SPEAKER 01 : 0:01

Welcome to Retirement Unpacked with Al Smith, owner of Golden Eagle Financial. You want a retirement plan that alleviates your fears about the future so you know your money will last. As a chartered financial consultant, Al Smith will help you find a balance between the risk and reward of the market and the safety of your retirement income. And now, here’s your host, Al Smith.

SPEAKER 04 : 0:24

Welcome to another program of Retirement Unpacked. I want to thank you for tuning in. A lot of other things that you could be doing. A big, big day tomorrow, an off-year election. Hopefully you voted. If you haven’t voted yet, Besides voting, you want to look and see what the people are standing for that are running for office. And you want to look at all of those ballot measures and read those carefully, some of those things. Say, for example, without raising taxes, and what that often means is they’re going to keep the taxes that were supposed to be refunded to you. So study carefully those ballot issues and people for whom you’re voting if you haven’t already done so, and hopefully we’ll get some good leaders and some good provisions on the ballot after the election. Today, I want all of you who are listening, if you have concerns, if you’re on track for retirement, or if you’re already retired and you’re not sure if things are going the way you’d like them to go, give my office a call at 303-744-1128. And we can have either a long phone conversation, a Zoom call, or a cup of coffee here at the office. Today, I’m very fortunate, a longtime friend of mine whose name is Morton Mitchell has retired not too long ago from Lockheed Martin. And if any of you have read either of my books, 18 Holes to Retirement or The Christian Path to Retirement, I talk in there about finding your purpose in retirement. And for many years, Mort has been a member of the Gideons. And once he retired, he’s finding great fulfillment in serving God in different capacities. Mort, welcome.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:29

Well, thank you, Al. I appreciate the warm welcome. And I’m glad to join you here and look forward to our discussion on the Gideons and sort of what I’m doing in retirement.

SPEAKER 04 : 2:41

Well, that is my pleasure also. I’m glad you’re here. And one of the things when I talk to people about finding their purpose, many years ago, there was some research done and IBM executives, especially the high powered executives, were dying within a very few short years after retirement. And it was because they had no plan of what to do after they retired. And what they found, IBM found, and this probably goes back to the 60s or 70s, is that once they created a plan, not a financial plan, but a plan of fulfilling activities, these executives enjoyed their retirement much more so. Now, you were involved in the Gideons long before you retired from Lockheed Martin. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:36

Yeah, so it first started for me when we had a Gideon and his wife, we called them the auxiliary, came to our church to tell us a little bit about the organization. It’s a Christian businessman, professional men, and their wives who are called to win others to Jesus and share the gospel. And one of the things that I was thinking of just sitting in the pews was – I could definitely be doing a better job of that. It was an area that I may be a little bit more uncomfortable, and I was thinking about my kids and how to be a better witness. And they basically started talking about how iron sharpens iron, and that’s interesting. kind of the brotherhood of the Gideons is, uh, we come alongside each other, strengthen us, um, through prayer and also, uh, through, through actions. And, um, so, uh, I, I signed them, I signed up with the Gideons and started serving in the Gideons. Um, we are associated in camps. So, um, those are our small groups that are in different regional areas. And, uh, It wasn’t long before I was vice president, then president of the camp, and just organizing activities for the camp. And actually was selected or elected as a cabinet member for the state organization as well prior to retirement. So prior to retirement, I was kind of doing what I could with the Gideons. And they kind of just take whatever time you have available. But I wasn’t fully engaged as much as I could have been, mostly just due to a 60-hour work week.

SPEAKER 04 : 5:19

Well, God bless you, not only for what you’re doing with the Gideons, but working for Lockheed Martin. I don’t need to explain how big of a defense contractor they are, as well as what they’re doing with space exploration. But they’re a big contractor when it comes to the F-22 and the B-2 Palmer, the ones that flew over President Putin up there in Alaska, as I recall. So your work with Lockheed Martin was incredibly important, just like your work with the Gideons is important. I think some people may have a misconception of the Gideons, thinking that they just go around to hotels and make sure that they have Bibles in the nightstand. And in reality, they’re an international organization. And I understand you’ve been on some trips internationally. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:15

Yeah, it’s been fun to work with and go out and witness. Right now we have, I believe it’s 223 countries, about 245,000 people that volunteer and work within the Gideons. So we are an international organization. I was invited by one of our past international presidents to go on what we call a scripture blitz down to Guatemala. So that was a week-long event that we go down there and come alongside the Gideons and Auxiliary that are in that country. That country has about 18 million people, and we went down there to share God’s Word and distribute some Bibles. So we were down there for one week, and along with the Gideons that are in that area, we distributed 322,916 Bibles. So, but that was, as you said, Al, the hotels, the middle schools, the high schools, the universities, police, prisons. It was an interesting thing that when we got down there, their Ministry of Defense had written a letter and issued it to the Gideons that that everyone in the military during that week was to get a Bible. So he opened up all the military facilities, all the police facilities, and we basically got to distribute a Bible to everybody in their military.

SPEAKER 04 : 7:47

Wow. Well, if I were in the military in Central America, I think I’d want a Bible. So that’s incredible, the work that you’re doing internationally. Now, I know you also went down a trip to… Out there near Durango and Pagosa Springs in the San Luis Valley, right?

SPEAKER 03 : 8:10

Yeah, it was just recent. We had two state-sponsored blitzes. We had Denver here. We did that in October. That was about 75,000 Bibles. And as you mentioned, we just got back from October. We had a blitz there. Only three days, but… It was in the San Luis Valley, as you mentioned, and we did about 8,000 Bibles there. And again, what we draw from is our resources from the state association to come down there and distribute the hotels, speak in the churches, work on membership. Our membership really is dialogue from the churches, inviting people to, Christian businessmen, to join the Gideons. And then we also did the schools. A lot of the police stations down there have like one or two people. We have volunteer fire stations that we stopped at.

SPEAKER 04 : 9:09

How long have the Gideons been around?

SPEAKER 03 : 9:11

That’s a great question. The Gideons have been around since 1898. It started in… with two businessmen that were traveling that wanted to have a Bible study versus going to the bars and holding themselves accountable. So it sort of grew from there. In 1908, we started, the churches came alongside and asked the Gideons to start putting Bibles in the hotels. That’s usually what we’re known for, but that’s about 15% of our placements are the hotels. The rest of it is by hand at, uh, individual distributions?

SPEAKER 04 : 9:50

The, um, not that the distribution in hotels is unimportant, but, um, I don’t often go to hotels, but the most recent one I went to the room was $330 a night. So I think that’s a rather, uh, slim segment of, uh, uh, society anymore. And, um, I understand the schools, there was recently some distributions to schools in your camp, and your camp is in the Littleton area?

SPEAKER 03 : 10:21

That’s correct, yeah. We try to hit the high schools and the junior middle schools. We go out and distribute. We usually go in and notify the administration security that will be on the public sidewalks outside the schools offering a Bible to the students. And we typically try to do that in our camp area once a year. So we are in that season where we’re out there trying to schedule some meetings with some of the schools as well.

SPEAKER 04 : 10:53

That’s awesome. the recent events with respect to Charlie Kirk, has that made it a little bit easier to talk to younger people at the schools and so forth?

SPEAKER 03 : 11:05

Yeah, at one of the schools that we did, we typically keep track of how many Bibles we distribute every year, and the day after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, We saw an increase at the high school that we were doing of about 200 extra Bibles that were handed out that time. So people were tuned in and really looking for answers and

SPEAKER 04 : 11:34

comfort and uh i don’t think there’s any better place to go than god’s word no that’s um that is absolutely awesome now um you personally uh how has that provided you with uh additional fulfillment because i know i know you are retired and when i talk to people about what they plan to do in retirement some people have uh things in mind like what you’re doing other people have things in mind that involve family or travel or things like that. But how would you describe the fulfillment that you’ve experienced compared to any other activities that you’ve done that were less fulfilling?

SPEAKER 03 : 12:17

Yeah, it’s amazing. I’ll go out on a distribution and I come back and my wife will ask about how it went. And I’m usually blabbing away, just talking about millimiles per hour with examples and, you know, good discussions we’ve had. We, especially at the universities, that’s where we are invited to have a conversation if the students want to have a conversation. And those are very empowering. There’s always going to be some negative comments that someone has, but I focus on the positive side. And just some of the conversations are so energizing, and you really want to get back out there and start handing that out and sharing God’s Word, whether it’s individually, you know, one-to-one, or you get a chance to meet a lot of new students at a university. It’s really very energizing and empowering. I find it very fulfilling to share God’s Word. I’m always learning, too. It’s kind of more about what God’s teaching me as well. So He continues to teach us all.

SPEAKER 04 : 13:22

Well, I can only imagine what it’s like when you’re talking to college students and so forth. And we will talk a little more with Mark right after the break.

SPEAKER 02 : 13:41

We’ll be right back. Saving taxes, helping you defer taxes where it makes sense, and skipping them altogether if or when that’s possible. Tax evasion is illegal, but tax avoidance is encouraged by the IRS. So let Golden Eagle Financial help you figure out how to avoid taxes where you can, using Roth IRAs and other products, and be strategic in your plan for retirement. Find Golden Eagle on the advertisers page at klzradio.com and send out a message for a free, no obligation consultation. That’s klzradio.com slash money. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.

SPEAKER 04 : 14:58

Welcome back to the second half of Retirement Unpacked, if you’ve just tuned in. My guest is Mort Mitchell, who is retired from Lockheed Martin, and he also has been involved with the Gideons for many years. And I know my impression is those are the folks who put the Bibles in the nightstands of hotels, but as what Mort mentioned is they do way, way more than that, plus they’re an international organization. organization. Before we jump into some other things you’re doing more, what are some of the most meaningful or surprising experiences you’ve had since you’ve been involved with Gideon’s?

SPEAKER 03 : 15:44

I think one of the ones that stands out is during the distribution down in Guatemala, where we have a translator that works with you. And my translator had stepped around the corner to take care of some other things. And I provided a Bible to this gentleman that pulled up on a motorcycle. A lot of motorcycles down there. That’s how everybody gets around through the traffic. I noticed he was reading it, so I went up and asked him a couple questions, and he shook his head. He didn’t understand what I was saying, and he spoke to me in Spanish, and I shook my head. I didn’t understand what he was saying. But we turned to the back of the book, and basically there’s John 3.16. I had him read that, and typically that’s usually where you can accept and read the plan of salvation and accept Jesus as your Savior. Just to keep me humble— I think God demonstrated that we can draw people to Christ without even having to speak the same language. He signed the witness, held it up. His name was Omar, I found out later. His daughter came out from the school that we were doing there, and he made sure that she got one there. But it was interesting to lead someone to Christ without even speaking the same language. And that’s just the power of the Holy Spirit there.

SPEAKER 04 : 17:06

Well, that’s a tremendous story, Mark. And, you know, just when you think, well, I couldn’t possibly do that, I’m not brave enough or whatever, and here you didn’t even speak the language, but the Gideon Bible had John 3.16 in the back of it, and that part was English and Spanish were the same, and so you can direct them to that. I know not long ago I joined Gideon’s. I haven’t done anything yet because I’ve only been at Gideon for a few weeks, but I’m looking forward to some of the distributions that you have planned here. And I know a gal who’s been cutting my hair for quite some time is Vietnamese. and her Vietnamese is far better than her English, and so after a considerable period of time, you were able to provide me with a Vietnamese Bible, to which she was extremely appreciative. Now, also I know that in addition to all the work you’re doing with Gideons, you’ve been heavily involved with your church, Redemption Hills, who is going through a major transition at the present time. How would you describe some of the work you’re doing now?

SPEAKER 03 : 18:28

Yeah, that’s a good question. It’s our pastor, I know you go there too, but Pastor Stu Fullendorf is our pastor, and he was sort of monitoring, I shared with him that I’d be getting ready for retirement, and his comment to me is, so are you ready to work full-time for the kingdom? I was kind of part-time, so I joined the elder staff, was selected to do that, and I currently serve as the facilities chairman. So for our church, it’s been a blessing. We’re a growing church. So one of the things is it’s kind of like going out of your shoes or your coat. It’s maybe your favorite pair of shoes or your coat, but you don’t fit anymore. That’s kind of where we’re at at our church is we’re basically looking for a larger church. So it’s a facilities chairman been asked to lead the sale of the property that we’re on now and the purchase of a new property. So it takes a lot of extra time and coordination. And I think we’ve selected a new site. And we’ve also got some pretty decent offers so far on our property.

SPEAKER 04 : 19:42

And I think what’s interesting about the property, it’s been vacant for quite a period of time. And if the information I’ve heard is accurate, it’s been broken into 70 times. It’s the old Elvis cinemas at Kipling and Bowles. And that’s going to be a tremendous venue. And maybe some of the people, the young people who were breaking in can come be sitting in a pew. I don’t know that we have pews anymore, but it can be sitting in with the congregation going forward.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:22

Yeah, that would be by desires that some of the kids that are breaking in, you know, they’re not doing, other than the breaking in part, they’re not taking things or that they’re just spending time in there. It’s kind of just, uh, as they say, urban camping, but, uh, they’re, they’re really, um, looking for something else to do. And, uh, we’ve got a pretty vibrant youth group and, uh, you know, I think we’ve all, uh, grown up from young to mature. Um, there’s things that we’ve all done that we probably wouldn’t want to do. Um, but, um, I would definitely like to get some of the youth group engaged, get them engaged. And we’ve got some of the design team that’s working with us right now, retrofit theaters, and it works really well for churches. So we’re really looking forward to getting that moving.

SPEAKER 04 : 21:19

The young people, since there’s really nothing to steal inside, they’re kind of breaking in and then just hanging out inside and very likely smoking dope or something like that while they’re in there. And so they’ve created their own place to hang out, I guess, until the move is fully complete.

SPEAKER 03 : 21:43

Yeah, we really fortified the facility. So basically it’s locked pretty tight. The doors are bolted and chained. So it’s really not a place to go. The unfortunate part is it’s really quickly, easily to get to the felony level. And as one of the lead officers was saying, the juice is not worth the squeeze. And there’s a lot of other vacant areas that kids are trying to break into. It’s just not worth it. But hopefully we’ll have a better way to serve the community, being downtown. We’ve got a lot of biblical counseling opportunities. We’ve got job retraining kind of planned. We plan to serve the community, it being downtown. a lot more actively with the new facility, a food pantry, Celebrate Recovery. There’s going to be a lot more that we can do for our community.

SPEAKER 04 : 22:46

Yeah, the church has had Celebrate Recovery, which is primarily for, you know, people experiencing drug and alcohol circumstances in public and so forth, but it even goes beyond that, people who are hung up on something other than alcohol you know, following the Lord and leading a fulfilling life, and I think that could easily expand once you get into that, you know, new property.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:17

Yeah, the new property has a whole wing of offices that we’re leasing, and we’re looking at right now, we’ve got three of the tenants, It’s an illustration of how God’s on the move. Some of them all attended Colorado Christian University. So one of the psychologists, we’ve got other Christian business groups that have approached us, and they’re interested in getting a suite there. And we’re going to be aligning our business areas with the church and Christian principles wherever we can.

SPEAKER 04 : 23:55

Well, that’s exciting, and I know there’s quite a few things that are going to happen sort of on a contingency basis, because whenever you move, you have to sell the property you’re in first, and there has to be correct zoning for the property you’re moving into, so there’s a lot of… things to take care of in order to make that all happen. But it sounds like because you’ve been heavily involved in that, you’re right on top of it. And with God’s blessing, you’ll be able to make that happen. And tell me how that also has provided you personally with some fulfillment, especially as you’re seeing this new location to kind of materialize.

SPEAKER 03 : 24:47

yeah it’s been uh great because part of what i do is i spend quite a bit of time down there either working on inspections with the inspection team or we had a big cleanup team down there that we brought in we redid some of the locks and it’s just when you spend time down there you can’t help but brush up against the community i’ve had Parents and their daughters, people that have worked at the Elvis Theater, young kids that want to know what’s coming next. Just a great chance to mingle with the audience. community versus, and again, you know, invite them to church. They’ll have a Gideon conversation with them if they want to talk about the gospel. But kind of discuss the purpose of why we want to move downtown. It’s been a great conversation, even with the tenants that are there.

SPEAKER 04 : 25:39

And I also know that that’s a pretty busy intersection, Kipling and Bowles. I know this may sound corny, but if I ever had any little nut or bolt or anything like that to pick up, I would always go to the Ace Hardware because they had popcorn. And also you could buy things like nails or things like that in very small quantities because they have these big baskets where you could get a small number of roofing nails or ten penny nails or and then popcorn on the way out, and that’s right in that shopping area. There’s a few restaurants. Is the health club still there?

SPEAKER 03 : 26:25

Yeah, the 24-hour fitness place is still there. So we see a lot of people there. We share the same parking lot. So it’s a very active area.

SPEAKER 04 : 26:37

Well, that’s awesome. Well, thank you very, very much for coming, hopefully. Now, how would a listener get in touch with you if they wanted to become a Gideon themselves?

SPEAKER 03 : 26:50

Well, there’s a couple ways. They can go to https://gideons.org and see a little bit more about the Gideons, or you can do a forward slash blog, or if you are interested in joining the Gideons, You can always email me at airmitch, A-I-R-M-I-T-C-H-0-1 at msn.com. And if you want to just reach out, if you know someone that needs a Bible or distributions, our international phone number is 615-564-5000. And that is the Gideon.

SPEAKER 04 : 27:29

And if you’re driving, please don’t try to write all that down. Get in touch with me through KLZ on the radio. If you want to have a conversation with me, also reach me through KLZ. God bless you. Thank you for listening. Hopefully you’ll be here next week.

SPEAKER 01 : 27:47

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