By Ward Tanneberg

I remember when we first drove into Sun City Palm Desert California, making our way slowly up a drive flanked on either side by lovely green fairways that led to the clubhouse and sales office. Dixie and I looked at one another and nodded in agreement. We knew that we had found our new home. This was the place. This was where we would live the rest of our lives.

A few months earlier, I had resigned my position as senior pastor after 23 years of ministry in Dublin, California. It was the first time in our married years that we were going somewhere that had no ‘assignment from God’ attached to it. That in itself was quite exciting. This looked like a beautiful place to live. And it was. We were about to chart our new course.

The minimum age requirement was 55. We both qualified as being among the youngest to settle here. We weren’t sure just how we had come to choose this locale, but it seemed the Lord was giving us time to recover from our pastoral days and to deal with important family matters. I continued writing and accepting a few speaking engagements. We tried finding a church to attend. It felt strange.

Looking back, we understand that we were permitted to live in a lovely gated community filled with older adults of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds, in order to be restored emotionally, physically and spiritually, a kind of ‘desert fathers’ experience. And, while there, we discovered something that one does not fully grasp in their earlier years. We discovered that it’s all right to get older, it’s just not all right to get old!

On the downside, we learned that people who are aging can be just as self-centered as young people who are trying to grow up. Even more so.

On the upside, we learned there are a lot of wonderful people who have reached that mysterious age we in America and elsewhere call, “retirement.” I found that retirement can be a strange time. We talk about it. We plan for it financially. But many of us, when we reach this new milepost in life’s journey, have no clue as to what retirement is about. A happenstance. A grand dream for some. A tragic disappointment for others.

Upon her arrival in our community, one woman purchased her home, then stopped by the Sun City post office where she bought a lottery ticket. She won! Another arrival came to play his first game of tennis. Before the game got underway, he suddenly dropped dead on the court. He didn’t have a chance to win.

We formed friendships. We learned to live among people older than we were. I finished writing a novel. I researched mature characters in Scripture with a different eye than in my previous life. I observed those around me. I reached out to my friend, Steve Taylor, in Oklahoma City, and together we wrote Seasons of the Spirit, an allegory about finding fresh meaning and purpose at midlife. We were living it and writing it at the same time. We began the project on the day the world’s first boomer turned 50.

And, in 1998, Dixie and I were first introduced to the Christian Association Serving Adult Ministries, by my late friend and predecessor in this work, Dr. Ed Neteland.

After 28 years in senior pastor roles, and 7 others spent among teens and college youth, I found myself living and learning in an aging world I now had to admit I knew very little about. God became my Counselor and Coach in a new way. And then after four years living in the place we thought we’d live in forever, we said goodbye and returned to the Pacific Northwest, where we had started, to accept a call to join a pastoral staff there. Of course you’ve already guessed it. One of my responsibilities was to serve as pastor to older adults. And these beloved people taught me so much more than I did them.

I continued to study the Scriptures, research the longevity phenomenon in libraries and online, and stay connected to CASA–a leadership resource I grew to depend on, one where I could watch and learn and grow with some of the very best! I walked with my peers through joys and sorrows, faith and fears, life and death, often reaching up to older saints for the wisdom and courage and life understanding that only older saints truly possess. It is an irreplaceable part of your life and ministry, one you must not ignore.

The ‘young’ (midlife-69) and ‘master’ (70+) elders in your church deserve your love, respect and the opportunity to serve and be of real value in Christ’s kingdom. They are not the enemy. They are not the automatic roadblocks in the way of your success. If you yourself are already in the so-called second half, understand that life and ministry at this stage can and should be your richest and your best. But it doesn’t just happen. You have to want it.

Do you want to be inspired, to learn and grow in 50+ and intergenerational ministry? Then do what I once did, and what I continue to do today: rub shoulders with those who give their lives to this great work. They will teach you. Leaders in ‘master elder’ ministry and care. They will become your new best friends. Pastors and specialists in aging who work with and inspire the ‘young elders’ of the church. You will grow with them. They are men and women in love with Jesus and passionate about reaching and discipling the people He loves. Don’t miss out inviting them into your life.

 

Ward Tanneberg served as a pastor for 35 of his more than 55 ministry years. He became president/executive director of CASA 50+ Network in 2008. He speaks and writes to 50+ and intergenerational ministry leaders and is the author of several inspirational novels.