SENIOR ADULTS KNOW

I'm on the email list for many senior adults, and many of my Facebook friends are senior adults. It could be that, as a 70 year old man, most of my friends fall into that classification.


Senior adults are fun people. Most of them have lived long enough and faithfully enough to "know the ropes." You can't really fool a senior adult very easily; they've all been through it before. This isn't their first rodeo.


I wish that I, as a church leader in the past, would have had a better understanding of senior adults. If I were a Pastor today, I would ask for and listen to the ideas from this age group. I would call on them regularly for advice and insight. I would personally enlist them to pray for me and to mentor my children. I would reach out to them at every opportunity. I'd make friends of every senior adult in the church.


I attended a music conference once and heard a story from the presenter. He told of a county seat First Baptist Church in Mississippi where the music director wanted to do a new thing, a large Christmas pageant. It had never been done before, and he wanted to do the entire thing. He dreamed of a large choir in Biblical costumes, of live animals in the scenes, and of a tremendous impact on the community.


But he wasn't sure how the older people (senior adults) would respond.


His pastor suggested that he approach one of the older women in the church to discuss his proposal. As in all churches, she was the leader that everyone looked to for approval.


So the music director went to her house for tea, and after a period of time, he opened up the discussion. She listened intently as he discribed the plans, and he ended the conversation with the most delicate issue of all. He would also like to use live chickens and sheep and a donkey inside the church sanctuary. Did she think that would be acceptable.


The woman thought for a little while and then answered, "Well, this won't be the first time I've every seen a jackass walk down the aisle." He obviously had her approval.


Pastors and church leaders . . listen to your senior adults. They are not as "out of it" as you may think.