A New Ministry
“This could be their last hope” said a brother when he heard my wife Cathie and I were asked to be the “chaplains” at Lookout Ridge Retirement Home in Fonthill, Ontario.
It was 2009 and a new retirement home was just about to open. A few days before the opening, Lester Shoalts, the builder and owner of the home, approached my wife and me. He asked if we would be interested in looking after the spiritual care of the residents who would soon be arriving at their new home. We both said we would pray about it.
My first reaction to the request was to say no. I thought to myself, “What do I know about working with seniors?” My wife, who plays the piano at some of the meetings at the chapel, suggested we visit a retirement home in a nearby city. We could see what program the “pastor” at that home was doing to meet the needs of the seniors.
After a couple of visits at the home and much prayer, with fear and trepidation, we agreed to take on the responsibility of caring for the seniors. We told Mr. Shoalts that our first responsibility was to preach the gospel. He was more than happy to hear that.
Beginning Steps
Our contact at the retirement home would be the recreational director. There were about 100 residents at the home, so we decided to have a hymn sing and Bible study using the large auditorium in the basement. This meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes every Wednesday and information was distributed to all the residents. We called the meeting “Good News,” because that is what the gospel means! The administration of the home requested that we tell the residents that it was a non-denominational church service. There were already three other “religious groups” conducting church services, but very few attended them.
At our inaugural meeting we had a total of six residents – a bit discouraging. Two things struck me as to what we had to do. First, we would move the service to the chapel. It was a smaller area but had comfortable chairs and was more accessible to the residents. Secondly, my wife and I would visit the seniors during their lunch hour and remind them of the meeting right after lunch. As a result, we tripled our attendance to 18.
The Spirit of God at Work
We have had many personal discussions and experiences with the residents over our 15 years there. Let me share three of them:
“Anna” (not her real name) was an Italian Roman Catholic lady. Her daughter wanted her to go to the catholic services at the home. She told her daughter, “No, I will only go to Bob and Cathie’s service.” Her daughter agreed to let her go. At the end of our chapel meetings, I always closed with the chorus “Jesus Loves Me.” After about six months, when I was going around the lunchroom to invite the residents to the afternoon meeting, I came to Anna who grabbed my hand and said with the biggest smile on her face, “Jesus loves me.” I do believe she trusted the Lord as her Savior. For the next two years she never missed a service. Sadly, she passed away during Covid. I was scheduled to take her funeral service, but the Covid restrictions prevented me from doing so.
Some months later, Anna’s daughter approached me and asked if she could give something to the chapel in honor of her mother who loved going there to hear God’s Word. The daughter decided to donate a beautiful new podium for the meetings. On the podium was Anna’s name and inscribed under her name in big letters was “JESUS LOVES ME.”
“Dan” was a retired schoolteacher. He was reluctant to come to our services, but one day he heard Cathie playing a hymn on the piano. He was hooked on her piano playing and started coming to the meetings, sitting in the front row at every meeting. You could see in his face that there had been a change in his life. I believe he had trusted the Lord. When I would ask for a favorite hymn to sing, he always asked for “God Will Take Care of Me.” As further proof that he was saved, he would invite the other three people sitting at his lunch table to come to our meetings. Over the years, just about everybody he invited came out to the meetings. Sadly, Dan passed away and I had the privilege of speaking at his funeral.
“Lawton” and I had an interesting first meeting. I received a call from the recreation director. She said, “There is a resident here teaching some religious ideas and causing some to be upset with what he is saying. Could you come and have a talk with him?” I agreed.
Lawton and I met in his room and for two hours we talked about spiritual matters. He recounted to me the change in his life that had occurred in the last six months. He was a member of a religious denomination. He was sent out by this group to be a worldwide evangelist. And, for years he had preached that a person could be saved by faith in Jesus Christ and by doing good works. However, he said, “Six months ago I was reading Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Bob, he said, you are saved by God’s grace and by faith in the finished work of Christ. Period!”
Lawton then told me that because of this truth he had been excommunicated from his religious organization. Furthermore, his wife and son had disowned him and would have nothing more to do with him. He had moved back to the Fonthill area and his new home at Lookout Ridge. He said he now wanted to preach the true gospel. He also told me that he had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had just a short time to live. He said that his wife and son had told him “this was God judging him for preaching a new gospel.”
I asked Lawton if he would come and speak at our Wednesday Bible study. He began his message by pointing around the packed room and saying, “I do not know what you believe, but I believe “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV). He then proceeded to give a wonderful explanation of this verse.
About three weeks later I received a call to say Lawton was in the hospital and that he was dying. I went to see him. In his room there were a number of people from his former congregation. They were talking about where his money would go after he died. I asked if I could speak with him. They said he could not hear me because he was in a coma. I knew and told the group that even if a person is in a coma they can still hear you. I do not think they believed me. I got up close to Lawton’s ear and said, “Lawton, do you remember what verse you spoke on at our Bible study?” I quoted John 3:16. A tear began to run down Lawton’s cheek. Someone said out loud, “You mean he can still hear us?” I replied, “Yes he can.” Lawton passed into the presence of the Lord two weeks later.
Should the Lord ever open an opportunity for you to share God’s Word with seniors, “Preach the Word” (2 Tim. 4:2). It may be their last stop before eternity.