Georgia Baptists are uniquely blessed in our ministry among senior adults through the diligent efforts of the Baptist Village Retirement Communities and Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia to meet the needs of our senior adult population. As Georgia Baptists age, a vibrant and creative ministry is needed to touch their lives. These ministries are provided through these two outstanding entities of the Georgia Baptist Convention.

On July 16, Georgia Baptists will celebrate these ministries by receiving the Senior Adult Ministries Day Offering. This is an annual offering through which you have the opportunity to contribute to these ministries, which so effectively touch the lives of senior adults. I encourage you to give generously.

In the 1950’s, before the days of Medicare and Medicaid, Georgia Baptist leaders saw the opportunity for ministry to older people who had little or no family and no place to live. The Holy Spirit touched the hearts of people like Dick Hall, Searcy S. Garrison, Louie D. Newton and Harvey Mitchell and motivated them to create a ministry directed toward senior adults.

This ministry was to provide housing and health care for “God’s older children.” It was believed at that time that of those who come to live in Georgia’s Baptist Village, one-third would be able to pay their own way, another third would need some assistance, and the final third would need complete assistance. In 1958, eight widow ladies moved to the Baptist Village campus in Waycross. Much has changed in the succeeding years.

Georgia Baptists’ ministries to senior adults have grown across the years, as have the needs of our seniors. Today, Georgia Baptists provide ministries to senior adults in Waycross, Macon and Lake Park through Baptist Village Retirement Communities. Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia offers ministry to senior adults in Decatur and at their magnificent new campus in Palmetto.

Now, Medicare helps with the costs of care for seniors and Medicaid covers the cost for those who qualify. Unfortunately, some people fall through the cracks. Medicaid does not cover the costs of assisted living. Those who need assistance and are without resources are just as needy today as they were in the 1950’s.

Georgia Baptists have not stepped away from their responsibility to minister and to care. Still, many pay their own way or receive assistance from the government and others simply could not make it without our assistance. This reality is the justification of the need for participating in the Senior Adult Ministries Day Offering. It is the right thing to do. Any reading of the New Testament will demonstrate that the early church not only set out to win people to Christ, but also cared for those in need.

I want to ask you and your church to continue the course set by our New Testament forefathers and our Georgia Baptist leadership of years gone by through supporting the Senior Adult Ministries Day Offering. Your support will serve to strengthen and extend this ministry for years to come.