CAN YOU IMAGINE?
Do you know what is happening in nursing homes in your community?
Do you know who is there? The once active members of your community are there: the teachers, the soldiers, the leaders, yesterday’s
neighbors, old friends, colorful strangers, Christians, and non-believers. They may even be your cousins, mothers, fathers, brothers,
sisters, parents, or grandparents. They wait there, lonely and hurting in what some call, “God’s waiting room.” They are there through
no fault of their own, giving up their independence, privacy of their home, and almost all of the worldly possessions which they
had accumulated in their lifetime. They are there only because they have grown old, unable to care for themselves, and must now depend
on others, strangers, for their medical attention and daily needs. Most wait for death to come as a welcome relief from their loneliness,
pain, and boredom, while others still cling to the hope that their life can still be of some meaning or value. They look longingly
out their windows at the world outside the confines of their nursing home, remembering wonderful days from their past - days that
have seemingly passed by too quickly. Now they wait. Without purpose or a reason to live on, most wait alone in their rooms and hallways,
wondering to themselves what they have ever done to deserve such a dismal fate. They wait in loneliness for the end to come,
without the warm touch of a loving hand or the comfort of just one friend who really cares.
It
is not your fault, it is just the way the system works, and you are not in control of the system. It is not your responsibility, there
is just nothing that you can do, and besides, you have your own busy life to live. Or perhaps you really just don’t care about the
plight of the people in your community nursing home; after all, you have your own problems. But if you do care, just a wee bit, then
maybe you can take a little time to imagine just how easily it could be different.
It may
be difficult for you to imagine a nursing home atmosphere different from that which exists in your community today.
So, let us present an image of our awesome vision of what could be. Imagine organized groups of dozens of joyful, respectful,
and disciplined Christian kids coming into a nursing home in your community on a regular scheduled basis, guided and supported by
Christian adult volunteers. Imagine nursing home halls filled with Christian youth, from twelve different churches, coming together
to serve one nursing home, bringing organized social activities from live entertainment and holiday parties, right down to individual
birthday celebrations. Imagine Christian kids providing gifts, books, magazines, cassette tapes of old radio shows, video tapes of
old movies, and nostalgia group get-to-gathers to all of the residents. Imagine twelve different activities programs providing companionship,
friendship, meaningful crafts, games, physical exercise, and mental therapy classes, bringing meaning and purpose to the daily lives
of the resident patients. Imagine young, up-beat, and smiling kids from 8 to 18, filling the halls and rooms of this nursing home
with concern, caring, and social comfort. And, above all, imagine each friendly face, gently filling each heart of every resident
with spiritual hope in Jesus Christ and His gift of eternal life.
Furthermore, imagine all of
those residents who are capable, being helped and enabled by teams of Christian teens, to write and create their life story heirloom
in a legacy storybook called The Gift of a Lifetime. These Christian teens will be showing each capable resident how they can live
forever in the hearts and minds of their loved ones through their life story, bringing meaning and purpose to the closure of their
life in this world.
Imagine bright and cheerful worship services every Sunday in this nursing
home, provided on a 12 week rotating schedule, by these young children and teens from these 12 different churches. Imagine every desiring
patient being provided with a Bible, study materials, books, and tapes for their spiritual growth. Imagine, along with these resources,
will come organized Bible studies, communion, and prayer meetings for the residents. Through these programs, they will know the comfort,
joy, and hope that can be theirs through the knowledge that they can live forever in eternity with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Now imagine these same young children and teens from your church - your children and your grandchildren, as community missionaries,
growing in faith and spiritual character, as they learn to serve their Lord in obedience to his command “to love your neighbor as
you love yourself” and to serve those less fortunate who are in need.
Further imagine the parents
and grandparents of these young community volunteers writing, preparing, and preserving their life story in a storybook, The Gift
of a Lifetime, that will be handed down from generation to generation as their legacy and as a testimony to the glory of God. Also
imagine, with the purchase of this same storybook, designated portions of the purchase prices will totally supply the funds necessary
to provide all of these wonderful activities to the residents of your community nursing homes.
Now imagine that this is happening, not just in your community, but in every nursing home, in every community all across
No need to imagine
anymore that a difference can be made for the lonely and hurting resident patients in nursing homes in your community and throughout
this great country. It is not just a fantasy dream world somewhere out in a distant future. It is an opportunity which is here right
now, available for you and your church’s utilization today. You and your church have the opportunity to make all of what we just imagined
become a reality. There is no more, “If only it could be.” There is only, “It can be." We have everything we need to serve these hurting
children of God and bring glory to His name.
It is up to you now. You can easily make a difference
in the life of another and in the quality of life in which they live their remaining years. Even if your part is just to purchaseThe Gift of a Lifetime for yourself or a loved one, you will have provided your church youth with needed funds to run their nursing
home activities programs. It will take so little on your part, but will give so much in return.
Make the once only imagined, dynamic social activities and wonderful spiritual offerings of the Live Forever Program, a reality in
your church and in your community nursing home today. With the Live Forever Program and The Gift of a Lifetime, your church body and
you will make a present and eternal difference in the lives of the hurting resident patients of nursing homes, in the developing lives
of your church youth, and in every heart like yours who truly cares.
The Live Forever Program:
“A Christian church sponsored, Christian youth driven, Christian senior adult guided, community nursing home activities and worship
program.”
What
is the Live Forever Program?
The Live Forever Program is a community nursing home
activities program and ministry opportunity. The program is designed to organize and equip community churches with the capability
of providing comfort to the residents of their community nursing homes through social activities, spiritual hope, and caring
Christian companionship. These church sponsored services will all revolve around Christian youth volunteers and their senior
guides, providing visitations, companionship, Christian love through Sunday Worship programs, Legacy Authoring programs, and 12 different
exciting activities programs to their local community nursing home .
Simply put, the Live
Forever Program is designed to be sponsored by community churches, driven by Christian youth, guided and supported by senior adult
church members, and fully funded through the purchases of a family heirloom personal Legacy Storybook called, The Gift of a Lifetime.
Is there a need for the Live Forever Program in your community?
There is so much need in your very own community to bring the hope and comfort of our LORD and the Gospel to the lonely, emotionally neglected, spiritually hungry, and often forgotten resident patients in your nursing homes. The Live Forever Program has been created with the overall goal of providing resident patients of nursing homes with social comfort, personal meaning, and sincere joy to all of the resident patients through interesting social activities, the bringing of loving Christian reinforcing support to the believing residents, and finally to gently bring the opportunity of spiritual hope to the lost unbelievers through the saving knowledge of the love of JESUS and His promise of eternal life. The Live Forever Program can supply your church with the means, organization, and capability necessary to provide interesting productive activity programs and caring Christian companionship to these hurting and needy resident patients.
How does the Live Forever Program work?
Through the Live Forever Program, 12 churches will come together to serve one nursing home, in four different service areas:
What
is the Live Forever Comfort Zone Program?
The Live Forever Program is divided into three areas of service to a sponsored nursing home. The first program service is the Live Forever Comfort Zone Program. Each of the 12 sponsoring churches will choose one of 12 activities provided from within the Live Forever Comfort Zone Program, as their individual activity to provide to their local community nursing home.
The 12 different Comfort
Zone Program activities available are:
1. Nostalgia Comfort Zone - Mental activities themed in remembering
“the Good Old Days.”
2. Crafts Comfort Zone - Group craft enjoyment activities.
3. Entertainment
Comfort Zone - Live entertainment provided to the residents.
4. Individual Celebrations Comfort Zone
- Birthday and individual special occasion parties.
5. Group Celebrations Comfort Zone - Group
parties for Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.
6. Games Comfort Zone - Board games, table games, and group
games such as Bingo.
7. Reading Comfort Zone - Providing magazines, books, and related reading activities.
8. Christian Growth Comfort Zone - Providing Bibles and Christian growth materials,
prayer groups, and Bible study activities.
9. Listening Comfort Zone - Providing radios, audio cassette player/recorders, audio tape library,
and related individual
and group listening activities
10. Viewing Comfort Zone - Providing TV, VCR/DVD player, Video tape/DVD library, and related
group viewing activities.
11. Christian Servants Comfort Zone - Organize resident groups to serve each other, such as,
welcoming teams and helping new residents adapt, creating a weekly newsletter, etc.
12. Therapy Comfort Zone - Organize
and provide mental and physical therapy related activities.
What is the Live Forever Sunday Worship Program?
The second branch of the Live Forever Program, which brings the residents the spiritual comfort and heartfelt joy in knowing and worshiping
GOD, is called the Live Forever Sunday Worship Program. Each sponsoring church will have the opportunity to provide, on a once every
12 week rotating basis, a JESUS centered, youth driven, Sunday Worship Service in their chosen sponsored nursing home. As you
can imagine, having three months to prepare one worship service for the nursing home will provide ample time for the youth of
your church to put together a wonderful and exciting worship experience for the resident patients. This will provide the
sponsored nursing home residents, every Sunday, with a grand worship service fit for a King - our KING, our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
What
is the Live Forever Authoring Program?
The third branch of the Live Forever Program is the Live Forever Authoring Program. Each
sponsoring church will have the opportunity to provide capable nursing home residents with youth helpers, resources, and tools to
write and preserve their own life story in The Gift of a Lifetime. This provides the resident authors with the opportunity to live
forever in the hearts and mind of their loved ones and to know of their promise from JESUS to live forever with Him in eternity.
What
is the Legacy Program?
The Legacy Program is not utilized within the nursing
home part of the ministry. The connection with the nursing home ministry is through the legacy storybook, The Gift of a Lifetime, because
of the funds generated from the sales of The Gift of a Lifetime which are used in financing all of the Live Forever
Programs within the nursing homes.
As an optional in-church legacy development program,
as an incentive to purchase a fund raising storybook, and as an enhancement offering to purchasers of The Gift of a Lifetime,
the Legacy Program shall be made available as a classroom offering to church sponsors.
The Legacy Program would provide classroom suggestions, ideas, guidance, and direction to parents and grandparents of a
participating congregation, to help them to develop and create their personal family legacy, as their Christian testimony
for their loved ones and posterity.
Outlines for a classroom scenario, useful links, helpful
resources, and related materials will be available to Live Forever Program sponsors, on a special Live Forever Program (Presently
under construction) website.
More Questions and Answers
Where will
the manpower come from to provide these programs?
All of the Live Forever Programs will
be driven by vigorous Christian youth-power, ages 8-18, as an integral part of the sponsoring churches' youth and teen programs.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the church to become involved in the development of their youth in faith and
spiritual character through their loving obedience to the LORD, in serving those resident patients who are
in need. The youth groups will be actively involved in providing "Christian-Power" while being supported by senior
adult volunteers and church leaders. Together, all of these caring volunteers will be able to easily provide
their chosen activities to the resident patients of their sponsored community nursing home.
Where will we get the financial resources to run the programs?
The youth volunteers will
also play the lead role in the campaign of raising funds for their Live Forever Programs. All of the activities of
the Live Forever Program shall be funded through revenues generated from the purchases of a family heirloom legacy storybook
called The Gift of a Lifetime. Storybooks purchased by or for parents, grandparents, and loved ones, will provide their own church
body with the financial resources to fund all of the individual program offerings in their chosen community nursing
home.
What is The Gift of a Lifetime?
The Gift of a Lifetime is a book which will equip anyone
who has the capability of recall with the capability to write their life story. This book was designed for ease of story development,
providing an organized question and answer format which will simply walk any person through the memories of the story of their life
and then provide the pages to write, record, display, and preserve that story, along with photographs, audio recordings, and video
recordings. As your lifetime storybook, The Gift of a Lifetime will then become your family heirloom, to be passed down as your legacy
to your loved ones and posterity.
The Live Forever Program is themed in nostalgia and purposed
in spreading the Gospel, during the delivery of social and spiritual comfort activities, and through its centerpiece personal legacy
storybook, The Gift of a Lifetime.
What is the spiritual purpose of the Live Forever Program?
There are three primary spiritual
purposes. First and foremost, within the nursing home atmosphere, the Live Forever Program is dedicated to the purpose of comforting
and reinforcing the faith of Christian residents and also gently bringing the opportunity of spiritual hope to the
lost unbelieving residents, through the knowledge of the love of JESUS CHRIST and His promise of eternal life. The secondary purpose
is the spiritual and Christian character development of the youth who will be actively involved in serving the resident
patients of their community nursing homes. The third spiritual purpose is providing for parents and grandparents, the resources
to create and preserve their personal legacy as a Christian testimony for their loved ones and their posterity, through The Gift
of a Lifetime.
