Wycliffe's New Florida Volunteer Mobilization Center to Target Retirees
by Allie Martin
December 20, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A well-known ministry is tailoring its volunteer programs to appeal to baby boomers. Wycliffe Associates, a ministry that supports Bible translators, is building a volunteer mobilization center in Orlando to recruit, train, and mobilize an expected influx of mature, skilled workers.Baby boomers, those individuals born between 1946 and 1964, make up a quarter of the U.S. population. Martin Huyett, Wycliffe Associates' vice president of volunteer services, says members of this demographic have many abilities and talents that can be used in ministry work of helping to provide God's Word to the 3,000 language groups without it around the world.
The mature volunteers the USA Mobilization Center will target "are uniquely qualified people, and they can use their gifts," Huyett explains. After all, he points out, "Bible translation is more than a bunch of academics sitting out in little villages translating scripture. There are a lot of support activities that need to take place that have to do with libraries, have to do with schools, have to do with transportation -- the whole gamut. People can make a difference."
The time has never been better to tap into the retirement-age bracket as potential enlistees in the Wycliffe ministry workforce, the ministry spokesman notes. Many of today's retirees are more active, vital, and involved than their counterparts in previous generations, and "even if they retired at normal retirement age, they probably have more life and certainly more energy than in the past."
In fact, Huyett observes, "I think several have written about the fact that this is the first generation that's not worn out when they retire."
Also, the ministry official points out, international travel is not as difficult for individuals as it once was. "In spite of all the trouble that's in the world today," he says, "it's never been less expensive or easier to go someplace."
Wycliffe USA Mobilization Center will be able to match baby boomers with many ministry opportunities, Huyett notes. He says the center will provide the facilities needed to equip thousands of people for greater involvement in the worldwide ministry of Bible translation.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
