about retire2serve

retire2serve.com

About retire2serve

Mission: retire2serve exists to encourage individuals to use their retirement for significant service to God, and to encourage churches and faith-based organizations to facilitate this service.

Principal: Jim Hughes

I launched retire2serve in May 2005. I accepted early retirement from Texaco in 2002 and established Mapmaker Coaching, a Christian life coaching practice, later that year. Early on, I was struck by these facts:

Our generation has been given 30 years of extra life compared to just 100 years ago.
The average first retirement age is 57, and the average final retirement age is 62.
The opportunity for large numbers of people to use this 15-30 years for service to God and others is exciting.

Choosing to use retirement years to serve is not a new idea, but it is an idea that has not yet come into the mainstream.

In the 1960's, there were attempts within the Kennedy administration to launch programs wherein retirees would be enlisted in major service initiatives, but they never got beyond the pilot stage. I believe faith-based efforts will succeed where government-sponsored efforts have failed.
The Halftime movement begun by Bob Buford in the 1990's, encouraging individuals to move from success in the marketplace to significance in serving, continues to grow. I'm a great fan of Halftime, and have participated in a number of Halftime events. The Halftime concept, however, only reaches a portion of those who are interested in devoting time from their second half of life to service to God.

My goal with retire2serve is to reach the larger audience of regular folks who in retirement have the option of choosing to serve.