At the beginning of our program, we talk about the power of a father. It doesn’t take long before emotions surface.
Some men smile as they remember fathers they admired. Others sit quietly… sometimes tearing up… carrying anger, pain, and memories they’ve held for years. Most of the men we walk with… carry the second kind.
As they begin to share, common threads start to emerge. Homes marked by instability. Substance abuse. Violence. Fathers absent—or present, but harmful. Many of their fathers were incarcerated.
Some grew up far too fast, taking on roles no child should carry. Others learned how to survive… but never learned what it felt like to be loved.
And over time, as adults, many begin to see something else. They have become like the very men who wounded them towards their own families. That realization hits hard and they want to change so that story doesn’t continue. That’s why they are here.
My own story included an alcoholic stepfather who brought pain into our home. It was difficult—but I quickly realized as I listened to these men my life starting point was still better then most of theirs. Many of these men began life with obstacles most of us will never fully understand.
As you sit in these small groups and listen to these men’s stories—you can feel it. The weight. The pain. The loss.
But we volunteers know something else.
God sees it.
God feels it.
And God redeems it.
This is what we help them to discover.
As our program progresses, we watch these men begin to change. Choosing not to repeat the past, but to learn and become something different for the next generation. This is so encouraging.
This is why we volunteers are here—to share the Good News and teach them God’s restoration promise found in Malachi 4:6: “He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers.”
— Dave