How shall we spend our God-gift of an extra three decades? The Last Third of life (age 60 and beyond) offers significant challenges that Thibault and Morgan propose we approach as a pilgrimage. Their scripture-based meditations and reflection questions examine 7 tasks essential to living the Last Third fearlessly and with purpose:

Is there any good news in the "Good News" for older adults? We're living longer. In fact, people 85 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. Life expectancy is increasing in all developed countries in the world. With the gift of longer life, though, comes pain. The worst physical ailments and frailties may seem inconsequential when compared to the feelings of emotional and spiritual abandonment that many elders report today: "I can't relate to Jesus' message any longer. The gospel calls for action. I can't do what Christ wants me to do, and I feel guilty." "The Old Testament comforts me more than the New Testament. These writings relate to my situation more since I'm old, flat on my back, and utterly dependent on others." "The church has no place for old people." "I feel that I have outgrown Jesus —he's for beginners in the spiritual life." Out of Thibault's reflection on the relevance of the gospel to later life comes hope. "While secular society offers long-term care insurance, Jesus offers the promise of abundant life in the here and now as well in heaven," Thibault says. Each chapter of 10 Gospel Promises for Later Life addresses a fear about aging and faith and gives an example of its negative effect on a person's daily life. Next you'll find a response, the promise of the gospel, the assurance of God's constant love that offers hope in all circumstances. Identify your own fears (or the fears of a loved one) about aging, and learn from Thibault's sensitive study how to make the most of God's gift of longer life. Questions for personal reflection or group discussion are included at the end of each chapter, making it an ideal book for individuals or classes.

Considering retirement can be daunting. How do you know how to best plan for the future? Now there's a helpful guidebook to lead you thoughtfully into the third third of life. In this brief workbook Walter C. Wright provides eight sessions to help those moving toward retirement plan out their next steps. Developed and field-tested at the Max De Pree Center for Leadership, this guide includes material for individuals and groups that will enable 50-somethings (and up) to prepare for the next chapter of life with confidence.

We all encounter times when our spirit feels dry, when doubt looms. The opportunity to tour Israel came at a good time. For months, my life has been a mindless plodding through necessary routine, as monotonous as an all-night shift on an assembly line. Life gets that way sometimes, when nothing specific is wrong but the world around us seems drained of color. Even my weekly worship experiences and daily quiet times with God have felt as dry and stale as last year's crackers. I'm ashamed to confess the malaise I've felt. I have been given so much. Shouldn't a Christian's life be an abundant one, as exciting as Christmas morning, as joyful as Easter Sunday? With gripping honesty, Lynn Austin pens her struggles with spiritual dryness in a season of loss and unwanted change. Tracing her travels throughout Israel, Austin seamlessly weaves events and insights from the Word . . . and in doing so finds a renewed passion for prayer and encouragement for her spirit, now full of life and hope.

In our postmodern, experience-oriented culture, people are longing for greater authenticity, integrity, and depth in their pastors and leaders. Board directors, church members, and staff alike are all eagerly seeking leaders who effectively integrate their spirituality and leadership. Pastors and executives, however, often struggle with knowing how to integrate their spiritual values and practices into their leadership and management roles. Designed for pastors, executives, administrators, managers, coordinators, and all who see themselves as leaders and who want to fulfill their God-given purpose, The Spirit-Led Leader addresses the critical fusion of spiritual life and leadership for those who not only want to see results, but who also desire to care just as deeply about who they are and how they lead as they do about what they produce and accomplish. Geoffrion creates a new vision for spiritual leadership as partly an art, partly a result of careful planning, and always a working of the grace of God

You can only go so far for so long before you find the limits of yourself. For Phileena Heuertz that moment arrived, mercifully, around the same time as a sabbatical to mark her twelfth year of service with Word Made Flesh, a ministry to some of the poorest people in the world. With six months' respite from the daily task of serving those who have nothing, Phileena rediscovered the genius of contemplative spirituality. Activists often see contemplation as a luxury, the sort of thing that must necessarily be laid aside in the quest to see the world set aright. But in Pilgrimage of a Soul we see that contemplation is essential--not only to a life of sustained commitment to the justice and righteousness of God, but to the growth in faith and discipleship that the Holy Spirit beckons each of us to. Tracing seven movements from a kind of sleepfulness to a kind of wakefulness, Heuertz shows us that life is a journey that repeats itself as we are led by Christ deeper and deeper into our true selves and a truer knowledge of God.