iRetire4Him Show 107: Breathe Life into Your Retirement

Jim Brangenberg: Did you know that when you retire your calling doesn't retire? If you're not dead, you're not done. If you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. God isn't done with you yet. I know you're aware of what you retired from. You look forward to that all your life. But what did you retire to?

What does God have for you in these years ahead? You've tuned into iRetire4Him, the voice and resource of the Retirement Reformation, an organization dedicated to you, the retiree who loves Jesus and wants purpose for all your days. Especially the ones ahead of you. Bruce Bruinsma joins us today. He's the founder of the Retirement Reformation, and he's here to encourage you and to walk with you through those retirement years. And I'm your host, Jim Brangenberg. Please check us out online. Retirement Reformation. org.

Three major event offerings coming up from the Retirement Reformation: the Recreating Retirement small group study, the Oxygen for Life weekend events, and the Retirement Voices afternoon and evening events. All three are designed to further the conversation of living out our faith with intentionality in our retirement. Today we're going to focus on our conversation about The Oxygen for Life weekend event, as well as touch on our upcoming trips to Belize and Tanzania this spring.

So much to talk about Bruce. I don't even know how you're keeping track of it all, but welcome back to iRetire4Him.

Bruce Bruinsma: Jim, it's always good to be here and with our audience. And just simply to be able to help them to envision what God would have, what role God would have them play in spreading the word of the Retirement Reformation and finding a meaning and purpose for themselves.

Jim Brangenberg: So talk to me about this Oxygen for Life weekend event. You've gotten to do some, Martha and I got to do one. What is an Oxygen for Life weekend all about?

Bruce Bruinsma: An Oxygen for Life weekend is an opportunity for, typically for a church to be able to address two different issues. One issue is, how do we encourage, engage, and support, and demonstrate the value that we believe seniors have?

And for your church, it would be an opportunity to do that, to bring those seniors together and to be able to say thank you and to be able to encourage them in what's next. Secondly, it has an evangelism role because, interestingly enough, and I'm very sorry to say, but that one of the groups that's leaving the church in the greatest numbers are seniors.

And so there is an increasing number of seniors out there in your community, some of who have been in church and said, it's not for me. And so they've left. So said, I don't understand why I even would even be there. And interestingly enough, some who said, I've never stepped foot in a church and I don't know what this is all about, but to be able to invite them to something called Oxygen for Life.

When you think about oxygen, it's the life giving power that is within you. And so Jesus Christ is the Oxygen for Life. On the other hand, finding meaning and purpose is what gives us that. So what does an Oxygen for Life event look like? What it looks like is typically it's a Friday night event where in fact we invite the community as well as the seniors from the congregation to come together for an evening of sharing and an evening of information and encouragement.

That is then followed by on Saturday morning, if that's the context, we gather around round tables and in an interactive way, we dig deeper into four or five major key topics that are important to them. The goal of the whole Oxygen for Life event is to in fact, introduce the importance and the issues and the opportunities for a growing segment of the congregation, as well as to a growing segment of their community that in fact, God has a plan for their life.

Meaning and purpose will be the heart and you'll find joy and freedom along with it.

Jim Brangenberg: Bruce, what was fun for Martha and I as we had to pinch hit for you and Judy when we did an event in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, late last year, was that our crowd was split 50 50. 50 retired folks people that are already collecting social security and the other 50 percent of people who are still working, some of them still in their early 50s going I just wanted to understand because I know this is ahead of me and I want to be prepared. I don't want to catch me off guard which is exactly what we talk about all the time on the on iRetire4Him, getting people to realize that God has so much for them in their years ahead and that it is time to be cherished not to be squandered. And the conversations we had were just so fantastic, not to mention lots of great food. But it was fun, Bruce, just to see people's eyes open up. And I know what you've done, you've seen the same thing when you see people's eyes open and realize that God has a purpose for them that when they retire, they're not done. They've only just begun.

Bruce Bruinsma: So I love it when at the end of the Friday night evening, and we typically will have dessert and an opportunity to stand around and talk. And I just love it when a couple or an individual comes up and said: I just have one question for you. Because I know whatever that question is, it's going to lead to a deeper understanding and that those who have attended and have questions and that we're able to provide a context for them are able to leave encouraged and saying, there really is more. And then when we meet on Saturday mornings to be able to dig more deeply into some of these topics, it's really helpful in preparation. One of the things that I wanted to mention is that the 10 items that are part of the Retirement Reformation Manifesto are really the foundation upon which the Oxygen for Life event is built.

So I would urge you to go to retirementreformation. org. Look for the manifesto and when we talk in the manifesto about that in retirement you have a new freedom, that God has prepared you, that you can find a new contentment, then in fact, there's actions of stewardship that you hadn't thought of before. That God has prepared you for how in fact you show love, community, how you can become intentional about what it is you're doing and not just float from one activity to another. And how you can be of service and how you can be an advocate. And so the foundation of the Oxygen for Life event is to be able to put hands and feet on that manifesto in a way that those that are in that 30 year period or those who are approaching it can find answers for themselves.

Jim Brangenberg: It's really enabling them to live with a high level of intentionality. Experiencing those years, Bruce, just as you said, exactly what God wanted them doing. It's so exciting. Make sure you check it out on our website because this event - we can hold it in your church, in your local community center, anywhere you are.

Bring us in. RetirementReformation.org/Oxygen4Life. We'll be right back with a conversation with Hal Habecker from Finishing Well Ministries. And then in the last segment, we're going to update you on our exciting trips coming up this spring to Belize and the Serengeti of Tanzania.

You're listening to iRetire4Him. We'll be right back.

Jim Brangenberg: Hey, welcome back to iRetire4Him. As we do in every second segment of every show, we bring on a special guest. Well, Bruce brings on a special guest. Bruce, who do you have for us today?

Bruce Bruinsma: We have someone who's been a guest before, but I'd be happy to have him on a guest every single podcast because I just love my conversations with Hal Habecker.

Hal, I've got a little book in front of me. And on the front of it, it has a Bible verse and the Bible verse is from Hebrews 10:24, and the book says, and let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. For our audience, one of the reasons why I love talking to Hal and spending time with him is because I always feel spurred towards love and good deeds.

Also, earlier this morning, I was reading through one of his, one of his workbooks of Finishing Well, and all their material is so good. And it talked about the seven essentials that we need to consider in the world of retirement. Hal, good to have you on the show today. What's been going on with Finishing Well? How is God using you these days?

Hal Habecker: Bruce, first of all, it's an honor to be with you and Jim again, thanks for the invitation. I love whenever you come to Dallas and we can visit here at the Hope Center and it's really an awesome privilege to encourage you and to be encouraged by you and see what God's doing through your life.

I'll tell you what I'm excited about. A lot of things just as you are, but God seems to be opening a lot of doors through leaders around our country who want to take this Finishing Well message to their churches. Every week we have new people wanting information and what they do is lead a group in their church through the Seven Essentials.

We have a group in Cypress, Texas. They're doing it Sunday morning, just right now. Every Sunday and they're taking a group of 30 or 40 people. Sometimes it's 10. Sometimes it's even more. We had a group in Prescott, Arizona, where Bill Knots took 100 people through this class of Finishing Well and having people discuss this essential, that is being all that God wants us to be in these latter years, say mid sixties on up is just a tremendous blessing because it facilitates people's questions and desires to want to serve God in their latter years.

I don't know if you just saw the Barna report that came out recently, and it said that 45 percent of older people really have a desire to grow spiritually. And so even though, many are marginalized. There is that desire to be what God calls us to be. So I see Finishing Well and really the thing you're doing as well as a facilitating agent to stir up conversations in churches and amongst Christians to be what God has called us to be in this season of life.

Bruce Bruinsma: As you and I both know through the years of experience and interacting with, hundreds and maybe thousands of people that fit into this 60 and older age group, is that there's a couple of things that, that I've noticed and I'd appreciate your comments on them.

First of all, there is a whole stream of loneliness that is spread throughout that group. And when you talk to someone who experiences that or expresses that in some fashion, usually it's in depression or something else, and you talk to them, they're pretty clear about what they've retired from or what they've left.

But they are totally unclear and lack encouragement as to look ahead at what God has prepared them for to do next. And so that liminal period of, I know where I've been but I don't know where I'm going, is, it seems to me to be such a critical stage in the work that you do and in the seven essentials and the other materials that you have and what we do at Retirement Reformation, starts to speak into that liminal period and open them up to be able to understand what's next. What's your experience with that?

Hal Habecker: I was on a session this morning and I used a quote from Billy Graham in his book, Nearing Home. He says, the church does a great job of preparing people for salvation. And for heaven or hell to go to heaven, but they do very little to prepare us for the season right before we go to heaven. They don't say anything about that. And that is so true.

It mystifies me, Bruce, that you take the scriptures and every day you read them and you say how does that apply to me as a 74 year old, as an 84 year old, as a 94 year old, and somehow we missed that link. And the other thing I'm concerned about, Bruce, is motivating pastors to catch a vision for their elderly people, the, the retired boomers or, World War II generation that's slowly slipping away, but churches do not have a vision. Pastors do not have a vision, generally speaking, of what they ought to be doing to motivate and encourage older people in their congregations to finish well.

Bruce Bruinsma: One of the things that goes right along with that is that I think often our pastoral teams miss the value of the skill set and the, what in fact, seniors can bring and they really ask them to step aside rather than asking them to become involved.

And, when we think about it, I kind of chuckle, but, those of us in that senior years, all we bring to the table is time, money, and experience. Other than that, not too much. My goodness gracious.

Hal Habecker: That's everything!

Bruce Bruinsma: Yeah, which is the whole story. And and so through the events that we are doing at Retirement Reformation, the way that you're reached out and people are reaching out to you to be able to fill that liminal void with a new vision of what's there. I was reading through Proverbs the other day and I came across Proverbs 12:4 and if I remember it correctly, it said, the fruit of your lips will bring you joy and the work of your hands will bring you reward. And so that's true whether you're 65, 55, 45.

The fruit of your lips, that's your attitude, and then the work of your hands will bring you reward. And that work can take all kinds of different perspectives or different pathways. But there certainly is a, there is a built in need that God has put in us to know that there is more. And we don't do enough to be able to step into what that more is.

Hal Habecker: You're exactly right.

Jim Brangenberg: Hal, let me just ask this question, When you've poured your life into what I like to call chronologically superior folks - we don't need to call people older seniors. That's just such a demeaning - chronologically superior and I stole that from Grant Skelton. So when you pour your life into them, just like Retirement Reformation does and talk to people about purpose for their retirement years and you've led them through a study and the study of the scriptures, how do you see their lives impacted?

Hal Habecker: I say whenever I speak on this subject amongst churches or wherever, a senior living facility, people's eyes brighten. Nobody is giving them, and I don't mean nobody, but very few people are giving them a message: God has a purpose for you. Your experiences, what you have lived, your love for Him, your love for others, God wants to use that and people literally straighten up in their chairs and they say, tell me how I can do that.

And we go through these seven essentials just like you do and people awaken to a whole new sense of calling. I love it. But how you get that message out to everybody? It's an organization like yours. It's ours. There are other organizations around the country doing it. It can be a reformation to the church, Lord willing, that's what you're doing. I love your title and that's what we all ought to be doing in the church.

Bruce Bruinsma: Unfortunately what most churches tells their seniors is two things: One don't stop giving because they know where the money is. And then secondly, just don't be grumpy And just stand aside because we've got important people.

So one of the things we're seeing, which really gives me physical pain as well as emotional pain, is when I realized that the millennials and the seniors are the two groups that are leaving the church in the greatest numbers. And unfortunately, when seniors leave the church, they do it very quietly. So nobody talks about it.

Where's Bob and Sally? I don't know. I think they're traveling or whatever. Bob and Sally are gone and they ain't coming back. And so as a result of COVID, the shrinkage of the numbers of seniors that are active in churches and that are, they may very well be watching the program from at home, but they're not engaged at all.

I think there's areas where we can provide some real information, education and encouragement.

Hal Habecker: That's exactly right. The verses that I love to camp on Bruce, you mentioned one almost. Psalm 90 verse 12: teach me to number my days. So at whatever age you are, you pray that prayer. I'm 74, almost 75. God teach me to measure the days that I have left so that I can present to you a wise life living by the power of your spirit.

And then, Moses prays in verse 17, confirm the work of my hands, confirm. He says it twice, confirm the work of my hands. So I believe there's a work - Ephesians 2:10 - that God has given us to do. So wake up, be aware of it and give your life away for the best investment you could ever give. That's like Robert Browning: grow old along with me. The best is yet to be.

Those latter years where God wants to keep pouring out his spirit through our lives, just like he did Simeon and Anna the day they took Jesus to the temple to be dedicated. That's the work God wants to do in our lives through us as we age. In those great years, Jim, that you said, I love it.

Bruce Bruinsma: One of the things I've noticed was I noticed a number of months ago that there's quite a few grumpy old people around. And when you realize that, in fact, why are they grumpy? They're not experiencing the fruit of the spirit.

And so I'll send you a copy of a new book going to the publisher next week on how to experience the fruit of the spirit as a senior. And as we experience that, it lightens the load and gives us a vision of what it is that God would have for us. The wonderful things that he has for us, the meaning and purpose.

Jim Brangenberg: Yeah, we need to get that book out into every homeowner's association in Florida. Since I'm the guy with the experience of living in Florida, that's a book that they all need to experience. Hal Habecker, thank you so much for being here with us today from Finishing Well Ministries. It's great to have you on our show on iRetire4Him. We'll be right back with more on iRetire4Him.

Hal Habecker: Thanks, Jim. Bruce.

Jim Brangenberg: Hey, welcome back to iRetire4Him, the voice and mouthpiece of the Retirement Reformation, as we look at some really fantastic trips coming up for you guys this spring - one to Belize and one to Africa, to Tanzania, the continent of Africa. Bruce, why Belize? Why are we going to Belize this spring april the ninth? Excuse me, april the 14th to the 20th to Belize. Why are we going?

Bruce Bruinsma: A couple of reasons that God prompted us to do that. First of all, as we partner with a ministry called Propel Global, and they have a whole, they have a couple of different aspects of things that they do that we really appreciate. One of them is they support ministries in I think it's twelve different parts of the world.

One of the places is in Belize. And there it is, it has to do with, there's a farm, and it has to do with feeding kids and helping them to begin to hear what Jesus is all about and to be able to step into that. So when the leadership of Propel Global was sharing with us what it is that they were doing there, I said, what a great opportunity for those who are wondering about what it would like to go on a missions trip and really get your hands, really work with some kids, be able to do some feeding. I talked with a lady who's going the other day and she is good with puppets. So there's going to be puppets in Belize. And so just an opportunity to engage in the culture and the people and to represent Jesus.

So I said, what a unique opportunity for many of our Retirement Reformation community. And so that's the, that was what was behind Belize. It's a hands on opportunity. It's not that far. And it will just be a really special time, I think, serving. And then also the time for us to be together in community.

Jim Brangenberg: So who should sign up for that trip?

Bruce Bruinsma: Anybody who's 50 and older would be a good thing to do. We're not taking gran - at another trip at some point we may set it up so you can take grandkids, but this is just for those of us that are 50 or 55 and older.

I think the oldest person on the trip is probably going to be in their mid 80s, so between 50 and 80 from an age standpoint. People who have a passion for missions, but maybe not that much experience. This will be a wonderful step into that mission experience and to be able to do it in community with others who are searching for their own meaning and purpose. So our opportunity to be together and our opportunity to be able to serve together is the reason for the Belize trip.

Jim Brangenberg: Now, Bruce, you've got the trip costs at 1, 550 per person, but that's all inclusive, right? It, that's, from the minute they land in Belize to the minute they leave Belize, that's their cost. All the food's included, the transportation's included, the whole activities, that's all included, right?

Bruce Bruinsma: Absolutely. There is nothing. There are no surprise costs that go on. Obviously, if you want to buy things, you can spend as much as you want, but from a lodging, food, ministry, transportation, all that is totally included in in, in that cost.

Jim Brangenberg: Is there going to be a lot of exertion on that trip so people maybe that are maybe not in great shape shouldn't go? Because isn't Belize a mountain country? Actually, I really have no idea, but

Bruce Bruinsma: Yeah, there are mountains there, and we will be. People that are confined to a wheelchair might not be the best. But it's not going to be high exertion. We'll be transported from the farm to the city and we'll be in Belize city. So if you can, if you can make it from your car to the church front door, you're probably in pretty good shape

Jim Brangenberg: Check it out online RetirementReformation.org/compelled. You'll find all about our Belize trip. Now Bruce, you're also going in May to Tanzania, the continent of Africa, to the serengeti for people to experience africa. Why this trip? Why are you going to Africa, to Tanzania?

Bruce Bruinsma: A couple of reasons. Number one, there are so many of us that have a trip to Africa on our bucket list and just we're never sure when should I go. Now's the time. Second is that Judy and I spent a week in Tanzania with the guides that we will have in the lodges where we'll be staying and seeing the Serengeti the way we saw it from a Range Rover.

But as Judy and I were there for that week and when we would be having dinner and in one of the lodges, which are just, really spectacular, but one of the things that occurred to me was that one of the reasons why we were there was for Judy and I to communicate and for us to pray and have God speak to us about what are we energized for in terms of what's next? And I said to Judy I said wouldn't it be wonderful to bring 15 or 20 people together that can be in community and to be able to experience in an hour and a half or so a day, a conversation about what's next in their life and what's important in the message of the Retirement Reformation?

And then to be able to go and see how God has blessed this unique part of the world. The animals and the sights and the sounds and everything else. As a matter of fact, as we were in our Range Rover with our guide, a Christian guide, and we were driving through the Serengeti, I saw in the distance, oh my goodness, all of a sudden there was this cloud of sand that was in the distance and as it came, it was moving and it came forward.

What it was a herd of 500 wildebeest. And as they came flying across the Serengeti, across the road that we were in, and then out into the distance, I just thought, what a wonderful picture because each one of those wildebeest is the same and we're created by God, but each one is unique and special.

That's the same picture of the church. And they had a goal of where they were going. God has goals for us of where we're going. So an opportunity to be able to see whether it be one of fifteen hundred birds in this very, one very unique spot. Or the open plains of the Serengeti and the animals that are there.

To be able to put those together, I just thought that would be a fantastic thing to do. And that's why we're having this trip to Tanzania.

Jim Brangenberg: Bruce, when you and Judy were in Tanzania last year, which gave you the idea to take Retirement Reformation followers with you this next year, this year, in May, the 11th through the 19th, or the 10th you said through the 21st? Excuse me, I have that date wrong, because you extended the trip to be a little bit longer.

What was the biggest impact on you spiritually when you sat out and looked across the Serengeti? What was the biggest impact on you spiritually, really quick?

Bruce Bruinsma: God had a plan and he carried it out. Same is true for my life.

Jim Brangenberg: You can join Bruce and Judy and the rest of the Retirement Reformation team on a trip to the Serengeti in Tanzania. RetirementReformation.org/Safari. 3, 500. Bruce, you said was 3, 500 a person, right? That includes everything once you get on the ground in Tanzania until the day you leave Tanzania on the 21st.

Check it out online. Retirement Reformation. org forward slash Safari Bruce.

Bruce Bruinsma: It's going to be an exciting. Let me just paint just one real quick picture. When we land, we will be landing at the Mount Kilimanjaro Airport. Now, when I first went there, and I was told that I was going to land at the Mount Kilimanjaro Airport, I just thought that was about the coolest sounding thing that I'd heard in a long time.

And so we will be landing at the Mount Kilimanjaro Airport, and then being transported to Beautiful lodges and have the opportunity to be together and to experience what God has done in that area that you can't find any place else.

Jim Brangenberg: Check out all the trips online, retirementreformation. org, and everything about all of our events that we hold as an organization, all of it on our great website.

Bruce, great conversation today. Thank you for bringing it all to us.

Bruce Bruinsma: God bless Jim. Thanks for helping facilitate.

Jim Brangenberg: You bet. You've been listening to iRetire4Him, the voice and resource of the Retirement Reformation with your host, Jim Brangenberg, and of course, Retirement Reformation's very own founder, Bruce Bruinsma. We're Christ followers journeying from retirement to reformation so we can ultimately say, iRetire4Him!