Will You Help Me Prove My Friend Wrong?

Bottom line upfront: I’m forming a small Advisory Board at Back to the Bible and I want you on it. Not as cheerleaders, I need a few seasoned believers who’ve walked with Jesus a long time and can be counted on to tell me the truth.

Let me tell you a story I’ve never quite known how to tell.

When my mom and dad got back from the mission field, they announced they were moving into a retirement community. Why? Because older people are closer to death and would be the easiest to lead to the Lord.

I wasn’t a believer then and thought they’d lost their minds.

But it didn’t take long for them to see what the research now backs up: people over 55 are some of the hardest to reach. Their hearts calcify. They get stuck in old patterns. My parents didn’t fail because the gospel is weak. They ran into a hard reality.

But here’s what haunts me now: What if that same calcification is happening to us who are over 50 who are already in the church?

You saw the research I sent last week. Nine out of ten of us say sharing our faith is important. But only about two in three are even looking for chances to do it. And just 47% have mentored or discipled anyone lately. And for those of us over 50, that gap is getting wider, not smaller.

A close friend of mine—he’s in his 80s, sharp, and loves me enough to be blunt—pulled me aside a few weeks ago. He said, “Arnie, if you try to mobilize the over-50 crowd, you’re going to go broke. They’re the least likely people on earth to change.”

I sat with that. It bothered me.

Then I told him: “You mean those of us who love Jesus, who read our Bibles almost every day, who’ve followed Him for decades… we’re no more willing to step up than someone who’s never known Him?”

He just looked at me.

I refuse to believe he’s right about you.

You’ve walked with the Lord through a lot of years. You’ve stayed faithful when it wasn’t easy. That matters. Scripture says the righteous “will still bear fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green” (Psalm 92:14). And even as our bodies slow down, Paul says our inner self is “being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

These later years aren’t supposed to be about pulling back. They’re supposed to be about multiplying fruit—sharing our stories, mentoring younger believers, stepping into the moments God gives us.

When we go quiet, we don’t just let others down. We lose that deep sense that we still matter, that we’re still needed in the Kingdom.

That’s why I’m writing to you today.

I’m building a small working Advisory Board composed of real believers who are tired of just sitting in the audience. I want people ready to wrestle with the tough questions:

• Why have so many of us gone quieter than we should?

• What will it actually take to wake up fresh boldness and fruitfulness in this season?

• What are we missing—and what does God’s Word say about it?

Here’s all I’m asking: Read what we send. Tell me the truth, especially when you think I’m wrong. Join us for a few short virtual meetings a year. No dues. No flying. Just your honest voice and the wisdom you’ve earned over decades with Christ.

If you’re in, send me a message with “Advisory Board” at the beginning of it and tell me in a sentence or two why you’d be a good fit. I’ll read every one myself. Use this link to send it: https://www.backtothebible.org/contact 

And if you haven’t yet, grab the free book Rick Lawrence and I wrote for us: The Over-50 Advantage. Get your copy at bttb.org/over50.

My friend thinks this generation can’t be mobilized. Let’s prove him wrong—together—and finish strong, still bearing fruit for the Kingdom.

All in, eyes up! –Arnie

P.S. We’re continuing this conversation on the Spiritually Fit Today podcast this week. Listen in, and forward this to another believer who needs to be reminded they still matter. Someone might be waiting on this right now.