizing it's too often impersonal and one-way. (Hint: Feel free to comment below!)

A golden opportunity for me to talk face-to-face with the best dad-in-law ever. And I'm sure we weren't talking about technology!

We do want to be good stewards of our time, and we won’t give up on efficiency. But we want to be careful too that we’re not shielding ourselves from opportunities to share Christ’s love in a more personal way.

“Slow Down---Save a Life.” This roadway sign  can apply to our spiritual lives. Significant opportunities for touching lives can show up on the less efficient, slower path.

So the question we need to ask ourselves more often is not "What's fastest, most efficient?" but "How can we best glorify Christ? They are not always one and the same.

“Slow down. Take a deep breath. What’s the hurry?
    Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway?
But you say, ‘I can’t help it.
    I’m addicted to alien gods. I can’t quit.’

Jeremiah 2:25 (The Message) 

School's Out for Summer . . . School's Out Forever!

Remember back to the euphoric days of school getting out for summer?

We don’t remember drifting into boredom, but sometimes our summer “freedom” didn’t quite match up to the hype and expectation after a few days. We traded classroom imprisonment with the yoke of a summer job or other responsibilities.

We hear similar reports from people retiring. Lots of hype and enchantment going in, but sometimes our enraptured stereotypes are not all they’re cracked up to be. Certainly, snapshots of retirement we see in TV commercials differ considerably from the reality of most people.

Our friend and ministry colleague John Coulombe from EV Free Church in Fullerton, California is deliberate about setting appointments with soon-to-be-retired individuals. He tells them to go have some fun and then to meet with him six months into retirement to talk about the rest of their lives.

He tells us most of these retirees call much sooner into retirement, asking to move their appointment to an earlier date. They are rested and restless.

Truth is, we’re not designed to live for extended periods of time without responsibility. What appears pretty inviting and life giving can end up becoming burdensome and unhealthy when overextended---especially when separated from active listening for the Lord’s continued guidance.

We're doing our best to help people catch a vision of what God may be calling them to in their later years of life.

We can’t answer that question with tons of specificity, but we know Scripture is full of wonderful stories of adults who acted with perseverance and courage---obediently loving God and people---until their last breath here on earth.

Your life stories and prayers are a huge part of our inspiration as we seek to equip and inspire others.

Embracing the May Days and Maydays!

The first of May can evoke images of a traditional May Day celebration, with young, costumed European children dancing around a maypole. At the other end of the stress scale, it can also conjure up voices with intense emotion, crying “Mayday! Mayday!”

 

How can such tranquility and distress reside in the same two syllables?

Well, the more intense expression has nothing to do with the merry month of May and derives from the French "m'aidez", pronounced "mayDAY," and literally means "help me."

E.B. White described the Mayday!/May Day push and pull this way:

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

Our only grandchild Ethan is not yet walking, but we can appreciate the tension between responding to the Mayday! calls around us vs. watching kids dance around a maypole.

You’d probably think we’d advocate for one over the other, but really both are important.

We shouldn’t be so quick to paint ourselves into a corner of all serve and no play. Kids who grow up without pleasant “May Day” kind of memories can lead to worrisome Mayday! calls later in life.

But some adults prefer to tune out desperate Mayday! cries for help because they’ve entered ‘the post-stress years', seemingly entitled to their lawn chairs and/or an endless stream of May Day parades.

We can also face the other extreme---immersing ourselves so heavily in urgent needs around us that we neglect God’s provision of rest. We can overlook ministry He wants to perform in and through us during more restful, quieter moments.

And what a gift when we discover real joy in serving others in both the urgent and not-so-urgent moments!

Gratefully we have a Living Guide, ready to show us the way:

““Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

— Matthew 11: 28-30 (ESV)

Team of the Decades: Who's on First?

I wrote this four Aprils ago---but want to call it back up from the minor leagues as this new 2015 baseball season starts.

Truth is, we still see a rift in many churches between the infield (under 60) and outfield (60+)---even when some outfielders are hitting the ball out of the park in their serving efforts.

While YES! specializes in coaching the outfield, we remain convinced it's a full-team effort that leads to the most heart-warming victory celebrations.

Wes

---

Click the picture to see and hear the corny, exasperating routine.

Abbott and Costello’s team lineup starts with "Who’s on First" and concludes with ‘I Don’t Give a Darn’ playing shortstop. Throughout this classic and corny routine, Abbott keeps hurling screwball names that his sidekick Costello can't quite catch.

It’s time we take you out to the ball game for another look at the American Church. But we're not buying you peanuts and Cracker Jacks! It's game time, and you're on the team. Suit up quickly for our Team of the Decades.

Positions already have associated numbers, which we'll correlate with each decade of life. Right off the bat, we’re assigning you to your field position based on your decade. (Try this at your next all-church picnic!)

Battery

Pitcher (1) - 1st Decade (age 0-9) "Tomorrow"
Catcher(2) - 2nd Decade (10-19) "Today"

Infield

First Base (3) - 3rd Decade (20-29) "Who"
Second Base (4) - 4th Decade (30-39) "What"
Third Base (5) - 5th Decade (40-49) "I Don't Know"
Shortstop (6) - 6th Decade (50-59) "I Don't Give a Darn"

Outfield

Left Field (7) - 7th Decade (60-69) "Why"
Center Field (8) - 8th Decade (70-79) "Because"
Right Field (9) - 9th Decade+ (80+) (sorry, nameless!)

Got the picture? Know your position?  Got your cleats and glove? We're ready to play.

Usually when baseball is used as a metaphor in the church, we're taken only around the base path. Too often the outfield is forgotten or ignored.

Part of our mission is making sure the outfield stays in the game.  Think about it.  How would your favorite team fare if we eliminated the outfield positions?

They may get lucky, survive, or even thrive an inning or two without a ball going beyond the infield. But chances are good they’d soon discover how necessary these players are, both on the field and at the plate.

Ironically, though, the two infield positions at the start and end of Abbott and Costello's routine are the ones in trouble. The American Church is currently losing the most momentum at First Base (third decade, 20-29) and Shortstop (sixth decade, 50-59).

Churches are not quite sure Who's on first anymore, and "I Don't Give a Darn" shortstops are leaving the stadium in record numbers.

Imagine for a moment that you’re an outfielder on a team where the first baseman and shortstop walk off the field.  You’re very concerned, right?  You know instinctively how important every position is to achieve victory.

It’s always a team effort.  You wouldn’t simply ignore the problem because your outfield position is well covered or because you're not the team's manager. The infield vacancies would have your full attention. 

What’s troubling is that we don’t often see a similar level of cross-generational concern within our churches, in either direction.  We’re insulated within our peer groups to the point we sometimes lose sight of the whole team. Or we trust it's someone else's job to look after the other positions on the team.

We may not even be aware Who the first baseman is, and We Don't Give a Darn that the shortstop is missing. We sometimes completely forget that there's a game going on or that we're playing to win (souls!).

At best, only twenty percent of Christ-centered churches in America are growing.  We know this doesn’t automatically translate to a 20 and 80 win-loss season for the Church, but shifts in our game strategy are needed---of Biblical proportions! Non-integration leads us down the basepath of disintegration.

We're on the winning team, but we’re not playing like World Series champs or even mature team players.

We need every generation to step to the plate.

We can’t settle for disharmony between the infield and outfield.  We can't move the fences in and pretend the outfielders don’t exist or have only a secondary role on the team.  Everyone must suit up and get on the field!

Coaching Advice for Team Leaders

• Clearly every position/decade needs to be resourced if you want to play with a full squad.  If you’re a leader called to help lead your team to victory, don’t settle for equipping only the pitcher, catcher and infield.  Or, by contrast, don’t resource only the outfield. 

• Make sure your church's budget reflects concern for the whole team. Treating outfielders or anyone else on your team as self-sufficient or unneeded will breed generational isolation and discord.

• Short on resources?  Instill in your players a deep passion and concern, not just for their own interests, but also the interests of others.  Your existing players are your best and most cost-effective resources to address gaps in your lineup. 

• Invest in enhancing relationships between the decades.  Don't pour ALL your prayer, time, energy, money and other resources into age-specific programs that keep generations separated.

• Encourage intergenerational leadership for all age-specific ministries, including your older adults. 

• For those of you working with adults in life’s second half, don’t lose sight of your call to equip believers for the work of the ministry.  The game is not over! Don't center all your activities around the dugout or the seventh inning stretch. Don't give credence to the notion that retirees belong perpetually to the off season.

• Keep your team on the field, and for heaven's sake, invest in their ministry potential!

• Work diligently to fill all vacant slots on your roster. Get the whole team involved, from oldest to youngest.

• Invite YES! to help you shift your strategy so that your part of the team is better integrated with the whole team.

We want to see ‘Who’ back on first and ‘I Don't Give a Darn’ adopting a better attitude and scooping up grounders at shortstop!

Collaborating with the infield, YES! helps church and ministry teams
inspire the outfield to serve and make disciples.

(YES! Mission Statement---NAPV---New American Pastime Version :)

Tip-a-Canoe and Titus 2

Although our kids might think otherwise, we weren’t around in 1840 when William Harrison of the Whig party became our ninth president. He was catapulted into office by a sagging economy and by a catchy campaign song, Tippecanoe and Tyler Too. 

Tippecanoe is a river in Indiana, the site of Harrison’s military victory over the Shawnee Indians in 1811. John Tyler, in his early fifties, was Harrison’s running mate—the younger candidate in the campaign jingle.

Harrison, our oldest elected president until Reagan, died at age 68 on just his 32nd day in office—not our finest example of being young enough to serve! He was better known for his presidential campaign rather than accomplishments in his shortest-ever, truncated term of office.

For campaign naysayers who had argued that Harrison was too old to serve, his early demise left them feeling quite prophetic.

Life expectancy then hovered around 40 years---so in reality 68 was pretty old. Average life span in America has since doubled.

While Harrison succumbed to pneumonia complications (and didn't necessarily die of old age), his death still points to the wisdom of intergenerational pairing in leadership. With the younger Tyler ready to step in, the Whig party's influence in the office of the President stayed afloat. Tippecanoe tipped, and the younger Tyler took the helm as our tenth president.

Leaving this short history lesson from a couple centuries ago, let’s paddle our canoes back a couple millennia. The new lyrics may seem a bit over-the-edge, but you’ll soon catch our drift as we venture on with ‘Tip-a-Canoe and Titus 2.’

Is Your Canoe Tipping?

Tipped canoes? We see a lot of churches with lopsided congregations, favoring an older or younger demographic. Turns out, the word “lopsided” is actually a nautical term, describing a tilt to one side. It favors one side and droops (like the ear of a lop eared rabbit) accordingly on that same side.

Wait! Is there anything inherently wrong with lopsidedness? As long as people are getting saved and nurtured in their faith, shouldn't generationally lopsided churches be celebrated? So what's the big deal if our canoes tip dramatically to the side of a particular age group? 'Whatever floats your boat', right?

(Before insisting I'm all wet, let's acknowledge that there are some strong, generationally lopsided churches reflecting the demographics of their communities. Intergenerational ministry may not always be practical, just as an intercultural mix is difficult to achieve in mono-ethnic communities.)

Sustainability is the most commonly mentioned concern for older congregations. Will the church still be around in ten to twenty years, or will the church simply dissolve as the elderly die off?

And on the younger side of the age wave, what's ahead for young adults when they begin celebrating birthdays beyond their church's targeted youthful demographic? Do they simply follow a new current to another church that targets a slightly older age group?

While sustainability is certainly a concern going forward, we're missing the boat if we think primary dangers lurk only years downstream. Truth is, the water can get pretty murky right now in our peer-only ponds.

Missing out on generation-to-generation dynamics (in both directions) should be a great concern for all of us. "I have no need for generations apart from my own" conflicts with how God designed His Church. This declaration of generational independence limits our perspective, development, outreach and joy in the present, both personally and corporately—while moving us closer to treacherous rapids for the ride ahead.

Balancing Our Boats

Although I haven’t spent much time in canoes, I did compete on the rowing team in college at Seattle Pacific. Rowing in a four- or eight-man shell is an ultimate team sport—with no superstars. In fact, standing out is not a good thing in races that demand synchronized movement and sustained power from every oarsman— first with the legs, then lower back and finally with the shoulders and arms to finish the stroke.

If a racing shell (or canoe) tilts to one side, you know instinctively something is wrong. Imbalanced vessels do not win races. And you don’t counterbalance by adding extraneous weights to the opposite side of these sleek shells. The source of the problem is usually human behavior.

In rowing, even a slight turn of the head creates imbalance. Heads and torsos must stay centered, with eyes fixed straight ahead, attentive to the commands of the coxswain. As the smaller framed leader without an oar, the coxswain is the only one facing in the direction the racing shell is headed. Guiding with a very loud and commanding voice, he or she keeps the team in rhythm and on course.  

Timing is critical. An oar submerged for an extra split-second can cause a disruptive event known as “catching a crab.” The oar blade gets stuck in the water, while the handle of the oar smacks the oarsman in the sternum. The racing shell quickly tips to the side of the submerged oar and embarrassingly sputters to a crawl, while teammates mutter unmentionable words in disgust.

In an instant, the prospects of winning that race all but disappear.

Titus 2

So, both Tippecanoe and tipped canoes demonstrate a clear need for balance, but who asked young Titus to come aboard?

Empowering Titus with coxswain-like authority, the Apostle Paul lays out a compelling racing strategy in Titus Chapter 2. His counter-intuitive, God-ordained plan offers balance. It helped avert generational lopsidedness in the Early Church, and we think this plan still has merit today. 

Paul the elder asks 
Titus the younger
to teach the older
—so that they can influence the younger.

With the rhythm of this back-and-forth, older-younger/younger-older leadership paradigm, no single generation dominates the boat from bow to stern, or from port to starboard. It’s truly a team effort, with everyone pulling together.

Notice the breadth of Paul’s language in Titus 2: WHOLESOME teaching, honoring God in EVERYTHING you do, bringing salvation to ALL people, TOTALLY committed to doing good deeds.

We easily recognize Paul's coaching toward wholehearted commitment. What we Americans seem to gloss over, though, is the intentional inclusion and interaction of each generation with other generations. Each generational part is engaged with the whole—with clear understanding that body parts are not meant to be whole by themselves!

Every generation has strategic value beyond its own generation. In mainstream American church contexts, we often emphasize wholesome and wholehearted love within generations but less commonly between them.

Titus 2 encourages us to strive for wholesome living within a wholesome church paradigm in which every generation impacts other generations. The older become role models for the young, and the younger Titus is instructed to offer both encouragement and spiritual challenge to the older, including admonitions to correct older adult behavior.

Staying in the Race

For several years in his twenties, one of our sons attended a young and vibrant church focused on Twenty Somethings. As he began to approach thirty, though, he started feeling a bit in the margins and out of sync.

Fortunately, church leaders began to recognize the shortsightedness of their over-emphasis on a singular age target—especially with a void of seasoned mentors. Wisely, they have since made a deliberate shift toward an intentionally intergenerational approach.

As we propel through life's seasons, many of our personal identities won't change (e.g. birthdate, birthplace, ethnicity, gender), but our age number, attaching like a barnacle to the side of our boat, keeps getting bigger until the day we die.

Church hopping/shopping every couple decades makes sense if we are called to be independent, self-centered, consumer-driven adults, looking for the perfect environment for each stage of life. In many ways our market-segmented culture can lead us down this tributary, but it conflicts with God's bigger picture and better plan.

As we grow older, we can't allow younger generations to become invisible to us, nor do we want to become irrelevant or invisible to younger generations. We all share an innate need to be valued and to glean from others—at every age and stage of life.

In spite of our generational differences, we're all in the same boat and benefit by winning this long race as a cohesive team. Let's move beyond the tipped canoes of generational favoritism or isolation, synchronizing our oars with the broader Christ-centered reach found in Titus 2.

“When we all pull together, how happy we’ll be! ”

We sang that song as kids—now let's practice it as adults!

Be a steady oar in your church, with your eyes fixed on Jesus—pulling not just for your side of the boat but for the whole team.

Let's row, row, row our boat together---courageously down the stream.

We Have Met the Enemy, and He is All Three of Us!

Have you ever noticed how quick we are to point out the faults of others, and how slow to admit our share of the blame for what's wrong in today's culture?

Take traffic for example. We readily complain about traffic when caught in a traffic jam. Do we realize that we are the traffic everyone else is complaining about?

And, it has become way too predictable on Capitol Hill. Republicans rant about Democrats, and Democrats rant about Republicans. The blame always seems to rest outside of ourselves.

My father-in-law, Don Popineau, was a residential house painter and an active deacon in his church before becoming an ordained minister in his early fifties. He jokingly told a group of pastors, "I've only been a pastor for three weeks, and already I hate deacons!"

Okay, so where are we headed with this conversation?

Approaching the end of our seventh year with YES! Young Enough to Serve, we've heard our share of rants about tech-tethered teens, not-so-sacred worship, theatre-like sanctuaries, and even about hipster pastors dressed in jeans, seemingly siding with the young while snubbing the old.

But let's take our punching gloves off for a moment and yank at the plank in our own eyes. Hitting the pause button on our rants, let's assume (or pretend) that WE in life's second half are our own worst enemy . . . all three of us: Me, myself, and I.

It's hard and out-of-character, I know, but we can do this!

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”

— Matthew 7:4

Enemy #1: ME-Mastered Retirement

We live in a nation that nourishes an entitlement perspective regarding vocational retirement---usually in our sixties, followed optionally by a life of leisure. Some ask, "Is retirement even biblical?"

Well, retirement shows up in just one verse, Numbers 8:25, where the Levites had to retire at age fifty. (Whew! . . . a big sigh of relief from those of you who are vocationally retired!) 

While vocational retirement is not taboo in Scripture, it gets very little press.

What is not supported biblically is spiritual retirement, freedom that becomes lazy or self-absorbed, or personal identity grounded in retirement. Not a single verse or chapter support that kind of retirement!

renewing purpose

Let's face it, retirement sounds a bit tired, and it's a lonely word in Scripture. Pop the word 'renew' in your Bible search engine, and you'll find it's much more popular and life-breathing!

We're called to liberty and renewal. Through love we get to serve one another---often even more when the eight-to-five grind ends.

Enemy #2: MYSELF-Mirrored Segregation

This enemy highlights how generationally isolated we've allowed older adults to become in our culture---and sometimes even more so in our churches.

Year-after-year we grow comfortable peer-to-peer, but too often miss out on relationships from generation-to-generation.

We're disturbed by the cocoon or silo approach we find ourselves in, often a picture of only older adults caring about older adults. Are we going to settle for being an amputated body part? (We can't change what we're resigned to tolerate.)

From Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 12, the whole body needs to show concern for each part, and each part needs to show concern for the whole body. The head cannot say to the foot, "I have no need of you."

Paradigms need to shift to re-align with Scripture. It's not just about becoming more culturally relevant, attractive and creative. These are byproducts of love flowing in a healthy way from generation to generation (in both directions!). The Bible makes it clear that God wants more than each generation fending for themselves.

Specialized life stage ministries have value, but peer-only approaches leave us with huge generational gaps, nonstick faith as students graduate from high school, and Teflon-coated church attendance as parents become empty nesters.

energizing hearts

We can move some hearts and change some lives peer-to-peer. But to really change a paradigm, we need reinforcements from outside that paradigm: younger generations, saints cheering us on from heaven, and, of course, the Holy Spirit.

We handicap ourselves when we ignore the help of younger, more energetic hearts and minds, along with wisdom from the great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us. Included in that cloud are poignant examples of the older Paul collaborating with the younger Timothy and Titus.

Helping churches build leadership teams with a broader age swath is a good starting point to combat enemy #2. YES! would love to help you broaden your team.

Enemy #3: I-Centered Salvation

Salvation from sin and the personal promise of eternal life are incredible. You and I as individuals are valued tremendously by God. The Father sent His only Son to redeem us.

But this wonderful redemption plan wasn't intended to stop with just us. We've been redeemed so that we might reach others.

Most American Christians admit to passing up the multiplication tables, opting for a quieter, noncontagious faith. For older, mature Christians who have experienced God's faithfulness over a lifetime, what a travesty when our light is hidden!

redeeming lives

If we're well grounded but not making disciples, what can we do?

One approach is conveniently convincing ourselves that evangelism and disciple-making are outside our wheelhouse of giftedness.

Another ill-advised approach involves beating ourselves up to the point where we add discouragement, guilt and timidity to our ineffectiveness.

The better approach is confessing our sin and asking God to help us become bolder and more deliberate in helping others in their faith journey. Then we look for situations where we can connect with those who are:

• without faith,
• new or weak in their faith,
• or lost in a faith without Christ.

Jesus needed to be around people like this in His life here on earth. We need these people in our lives too.

Candles lit only in bright sunlight make little sense. You are still young enough and bright enough to light up a dark room!

Me, Myself and I

So there you have it. Three temptations 'me, myself and I' might encounter in life's second half: becoming too retired, segregated or noncontagious.

A year ago most of us were blissfully unaware of Ebola and ISIS. They have since become familiar, formidable foes. Apart from praying, though, most of us will at best offer indirect help to those combatting these horrific enemies directly.

But with God on our side we can wage war directly with 'me, myself and I'. We know this enemy inside and out. And this too is a battle we must win!

“Lord, please penetrate our hearts and help us take the steps we need to move beyond ourselves—-so that our lives and the lives of others will be made whole. Amen.”

How Did It Get So Late So Soon?

You gotta love Dr. Seuss!

Some of you enjoyed having others read his books to you as children, then later reading his stories to your kids, grandkids and perhaps even great grandkids.

As more days, months and years pass, we’re pinching ourselves, "Can we really be this old already?"

So we may agree it's late, and late came faster than most of us expected.

The next question, "What are we going to do about it?"

We see a couple extremes in prevailing attitudes.

1. "It's late. Turn out the lights. The party is over."

2. "It's late. Turn up the lights. My remaining time is precious. Let's not waste these moments. God still has a powerful purpose for me in the twilight."

Usually there's quite a bit of good livin' between 'it's late' and 'you're done.' Sometimes we have to plow through major obstacles to remain purposeful. Things around us are changing rapidly, bodies are wearing down, and older adults can often start feeling abandoned.

It's easy to see why and how some people quit before the finish line, but God wants us to press on and give Him our best to the very end.

What Will You Build?

We love Psalm 71:18 (NLT):

“Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.”

The first half of the verse introduces life’s second half challenges. And the verse’s second half highlights purposeful, God-honoring interaction with younger, first-half generations as a key to the psalmist’s salvation.

We face an important choice. Build a generational wall and live out the old and gray years with the fear of abandonment. Or build a bridge that proclaims God’s glory to younger generations.

The psalmist had to push through some challenges - feeling old, gray, and abandoned - to get to his 'so late so soon' purpose.

Some of your 'new generation' purpose may sit across from you at the dinner table as grandkids or other young friends come to visit. Some might be in the lobby of your church or serve you across the counter at your bank, grocery store or restaurant. And some you may never know this side of heaven.

You have powerful, God-honoring life stories to share. Take time to communicate them now directly and through writing, video or audio recording---while you still have strength and clarity of thought.

Don't forget how much inspiration came into your life from those who were gone long before you arrived on the scene! (Like every Biblical writer, for instance!) 

Welcome Generation X

It’s hard to believe the last of the Baby Boomers turned 50 in December 2014! Generation X began joining the 50+ fraternity in January 2015!

Frankly, many churches with specialized ministries for adults on the plus side of fifty weren't quite ready for Boomers, and most are certainly not ready for Gen Xers. Again . . .

And, of course, fifty is not really SO late. And we don't believe there's a huge contrast between someone turning 50 in December 2014 vs. January 2015. These generational labels are our culture's attempt to make sense of generational nuances.

What we do believe is that connecting older generations with younger generations is key . . . for Gen X, Boomer and Builder generations. Let us proclaim His power to the next generations, His mighty miracles to all who come after us.

A Rapidly Aging America

America is aging and will be for the next several decades. (The 65+ population is on track to more than double between the 2010 and 2050 census, from just over 40 million to just under 90 million!)

Others can reinforce our getting stuck in the first half of Psalm 71:18 by isolating the aged and viewing aging only as a major personal and societal problem.

And we who are older also run the risk of viewing younger generations only through problematic lenses. This near-sighted myopia keeps us from moving beyond the first half of the verse---and makes us feel more and more obsolete, colorless and forgotten over time.   

But there is a better option. We can push through negative generational stereotypes and trust the Lord for fresh opportunities. Again, building a bridge to Part B:

“Proclaiming His power to this new generation, His mighty miracles to all who come after me.”

God’s awesome power has never depended on our age or physical strength. In fact, His power can become even more visible when the batteries on our aging clock run low.

It’s still early enough. And you are still young enough to make a mighty difference for Christ in the lives of others.

So late . . . so soon . . . and so many young lives yet to impact with God’s powerful love!

Cruising Through Icy Waters

Do you ever feel like you’re worshipping God on the deck of the Titanic?

While we’re ultimately heaven-bound and on the winning team, what about the ship on which we’re currently sailing? Is it going down? Is it enough to just have faith that our ship won’t capsize---despite some alarming downward trends? Will current victories get swallowed up in a cold sea of systemic failure?

The Church in most areas of the world is thriving, both spiritually and numerically.

But we’ve witnessed the Church of Europe sink, with only its cathedral towers now jutting above the surface.  Is a 21st century model of that proud and headstrong ship, with Americans on board, beginning to collide with another iceberg? If so, can God help re-direct our course?

Sinking on the Promises of God

We love standing on God’s promises, at least those mentioning future blessing. But what about promises with negative outcomes, those foretelling curses and destruction?  Not so much.

As the Titanic sank, the ship’s band continued to play hymns. Are we in concert with those humble, dedicated and competent band members, determined to hit all the right notes and soothe the passengers? Are we as well serving on a ship destined to sink to the ocean floor?

The last verse of the Old Testament (Malachi 4:6 NIV) promises that the land will be struck with total destruction if we neglect two critical turns of the heart. One turn is older-to-younger and the other younger-to-older. Both turns require that we move beyond our own generation.

1) Parents turning to their children---AND---2) children turning to their parents.

And it's not just deadbeat dads and prodigal sons needing a turn of the heart. While some need to rotate 180 degrees, there's room for all of us to continue pivoting.

When YES! Young Enough to Serve was birthed seven years ago, we noticed how so many American churches operate in models where only older adults seem to care about older adults. Youth ministry leaders were at the same time seeing the folly of peer-only relationships in youth groups.

Is the American Church short on: Resources? Generosity? Buildings? Worldwide outreach? Responses to social injustice? Generational specialization?  We don’t think so.

Do we pour boatloads of resources into children and youth ministry and a comparative thimble into ministry at the older end of the age spectrum?  Perhaps so.

But comparing investment buckets can lead us down a path of envy, losing sight of the bigger picture. It’s like the Titanic band director comparing his need for a trombone with how much the kitchen spent on fine china. Meanwhile the ship is sinking, and there’s a shortage of lifeboats.  

Which brings us to the purpose of this post. Generational investment buckets aside, we need to focus more intentionally on the love and concern flowing between generations. If churches and nations ignore this dynamic, the message is clear . . . the land will be cursed.

YES! provides leadership nationally---modeling and teaching collaboration between generations:

Collaborating with younger generations
YES! helps churches and ministries
commission adults over fifty
to serve & make disciples.

When generations collaborate, great things are possible (and sustainable!).

If generations remain insulated and indifferent toward each other, we’re back on the deck of the Titanic. The music may be playing, but the ship is going down. God keeps His promises.

Honestly the ocean of need is huge, and the YES! ripple is small but growing. We need to multiply our team, intervene earlier, strengthen training resources and reach captains at the helm. We can’t just settle for more soothing hymns on the deck.

As Christians we are called to love, serve and multiply both inside and outside our peer group. For too long we’ve invested heavily in generational division---with unintended consequences. 

Appealing to the Younger Side of You

Did you know that you have a younger side and an older side?

Your younger side tends to be more playful and curious, your older side more serious and introspective.

Actually, I just made that up. Don’t believe it for a minute! I'm highlighting how easily we can slip into positive 'young' stereotypes and comparatively negative ‘old’ stereotypes in our American culture. We view ‘young’ as more fresh and alive and ‘old’ as being less fun and more isolated.

Truth is, you have a right and left side of your brain, and they are precisely your age. Neither side is younger or older, and both sides of you can be very engaging!

On the other side of the Pacific, Eastern cultures might characterize your younger side as “immature and impulsive”, while the older side of you “oozes with wisdom and is worthy of honor.” 

So, to experience the best of both worlds, we could recommend that you spend your childhood in America and eventually retire in Asia. :)

Without switching residences, though, we think it’s possible to experience the best of both worlds.

Look for the best in those younger than you

Appreciate their youthful spontaneity and curiosity. Try emulating what you love about them, no matter what your age. As you grow older, don’t let go of these positive qualities. With God at work in you, you are young enough to be fresh and stay fresh.

In the New Testament (Titus 2) Paul told Titus to teach older men to live lives (in the present) that are worthy of respect.  As we get older, we may think our advancing age alone is deserving of carte blanche respect, but God wants us to give people more ammunition than simply our longevity.  

Young Titus was also asked to teach older women not to slander. As we get older, we must resist the temptation to slander others. Slander is not an entitlement of older age. We must learn to hold our tongue. (Yes, Virginia, there is a slander clause!)

Look for the best in those older than you

Appreciate their life experiences and lessons learned from their living on this planet for years or decades longer than you. You will grow wiser as you appreciate their stories and perspective. You are old enough to be wise.

For those of you well under fifty, don't sell yourself short by thinking your influence is limited to your peer group and younger. You, like the younger Titus, can have a HUGE impact in the lives of those older than you. Watch the countenance of older adults light up when you go out of your way to connect with them---valuing them just like you hopefully want them to value you.

We’re convinced that God loves every generation deeply. And the more we practice doing the same, the more we reflect His character. 

The Castaways

Young Enough to Serve or Old Enough to Sever?

Pastors and churches have a right and responsibility to shut down Herb & Mabel Castaway’s eight-track tape ministry that is no longer reaching anyone.
 
But where do Herb & Mabel go from here? This depends largely on their level of spiritual maturity and also on how attentive their pastors and leaders are to their continuing need for usefulness in God’s kingdom.
 
We have witnessed Herb & Mabel, with superglue on their baton, fighting until their last breath to hang on to their now antiquated ministry that God birthed in their hearts back in the seventies. They may have already left your church, hurt and angry, taking their eight-tracks and tithe dollars with them. And, except for their tithes, you’re more than happy to let them go---to a less progressive and dying church down the street. Or we might find them sitting at home watching another church on their big box TV (the one with the rabbit-ears antenna).
 
We have also seen some Herbs & Mabels reluctantly accept their own obsolescence and conclude that their days of serving the Lord are basically over. They remain part of your church but feel deflated and useless as your church’s senior adult bus whisks them off to see the lilac fields in bloom.
 
Herb & Mabel are part of the tech-less minority. We support missionaries passionate about reaching out to poor and forgotten folks like them across the globe, but we tend to ignore, blame and marginalize them here at home. They should have changed with the times!  Yes, that’s true, but they didn’t---even under your brilliant teaching and leadership. Now faithful missionary supporters Herb & Mabel find themselves in the fraternity of a hidden people group here in America---not unreached but invisible and expendable.
 
Maybe there’s a better way. Can we help Herb & Mabel shift gears and make disciples? Can we think creatively about their potential to reach out to others, including people like themselves still living sans 21stcentury technology? You know, people on the fringes---the neglected ones Jesus chose to hang out with and surprise with His love.
 
Equip them with basic toolkits to personally visit and share your weekly podcasts with shut-ins in your community who have no computers. Have them serve as class grandparents at your Christian school or kids’ church, and be sure they include a colorful lesson using ancient eight-track technology. (Throw in phonographs, reel-to-reel and cassette decks---and they’ve got a ready-made four-week series that will fascinate the kids!) Do some reverse mentoring, where youth in your church help Herb & Mabel with some basic computer skills.
 
Stay cutting edge but don’t leave Herb & Mabel on the cutting floor, feeling edgy and edged out. Their eight tracks are perishable commodities, but they are imperishable.
 
The head cannot not say to the foot, “I have no need of you.”
 
Of course not! You’re their leader, and you’re not going to let that happen!

Other Resources

Visit Ageless Faith on the YES! resources page for a two-part podcast pertaining to this article; 051 AND 052.

Preaching to Papa- and Gram-To-Be

At any moment Judy & I will become grandparents for the first time. 

I expect a euphoric rush of emotion, realizing that life as we currently know it will never be the same again---for Judy & me, and for Peter’s parents, John & Barbara---as our first grandchild enters this world.
 
Peter & Heather have picked out a name, but we don’t even know his name yet. This grandson is about to change our identities and give us new names, including some of our kids being called Uncle and Aunt for the first time---and Judy's parents adding the Great prefix.
 
So in this first week of August, before I hold him for the first time or call him by name, I will take a brief moment and preach to ourselves a message we’ve shared with others.

1. Being grandparents is an awesome privilege and responsibility, one we now accept with joyful anticipation.
2. At the core, there is an opportunity to pass on a spiritual blessing to a new generation within our families. This is flesh of our flesh---and so much more!
3. While we will no doubt become preoccupied and obsessed with this new cutest-ever grandson, we must continue to turn our hearts two ways, both inside and outside our family. Our love for our grandson will not diminish our love for others, nor will our love for others diminish our love for this grandson. Grandparenting is not the time to circle the wagons and focus only on family. Nor is it a time to forsake our calling as grandparents for the sake of reaching the world.
4. All of us as Christians, with or without children/grandchildren of our own, have the opportunity to become spiritual parents and grandparents in the lives of others. We can all be fruitful and multiply---a truth that should fill us all with joyful anticipation.

We look forward to the day when our grandson personally commits his life to Christ. And we commit him from the very start into the loving arms of Jesus, as the One who will call him to become both a disciple and disciple-maker.

Thanks for allowing us to share this part of our journey with you. We know in part what others have talked about. It’s about to become real!

Jesus, please help lead and guide us as we take on this new mantel of responsibility and bundle of joy! And may the fruit of Your Spirit continue to flourish beyond our family!

And as a postscript: our grandson finally arrived thirteen days beyond his original due date. And we know his name:

Ethan Wesley Burke

How special is that?! That's him in the top shot! And an updated shot below.

Papa Wes

777 Local Church Lessons

For a couple weeks earlier this year, cable news channels had us glued to the mysterious disappearance of a Boeing 777, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Answers appeared imminent as “Breaking News” flashed repeatedly across the screen.

But with no new discoveries, reports on this disappearance also disappeared. Our shallow attention spans wanted to quickly discover answers and solve the mystery. Months have now passed without resolution, so we move on to other mysteries of life, while others patiently comb the deep ocean floor.

One year ago you may have seen video footage of the first fatal crash of another Boeing 777, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Seoul to San Francisco. While shocking and closer to home, this story fell off our radar more quickly. It was not an unsolvable mystery. With three fatalities, though, it was both heartbreaking and miraculous.

As the story of this San Francisco fair-weather crash unfolded, it was hard to miss parallel flight patterns we see in some American churches.

Unfortunately, too many churches crash and burn in many ways similar to Flight 214. Mistakes are inevitable but don't have to end with fatalities.

When local churches come up short of the runway, are we vigilant enough in learning the hard lessons? Given the high number of repeat incidents, it doesn't appear so.

We can learn something from the painstaking, independent approach of the National Transportation Safety Board. In the end, they are less consumed with finding a singular scapegoat and more about discovering multiple solutions that could have helped avert such a tragedy.

Young Apprentice With the Wrong Approach

The inexperienced pilot landed just short of the San Francisco airport runway, clipping the landing gear on the seawall and performing cartwheels on the runway, before the aircraft stopped and then burst into flames.

Although pilot error was involved, the crash assessment didn’t focus entirely on young pilot ineptitude. He had technical credentials to fly that aircraft, but better in-flight mentoring and other safeguards could have helped prevent the fatal crash.

An NTSB representative observed, “The flight crew over-relied on automated systems that they did not fully understand.”

And, similar to failures we see in some churches, it wasn’t an immediate nosedive. It was a slow descent and a sustained pattern of downplaying vertical relationships. The horizontal coordinates were spot on. They were headed for the center of the right runway at the correct airport. But the aircraft was losing altitude too quickly and not making speed adjustments. Last second corrections were too late. 

We're blessed with opportunities to trust young pilots and young pastors. This crash assessment didn't give up on youth and inexperience but highlighted related factors that contributed to the shortfall:

• Overreliance on technology,
• Vertical relationships ignored over a sustained period of time, and
• Inadequate mentoring and monitoring.

Some churches lose altitude because young leaders lack engaged mentors with significantly more accrued flight time. This can lead to over-reliance on peer counsel, autopilot technologies, and figure-it-out-on-the-fly strategies. Each of these has value but should not stand alone in navigating.

Predictably, when vertical relationships between generations are ignored or under-valued, neglected generations begin jettisoning their engines. This often leads to losses of resource, power and momentum. Last-minute efforts to save the descending church may come too late.

Approaches outside Biblical best practices that ignore the value of vertical relationships and over-rely on latest technologies can be fatal to our churches. Let’s address those blips on the radar early−−−before clipping our landing gear and triggering disaster.

Safety Slides Nearly Suffocate Flight Attendants

Even after all the mandatory evacuation drills, disasters don’t go as planned. Two flight attendants, the ones who show passengers how to apply air masks in an emergency, nearly suffocated.

Two safety chutes inflated inside the aircraft, instead of outside, enveloping two flight attendants. Using a dinner knife and an axe from the cockpit, flight crew members punctured the slides and saved the attendants’ lives.

Things meant for good, turned inward, can begin smothering people in our churches. Key leaders may be suffocating inside the Christian bubble we've inflated.

If we get too full of ourselves, even great worship and teaching can leave us oxygen-deprived. Let's free leaders up to serve in the marketplace---as our friend Jon Sharpe instructs, "commissioning not capturing." We may even need to axe some programs inside our church walls, encouraging people to fill their lungs with fresh outside air as they fulfill the Great Commission.

Emergency Vehicle Runs Over and Kills Crash Survivor

In our zeal to save others, are we inadvertently running over people?

In the most tragic twist of fate from this crash, a young woman from China, lying injured on the runway near the aircraft, was run over by a rescue vehicle. How terribly sad, after surviving this horrific crash, for this young woman to be killed by a vehicle dedicated to putting out fires and saving lives.

Our specialized ministries are important, but we must avoid tunnel vision. Others we encounter along our way are hugely significant. Let's sit up and take notice. We have a mission that is broader and deeper than our specialized calling.

A Veteran Hero

Fortunately, in the midst of tragedy, we end with the heartwarming heroism of a veteran flight attendant, Lee Yoon Hye, who refused to leave the plane until she was sure all 305 survivors had safely exited.

We live in a turbulent world filled with needs, danger, grief and pain. Thank God for selfless believers of any age who look beyond just their own welfare and the welfare of their family, peers and closest friends---and care about the welfare of the whole Church---as well as those outside.

Let's be among the heroes whose eyes are fixed on Jesus and His flight plan, not willing that any should perish, but that all come to eternal life.

[When writing this in early July, we had no idea that there would be yet another tragic crash of a Boeing 777---Malaysian Airline Flight 17 on July 17. Thirteen months ago there had been no fatal crashes involving a Boeing 777 since their introduction 18 years earlier---now three fatal incidents since last July.

With 298 deaths, the crash of MH17 is the deadliest aviation incident since the 9/11 attacks. Our hearts break with all the friends and families involved in each of these three separate tragedies.

The two Malaysian Airlines crashes are clouded in mysteries yet to be unraveled. This article focuses on lessons learned from the less deadly of the three Boeing 777 crashes.]

Tale of Two Moms

“YES just has to become a strong, national ministry!”

We heard this comment from a missionary couple from Arizona, who went on to share their tale of their respective mothers.

As they left several years ago for their overseas missions assignment, both of their moms were in their late sixties. One became a poster mom for what YES! Young Enough to Serve represents. The other became the polar opposite, literally pulling the shade on life and sinking into a deep depression.

As one mom approached age seventy, she decided to run for public office. And she won! After serving two years with distinction, she decided to shift gears and write her first book. She saw the silver lining in her empty nest and retirement years, a chance to do more for others and go all out for God.

The other Christian mom settled first into complacency and then despondency. Fear got the best of her, and her last days became very dark.

While no church wants to see older adults shift into despair, this missionary couple perceived that we’re often not doing enough to cultivate potential and to provide a clear early warning to those who might settle for the path of idleness.

The idle path may appear safer, but it’s actually more treacherous.

Thanks so much for standing with us as we seek to multiply the message and invest in leaders who will help adults choose a more fruitful path in their later years.