Friends: Dave Faust’s new book Not Too Old has a lively message for everyone. Here’s what it said to me. See the column below. The book is available at (links) Amazon and CollegePress+audio or at E91’s bookstore (a better deal, $20).

Have a great read … I mean, a great week! 

Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #910

April 23, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Living on Purpose

By Bob Walters

“Your soul gets a do-over when you accept Christ.” – Dave Faust, in his new book, Not Too Old.

Dave Faust’s new book, Not Too Old (Turning Your Later Years into Greater Years), is different: it is the first book on aging I have ever wanted to read.

Let me start by saying the above “soul” quote is cherry picked from one of Dave’s many informative sidebars (page 261) and is reflective of the book’s great information, advice, wisdom, memorable phrasing, and scriptural and human citations. You see, Dave – then senior minister at East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis – performed my baptism in 2001, when I was 47, and so was he. We are only a month apart in birthdays.

Anyway, Dave’s construct of a soul “do-over” resonates with me. I live it, with thanks, daily.

While that line struck a personal chord, the book is far more than merely an exercise in “Do you know Jesus?” It is a gold-mine of Christian, biblical, and this-world perspective on living long and living well, in faith and with purpose, on grief and compassion, on funerals, changes, and challenges.

The “senior citizen” basics – retirement, health, finance, wills, funeral planning, etc. – are addressed with Christian wisdom, but those topics are also available everywhere.  Call your HR department, doctor, financial advisor, lawyer, or funeral director. The marketplace info is the same.

But I’m telling you, this book on life’s later years is different because Dave is different.

After my baptism, I asked Dave to help me get involved at our church.  A month or so later I was invited to join the new “Facilities and Land Use Committee” to assess a church growth need.  The committee – Dave wasn’t on it – turned out to be mostly elders and other lions of the church who were burdened to figure out how E91 could accommodate 10,000 or more weekly attendees because Dave’s excellence as a preacher of Gospel Truth drew multitudes; he was different. The faithful flocked in. I was awed, and learned much about the church. Music, btw, wasn’t mentioned.

That was early 2002, and late spring Dave was called to become president of Cincinnati Christian University, his alma mater, and the committee’s work went fallow.  

Nonetheless, I stayed in touch with Dave as a friend, preacher, educator, and kindred fellow-writer over the decades which now gave me an enthused push to see what new he had to say on my heretofore discounted subject of “aging” about which I generally had been unenthused. Here’s why.  

I figure I already know how to get old – I’m scheduled to turn 70 in May (Dave in June) – and “aging,” previously in life, was not something on which I wanted to get ahead of myself.  Just like you (possibly), I believe I have become my own sovereign expert on the subject of “I am getting old.”

What Dave is an expert on, and so richly blesses us with in this 287 page book, is scriptural perspective and life stories and interviews that have made him a beloved preacher and pastor over 50 years.  Scripture abounds, interviews (Bill Gaither!) fascinate, and personal testimonies resonate.  The anecdote on E91’s now-departed Russ and Marian Blowers (page 258) made me sob fondly.

Dave and his wife Candy returned to the E91 family in 2014, when Dave felt his time at CCU had been fulfilled and E91 was in need of a friendly, familiar, calm, and steady assist in a turbulent time. At age 60, Dave returned as – and approaching 70 remains – E91’s Senior Associate Minister.

Dave says it was his journey into his 60s that sparked inspiration for the book.  His kindness-infused personality joins his writing gift for the “turn-of-a-phrase” fashioning a warmly enjoyable read.  There is scripture for virtually every paragraph, a study guide after each chapter, and familiar anecdotes about folks we know.  Not Too Old is not the same old thing about the same “old” thing.

Life and aging are intensely personal, and no two lives age in precisely the same way: surprises abound.  Not Too Old is a treasure chest of faith, what to say and how to say it, and what scripture says and doesn’t say about the final leg of life’s journey as our time heads into eternity.

God’s purpose pursues us to the end, and that is an encouraging message for any age.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that E91 is hosting a church book signing with Dave this Sunday near the Resource Room (bookstore). At church the books are $20 (cash, card, or check, including tax and eliminating shipping). But in this case, it’s about the message, not the money.