Five Questions for Larry Knowles
Interviewed by Justin Nash
For 100 years, Advent Christian Retirement Communities (ACRC) has been guided by their mission to serve and honor seniors by providing secure, comfortable and affordable retirement living. In 1920, they established what is now the first multi-tiered retirement community in Vermont: Vernon Homes. Vernon Homes offers a full spectrum of care and services including independent living, assisted living, nursing care, Alzheimer’s care and physical rehabilitation services.
In the late ‘80s, ACRC thought about expanding eastward into New England where there was a higher concentration of Advent Christian churches. They ended up purchasing a little building in Kittery, Maine in 1993, establishing an independent senior living facility called Meetinghouse Village.
Throughout its history, ACRC has been a progressive and innovative leader in the field of senior care. Larry Knowles is the President and CEO of ACRC and the Executive Director of Meetinghouse Village. He has felt a lifelong call to eldercare and has served ACRC since 1983. He and his wife Joanne have been married 40 years and have three living children and two grandchildren.
What's the one big thing that you think you got right?
The one big thing, I guess I would say is really high altitude. I hope it doesn’t sound hyper spiritual, but it’s high altitude. It was bringing clarity to what characterizes a Christian organization. And what I mean by that is, I read an interview once, with the head of Christian service organization like ours, and they asked him what, what sets you apart as a Christian organization? And his answer was something like integrity, excellence and commitment. And I thought to myself, you know, those are fine qualities, but there are secular organizations out there doing that as good as anyone. And granted Christians could say, well, we do the same thing, but we do it in Jesus’ name. That’s what distinguishes us. And I said to myself, I don’t think that cuts it, because that approach is, to me, essentially sticking Jesus’ name on a fundamentally secular model.
So I said, what, really should distinguish us as a Christian organization, a Christian service ministry? And what struck me was, what should distinguish any organization as Christian. It’s the same thing that distinguishes the Christian faith from other faiths. And it’s what we would call grace, capital G.
In the same way that God did in Christ seeking to render more than what is warranted earned, or merited by its recipients. If you wanted to bring it down into a business context, it would be what I would call over-delivery. That’s the idea. You can do it with residents, and certainly do it towards staff.
The bottom line was that grace is the distinctive manner in which God has dealt with us in Christ. And our distinction is to incarnate grace to those we’ve been called to serve. So grace, is in the very marrow of a Christian organization. That’s, that’s what distinguishes it as Christian, not just having integrity and courage and commitment and excellence. That’s what I’ve sought to establish through the particular expression of ACRC. I guess I would say that’s what I got right.
What's the one big thing you got wrong?
Despite everything I just said about the distinctiveness of a Christian organization, I invested my hope in natural means to further our part in what is essentially an extension of the kingdom of God. When I talk about natural means, I mean the constant temptation to put faith in human strategies, conventional wisdom of the marketplace and secular business principles that work in the world. It’s in the same way that it is a temptation on a personal level for us to rely on our own strength and wits to follow Christ.
Furthering the kingdom of God can employ or use natural means, but those natural means are not its source and its strength. And there are many, many times in my career of capitulating to that temptation, trying to use, trust in and even hope in natural means to further ACRC. So, that I got wrong.
What brings you the most joy in your job?
That’s probably twofold. One, I would say my greatest joy comes in seeing or hearing a resident that we serve express satisfaction or relief because of the care or the service that we rendered to them. That’s the reward. Second, great joy comes from engaging on a one-to-one basis outside the business context, conversation with a senior, or an elder, as we call them. The wisdom, the humor, the pathos that comes out from engaging in dialogue with many of our residences, it’s really rich. And the real gold is when you do that with what I call a senior saint, someone who’s been in the faith long and hard, and either you can encourage them in the faith or it winds up being an encouragement in the faith for you.
What advice would you give someone in a situation similar to yours?
I would say embrace making your service ministry distinctive by reflecting or incarnating what made Christ distinctive, namely grace. There are secular organizations that render mercy quite well. Grace raises the bar.
Because it’s a marketplace industry, as I mentioned a minute ago, there’s real temptations to trade off your identity. My advice would be positive and negative. I would say embrace making your service ministry distinctive by reflecting or incarnating what made Christ distinctive, namely grace. There are secular organizations that render mercy quite well. Grace raises the bar. It’s dealing with people beyond what is warranted, merited, earned. It’s a rare commodity in our profession, much less in the world, and it’s not natural. It’s essentially supernatural. And I would say by all means, let that mark characterize your service ministry. The other advice I’d say, is to remember you’re a kingdom entity. Even though it’s in the marketplace, it is a vehicle for the kingdom of God. So you don’t want to function quite the same way as the world and then say you’re merely doing it for God. That is a perennial danger that I would exhort anyone in my position about.
What's the one thing you wish you were better at as a leader?
I would say balancing grace, that rare commodity, with truth. It’s easier for most of us, I think, to administer grace than it is to hold forth truth, especially in tough situations. I like to say, figuratively speaking, that mold grows when truth is veiled in the same way that legalism grows when grace is absent. Accenting grace with truth, and the willingness to hold forth truth in balance with grace, I think, is what I wish I was better at.
Learn more about Advent Christian Retirement Communities (ACRC)
Justin Nash, “Five Questions for Larry Knowles” The Advent Christian Witness, Spring 2020