The Building Adult Ministries Resource Center is designed to assist pastors and lay leaders, missionaries and professionals in aging around the world in becoming more valuable in Christian ministry to men and women in life’s second half. To accomplish this, the BAM Resource Center will collect, categorize and make available resources to empower its users to more effectively minister to and through older adults.
Celebrating Beginnings Nancy Gordon Those of us who work with older adults know that they face many transitions-often in quick succession. Retirement, the loss of a spouse, a major change in health status, the loss of long-time friends, a move to a retirement community, the loss of possessions, a move from one level of care [...]
Getting a Grip on Family Relationships Cavin T. Harper Chelsea dreaded going to her mother-in-law’s home for the holidays. Apart from the frequent unsolicited advice about child rearing that always kept her on edge, it seemed to Chelsea that her mother-in-law found some sinister delight in ignoring certain rules they wanted to enforce regarding [...]
A Reflection Sue and Denny Koska Yesterday came and went, mostly uneventful, with the exception of enrolling our five-year-old grandson for kindergarten in fall, and forgetting that a friend was coming by at exactly the same time. Two years ago, June 2 at 10:30 a.m., the phone rang and I learned of three young [...]
The Silver Bullet for Making Disciples By Charles Arn Wikipedia defines “silver bullet” as: Any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness; a phrase that typically appears with an expectation that a particular practice will cure a major prevailing problem.[i] Based on my 30+ years in studying the process of evangelism and church [...]
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Hymn Sing with Joni Eareckson Tada and Friends By Jenni Key Special to ASSIST News Service Fullerton, CA (ANS) — On Wednesday morning, April 11, 2012, the Commons of the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California, was packed as hundreds came to enjoy a Hymn Sing with Joni Eareckson Tada, her husband Ken, [...]
A few simple things Author Unknown A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of [...]
What Do We Mean by Spirituality? Nancy Gordon What do we mean by spirituality? Spirituality can include religious faith and practices, but can also be experienced and understood in non-religious ways as well. A definition that I like is: Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express [...]
On Being Taken for a Ride A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easily. So, the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game. The senior is [...]
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Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel Size does matter after all. At least in downsizing! Moving from 3600 sq. feet to 1300 sq. feet is a feat in itself! The trick to living in a small space is to make every inch count without the place seeming crowded or cluttered. There are definitely some tricks [...]
Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel Where does the rubber actually meet the road? Apparently in my new narrow gauge garage, that’s where! I’m nearing the end of my sixties and in all of that time I never learned how to back up straight, but now I know how…necessity! Our new condo came [...]
Small Bites … Adventures in Downsizing Jan Kinzel A windy day. As we are still ‘hotel-dwellers’ awaiting the construction completion of our condo, our automobile seems to find its way to our new place fairly frequently. We like to check out the progress and enjoy each element as it is added. A few days ago [...]
An Ash Wednesday Reflection Missy Buchanan At last year’s Ash Wednesday service, my husband and I sat behind an older couple who had been our friends since we first joined the church thirty years before. The elderly pair had served in every imaginable church leadership position during their long lives. Even at age ninety-one, [...]
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The 1945-D Wheat Penny Pete Menconi Spare change has always been annoying to me. Usually there wasn’t enough to make a significant purchase or so much that it created a hole in your pocket. I finally found a solution for spare change. The answer came in the form of a tin bank filled with [...]
Milestone Reflections Don Parrott The 55-year mark is not a rigid milestone, but it does represent a very significant threshold in the life of a Boomer. Somewhere in the mid-fifties we metamorphose into a new stage of life…one in which we don’t need to prove ourselves anymore, and one in which we begin to [...]
Observations from a Youth and Family Pastor David Fraze Recently I had the honor of speaking at a 50+ conference. A student ministry guy at a conference designed for 50+ year old participants? Yep–it was awesome! I was asked to present some material related to Intergenerational Student Ministry published with the Fuller Youth Institute, [...]
A Trip Through Time by Lonnie Evans Are you a time travel wannabe like me? There are societies and cultures I’d like to drop in on just for a little piece of the action: Shakespeare’s England…Socrates’ Greece…The city of Atlantis (before it was lost)… Well then come on into the IGen 1000, time travel’s [...]
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When is it Time to Move On? Keith Webb Many of us like new things. Learning and doing new things is interesting and rewarding. However, once the novelty has worn off, it’s all too easy to move on to the next new thing. Recently, I met a worker in a Muslim country who hasn’t [...]
Holy Leisure and Sacred Rhythms John Coulombe In my 45 years of pastoral ministry I have enjoyed four sabbaticals which, in looking back, allowed us fresh starts after some pretty long hauls. I’ve had friends over the years quit their ministries in the heat of battle, regretting later their hasty decision and realizing only [...]
Seeing ‘Seniors’ as Elders Jim M. Houston The title “Age-ing is for Sage-ing” is not mine. It is taken from a popular Jewish book, “From Age-ing to Sage-ing” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, 1997. As a secular Jew fearing his own ageing, he sought the wisdom of Sufi masters, Buddhist teachers and Native American shamans. [...]
A challenge to Senior Pastors and Church Leaders John Thill The conventional wisdom of the modern day church says, “The future of the church rests with the young.” Driven by that assumption, many churches have chosen to focus their ministry on children, youth and young families. Sometimes this assumption translates into the neglect or [...]
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Cherish the Days By Martha Evans Sparks In our highly mobile society, many people are separated from aging loved ones. Cherish the Days offers inspiration, insight, and practical help for those who face the loneliness and frustration of long-distance caregiving. As our population ages, the number of caregivers increases, and so does the realization that caregiving [...]
We’ve discovered two books that caught our attention and wanted to pass along. The Calling Journey: Mapping the Stages of a Leader’s Life Call By Tony Stoltzfus Ever wish you had a road map to follow to your God-given destiny? The Calling Journey is just such a map, revealing the common stages and transitions leaders go [...]
I Hear the Music – I have to go: Bringing Music, Humor, and Encouragement to Those in Assisted Living Facilities and Rest Homes for More than Fifty Years By Frank Pawlak There was once an elderly woman who called Time & Temperature every day, just to hear the sound of another human voice. Did she know [...]
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A Reflection Sue and Denny Koska Yesterday came and went, mostly uneventful, with the exception of enrolling our five-year-old grandson for kindergarten in fall, and forgetting that a friend was coming by at exactly the same time. Two years ago, June 2 at 10:30 a.m., the phone rang and I learned of three young [...]
Now Available: Volume 2, Number 3 Lifelong Significance. In this edition: the story of the Koska family, grandparents raising their grandchildren and discovering how great is the heavenly Father’s love for all. Easy to download and reproduce in color or b/w in your church office. Give away to your small groups or Sunday School [...]
Latest edition available for download to use in your ministries. Read the story of a family who waited out a severe E4 tornado beneath the church stairwell. Missy Buchanan relates a classic RV story, but with a twist. Download the editable Lifelong Significance Summer template 2011 (docx) Download the PDF Lifelong Significance Summer template 2011
New Issue available for free download to CASA Network members: “It began in Munich, Germany in 1934. That is when Max and Louise gave birth to a baby girl they named Elizabeth. Two years later her brother Ernst was born and then Fritz the following year. They lived happily until Elizabeth turned four. In her [...]
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Pastor Sharon has always been strong in all that she does. The first born of seven with six brothers, she loved serving in her community for years along with her five children in their activities. Then at age 45, the Lord placed a call on her life and today she is an ordained minister and [...]
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center Following the completion of an M.A. in Inter-American Diplomatic History, service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, and a Ph.D. in bilingual/bicultural education at the University of New Mexico; Jim worked as a Drop-Out Prevention Specialist on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and as a Resource [...]
Provided by CN Building Adult Ministries Resource Center The Bergstroms live in Seattle where Richard is Executive Pastor at Northshore Baptist Church in Bothell WA. Leona is Director of Lifetime Ministries, a division of ChurchHealth. She and Richard are Co-Directors of 2nd ½ for Him Ministries/Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference). They are co-authors of Amazing [...]
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