As we encourage flourishing in life’s later years, we realize not everyone flourishes right up to the very end. Lots of pain, misery and disability often accompany the final weeks, months and sometimes years of physical and mental decline.

May we all hang on tightly to the promise of Psalm 92:14 (NKJV):

They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.

We’re sure there were plenty of rule-followers there the day Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount, with the Pharisees being chief among them.

But Jesus challenges those determined to color inside the lines and paints a very different picture of what following after God means.

We’re called not to just follow principles or rules but to follow hard after God, attentive to His voice and open to taking the harder path.

Both Judy and I had dads who ran successful businesses, Judy’s in residential painting and mine in home building.

When their respective careers in these trades ended, they closed up shop. Their highly respected businesses did not have successors, but they certainly continued to touch many lives in their ensuing decades.

When it comes time for us to step down from the executive leadership of YES!, we too want to continue touching many lives, with or without job titles.

And we’re extremely grateful that the ministry of YES! will continue, under the capable leadership of Dan & Shani Parotti.

We’re not startled when college students show an interest in children’s ministry or youth ministry. Why should an interest in life’s later stages be off limits?

We’re convinced that pastors and older adult leaders have not been deliberate enough in seeking after young leaders.

When tragedy strikes or the world appears to be beyond repair, we marvel at God's steadfastness. As we approach a new election and are bombarded with hyped campaign advertisements and urgent emails about the state of our nation, it can create added anxiety.

But when we walk outside and take a deep breath, we are reminded that the God who created the universe is still providing air for our lungs, trees for the birds, and rain for the earth. It is truly a marvel. His ways are not our ways.

Preparing to pass the executive leadership torch next year to Dan & Shani Parotti, we reflect on passions that stirred our hearts as we started YES! in 2008.

We loved older adults (and still do!) but had concerns about how US older adult church ministry had evolved.

We saw and still see mostly PEER-to-PEER ministry: some centered on PAIN, some on PLAY, and many times preoccupied with the PAST.

FOAO (Fear Of Aging Out) is not irrational. We’ve seen it play out in many churches, with older adults digging in their heels, wanting their way…winning battles but ultimately losing the war. (And right now this fear has become front and center in presidential politics.)

We are called to share what God has done and is doing in our lives, whether fifty years or five minutes ago. Sometimes what we are learning and sharing is difficult, but when we live a life oriented to Jesus, we understand that nothing is wasted. Our testimony of following Christ is ever-developing. The people around us need to witness what this looks like, as we journey through hard valley places or the blessed mountaintops.

In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul tells Timothy to be prepared in season and out of season. So much for arguing that our season determines our preparedness for serving. God wants us to be ready and willing in all seasons... even when it seems to be outside typical boundaries for our current life season.

If you’ve ever played Wordle, you know it helps to pin down vowels before diving too deeply into consonants.

Please follow along as we use Ephesians (NLT) and vowels to uncover five core values of YES!

Running counter to our age-discounting, division-prone, consumer-driven culture, these five values represent more work ahead.

Dan & Shani, in their early to mid-fifties, are close to Wes & Judy’s ages when they started YES! in 2008. A huge plus is that they come into this role having already served in second-half leadership for about eight years, and Dan has served faithfully on the YES! board for over five years.

You may think we celebrate older-leader longevity at every turn, based on our Young Enough to Serve mission. Truth is, we often marvel at what people accomplish in life’s later years, but it sometimes saddens us when the leadership torch isn’t passed sooner.

Older adults are Next-Gen-relevant and can vitally impact younger generations. And, like Titus, young people can teach and spiritually re-awaken older adults.

May a better set of presumptions surrounding Titus 2 help reshape our 21st century churches! Paul knew better!

We’re not all going to reach the century milestone, so peer influence will likely remain part of our lives. Let’s make the most of it.

With the recent sixty-year anniversary of President Kennedy’s untimely death, we were reminded of his famous “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech.

Our audience is a tad smaller, but if we could craft a similar speech for older-adult leaders, it would read:

Ask not only what you can do for and with older adults, but also ask what God might do THROUGH them.

After several years in prison, Anh experienced an undeniable encounter with Jesus. While walking in the courtyard one day, she experienced a bright light shining on her and a sense in her soul that there was a God and she was loved! She immediately found a Christian group that ministered at the prison. 

Among the findings tied to Barna’s extensive research:

·    “Older generations feel they have something to contribute to the world, but fewer feel valued.”

·    A third of U.S. pastors “feel least equipped to minister to someone through late adulthood compared to other life stages.”

·    “Seniors have needs that can easily be overlooked in the midst of active, growing congregations.”

Ken Postema, 71, is a retired book publisher. Five years ago, Ken had never packed an Operation Christmas Child shoebox and didn’t even know much about the outreach to children around the world to bring them the Good News of Jesus Christ. But a friend challenged Ken, who dabbled in woodworking over the years, to build 10,000 toy wooden cars to put in shoeboxes.

As we grow older, we tend to take fewer risks, often with good reason. We’re reasonably confident that you won’t read about us taking on a multi-nation motorcycle trek.

But God will call us to do something outside our comfort zones, and we too want to be ready to enlist in these God-ordained, young-enough-to-serve adventures.

From the beginning God recognized that it was not good for man to be alone. He has wired us for fellowship and community.

Earlier this year the US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, released an 81-page report on our current epidemic of loneliness and isolation.

Doris started packing shoeboxes in 1995 after her 13-year-old son died at Christmastime the year before. She was determined not to live in grief, but to do something good to help overcome it. She chose to begin shopping for and packing shoebox gifts so boys and girls across the globe could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes when seeing a book title, our minds immediately race to others who would benefit from reading and absorbing its contents. 

While writing, though, Mel concluded that “pride is everyone’s problem. No matter our personality type, our sin nature inclines us toward self-centeredness.”

Many people already think of retirement as a multi-decade vacation. When you put that mindset smack dab in the middle of summer—universally prime vacation season—promoting serving opportunities can have a swimming-against-the-current feel.

But as you know, needs around us don’t take a vacation, so any time of year is right for a serving plunge.

Whether you create an item for a shoebox or pack one, it can make an eternal difference in the life of a boy or girl. "One box is going to reach a child—that's a soul that is going to be touched by Jesus," Margarita said. "One child at a time, it's going to make a difference."

Towering trees and older adults: Both have spun numerous years around the sun. What a mistake to treat them as obstructions!

They, too, are an incredible part of the view.

While Stan & Julie have learned the art of downshifting, they clearly still have their foot on the gas pedal, eager to share about upcoming projects in Bolivia and Northern California.

We don’t all have construction skills or the physical agility to serve on a work crew like this, but we do have an array of gifts and talents that can still be activated for meaningful service.

Sallie is a retired nurse. When she stepped away from her career at age 65, she knew that retirement was the beginning of a very different season of her life as a Christian. She immediately jumped into ministry at her church in Miami and committed to packing Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Why? "Because those boxes go to the ends of the earth to tell others about Jesus," she said. "I want everybody to know about Jesus. That's why I pack boxes."

In life’s later stages we need to value our embers/gifts and pair them with a fresh Holy Spirit wind that fans our gifts into flames.

Embers don’t remain embers forever. They can grow cold and die out, or they can be fanned into flame.

Life’s second half is not an ember-only life stage. We may experience challenges that suggest our raging-fire days are over. But with open hearts, get ready for those embers to once again burst into flame. God may use our prayers, His Word, serving opportunities, relationships---even our trials---to fan our embers.

America and the world have been hit by many storms in recent years, certainly not all weather-related, and we need God’s supernatural intervention.

May all of us be open to God’s fresh touch as we too humble ourselves before Him. Sons and daughters are seeing visions, and older generations are dreaming dreams.

There’s something special when other parts take notice, show concern and give honor.

Younger people are old enough to lead us. And we who are older are still young enough to serve.

Partnering with younger generations to fulfill our mission is life-breathing.