3/26/25 - 2087: Retirement is Just the Beginning

Jim: You've tuned into iWork4Him, the Voice of Collaboration for the Faith and Work Movement.

Martha: And we are your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. Our mission is to inspire every workplace believer to recognize their workplace as their ministry place where they work with God every day. What can that look like in your workplace? Let's find out right now.

Jim: When you have a storied career and you finally retire, all you wanna do is check out and go on vacation for a few decades, but not our guest today. Ross Harrop spent 33 years at the Boy Scouts of America and retired in 2008. I guess he wanted to go into full-time ministry because then he became an executive pastor for several years and then God moved Ross and his wife Jill to Largo, Florida, and let's just say that changed everything.

Ross and I met for coffee and a Mountain Dew at Panera on February the 14th. That's right, Valentine's Day, 2012 to have a conversation about his future. Ross was searching for meaning and purpose in his retirement years, and he wasn't ready to just walk the beaches looking for seashells every day.

Meanwhile, back at the Brangenberg Ranch, [00:01:00] I was in talks with a group called C12 about becoming a chair for their Christian business roundtables in our county. I realized that the job wasn't for me, but it was for Ross and that's the rest of the story. Ross Harrop has now been a C12 chair for over 12 years and has a story to tell about his own transformation and how his retirement years have been but vacation, but so very fulfilling and I'm sure he still gets some seashell searching every once in a while. Ross Harrop, many time guest and a many time guest host on this show, welcome back.

Ross Harrop: It's great to be back with the two of you and if anyone wants to know how that original meeting at Panera, what it was like, and who was drinking the Mountain Dew, I'd be glad to fill em in.

Jim: They all know. (laughter)

Ross Harrop: But I have been blessed by that meeting and your guidance and introduction to C12. So it's great to be together.

Jim: I'm still addicted to Mountain Dew. Drink one just about every day. Alright, Ross, do you and Jill ever get a chance to look for seashells at the beach anymore?

Ross Harrop: Yeah. One of the great parts [00:02:00] of living here is that our two of our children moved here, the two sons, and our daughter is about to move back, so being on the beach occasionally is part of our routine and it's part of the the family reunion. And so we're excited that hopefully in the very near future, we'll have all 14 of us together and right here in Pinellas County.

Martha: Oh, that's fun. Jim was saying in the intro that you really, in the world's eyes, had a chance to just to check out, retire when you were done with the Boy Scouts. Why didn't you do that?

Ross Harrop: The interesting thing is that's why we originally had purchased our home here, a smaller home, and it was going to be our retirement home. And then as you'll recall, as an executive pastor I helped reorganize the church leadership, eliminated my position, which was on my bucket list to do. I always thought that would be cool. [00:03:00]

Jim: Cool to eliminate your job, yeah. (laughter)

Martha: Write yourself right out of the plan.

Ross Harrop: That's right. Strengthen the organization and the financial sustainability and all of those things that go into that. But moving down here I didn't know what I was gonna do. And Jim, that's how you and I got together. I was looking and you were the one person that really took the time and helped guide me, which is, I think as we're talking about from both points of view, but from the retirement, is taking the time to help people find out where are they going to be passionate and then help 'em get aligned. And you did that for me.

Jim: We now have a tagline for it 'cause here's where it goes: when you retire, your calling didn't retire. If you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. And if you're not dead, you're not done.

Ross Harrop: Yeah. That was certainly the case for me. And I didn't know what that was gonna be as we moved here to Tampa Bay. But that certainly was the case. Again getting identified with where [00:04:00] God is at work. That was the key for me. Not what did I want to do, but what, where was God at work? And so...

Jim: When I describe to you the way that whole thing went is that I've been working on applying for this job, trying to take over the C12 chair, and I was looking at him like the Lord showed me in a dream that I was supposed to tell you about the job and not me. Think how much easier my life had been if I had been a C12 chair the last 12 years.

Martha: I don't know that it'd easier, maybe not, just different. (laughing)

Jim: Maybe it would be simpler than all the things we've done. But anyway, I said to you, Ross, go to this website. Look up this chair position and I'll call you in three hours. I gotta go. And when I called you back, you go, Jim, if I could spend the rest of my life doing that one thing, that's what I wanna do.

Ross Harrop: And it's been that way for the last 13 years.

Jim: That's right.

Ross Harrop: Yeah.

Jim: So over the, over those 12 plus years, it was April of 2012 that I told you about it, you became a chair. I think you finished it up in August of 2012. So you've poured your life into countless Jesus following business people as a chair for C12 online at c12group.com. How has that changed your life?

Ross Harrop: [00:05:00] Certainly it was all in God's timing, in God's plan, and he knew that the experiences that I had, as we moved around the country with the Boy Scouts and then as an executive pastor, we're all in preparing me to serve alongside these, you know, CEOs and presidents, and Christian business owners. All of those experiences prepared me to do this. And had I not had those different experiences I wouldn't be able to fulfill the responsibilities as a C12 chair.

Jim: But the question was how did it change your life? How has pouring your life in all those others changed Ross Harrop?

Ross Harrop: The fact that God had a plan, he had wired me in such a way, he was ready to recharge my batteries after an amazing career, 33 years, as you said, with the Boy Scout and then as an executive pastor, he knew what I needed. That [00:06:00] was to get up every morning and be fulfilled with what I was doing and leaning into people's lives.

So it changed my life and here I am into my early seventies still as excited as I was when I was first introduced to it 13 years ago. So it's changed my life for because I get to do that, which he prepared me to do.

Martha: Yeah. Speaking of things that have changed your life, Ross, we have things that have really changed ours along the way, and one of those has been putting our focus on where our money goes and who it is supporting.

And you've actually followed along on that journey for quite a bit of it. But one of the things that we've changed is who we use as our cell phone provider. Patriot Mobile is a company whose values align with ours, and they fight for things that we believe in. So we still have our phone on the best tower for where we live and travel, but our dollars are being used to support faith, family, and Freedom. Patriot [00:07:00] mobile.com/iwork4him allows you to switch using a US based customer service and support the message of iWork4Him all at the same time.

All right, Ross, tell us about the role that you have as a C12 chair. What does that look like?

Ross Harrop: It depends on the day. Depends who I'm meeting with. And it's so unique because some days I am that business coach, sometimes it's the personal coach. Sometimes, very rarely, but on occasion I become the consultant running the full day C12 experience, which is it's called C12 - don't tell anybody, Jim, Martha - but there was this guy named Jesus that thought if he brought 12 together, it would be the right number.

And Buck Jacobs felt that if that was Jesus' model, that was what he was gonna [00:08:00] follow. So we bring together for a full day each month following the national and now international curriculum. I get to be a facilitator as well. So all of these things, sometimes maybe I'm called to be a pastor. Sometimes to just be a shepherd. So it really differs based on the people, the divine appointments that God brings into my life.

Jim: Would you consider yourself a mentor or Discipler?

Ross Harrop: Yes. (laughter)

Martha: Knew he was gonna say that.

Ross Harrop: Again, one of the great parts of this role is that I get to work with those - now I have some members, CEOs, that have been with me for 13 years. They're, most of them, spiritually mature. And then on the other hand, there are some that as they come in, they profess to be Christian or willing to grow in their faith. So sometimes that part is more [00:09:00] discipleship. So I think back, Jim, to our earliest days together talking about C12, and you said, I just don't wanna be tied in.

I have never, and again, that's the uniqueness and how God has woven you and I, but I just have never felt limited. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted within these very broad boundaries of C12. It's been amazing. 13, almost 13 years.

Jim: Can you imagine what it would've been like if you had just retired and did nothing?

Ross Harrop: Yeah. I wonder if I'd still be living here... 'cause I think that's how God, how God wired me. And it's interesting in how we got here. I had left scouting, had left the church and I sat down with a woman who was an expert, written books on resume writing, and she said, do you have a favorite quote? And I said, no. She said it could be your own quote.

[00:10:00] On the way home I stopped at a little diner and on the back of a napkin, the Holy Spirit gave me this phrase, God has a purpose for my life that is so compelling I must pursue it with passion. And that was it. It was on the back of a napkin, had nothing to do with anything I had thought about before. And I remember she put it on the top of that resume. And that, and again, I still share that same just little reminder that I'm doing what God has asked me to do.

Martha: Well, and you're helping those that you are leading in your C12 groups to do the same thing, because that's a lot of what C12 is about, right? Is narrowing in on, whether it's the business aspect of it, all of the things that you're helping, so many people don't have someone further down the road with the experience that God's given you, with the wisdom and the counsel and the ability to be a scheduled listener, at times, [00:11:00] like you said, you get to fill all these roles and do that for somebody who wants to be better in the name of Jesus Christ, in what their calling is.

So I imagine in the last dozen years or so, you've seen some pretty miraculous transformations take place in people's lives. Can you give us an example of one or two?

Ross Harrop: Absolutely. I think of of one CEO, who was being discipled by a member of C12. He's already in C12 and he's being discipled by his buddy and so he gets involved. We meet, he joins, and wasn't too many months later that his wife says to him, I don't know what this C12 thing is all about, but it has changed who you are as an individual, as a spouse, as a dad. [00:12:00]

Martha: For the good. Changed for the good.

Ross Harrop: Thank you, Martha. And I thought I was the one with sarcasm. (laughter)

Martha: Yes. I just wanted to clarify. No, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Changed him for the good.

Ross Harrop: But when that individual has become the spiritual leader of his house,

Martha: Yeah.

Ross Harrop: Of his family. A) because he hadn't grown up that way and he didn't know what it looked like, but he knew that he saw that in his friend. And so when his friend says, Hey, this is helping me become a better CEO to be a better believer, that is, that to me is one of those miraculous occurrences, when you change a life for the good. That's that's God doing what only God can do. And now he used C12 in doing that.

And then seeing people don't join C12 to [00:13:00] become better Christians necessarily, that's an outcome, right? As Tony Dungy likes to say, winning the Super Bowl is the outcome. Creating teams is what we're about. It's the same thing here. We're just trying to help people become better businessmen or women, and then along on that faith journey, they become stronger in their faith and learn how to incorporate that in. And that's what your program's about is just helping people understand, seeing others on how they can apply their faith in their business, which our country has told us we can't do, which we know we must.

Jim: Oh and our country may be telling us that, but our leadership, some of our leadership in our country may be telling us that about our country is telling us the opposite because our country is looking for purpose. And if believers get a chance to stand up for their faith in the marketplace, in whatever the workplace is, this country will never be the same, in the right way. It's so fantastic, Ross, the influence you've [00:14:00] had over all of these people and spent your time that you poured into their lives over the last 12 plus years.

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Ross Harrop: No. We have those that represent every generation, but typically they're looking for people who have spent 10 years in business, so that you have some of those experiences to help others and had a [00:15:00] business of, we say in C12 that are prospects of those that have at least 10 members or staff members and $2 million. Now we have those companies that are billion dollar companies and several hundred million companies, but same thing for chairs. They wanna have those that typically come and have a strong business background.

And having come from the Boy Scouts of America, when I first started the interview process, I remember the leadership saying that we have a bias against you 'cause you come from the not-for-profit sector. But in my case, the Boy Scouts of America it was like any other corporation and with very business-like methodology. And so with strategic planning and all of those things that help me as I'm helping others today.

Martha: Yeah. Just love being reminded of how, again, God has prepared you for this season that you've been in with C12. And for a lot of people [00:16:00] we know that the reality is that they look at somebody like you and they still think about the word retirement. And Ross, you probably have a couple of decades left in you. What is God telling you about those years and how he's gonna use you?

Ross Harrop: I have a friend that's a chair, and when I sometimes will talk about, wow, I just turned 72, and he'll go, wow, how great is it that you have your best years ahead of you and all these experiences that you can use that wisdom to share with others?

And so I'm reminded of that and 20 years - that maybe, I don't know, but but there is no, there is no retirement age as a C12 chair. It's when can you use your experiences and God's calling to help others. And that's the biggest thing. And I'm still doing that and still enjoying it every morning I get up.

Jim: That's fantastic. If we were to get Jill on, your bride of [00:17:00] 50 plus years now? Let's see... 50 plus years?

Ross Harrop: It will be 50 years in June.

Jim: 50 years in June. Okay. Congratulations. If we were to ask Jill how this job has made you a better man of God, what would she say?

Ross Harrop: She would tell you that some of the things of my behavior hasn't changed. Willingness to help people and being all in, but being a movement of faith, as followers of Jesus Christ, makes all the difference. And so she would say that part makes it enjoyable to be on journey, as we just a week ago, we had dinner with members, husband and wife, and you can connect with 'em right away because they have the same values that you have or as we like to say, the core principles. Because the principles never change.

Jim: So some of our listeners are thinking, I wanna find out more about C12, about how would I become a chair, or maybe they're thinking I wanna become a member because I could use this for [00:18:00] my own organization. I could use that for my own business. How do people find out more about C12?

Ross Harrop: Very simple. JoinC12.com. So it's just JoinC12.com. Can't get much easier.

Martha: Nope. That's pretty easy.

Jim: That is pretty easy. Ross Harrop. I know God wove our lives within each other, part of that tapestry that he does, many years ago. It's been a lot of years since we've caught up, but we're so grateful for how you're pouring your life into others. We're so grateful for the example that you set for those that are heading into retirement thinking, what am I gonna do? And you're like, there's all kinds of stuff for you to do. There is. There is so much that our society needs. For those of you contemplating retirement, please do not give up. Find your calling within your retirement years. Ross, thanks for setting that example.

Ross Harrop: Thank you for doing that. And now adding as you have for so long the retirement angle that again, one, one of the books that changed my life was Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. [00:19:00] And because, and he says, don't try to do something on your own. Find out where God is at work and then join him. And that's how I got to to Florida.

Jim: Yeah. That's fantastic. Thank you, Ross Harrop.

Ross Harrop: Thank you for your influence my life in doing what I'm doing today. And it's great to catch up. Thank you.

Jim: You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him.