Fathering Our Future

We often try to plan for the worst even though we never expect it to happen, but sometimes it does. My friend, Darren Gilbert, a pastor in Denison, TX, joins me to talk about the struggles he and his family endured. As he and his wife were stepping into the pastoral role, his wife was diagnosed with Leukemia. This battle with cancer put a lot of responsibility on him that was once shared between h...

As dads we pay extra attention to our sons. We are passionate about them and how they grow up. We know that they will become men, husbands, and dads, and we want them to be great. Raising sons is a task that we do not take lightly but it is a task where we can be a little too harsh. Mark Condon, pastor of Infinite Church, joins me to talk about raising sons. Mark has raised three sons who have gro...

Fatherlessness plagues our society. The lack of dads in the home has a plethora of negative implications on children which stay with them as they grow into adults. Men who become dads, that grew up without a dad themselves, struggle with thoughts of acceptance, belonging, value, and ability when it comes to being a dad. Cedric Austin, a minister, husband, and dad who grew up without a dad, joins m...

Everyone knows marriage takes work. What everyone might not know is that the work we put into our marriage manifests itself in our family. As we grow and become better husbands, we ultimately become better dads. As we strengthen our marriage we strengthen our family because our marriage becomes a beacon to our children of one of the greatest components of life, relationship. I'm joined today by Ad...

You've heard it said that anything worth doing is challenging, and fatherhood certainly falls into that category. Being the dad our children need us to be requires a lot more than simply waking up in the morning and going about our day. We have to be intentional and work at building relationships with our children so that we can understand their needs. As we aim to be the dads our children need, w...

Do you want to be a good dad? I know the default desire is for us to pursue being a good dad. However, the more I reflect on fatherhood and the Scriptures, the more I am convinced that trying to be a good dad is the wrong goal. My great-uncle used to regular state this simple expression, "I think I could get more done, if I knew what I was supposed to be doing." Seems obvious and common sense, yet...

Even as a young dad I have wondered if I have made a lasting impression on my children. All of us as dads have a desire for our children to remember us and cherish us when our life comes to an end. Today, I am joined by my friend, Kathy Hatton, who lost her father in 2020. Her perspective and story allows us to see just how important we as dads are to our daughters. As you listen to Kathy talk abo...

As fathers we are leaders but in a world with hundreds of definitions regarding what a leader is, how should we think of our leadership? Dr. Eugene Wilson, author, minister, and leadership guru enters the conversation today to help us understand our leadership as dads. He provides a definition of leadership that is applicable to our mission as dads and lays out practical steps for us to grow as le...

On Memorial Day we give honor to those who have fought and fallen for our country. We also give honor to the families who live on without that mom or dad, son or daughter. We appreciate your service. Those who choose to serve the United States of America choose to sacrifice a lot. Some are willing to face combat and even give their lives for our liberties. For men serving in such a great capacity...

When people talk about the decaying of our society and the weakening of our children, you'll hear some bring up participation trophies. Somehow participation trophies have become a hot topic and a debate in our generation. There are even lawmakers who are setting out to eliminate participation trophies for children in their state. I could understand this if participation trophies were inherently e...

We think we are married to incredible women and then we see them evolve into mothers. In an instant, they've transformed into something even more beautiful and amazing than before. Moms are remarkable. They work, they keep the house more than we probably do, they constantly tend to the kids, they put up with us, and they help us become better dads. Considering all moms do, they probably need more...

One of the greatest concerns we have as dads is the health and safety of our children. Kids get sick and we stress over what to do to make sure they recover because we just want to fix the problem. While we do not always know what to do, thankfully there are people who devote their lives to the health of children. My guest today is Dr. Scott Grant, husband, father of three, and pediatrician. Dr. S...

Time is so often enemy number one for many of us. We have so much to do and not enough time to do it in. The only way we feel we can accomplish anything or make progress in life is to constantly be in a hurry. We rush through life and lie to ourselves by calling it efficiency. Our kids do not function that way. Their life is not as demanding as ours, and honestly, our lives are not as demanding as...

The sensational Christian/Gospel artist, Draylin Young, joins me to talk about life as a husband and as a father while pursuing what he is passionate about. All of us have our personal dreams and ambitions in life but Draylin talks about how his personal dreams were never exclusive to him alone. Hear how he has successfully thrived in what he loves doing while including his family in the process....

We were created by God to exist and thrive in community. We all have friends that we do life with but we do not always let them know how important they are to us or how much we admire them. Sadly, we have become so accustomed to saving those words for funerals. Stop waiting and start telling your friends, your community, how you feel about them.

April is Autism Awareness month and Derrick Weeks is a stellar father to his autistic son, Theo. Derrick joins me today to talk about his journey. You'll hear about the challenges and difficulties he has worked through and how he, with God's help, has found joy. If you are wondering if your child has autism, Derrick offers sage advice on how to deal with those concerns and what to do with your cur...

Our values establish our passions and our priorities. Our kids should be very high on our list of values which should create a subsequent effect; a value of ourselves as fathers. We cannot claim to have a value of our kids if we do not choose to value ourselves because our kids need us. I want you to know your worth and I want you to start investing in yourself.

If you have ever dealt with stress and anxiety you know what it is like to not know what day it is or what happened last week. Time flies and we do not remember it. Gratitude is the remedy to that side-effect of anxiety. Gratitude frames our perspective for the day and prepares us for whatever might come our way. I want to share some of the benefits of gratitude and what it will do for you.

Being a man of your word is an idea that has been branded into us. We strive for that and we certainly should. However, we often struggle to do this in our homes, specifically with our children. You might not think that is the case, but I believe there are two areas we often jeopardize our word with our children. Let's think about what we say, be in control of ourselves, and truly be men of our wo...

One of the greatest things we can focus on as dads is our personal integrity. Are we being the dads we need to be? Are we committed to our family above everything else? Are we consistent in our character? These are questions we should strive to live out a "yes" for. If we do, then we have no excuses when it comes to being who God has designed us to be as dads. Let's stop trying to find excuses for...

We all mess up, make mistakes, and fail. As much as we try not to, it is inevitable. Knowing that we are going to make mistakes, the most important thing for us is to know what to do with those mistakes. Recently, I had a bad day as a dad. I want to share some details from that day and what I do with failures. We cannot run from them. We must face them because when we face them, we have an opportu...

As a dad, I understand how easy it is to get tied up in your kids. Our kids are dependent upon us and they require our focused attention. We can have the tendency to get so caught up in being a dad that we forget about the other person in our family, our wife. As leaders in our home, we cannot allow our kids to get in the way of our marriage. If we understand God's design for marriage, we will bec...

Communication is vital in life. It is a means of building trust and trust gives us a foundation for relationship. Lenora Edwards, a Speech Language Pathologist, joins me to talk about addressing issues in our children's speech, as well as providing some insight on how we can improve our own.

Everyone loves a good story of hope, but those stories usually start out pretty rough. Doug Norvell grew up not knowing his biological father. He struggled with feelings of abandonment and the idea that he was not loved. However, he still felt the need to find his dad. Doug shares his story on the podcast and how reuniting with his dad was one of the greatest things that happened to him.

We function in a world of societal norms. Too many people see the things they are supposed to do or supposed to become and then fixate on those things. We chase the outcome with no context or understanding of the process. When people pursue the outcome, circumventing the process, they never arrive at the outcome.  Just because you are "technically" a dad does not mean you get to bypass the process...