A 50+ ministry of Salem First Baptist Church
Many
of us look forward to the age of 65 when we can retire, take it easy
and enjoy what we’ve worked for in prior years. It’s not the age that
we want, it’s the benefits. From an early age we are encouraged to
prepare for and put aside for retirement as if that magic experience is
the fulfillment of our lives. It used to be that this was the
“beginning of the end”. Now, however, we would like to see it as “a
whole new beginning”. George Burns once said “I still had pimples at
65”.
The generation called “Boomers” began in 1946 with a huge
growth in post-war birth rates and wraps up generally around 1964, with
ages 50 to 68 or 69 years. Every day in the USA there are 8,000 people
turning 65, that is 330 people per hour! There are approximately 78
million “Boomers” in the US today. The American Church has, generally,
ministries for pre-school & children, youth and college, young
adults or newly married and senior adults. But, what do we have for
those who are mature adults but not yet seniors?
A new ministry of Salem First Baptist kicks off on Friday night, May 9. ENCORE presents the Finishing Strong dessert
with John Coulombe, InterGenerational Pastor at Evangelican Free Church
in Fullerton, CA, where he and his wife, Jacque, have ministered for
the past 26 years. His focus this evening will be “Living Sensibly in
the Coming Age.” ENCORE is a ministry to
assist the post-retirement generation to utilize their past experience,
knowledge and love of the Lord in order to Finish Strong. Few
will remember our life for what we did in the first fifteen years.
However, the final fifteen (or thirty, or forty) years of our life will be the years that our family, friends and church will remember.
Paul gives us a Scriptural foundation for such a ministry: “
I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to
what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the
heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”.
Phil. 3:13, 14
The name of the ministry, Encore, is defined: “A second achievement especially that surpasses the first.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). This seems fitting to our purpose. The ENCORE mission is “Making the Rest of our life the Best of our life. It is not only a ministry to the Boomer generation, but a ministry by the Boomer generation that has such a great potential in today’s church.
For more information, or to RSVP for the Finishing Strong Dessert contact: Gene & Pat Taylor derraldgene@gmail.com or Pastor Edwards eedwards@fbcsalem.org. (503) 364-2285
First Baptist website: www.fbcsalem.org
Showing posts with label Ed Edwards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Edwards. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2014
Friday, September 27, 2013
God Wink
Have you heard these words before? “God Wink” is a new term for me which I picked up in a conference I attended this month in Dallas, Texas. No, I don’t think it is strictly a Texas term. But, as I thought of its meaning the Lord brought to mind a conversation that I would definitely include in the use of these two words. A “God Wink” is that passing moment, a mental flash, an unexpected meeting, a touch of God’s finger in one’s life that is completely unplanned and unexpected. This is how it turned out for me…
I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel at 4:30 in the morning, waiting for the shuttle bus to take me to the airport. A young woman came down and began immediately to talk to me. I learned several interesting facts. She was on her way to a college in Georgia to attend a specialized medical course for three months. She is a nurse. As we talked, she also mentioned that her husband had died two years previously on this very same day. And, following that, her father died two weeks later. So, this was a tough time for her. Thus the visit turned to a spiritual, rather than just a social, conversation. She mentioned that God was the One who keeps her going. Replying to my question as to whether she was a follower of Jesus, she noted that she most definitely was. In fact, she said, “My husband was a pastor before he died.” “Oh,” I said. “Where was he a pastor?” Her response was certainly a surprise. She said, “At Calvary Baptist Church in The Dalles.” Well, I know that church very well. Pastor Jim and Barbara Bull were there for several years. As a new pastor right out of seminary, the pastor of Calvary Baptist was a great mentor to me since I was pastor at a neighboring Baptist church. Then, I asked her what her husband’s name was, and to my surprise he was someone whom I had met, though did not know intimately. The conversation continued; she and her husband had met while students at Judson Baptist College, from which I also graduated. We had a host of common acquaintances from school, ministry and the mission field. It was one of those moments of immediate bonding and fellowship in Christ though we may never meet again.
As we parted she told me that this conversation was definitely from the Lord. On this very day in which she needed encouragement the most, God stepped in, unexpectedly and unplanned, to bring her that encouragement just as she was ready to step on the plane to an area in which she knew no one. That, my friends is a “God Wink!” Look for them in your own life. They happen almost every day.
I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel at 4:30 in the morning, waiting for the shuttle bus to take me to the airport. A young woman came down and began immediately to talk to me. I learned several interesting facts. She was on her way to a college in Georgia to attend a specialized medical course for three months. She is a nurse. As we talked, she also mentioned that her husband had died two years previously on this very same day. And, following that, her father died two weeks later. So, this was a tough time for her. Thus the visit turned to a spiritual, rather than just a social, conversation. She mentioned that God was the One who keeps her going. Replying to my question as to whether she was a follower of Jesus, she noted that she most definitely was. In fact, she said, “My husband was a pastor before he died.” “Oh,” I said. “Where was he a pastor?” Her response was certainly a surprise. She said, “At Calvary Baptist Church in The Dalles.” Well, I know that church very well. Pastor Jim and Barbara Bull were there for several years. As a new pastor right out of seminary, the pastor of Calvary Baptist was a great mentor to me since I was pastor at a neighboring Baptist church. Then, I asked her what her husband’s name was, and to my surprise he was someone whom I had met, though did not know intimately. The conversation continued; she and her husband had met while students at Judson Baptist College, from which I also graduated. We had a host of common acquaintances from school, ministry and the mission field. It was one of those moments of immediate bonding and fellowship in Christ though we may never meet again.
As we parted she told me that this conversation was definitely from the Lord. On this very day in which she needed encouragement the most, God stepped in, unexpectedly and unplanned, to bring her that encouragement just as she was ready to step on the plane to an area in which she knew no one. That, my friends is a “God Wink!” Look for them in your own life. They happen almost every day.
First Baptist website: www.fbcsalem.org
to respond to this email: fbc@fbcsalem.org
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