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Coming Events
Click on
these links to find more information about each
event.
Dallas, TX
May 29-31
Philadelphia, PA
Jun 26-28
Atlanta, GA
Oct 16-18
Cleveland/Akron, OH
September 25-26
Ft. Collins, CO
October 9-10
November 6-7
Phoenix, AZ
November 20-21
Tyler, TX
January 29-30,
2010
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Affiliate
Organizations
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 www.GOCASA.org  www.SignificantLiving.org  www.TheJourneyDeepens.com | |
The Bridge serves to keep you
connected with the amazing ministry and impact of
Finishers Project. We welcome your feedback, so
please call or write.
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Finishers
Project on FACEBOOK and
TWITTER!
Baby Boomers
long considered Facebook as a frivolous Internet novelty
that gripped young people but was of no conceivable
interest to serious people. That was then, this is now.
The Facebook phenomenon migrated out of dorms
as college kids entered the working world, and then
percolated upward through the age strata. Within the
past half year or so, Facebook has breeched the Boomer
barrier. We Boomers first started receiving "friend"
requests from younger colleagues. Many of us set up
Facebook profiles out of curiosity. The random friending
requests turned into a trickle, and the trickle became a
flow.
While Facebook is still dominated by
young people, nearly a third of its users are between
the ages of 35 and 54, according to Comscore, an online
audience measuring company. In our observation, an
increasing number of 55-and-overs are signing up as
well. (From "Boomer Consumer: The Blog."
Posted by Jim Bacon at 12:52 PM February 6,
2009)
If you are already on Facebook, use the search
window in the upper right on your home page and type in
Finishers Project to become a member of our group.
Doing this will help spread the word about
Finishers! If you are not a Facebook member, go to
www.facebook.com and sign up!
If you already have a twitter account,
become a follower of Finishers at www.twitter/finishers,
or donatfinishers for Don Parrott, or julie4grace
for Julie Field, our Coaching Director, or byourside,
for Ele Parrott. If you're not tweeting on
twitter, go to www.twitter.com and
join! |
Are you looking for a place to make a
significant difference? Maybe the Finishers staff
is the place for you!
We are looking for quality people who
understand the extreme importance of mobilizing more
workers for this country and beyond. We can hold
more Finishers Forums, more The Journey Deepens
weekends, do more seminars for churches, work more
closely with missions agencies, help more people
pursuing the Business As Mission strategy, provide more
coaching for people on this challenging journey and
greatly expand our resources on the Finishers
website.
If you resonate with
this great opportunity to make a difference by seeing
more and more kingdom workers, please give me a call at
480-854-4444. If you know someone who might be a
worthy candidate for our staff, please pass this note to
them.
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Six "Challenges" or "Benefits",
depending on your perspective.
As
mentioned previously, over the next few editions of The
Bridge I am identifying six "challenges" Boomers face
when considering ministry in a missions-related
role. The six are: Faith, Finances, Family,
Fit, Future and Fight. The purpose of examining
these benefits is to help us see that God is really
carefully managing our journey, and not getting in the
way of a desired goal with all these obstacles.
Previously we have dealt with Faith and Finances.
This month...Family.
As our parents enter
the stage in life where they need more care we
experience a role reversal. We find ourselves needing to
help them in ways they used to help us. While it may
require time and patience, it is certainly much easier
for them if we are physically close. But what if we are
in a completely different country and there is an
emergency? A good question with many right answers. Each
one of us needs to find our own answer to this issue if
we do have aging parents who are dependent on us. It is
one of the decision issues we face when we find
ourselves drawn to make a global impact.
It may be that because we are the only
resource for them, we need to find a way to make an
impact closer to home. Perhaps we can invest ourselves
in developing a ministry through our church . . . one
that needs our experience and skills and that is not
currently happening. It may mean we need to connect with
an existing a local ministry and invest our time and
talent into helping them to another level. It may mean
that for now, our time is invested in concentrating on
our parents without any extensive outside involvement.
In a situation like this there are several good answers.
Our task is to take steps toward the answer we feel is
best and seek God's peace in that path.
If, however, we have a strong sense
that we are to leave this country or even be in another
region of our own country and our parents are at some
level of need, there is usually more than one right
answer. Other siblings are often the answer. Intentional
discussion with them of what needs to be done,
timetables, finances and each one's responsibilities can
bring clarity to the options and provide the peace to
continue with relocation.
Freedom to return home from time to
time is another right answer. Sending agencies have
learned to value the Boomer and revise practices and
policies to accommodate their special needs. When
parents know we will be returning from time to time and
that we can always return if there is an emergency, it
is a comfort to them and allows us to follow what we
know God has for us, with peace of mind.
Many Boomers looking for global impact are
empty-nesters. The children are out of the house and
exciting new options are suddenly open. But these
independent adult children represent a significant issue
when we begin talking about global impact. Are we going
to leave them? Will we be here for family gatherings?
When will we be back for visits? These and many other
questions can give us pause as we consider a
cross-cultural move, or even a move to a different part
of this country.
Again, there are any number of right
answers. The best approach is to surface the spoken and
unspoken questions and have adult conversations about
them. Pat answers are an insult to such discussions and
devaluing to those with real questions. We must take the
initiative to meet, to deal with the issues which have
been expressed and probe for others. Such times can
prove to be a great growth step in a family. They can
even bring healing to other issues that need to be
addressed. These are not parent-child discussions. These
are peer-to-peer conversations, respecting each other's
input, fears, answers and decisions.
In working with mid-life adults for
several years we have observed that many of them are
looking to make a move even before their children are
out of the house. Dealing adequately with the questions
and concerns of those children is extremely sensitive
and important. They need to be able to talk about
such fears as losing their friends, changing schools and
maybe learning a language. It is a complicated life
issue for a Jr. Higher or High Schooler to be asked to
leave their native culture and establish themselves in a
new culture. Time needs to be taken to enter into proper
dialogue without demanding change and without using
control or manipulation tactics. God knows the exact
make-up of each member of his harvest force. Each one is
vital and plays a significant role in the new impact he
is calling a family to make. Take the necessary time.
Build the right foundation. Be careful not to loose
these valuable members of the team God chose to give us.
One of the issues that arises with our
children is the issue of their children . . . our
grandchildren. If we leave home, will we totally miss
their youth and childhood? Is that responsible? When
will we be able to see them? Our children will often
resist our moving away because of the loss of contact
with our grandchildren, especially if we live close
enough to provide occasional babysitting.
Again, there are multiple right
answers. One may be the ability to return home with a
frequency satisfactory to all involved. Or, resources
being available, visiting Grandpa and Grandma is a
wonderful opportunity for everyone. Having the
grandchildren spend time with you in your new home is a
privilege and lifelong gift to them.
We believe grand-parenting should be
intentional, whether we live in the same city or around
the globe. As grandparents, our responsibility, and our
privilege, is to build into the lives of our
grandchildren. This necessitates an appropriate
relationship with the parents of our grandchildren. Only
then can we have the kind of impact God intended as he
crafted the extended family. As grandparents our impact
on grandchildren is powerful. We do not take the place
of parents, but there is a unique connection possible
which can have a life-long effect on their value system.
Being away does not negate this
responsibility nor its effectiveness. It does, however,
change the way we do it. Long-distance grand-parenting
is very possible and can have positive affect on those
children. Emails, phone calls, text messaging, on-line
chatting, visits both ways, shared interests, annual
traditions, all combine to provide opportunities for
effective long-distance grand-parenting.
One additional unique aspect to the
Boomer-Babies reality is the number of Boomers who are
raising their own grandchildren. It turns out that a
very high percentage of the children in this country are
actually being raised by their grandparents and you may
be one of them. Our hats are off to you. We are cheering
in your balcony. We are proud of you. What you are doing
is very difficult. And, if you have been bitten by the
global impact bug, you are living with both physical
(trying to keep up with grandchildren when you are not
in the same shape you once were) and spiritual (feelings
of guilt, questions of roles, obedience and
significance) stress.
Among the possible right answers for
you, one may be short-term impact trips, taking along
the grandchildren. This can keep you involved and start
to build a broader worldview into those children. Or, it
may mean a significant impact role locally rather than
in another country. If so, that is exactly what God has
been preparing you for, so do it well, remembering even
this is preparation for a next phase . . . even though
you're not sure you'll live to that next phase because
of the 24-hour treadmill you're on with your
grandchildren!
Whether it's parents,
siblings, children or grandchildren, leaving them is
difficult. But God is not on the sidelines for this
challenge. Listen to the words of Jesus in Mark
10:29-30: "No one who has left home or brothers or
sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me
and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as
much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters,
mothers, children and fields - and with them
persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."
Over the years I've heard many people
covering for God, somehow feeling they had to interpret
these verses in such a way as to protect him. They
obviously felt that God had not come through on this
promise so they had to find a way to explain it down to
their perceived reality. It seems to me that there is a
fairly important qualifier here: "for me and the
gospel." If God is leading you to leave these things for
him and to help spread the good news of his salvation,
then you've been offered a benefit package far beyond
your 401 (K). And it's not just about physical wealth,
it includes family and relationship wealth, which is the
greatest value we experience. I'd say, go for it! Trust
that God is good for his side of the deal. He hasn't
failed yet!
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Advisory Council Formed for
Finishers
The weekend of
April 3-4 was the launching of the Finishers Advisory
Council, held at the historic San Marcos Resort in
Chandler, Arizona.
The Council began with ten members, five of them
able to attend the first face-to-face gathering: John Pearson,
Donna Andert, Werner Jacobsen, Dick Bahruth and Bob
Andringa.
Attending the session, in addition to the Council
members were Werner's wife, Dorothy, Dick's wife, Diane
, Board of Directors members Jeff Springer and Dave
Estill, along with staff members Tom Adelsman, Paul
Erdmann and Don Parrott.
The additional five
members are Alan Bergstedt, Gary Bishop, Dave Estridge,
Nelson Malwitz and Paul McKaughan.
Left to right around table: Paul Erdmann,
Dick and Diane Bahruth, Jeff Springer, Don Parrott, Bob
Andringa, John Pearson, Dave Estill, Tom Adelsman,
Werner and Dorothy Jacobsen.
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Don
Parrott
CEO,The Finishers Project
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