About Us
Loving The Wise
Loving The Wise exists to extend the love of God to the elderly.
LTW Volunteers visit a nursing home one hour a week, usually on a Sunday afternoon, where we lead a mini-worship time for about 20-30 minutes—singing traditional hymns and/or contemporary songs and reading scripture and/or sharing a devotional that inspires their hearts. The final 30-40 minutes are spent connecting individually with the residents—seeking to impart love and a sense of dignity by seeing them, holding hands, giving hugs, and by recalling our friends by name.
Our vision is that every resident in every senior home in America has a chance to experience Christian fellowship at least once a week, and most importantly, has at least one friend who regularly visits with intentionality, with the love of Jesus, and with a message of the gift of forgiveness and hope for eternity in heaven.
A Little History
In her early 20s, Mary Naber helped her beloved grandfather “Doc” get settled into Villa Serra Assisted Living in Salinas, CA where she was dismayed to discover a dearth of Christian fellowship. She was also convicted by Jesus’ calling to serve outside the four walls of the church, and to care for widows and orphans in their distress.
Delightfully, Mary connected with a friend Jeremy Fry in LA, with the shared vision to bring Jesus’ love to lonely seniors in a local nursing home. Suddenly, nursing homes became visible to her everywhere! Just blocks from her West LA apartment, she drove by three facilities on Santa Monica Blvd. alone! She prayed to God: “Please, I pray that at least one place will allow us to come visit.” The Activities Directors at each facility
eagerly responded with enthusiasm: “Yes!" "Please come!" "Can you start tomorrow?”
Mary and Jeremy and six of their friends began “Loving The Wise” at Brentwood Manor in West LA on Sunday, Feb 17, 2002, singing “Amazing Grace” as Jeremy played the guitar, and reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Their group of friends continued to visit Brentwood Manor faithfully every Sunday from 4-5pm, followed frequently by a trip to Wahoo’s Tacos.
In 2002, Mary also joined with Kathy Lovin and Pacific Crossroads Church (PCC) to start a LTW Ministry at Santa Monica Convalescent Center (SMCC) on Sundays from 3-4pm. Kathy faithfully continued visiting seniors at SMCC, with a rotating group of Volunteers, a Bose Sound Speaker for instrumental accompaniments during worship, and various crafts and games, from 2002 through 2020.
IN 2010, Mary moved to La Jolla, CA and began taking her young children to Attitudes in Solana Beach and to La Jolla Nursing and Rehab, hosting mini-worship services with different friends. In 2022, Mary officially incorporated LTW and hosted “Christmas Caroling” visits at five different facilities, and continued to coordinate regular visits at four of them.
In 2022, Mary's daughter Angela King—who had participated at Brentwood Manor in West LA as a toddler and many facilities growing up—started a “Loving the Wise: Students Serving Seniors” Club at her high school Rock Academy, where they faithfully visited Bayview Assisted Living in Point Loma. The LTW Student Club was the most popular club at Rock Academy with 25% participation by the entire student body and became a branch of LTW in 2023.
During December of 2023, Loving the Wise is coordinating “Christmas Caroling” visits to over a dozen different facilities in SoCal, where (as a tradition) residents will receive handmade Christmas cards and wrapped fuzzy socks, good tidings, and faithfully, Jesus’ love.
Please join LTW in prayer that God works in the hearts of carolers and other potential Volunteers, to seek to love the seniors beyond Christmas by committing to regular visits in 2024!
Meet The Team
Statement of Belief
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We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God revealing the love of God to the world. 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; John 3:16.
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We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19; John 10:30; Ephesians 4:4-6.
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We believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood on the cross, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. Matthew 1:23; John 1:1-4 and 1:29; Acts 1:11 and 2:22-24; Romans 8:34; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-4 and 4:15.
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We believe that all men everywhere are lost and face the judgment of God, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore we believe that God will reward the righteous with eternal life in heaven, and that He will banish the unrighteous to everlasting punishment in hell. Luke 24:46-47; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Ephesians 1:7 and 2:8-9; Titus 3:4-7.
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We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, whose indwelling enables the Christian to live a godly life. John 3:5-8; Acts 1:8 and 4:31; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:6-10.
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We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment. 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; Revelation 20:11-15.
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We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and that all true believers are members of His body, the church. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27; Ephesians 1:22-23.
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We believe that the ministry of evangelism (sharing and proclaiming the message of salvation only possible by grace through faith in Jesus Christ) and discipleship (helping followers of Christ grow up into maturity in Christ) is a responsibility of all followers of Jesus Christ. Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:9-15; 1 Peter 3:15.
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We believe God’s plan for human sexuality is to be expressed only within the context of marriage, that God created man and woman as unique biological persons made to complete each other. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. For this reason, we believe that marriage is exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female. Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:6-9; Romans 1:26- 27; 1 Corinthians 6:9.
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We believe that we must dedicate ourselves to prayer, to the service of our Lord, to His authority over our lives, and to the ministry of evangelism. Matthew 9:35-38, 22:37-39, and 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:9-15 and 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10; Colossians 2:6-10; 1 Peter 3:15.
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We believe that human life is sacred from conception to its natural end; and that we must have concern for the physical and spiritual needs of our fellowmen. Psalm 139:13; Isaiah 49:1; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 22:37-39; Romans 12:20-21; Galatians 6:10.
* This Statement of Faith--quoted in its entirety and directly from Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's Statement--best represents our Beliefs at Loving The Wise.