Shortly after his retirement as director of Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in 1989, George Ricker and his wife, Iva Nelle, joined the senior adult group at First Baptist Church, Talladega.
Before long, Ricker was elected chairman of overnight trips, and since that time, seniors at First, Talladega, who call their group “Not Finished Yet,” have lived up to their name.
They have taken trips to several states and international countries, and a group of 46 is headed to Ireland later this year.
“My doctor has told me on two occasions that our senior adult trips do his patients more good than his medicine — and they are a lot less expensive!” Ricker said.
Senior adult ministries are as varied as the senior adults who participate in them. And while there are many elements to a successful senior adult ministry, travel is one element that can energize senior adults like no other.
In his article “Planning Recreation for Senior Adults,” Bill Highsmith, director of recreation, activities, and senior adults at Tusculum Hills Baptist Church in Nashville writes that today’s senior adults “have been exposed to more than any other senior adults in our history.”
“They are in better health, live longer, are more active, have more financial resources and are more diversified in all areas of life,” Highsmith writes. “If you expect their participation, your recreation approach for senior adults must be more active and more diversified.”
Ricker agrees. “In some churches senior adults are treated as if they are physically disabled and mentally incompetent,” he said. “However, in most churches, senior adults want to be challenged and want to be active.
“Churches that are having a meaningful senior adult ministry are challenging their members to be active,” Ricker said.
Travel is one important way that senior adult ministry can help seniors stay active and engaged.
“Trips are beneficial to everyone but especially to seniors,” said Phil Waldrep, director of Phil Waldrep Ministries in Trinity and a member of Central Baptist Church in Decatur.
“Travel allows senior adults to get away from home, leave their troubles behind and bond with their friends,” he said.
Through his ministry, Waldrep coordinates senior adult celebrations, called “Celebrators,” throughout the country each year.
He says that senior adults grow from traveling together because the trips provide opportunities to share in each other’s joys and disappointments. “When senior adults go off together, they laugh together, have fun together and may hurt together,” Waldrep said. “They often discover they are not the only ones struggling with an issue.”
Ricker said that members of their group have found that the time with others helps them deal with various concerns in their lives.
“We do a lot of ministering to each other when we travel together,” Ricker said.
Winnie Noles, a member of Cherry Street Baptist Church in Attalla, is a firm believer in the benefits of traveling and staying active. The 91-year-old has traveled frequently with her senior adult group, taking trips to Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Amish country in Pennsylvania, as well as a cruise to the Virgin Islands and Jamaica.
Their senior adult group takes regular day trips to nearby sites, including a recent trip to the Golden Flake Potato Chip plant in Birmingham.
Noles said that the trips she takes with her church are just like “going to meeting — we can’t wait to go!
“We have prayer, and we always have a place to have services when we get there,” she said. “[Our worship time] is one of the highlights of the [trip].”
Noles’s daughter, Romanza Cline, sees the benefits to her mother as well.
“She looks forward to her trips, and I firmly believe her outlook is better,” Cline said.
Highsmith divides travel ministry into four categories: one-day trips, two- and three-day trips, one week or longer trips and missions trips.
He says determining which types of trips senior adults are interested in can be as simple as conducting a brief survey and observing the interests of group members.
Once the group’s interests have been determined, start planning and follow through, he said. Travel agents can be extremely helpful for those who are just starting out in a travel ministry, but group members also should be involved in the planning.
“There is nothing like having ownership in something,” Highsmith said. “Ownership leads to commitment … [and] the follow-through is then so much greater.”
Senior adult conferences are a great way to get started with a travel program because most of the planning is coordinated by the sponsoring organization.
For example, LifeWay coordinates three conferences especially for senior adults, Chautauquas, “Spring Flings” and “Light Up Your Holidays.” Registration for these events usually includes accommodations, the conference fee and some meals.
Senior Adult “Celebrators” coordinated by Phil Waldrep Ministries offer similar packages without meal plans.
Waldrep says that conferences designed especially for senior adults are beneficial because they provide opportunities to meet people from other places and to learn from these experiences.
“If you’re going to a designated meeting, you’re going to be exposed to people you might not have been exposed to at home,” Waldrep said. “A large gathering provides people with the opportunity to hear and be challenged in different ways, and participants get a broader perspective on the body of Christ.
“I think a conference is a little foretaste of what heaven’s going to be like,” Waldrep added. “You meet a lot of people you’ve never met before, and everyone is there to praise the Lord!”
Perhaps most importantly, any opportunity to spend time with other people provides seniors, many of whom are single or widowed, opportunities to fellowship with other people.
“Your relationship with the Lord is the most important relationship, but relationships with other people are very important as well,” Waldrep said.
Highsmith agreed. “Through a [travel] program, the church can meet seniors’ spiritual, physical, social and emotional needs,” he writes. “Recreation plus senior adults equals a great stablility in our churches for the future.”
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