Serving Faithfully
*Editor's Note: May is recognized as Senior Adult Month by the Assemblies of God
Before most people leave their house for church on Sunday morning, Bob Stone has already arrived and is hard at work.
There are small things to check and details to attend to before congregants and visitors start flooding through the doors. It’s nothing grandiose, but the consistency of Stone’s work is what makes the church feel familiar and inviting. For Stone and his wife, Carolyn, this Sunday morning rush isn’t new. It’s how they’ve lived for decades.
The difference is in their season of life. Stone is now 77 and Carolyn is nearing 79. But neither of them has an interest in slowing down anytime soon.
“I tried slowing down,” Stone says, “but that didn’t last long.”
After more than 40 years in the ministry, serving as a pastor, ministry leader, and 25-years as director of an Adult & Teen Challenge facility in the Pacific Northwest, Stone thought retirement might finally be the time to rest. That lasted about a month and a half.
“I just knew I wasn’t done,” says the Central Bible College graduate. “I still had something God was calling me to. I couldn’t just not do something for the Kingdom of God.”
So, he made an appointment with his pastor at Victory Life Church and that conversation opened the door to a new chapter. Stone was soon volunteering and even working part time in discipleship, pastoral care, welcoming visitors to the church, and helping new families get connected.
“Our roles have changed over the years, but the calling hasn’t,” Stone says.
That idea is something many senior adults are rediscovering. Not everything looks the same as it once did, but the desire to serve hasn’t faded. If anything, for many, it has become clearer.
For Linda Brown, now 84 and a longtime attendee of Bethany Assembly of God in Adrian, Michigan, that sense of purpose has carried her through some of life’s hardest moments.
Early on, she trained as a nurse with a strong desire to care for people facing mental and emotional struggles. But after realizing she didn’t want to separate physical care from spiritual care, she began seeking the Lord for a different direction.
“I told the Lord, if You want to use me, I need to be able to share my faith, too,” she says.
Not long after, her faith was tested. Her husband died when she was just 27 years old, leaving her alone as a young mother.
“There wasn’t much out there for single moms at the time. I had to learn to lean on God in a way I never had before.”
That experience shaped the rest of her life.
In the mid-1970s, Brown began volunteering at a small Christian medical mission, something that would turn into a lifelong ministry. Within a year, she found herself leading the clinic after unanticipated staff changes left a gap in leadership.
There were limited resources and the building was in poor condition, but people kept coming.
“They needed help,” says Brown, “and they needed hope. I’m not the healer but I can pray with them, journey with them, and then leave it to God to do the healing work.”
She prayed with everyone who came in, listened to them, and walked with them through crises and on into the healing presence of the Lord. Over time, the ministry grew and eventually found a permanent space, paid for entirely through what she describes as God’s provision.
Decades later, the mission continues. And so does she.
Ask senior adults such as Bob, Carolyn, and Linda why they keep serving and their answers are all centered around one thing: Seeing God’s hand at work.
“You see things over time,” Brown says. “You see lives change. You see people come through things and the fruit of God working in their lives. That stays with you.”
Stone puts it this way, “Serving isn’t something I did for a while, it’s who I am.”
All three agree that it isn’t always easy, especially as energy levels decline and health becomes a factor. They state there are moments when it becomes tempting to step back.
“But there’s always a place for you,” Stone states.
He points to Scriptures such as 2 Corinthians 8:11 which says, “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means,” and 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Stone says age is never a disqualifier for serving God. “As long as you have that flair and the burn of the call of God on your life to serve others, there’s no disqualifier in His Kingdom.”