SECC members who have redefined the word
By Ruth Schenk | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The word “retirement” is not in the Bible.
In fact, white hair is a crown, the aged are revered and those in the second half of life are called into service.
Anna the prophetess served at 84 (Luke 2:37). Titus 2 lays out a busy agenda for older men and women to guide and teach the younger generation, and the psalmist prays, “And now when I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not leave me; until I have declared your strength to this generation and your power to everyone who is to
come (Psalm 71:18).”
Yet in America, many view retirement as time to kick back, relax, abandon the stress of everyday work and whittle away at a bucket list of things to do. Everyone has seen commercials with sun-splashed golf courses, cruise ships and carefree retirement communities.
But is that really paradise? Is there a biblical perspective of the “golden years?”
When Consumer Reports surveyed 24,000 of their readers, they found that retirees are happiest when they have enough funds, good health and meaningful activities. Those who failed to invest newfound time and energy in something that mattered were restless and discontent.
The truth is that God’s plan will keep us busy until we die.
Each person in this series retired to something, instead of just from something. In the process, they discovered a new sense of purpose for this season of life.
Bob Russell
'I didn’t want to retire to a life of self-indulgence, but a life of service.'
When Bob Russell retired as senior minister at Southeast after 40 years, leading a congregation that grew from about 150 people who met in the basement of a house to more than 20,000, the transition could have been difficult. He was used to preaching, leading, mentoring and working through packed days.
Any lingering doubts about the next step were erased by an unusual encounter at a Washington, D.C. church.
Three or four months before retirement in June 2006, Russell was the guest preacher at a church he’d never been to before. After the second service, he introduced himself to one of the administrators, and the conversation turned to retirement.
“How old are you?” the man asked.
When Russell said he was 62, the administrator said, “I guess this letter is for you.”
The administrator explained that a woman he had never met approached him after the first service. She said she had been awakened in the middle of the night with a message from the Lord that she was supposed to give to someone 62 years old. She didn’t know anyone that age, so she told the administrator what happened and
gave him the note.
Russell said the message “made the hair on the back of my arms stand up.”
It said to get ready for another assignment that “will involve all your gifts and experiences, to get ready for what God will do in your life.” ..
It’s a good description of what happened once he left as senior minister at Southeast.
“I didn’t want to retire to a life of self-indulgence, but to a life of service,” Russell said. “I wanted to take on a different role and continue to make a genuine contribution.”
Since retiring, Russell has established Bob Russell Ministries, has preached more than he did at Southeast, speaks at leadership conferences, teaches DVD Bible study series and mentors young pastors in retreats called “A Time of Refreshing.”
That is impacting the next generation of preachers who need encouragement and mentoring.
Russell said retirement has been rewarding and meaningful.
“I wake up every day with plenty to do,” Russell said. “I don’t have the kind of pressure as before, and now I enjoy everything I do.”
For someone planning for retirement, Russell said it would be wise to use interests and gifts, to stay involved and keep your mind active.
“Retirement can be a change of pace, but everyone needs something meaningful to do,” he said.
Nina Brown
“I want to be of service to the church and to the Lord.”
Nina Brown is a little miffed that cancer is eating into her busy schedule.
At 91, she has no plans to slow down.
“I’ve been kind of busy,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I want to be of service to the church and to the Lord.”
According to her children, Brown has been in church most every week of her life. She always has been involved in Bible studies, led service projects and been the president of the board of directors of King’s Daughters and Sons nursing home. Residents were like family. Brown washed hair, helped with therapy, mentored and
encouraged.
Her family has no idea how many children passed through the house as they were growing up. They were friends, orphans and street kids. Her late husband often brought home kids who played in the alley behind his car lot.
“Mom would clean them up, give them new clothes and take them out to our grandparent’s farm for the weekend,” said her daughter, Southeast member Joann Ridge. “Our home was always the place everyone could come to receive unconditional love and acceptance. She brought us up to love one another and the people around
us.”
Brown hopes to get back on her feet soon and have renewed energy to continue her volunteer activities.
“No one wants to just sit around,” she said. “Being involved in what God is doing is exciting and rewarding.”
Bob Speas
“I don’t think God wants us to sit around and get fat.”
When the church is quiet and few people are around, Bob Speas gathers his carpet clipping tools and gets to work.
For years, he has clipped ravels in the carpet at Southeast. He gets down on his hands and knees to clip the little pieces in seams and doorways that can damage the carpet or, even worse, trip someone coming into or leaving the church. Those in maintenance say it has saved the church thousands of dollars in carpet
maintenance costs.
Few know what Speas does at Southeast. That’s the way he likes it.
“I try to come when no one I around,” Speas said. “People think I’m nuts crawling around on the carpet, but I love doing it. It’s a pleasure to do something for the church.”
Speas retired from his job as an elevator mechanic in 1992. His life changed drastically after surgery to remove his esophagus.
“I was a Christian, but I didn’t have a lot of faith,” Speas said. “When I was diagnosed, I knew I could go two ways—booze or faith. I was too much of a Christian to choose anything but turning to God.”
Speas spent a week in intensive care. No one knew if he’d survive.
His prayer was short and to the point: “It’s up to You, God.”
Speas survived and loves to serve behind the scenes.
One night, when he was clipping carpet at Southeast, a preacher came through the atrium and asked what he was doing on his hands and knees. Speas explained that he was clipping carpet.
“Didn’t know that carpet grew,” the preacher quipped.
Speas said retirement has been a blessing. He has more time with his wife and to work on his classic cars.
“I know for sure God spared my life,” he said. “My volunteer service is a small thing. I love to be busy. I don’t think God wants us to sit around and get fat.”
John Foster
“I want to finish strong.”
John Foster enjoys a good game of golf, but when he retired in 1989 at age 57, he knew that he didn’t want to play golf every day.
“Before I retired, I had already decided to work just as hard as I did as the sales manager for Proctor & Gamble, only for a different Master,” he said. “I don’t think people want to sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and gaze out on what’s happening. It’s not the vision for people who belong to the Lord. Psalm 92:14 says, ’they will
still bear fruit in old age.’ That’s the goal.”
Foster was chairman of the board of elders at Southeast when he retired.
He began raising cattle on his farm as he looked for what God wanted him to do next. In the beginning, Foster said he said “yes” to too many things that didn’t fit his interest or gifts.
He took on a huge “next” when he agreed to be the administrator at Southeast for $1 a year. Foster enjoyed the challenge and continued in that role for two and a half years.
Foster is still busy, working with Bob Russell Ministries, teaching pastors how to work with elders.
“I would advise anyone approaching retirement to find balance and something productive to do with their time and resources,” he said. “Several short-term mission trips opened my eyes to the needs out there. It’s a blessing to be part of meeting those needs. I believe retirement is the time to finish strong.”
Barney Long
“Early retirement allowed me to serve the Lord.”
Barney Long retired in 1986 when he was just 45, two years after selling the company he built. He had become a Christian just two years earlier.
“Early retirement allowed me to be able to do what I felt called to do—to serve the Lord,” Long said. “I played some golf and traveled, but began praying about where the Lord wanted me to invest time, resources and energy.”
Long got involved in Young Life, a ministry that reaches kids with the Gospel, the Christian Businessmen’s Association evangelistic events, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Cabbage Patch Settlement, a ministry to children in the Louisville area.
“I think the key to meaningful retirement is not to (just) sit,” Long said. “God never retired. Why should we? Retirement isn’t for sitting back and counting your blessings or looking at your laurels. It’s time to ask the Lord to lead you to where He wants you to be and to what He wants you to do. Over a period of time, He has led me into
a lot of mentoring young guys in and outside church.”
Long mentors a lot of younger people who face issues with their marriages, careers and discovering God’s will for their lives.
Ed Roby
Biggest decision he ever made
When people walk forward at the end of the 11:15 a.m. Sunday worship service, they might talk with Ed Roby, who has served as a Decision Guide at the Blankenbaker Campus for about 15 years.
Roby was impressed with the personwho helped lead him to Christ when he walked forward to join Southeast 18 years ago. It was a conversation he never has forgotten.
He had come to the service at the invitation of a friend who knew he had been searching for truth in his life.
About three years after joining, Roby decided to become a Decision Guide so he could help others in their search for truth.
At the time, Roby was employed at Beltone, where he worked for 19 years before retiring. He then worked as a driving instructor.
Now, 78-year-old Roby is completely retired from his professional endeavors, but he continues to serve as a Decision Guide.
“It’s just about my life,” he said. “When I turned my life over to Jesus Christ, I wanted to get more involved in volunteering,” Roby said. “Helping people to learn about the Lord is the best thing about the whole thing.”
Jack and Paula McLarney
"We are so grateful to Him."
Jack and Paula McLarney love meeting people from all over the world. No, they aren’t world travelers. They are Southeast tour guides.
They help groups and individuals that come into the Welcome Center at the Blankenbaker Campus during the week to find out more about Southeast. Some of them are just passing by, while others are national or international travelers.
“That’s where I get the most fun,” said Paula, who enjoys telling visitors all about the place that means so much to her and Jack.
Jack, 77, worked in the automobile sales industry from 1972 until he retired in 1995. Paula, 74, worked in customer service for a federal printing company. The two married in 1993 and started volunteering at events such as the Adoption Summit, the Easter Pageant and Leadership Conference.
Jack also serves communion on Sundays during the 9 a.m. service and serves backside workers in the chapel at Churchill Downs about twice a month.
The couple also facilitates a Bible study in their home.
“Bob Russell asked for three hours in the church: One on Sunday morning, one hour of service and one hour of Bible study either in home or in church,” Jack said. He took that to heart and found that it was easy to serve more, especially since the couple is retired.
For Jack and Paula, service to the Lord in their retirement is spurred on by one thing.
“God has done so much for us here,” Paula said. “And we are so grateful to Him.”
Paul Gohmann
"It’s a privilege to serve."
Paul Gohmann knows what it is to trust in the Lord with all of his heart and lean not on his own understanding (Prov. 3:5).
He used to recite that verse every morning as he headed out to sell real estate during his 35-year career. Although, he keeps his real estate license current, he doesn’t do much home or property selling anymore.
He spends his time talking with people about the Lord and praying with them as a Minister on Call. For several hours each Friday morning to early afternoon, Gohmann stations himself at the Welcome Center, ready for that next visitor that walks in the door, or the next voice on the other end of the telephone line.
Some need temporary assistance, and others just need to talk or pray.
“I pray with everyone,” said Gohmann. “I don’t think of myself as a minister, but as far as the Gospel is concerned, we are all ministers.”
Gohmann, 79, also facilitates an in-home Bible study group on the first and third Mondays of each month.
“It’s a privilege to serve,” he said. “By the grace of God there I go. We do what we are called to do.”
Dr. Robert & Debra Schroering
“I will do what … will have eternal significance.”
Dr. Robert Schroering thought he would go into the mission field when he was a lot younger. “But it seemed like the door was closed quite often,” he said. “I’ve been anxious to go for years.”
Now, at age 50, doors are swinging wide open, and he knows the time is right.
Schroering retired from his dental practice on June 9 and he, his wife, Debra, and their six children hope to be somewhere in Asia by fall. Schroering has traveled on more than 20 mission trips, during which he trained nationals in dentistry. He hopes to do similar work in his retirement.
His priority, however, will be sharing the Gospel with as many people as he can.
“For me it is about spreading God’s Word and seeing people come to Christ,” he said. “Jesus said, ‘Go, and make disciples of all nations.’ The most important thing He wanted people to know were His last words. We can do that much more significantly with those who haven’t had the opportunity to know that there is a God who loves and cares about them.”
In his dental implant business, Schroering traveled back and forth to Moscow every three months for about 10 years. It touched his heart to see children in the streets and learn that there were 1.5 million orphans in the country. So, he and Debra adopted their Russian children Hannah, 9, John Paul, 8, Joshua, 6, Bo, 4, Christina, 3,
and Abigail, 2.
Schroering enjoyed the work he did in dentistry.
“I’ll miss it in a way, but in many ways, I will do what is more meaningful and more fulfilling and something that will have an eternal significance to me,” he said. “We have eternity to spend in heaven. If we’re only here for a short while, I think we need to make it count.”