Wild Ideas

What do you want on your tombstone? I’ve been wondering that since I retired…and before, actually! I look on Facebook at other retired Christian friends loving complete freedom to travel and play with their grandkids. I want to do those things as well, but I’ve asked myself, “Is that it?” I asked myself that same question the day I became a Christian as a college sophomore and heard them buckle a guy’s casket. That sound resonated loudly in my ears. “Is that it?” I asked. Later that day, I responded to the gospel that I’d been hearing about and decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. 

Fast-forward 43 years. I had just retired from teaching. Now what? Is that it? The first year, I just slept like Rip Van Winkle and decompressed from years of teaching hormonally crazed 11 to 12 year olds. But I had this wild idea that I couldn’t shake. During my career, I had noticed the plight of children from under-resourced homes who were falling behind their peers academically in ways that would significantly impact their future. I dreamed about starting something in the community to bring people of faith, civic leaders, and concerned citizens together to serve our neighbors in need. I wanted to show love to the community by creating a means to give these children support and hope. I thought, “Retired teachers could serve as tutors and mentors to make a positive impact on these children.” 

Simultaneously, I had been troubled by the idea that Christians in our society often seem to be known more for what we are against than what we are for. I have always loved observing Jesus in the gospels as He went out to where people were and just loved them. I wanted to lead Christian people (no matter what their flavor) together with people of good will who may or may not have a faith…yet. But how?

Building a Foundation

In my second year of retirement, I partnered with a friend to investigate non-profit organizations in the Greater Milwaukee Area, where I live. We visited wonderful non-profit outreaches radiating the love of Jesus in amazing ways. Do you know what I learned? Nobody knew what they were doing when they started. Nobody! They were all just ordinary people who courageously decided to take a risk. Everyone just did something good and God provided for them as they went. So my dream kept following me.

In my third year of this retirement adventure, I decided to stick my toe in the water, never imagining that the Red Sea would part dramatically. I went to our district superintendent, a fellow believer, and talked about starting a tutoring center for kids whose parents are under-resourced, and couldn’t afford to hire a tutor. She sent me to one of our area principals who had sought multiple grants to serve those children with tutors but had been turned down. She and I clicked and The Oasis Project was born! I named it that because I wanted it to be a loving place of refreshment for those who needed hope and a future.

Watching His Plan Unfold

Now I had to find tutors. Recruiting was like picking strawberries in June in Wisconsin. Everyone I asked said, “Yes!” Soon, I had 10 regular tutors and five substitutes serving 27 children. In September of our first year, 68 percent of Oasis children were reading below their grade level. By January, that number dropped to 20 percent. We served 27 needy children our first year in one school, and now we serve around 70 children in three schools with 32 regular tutors plus 10 substitutes. Our volunteers represent 900 years of combined teaching experience. Children are growing academically but, more importantly, they are socially and emotionally more confident from the loving support they receive from their tutors. The bonds that have developed demonstrate joy, affection, and empowerment—similar to that of a grandma with a grandchild. The looks on the faces of both the children and tutors tell the story! It brings the generations together. 

We are now incorporated as a non-profit organization, which will help us raise the funds we need to expand. We have an amazing Board of Directors to guide us. In addition, retired teachers are finding a renewed sense of purpose and joy with continual expressions like, “It gives me a reason to get up in the morning.” Classroom teachers, with fewer resources and greater demands, now have more skilled and benevolent helpers to lighten their load and to close the achievement gaps. 

But wait…there’s more! The Oasis Project hopes to not only expand our tutoring services, but also start a counseling center for under-resourced families who are struggling, begin a fun and safe teen center so adolescents can enjoy a wholesome hangout, and create a resource center for community members who have been disenfranchised and fallen on hard times. Along the way, we are getting into the community and building love and trust. We are working together with like-hearted friends and becoming known for what we are for as loving people! Good deeds are opening doors for the Good News. Just like Jesus, we’re meeting people where they are. Churches and people who don’t go to church are all working together for the common good. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Gal.6:10). 

Listening to God’s Nudges

I have no idea what I am doing. Seriously! All I do know is that God gave me a wild idea that I couldn’t shake, so I listened. (He speaks to all of us through promptings, you know.) He has provided unbelievably talented people to help me, and we’re not trying to build an organization. We’re just trying to love people and see what God does. There’s a difference.

What would it look like for you to just love on people in your sphere of influence in some out-of-the box way? Do it. Put your toe in the water. Maybe it’s God talking to you. I didn’t want to get to the end of my life and wonder how I would feel if I hadn’t responded to God’s prompting. And BTW, you don’t have to be retired to respond to a wild idea that may be God’s prompting. 

Don’t underestimate how God will use everything and anything you have done in the past to do the next thing. By the time you’re this old, you might know a little something. God doesn’t waste anything and is the Great Recycler. Whether it’s your career skills or your heartbreaks, God will use everything for good. What have you done or what has been done to you that God could use going forward? Think about it. 

What do you want on your tombstone? I didn’t want, “She never knew what she could do for Jesus” on mine. Not that I’m against more leisure in retirement, don’t get me wrong. By all means, take the trips and play with your grandkids. (My friends will tell you I am hopelessly addicted to mine.) However, to just sit back while the world is crying in pain is not the Jesus way. And where is retirement in the Bible anyway? (Oops, that’s a whole other article!) Wishing you wild ideas for the love of Jesus! 

Putting Feet to Your Wild Ideas

Do you have a wild idea? I’ve often told people, “I’m building the airplane while I’m flying it!” Here are a few ideas about where to start:

• Ask some friends to pray.
• Find a friend or two who will brainstorm and investigate with you.
• Check out other places in your community that might be doing benevolent work.
• Seek advice from others who have started new things and ask questions. Synthesize their advice.
• Surround yourself with people who have ministry savvy.
• Seek input from others outside the world of ministry for their perspective and expertise. 
• Don’t be afraid to have your dream change along the way as you learn.
• Don’t feel like you have to know what you are doing.
• Start small, dream big!
• Just do something!

~ By Jan Frans