DadAwesome

Chad Wallen helps teach fatherless young men practical tools that their dad could have taught them if he had been involved in their lives. It’s an active way of fighting against harrowing statistics and intervening in tangible, practical ways. Join us as Chad shares his thoughts on self-care, words of affirmation, and mentoring the next generation.    Key Takeaways   You can’t be a good dad if you’re not a healthy version of yourself.  Don’t make your wife translate your love to your children.  Nationally, 75% of men incarcerated are from a fatherless home.  What does it look like to mentor fatherless young men while providing opportunities to learn new skills, advance their careers, and build confidence?   Chad Wallen   Chad Wallen is a loving husband, foster parent, and dad to three girls and a son. He helped start Advance Camp in Oregon because he has such a huge heart for the fatherless. Now, Chad Wallen lives in the Dallas area and directs Advance Camp Texas.    Key Quotes   7:42 - "That was a hard thing to learn is finding that happy medium between taking care of yourself and finding you as a priority and taking care of your family and finding them as a priority, realizing you can't be 100% dad if you're not 100% you." 17:52 - "My mom used to tell me all the time your dad loves you. He told me last night that he loves you and he's really proud of you. Well, I don't need my wife translating for me. These words need to come out of my mouth. And it's hard. Sometimes I have to pep talk myself but I know that's my role is to speak my words, not to have my wife speak my words for me. That's one thing I have constantly worked on with myself is making sure my words are my words and my wife is not my translator."   Links from Today’s Conversation   Advance Camp USA  Learn More About the DadAwesome Accelerator Group: Email awesome@dadawesome.org  Top 5 Podcast Moments of 2023 | Year in Review — The Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

For Zack Blair, walking in unconditional love is the foundation of joyful fatherhood. In this episode, he shares personal experiences and practical examples to show why connecting with your kids matters more than trying to be perfect. And ultimately, how it leads to a parenting approach grounded in thankfulness and love.      Key Takeaways   Walking in unconditional love is the source of joy and thankfulness.  How can your children one day remember your heart if you are not intentional to connect with theirs?  Use your hands to express love, not produce pain.  You need other men in your corner—not just for you, but also for your kids.   Zack Blair   Zack Blair is an author and the founding pastor of Hill City Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Lauren, have been married for 17 years, have three children, and are foster parents.    Key Quotes   35:00 - "An apology, it goes so far with [your children]., Hey, dad's imperfect, but he's trying, and he's taking ownership in the areas that that he missed it. I tell my kids, I'm not going to be a perfect father. I'm going to do some things great. You're going to look back and you're going to say, man, that wasn't so great. Whatever we did great, carry it on. But whatever we didn't do great, fix it and keep on getting better." 39:53 - "When you hold your child and you look at them and you feel the pain of, maybe I didn't receive this or I don't know that I received that unconditional love. In every man where we look back on our life with regret, that's an area that if we dig deep and we we allow the Lord to heal and we open up to the right people, that will change our family's trajectory forever. A lot of guys will get stuck in the normal things that society talks about to distract us, but there's a part of us that's unhealed. If we can focus on that part and with kindness and curiosity, just go there and ask the Lord, Lord,  when did I accept this lie? Or when did I develop this belief about myself? Or when did I experience this pain and God where were You in those moments? Even with help through counseling and and pastoral guidance, even when the Lord heals that it'll change everything and you will be set free to be the dad that you really want to be. So go there. Be brave enough to go there."   Links from Today’s Conversation   Learn More About the DadAwesome Accelerator Group  The Father Code: Codes of a Connected Father by Zack Blair Follow Zack Blair on Instagram The Father Code YouTube Playlist   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

Phil Comer wasn’t raised with a faith background. So when his first son was born, he knew he had to get radically intentional if he was going to raise children who walk with God. In this episode, Phil shares the habits that helped him develop his newfound faith as a young father and launch his grown children into the world with success.      Key Takeaways   Men are designed and commanded to be tenderhearted, kind warriors.  No one can love their wife or be used by God as a father without the Holy Spirit.  Memorized Scripture carries with you through life, enables you to do battle, and brings you joy.  Even if all you do is quietly speak the Scripture out loud for several years, you will memorize it.  It’s not what you say to your kids that instructs them; it’s what they see from you.   Phil Comer   Phil Comer is a husband, father, and grandfather with 40 years of pastoral and counseling experience. After planting a church in 2004, Phil and his wife, Diane, went on to launch Intentional Parents International. The ministry focuses on equipping young parents and providing focused teaching in the spiritual training of children.    Key Quotes   25:57 - "We need to teach this to our kids. We need to model it for our kids, and we need to realize that we need it. When it comes to the memorizing part, we're supposed to meditate on Scripture. Now, I can do that by reading it, but what about when I'm out on a walk and I don't have my Bible on me? Anything I do have, I'm able to bring back up and chew on. That's really what that verse means, that meditating is chewing on something and that's where God comes in." 38:02 - "You can't be saying one thing and be living another. That will destroy your kids, and it will lead them away from Christ so quickly. If you are modeling a genuine, authentic faith, if you are a passionate Jesus follower, your kids will pick that up because values are caught more than they're taught. We always have to look at our life every day, am I getting more lukewarm? Am I losing my passion or am I growing in my passion? As long as we're the growing side of Christianity and the growing side of Jesus, our kids are going to pick it up."   Links from Today’s Conversation   160 | Raising Passionate Jesus Followers (Phil Comer & Brook Mosser) Intentional Parents International A Practical Guide to Memorizing Scripture Together Raising Passionate Jesus Followers: The Power of Intentional Parenting by Phil & Diane Comer The Intentional Parents Podcast   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

For Jay Vallotton, the turning point in his marriage was learning to connect with his wife through her emotions rather than trying to fix them. Now, Jason urges men to reconsider their approach to emotions, both in marriage and parenting. Tune in as he shares practical advice for repairing mistakes, handling dysregulation in a child, and approaching conversations with the end in mind.     Key Takeaways   To live wholeheartedly means addressing sin, being present, and fulfilling your God-given call instead of allowing fear to shrink you.  Your wife needs to feel seen, known, and heard.  Trust is not built through the absence of mistakes but by how you repair.  The #1 conversation hack is to start with the end in mind.  The right time to instruct and discipline is not when your child is emotionally dysregulated.   Jay Vallotton   Jay Vallotton is the founder of BraveCo, a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Bethel Church, and an overseer of the Bethel Transformation Center. He is passionate about helping people discover their God-given identity, find freedom, and walk out their true calling. Jason lives in Redding, California, with his wife, Lauren, and their five kids and daughter-in-law.    Key Quotes   3:48 - "One of the prayers that David prays is, God, search me, know me, reveal to me what's going on in my life. Which honestly, is such a scary, dangerous prayer. But on the other side, I think that in order to live wholeheartedly we do have to address those areas in our life that aren't whole, that have cracks or have a little bit of brokenness or doubt, and that's a very challenging thing to do. But what that really means is when I come home and my wife confronts me on something and I dismiss her feelings, I'm not living wholeheartedly. When I come home and my kids want to play and I don't want to be present, I'm actually not living wholeheartedly. The practical application of being. The things that you write on your heart, the things that you write on your wrist, the truth, God's truth.. You have to live those out in your day to day life. And there's accountability inside of that." 17:05 - "Trust is not built through the absence of mistakes. Trust is built by how you clean up a mess. Your wife will trust you because she knows you can have a bad moment, you're going to go away, you're going to process through that in a healthy way and come back and give her what you wish you would've given her in the moment. That's more valuable than being able to nail it every time, because we innately know no one's going to nail it every time. But what we don't know is, I trust that you're going to come back and repair what has been damaged. If you can repair what you are messing up, you're adding so much more value than just trying to get it right, perfectly or expecting yourself to. You're not and your wife's not, more importantly, your whole environment, isn't. So, your kids are going to watch you do this process. Your wife's going to watch you do this process, and they're going to follow in this ecosystem that it's okay to fail. It's not okay to hurt each other but it's okay to fail because we can go back and clean up a mess."   Links from Today’s Conversation   BraveCo BraveCo Conference 2024 (Redding, California - June 12-14, 2024) 131 | Winning The War Within (Jason Vallotton) 145 | Resilience, Servanthood & Showing Up For Others (Jason Vallotton) Follow Jason on Instagram Dates, Mates and Babies with the Vallottons Podcast Make a Donation to DadAwesome FATHERS FOR THE FATHERLESS Events   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

Jamie Winship, co-founder of Identity Exchange, is known for fostering peaceful solutions in conflict zones. In this engaging conversation, he recounts a harrowing family abduction in Iraq, emphasizing the surprising power of love and calm amidst fear. Jamie shares insights on the importance of true identity, urging listeners to look beyond false identities that breed anxiety. He encourages embracing a God-centered perspective, highlighting how self-awareness and unconditional love can transform lives. It’s a profound exploration of faith, resilience, and the journey to authenticity.

Jamie Winship shares powerful stories of tackling fear in high-conflict areas with faith, modeling courage for his children. He emphasizes the importance of embracing true identity, gamifying preparedness with joy, and conquering fear with love and wisdom.

After studying the prayer lives of extraordinary leaders around the world, Ryan Skoogs began to identify patterns. These patterns shifted not only the heart and mind of the leader but also the culture around them—in their home, organization, and beyond. As the leader of your home, you must create a culture of prayer that starts with you. In this episode, Ryan shares the practical steps to do just that.      Key Takeaways   Be willing to “waste time” with God.  To start an intentional prayer life, just walk and talk with the Lord.  Twenty minutes of prayer to Jesus each day for eight weeks will change your brain chemistry in ways that are visible on a brain scan.  Where is prayer a line item in your organization’s (or family’s) budget?  Don’t discount the little opportunities where you can be quick to pray.   Ryan Skoog   Ryan Skoog is an entrepreneur, ministry leader, author, world traveler, and adventure dad. He is co-founder and president of VENTURE, a church-planting and community development nonprofit that works in the toughest places of the world, serving war refugees, trafficked people, oppressed children, and the unreached.    Key Quotes   30:06 - "20 minutes of prayer a day, for eight weeks, will change your brain neurons and chemistry so much that you can tell on a brain scan. There's an agnostic neuroscientist that started just measuring prayer and it had to be prayer to Jesus. It wasn't just meditation and mindfulness, sand is soft, no, it is God is love. God is gracious, that kind of focus and prayer. It can change your brain scan so it fires all the parts that are amazing." 39:26 - "Don't discount the little moments throughout the day of stopping and acknowledging God. A kid has a test, let's stop and pray. We have a phrase around here, we want to be quick to pray. I think in creating a culture in your family, being quick to pray about little things quickly, oh, hey, let's pray about that. And then taking 20 seconds to pray about it and making that normal in your family, making that normal that we just talked to God throughout the day has just been a really, really helpful culture."   Links from Today’s Conversation   Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders by Ryan Skoog and others   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

In the midst of a chaotic world, fathers need to know how to stay grounded, steady, and wild. Tim Bohlke brings years of wisdom and experience to equip dads to do just that. Through real-life examples and a spirit of encouragement, Tim unveils new ways to embrace joy, balance, and remembrance of what God has done.      Key Takeaways   The cumulative effect of carrying too much weight will break you down. Avoid isolation by inviting others in, asking for input, and allowing people to be honest with you. The key to being aware and alert to what God is doing today is remembering what he has done in the past.  Fight for the people, places, and experiences that bring you life.   Tim Bohlke   Founder and director of Harbor Ministries, Tim Bohlke has spent three decades investing in leaders and helping forge a new path that will serve leaders, their families, and their organizations well. He is a husband, father, grandfather, author, coach, and more.    Key Quotes   14:05 - "That is the imagery that people all have strength waiting, as the difference making leaders have figured out that idea of harbor as it connects to mission. And no matter how critical your mission is, you got to have time in a harbor to resource, restore and get yourself ready." 29:27 - "When we remember what God's done, that's one of the values of quieting down, seeking solitude, is that only then do you take the time and find the time to really process and remember the ways God showed up in our story. That's what brings strength. And that's what brings courage and reminds us God is a God of promises, that He does show up and He will not only then, but going forward as well."   Links from Today’s Conversation   51 | Father Family Rhythms Part 1 (Tim Bohlke) 81 | Adjust the Pace, Live w/ SELF-CONTROL & Hear God's Voice (Tim Bohlke) Stay. Wild. : An Invitation to Pursue God in Fully Disrupted World by Tim Bohlke  Harbor Ministries  SPACE Podcast   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

The way you parent stems from how you were parented. That’s why understanding the stories and trauma of your past is essential if you want to provide a secure beginning for your children. In this episode, Dr. Dan Allender offers expert advice to help you own the past, share your stories with others, and find beauty along the parenting journey.      Key Takeaways   A child has a secure beginning if they have attunement, containment, and a parent who can repair ruptures.  The level of failure in parenting is higher than in marriage, friendships, or work.  When you’re triggered, take a 90-second pause to decrease emotional flooding.  There are two great callings in life that you must hold together at the same time: to grow in intimacy and to grow in independence.  Write down your thoughts and then share them with your wife, a group of men, and a story guide, such as a therapist or pastor.   Dr. Dan Allender   Dr. Dan Allender is an author, professor, and co-founder of The Allender Center and The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. With a unique approach to trauma and abuse therapy, he presents on topics such as sexual abuse recovery, intimacy, marriage, and more. Dan and his wife, Becky, enjoy spending time with their three adult children and their grandchildren.   Key Quotes   4:58 - "It's really a sweet gift to be able to see our children parent in a way in which they have truly learned from our mistakes, and yet they've also developed their own way of being in the world. Having adult children, one of the realities that dawns on me virtually every year and that is you're never done. Some of the most complicated days are with adult children. And yet our children love us, and yet they are pretty clear and vocal about where they have felt like we have not done well, past and present, and with a deep invitation, with honor and forgiveness, but to grow. That's one of the things I would say it's just such a life giving presence when your children are taking in your life and growing, but when they have the ability to return that, to invite you to grow, that even with younger children has a level of mutuality that often [doesn't] get talked about in the parenting process." 37:36 - "The reality is, we live in a sinful world and a broken world as already with a proclivity to our own false independence. So, our task, is in some sense, to parent in a way that accentuates the giftedness, while also helping a child name and engage the parts of their own world that don't come as quickly or naturally.   Links from Today’s Conversation   Become a DadAwesome Anchor Partner The Allender Center Podcast  “Parenting the Parent” — Dr. Dan Allender’s podcast episode featuring his two daughters Dr. Dan Allender’s Books StoryWork Conference and Master Class The Allender Center Upcoming Events and Workshops   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

As a rookie dad, Taylor Doolittle has endless encouragement for other dads in his shoes. In this episode, he emphasizes the value of running after God, pursuing your wife, and enjoying every season with your kids. His vivid analogies will inspire you to make intentional choices as a husband, father, and friend to create the life you want to live.      Key Takeaways   Every season with your kids is fleeting, so be gracious with yourself.  Passionately running after Jesus and pursuing your wife will leave a lasting impact on your kids.  Combine multiple activities—such as working out and being with friends—with intentional multitasking that keeps you whole and healthy without taking up too much time.  However difficult you think this is for you as a dad, it’s a thousand times harder for your wife, so suck it up, buttercup. Your daily decisions are single bricks that create the foundation for your life and family.   Taylor Doolittle   Taylor Doolittle is a passionate realtor in the greater Minneapolis and St. Paul areas. He and his wife, Sarah, have two daughters.    Key Quotes   16:16 - "What I should have been focused on and what I still need to be focused on is my relationship with the Lord. That's absolutely number one, because you're not going to be a good leader for your family unless you are modeling yourself after the greatest leader. So that's number one. Number two, is absolutely pursuing your wife with as much passion as you can." 26:51 - "Not putting pressure on yourself and just realizing that, as a parent, it's less about what you teach and it's more about what you model to your kids. So, pursuing your relationship with the Lord and passionately loving your wife are the two things that you got to do that are going to make a lasting impact on your kids, whether you believe it or not." 35:15 - "Serve your wife, humble yourself, and don't place any expectations on your kids unless they're holy expectations."   Links from Today’s Conversation   Make an End-of-Year Donation Contact Taylor Doolittle Connect with Taylor Doolittle on Instagram   Connect with dadAWESOME   Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618