A unique opportunity offered in our Louisville field is projects for local volunteers who may only have a day or just a couple of hours to give each week. One such group of individuals we affectionately call “The Retired Guys.” These are men who have years of construction experience and want to use their new free time to serve God with their unique skills. Rob Minton, our Director who works in the Louisville office and sees these volunteers on a regular basis expressed that “it is super fun to see people in the second phase of their life using their skills and knowledge for the kingdom.” 

One of those volunteers is Tim Wiers. After working professionally in HVAC and a side job in apartment maintenance, Tim decided to retire early. After joking with his wife that “if I can get out of the 40-hour-a-week job I can do more!” The pull to find more meaning stayed on his heart. While looking on his church’s service app for new ways to get plugged in, Tim found the many different opportunities to serve through CrossRoads Missions. Opportunities that would utilize his specific skills, knowledge, and passions! 

“Tim retired young so that he could live out a life of meaning. And he has jumped into serving with CrossRoads with both feet,’ explained Rob while interviewing Tim on our Made to Serve radio show. “He has worked in Louisville, Appalachia, Western Kentucky – and I know he serves with other organizations in Southern Indiana.” 

Tim was helping to lead projects in Appalachia at the time of the devastating flood. He stayed to help prepare our buildings and move equipment to higher ground, and even checked on neighbors after the group had been evacuated. “I wanted to check on one more lady before I left,” Tim explains while telling his story in the radio interview. “Everyone else had gone, and I was leaving her house around six that night and decided to swing by maytown to see how things were doing. I’m standing on the railroad tracks looking at the property alongside many of the neighbors I met during the past week, just watching the flood water rise.”

Read more about the floods in Appalachia…

“I started heading home, but was so tired I stayed at a rest stop for the night. When I woke the next morning I felt a prompting from the Lord to go back. I was halfway home, I could go and let someone else deal with it, or I could turn around and go back. I didn’t have anything pressing at home, so I went back.” Tim continued to help with flood relief efforts, and shared God’s love to our neighbors in Appalachia through his actions.

“It is good for me that I get to help with being the hands and feet for Jesus and serving with Godly men,” shared Tim. “Through CrossRoads there is a platform to use the skills and ability I have to share the love of Christ. I didn’t have that platform when I was doing apartment maintenance myself.” One of his favorite projects in Louisville was renovating the space for Lifeline when they moved in next door to our office. Now that space is used to pack meals for people in need around the world, including in our Mexico field. That is a direct result of volunteers like Tim using their time and skills for God’s work. “I’m not anybody special. It is just taking the gifts God has given you, wherever you are at, whatever ability you have, and we can apply it.”