I had the opportunity to share with Gregory Byerline, and old friend of mine, about Father’s Delight and why we feel an event like this is so important.  Gregory is the founder of Princess Keepers, a wonderful website full of useful content that focuses on fathers raising daughters.  Here’s an excerpt of the interview:

PK: So great to reconnect and talk about this event. Tell me about “Father’s Delight” and how it all came about.

FD: Father’s Delight is the next step in a ministry a friend and I developed called Abba’s Way. Out of that ministry grew the Father’s Heart Weekend in 2008 that provided a place for father’s to bless their sons, to affirm them in the company of others, and to provide a rite of passage experience.

Having a daughter too, I knew it was only a matter of time before the next step would be a Father/Daughter experience. This year will mark our inaugural Father’s Delight, a one day event of adventure, ceremony, and celebration!

PK: As a father of a daughter myself, I’m particularly excited about this event. Why is an event like this important for fathers and their daughters?

FD: We believe every girl’s soul asks two questions, and she will seek answers to these questions throughout her life one way or another: (1) “Am I lovely?” and (2) “Do I matter?” The father has the primary role of answering these questions when a girl is young, and if he doesn’t answer them, girls will seek answers from other men.

When a girl knows she is protected, provided for, and blessed by her father, she can experience being a “beauty” in the story, able to her femininity without resorting to seduction to feel beautiful. When a woman knows she is beautiful, beyond external beauty of course, she is able to offer life to the world around her.

Our purpose of this event is to create an intentional time for a father to declare his daughter as “lovely” and answer these core questions. He will need to answer it over and over again in a million different ways, and this experience provides a basis for understanding the importance of answering these questions and models a way for that to be done.

To read the complete interview, click HERE.

If you would like to take your daughter to Father’s Delight, registration ends May 28th, so don’t wait another day.  Register today.

Adventure
Ground Initiatives to build trust
Climb the Alpine Tower
Zip Line
Horseback riding
Archery
Giant Swing

Ceremony
Fathers affirming their daughters in the community of other men and girls
Naming Ceremony
A Father’s Blessing

Celebration
Elegant seated dinner
A chance for fathers to crown their little princess
Father and daughter dance
Photo booth to capture memories that will last forever

Your daughter will feel celebrated like no other time in her life as you acknowledge all about her that is lovely. This experience includes two meals, a full day of recreation, trust building activities, moments of affirmation, a grand ball, and much more. Create a memory that will last a lifetime and register NOW at the Early Bird rate!

You can register here

For Boys 6-12 years and their Fathers
Cost for a father and 1 son is $398 for a limited time. This includes accommodations, meals, and all activities for the weekend. If you would like to attend with more than 1 son, please call Phil at 615-400-8019 for more information. If you would like to attend but are unable due to financial limitations, partial scholarships are available on a case by case basis. Call Phil at 615-400-8019 or click the links to the left for more information .

Register for Nashville
Register for Ridgecrest

Father’s Heart Weekend Photo Gallery on Flickr!

Are parents called to lead their families in spiritual matters? In Deuteronomy 6:5-9 we read “Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love Him with all that’s in you, love Him with all you’ve got…Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.” (The Message)

So what about this command from God to teach our children about Him? The command isn’t directed to the Sunday School teacher. It’s a message for parents! One reason we may not have entered our children’s spiritual lives is that we may not be taking our own spiritual lives seriously. You remember the old adage—you cannot give away what you don’t have. So the first step in helping form our children’s spirituality is to simply become authentic worshippers of Jesus ourselves. Seeing their parents pray, and hearing them talk about faith matters, paves the way for children to have spiritual discussions and interactions with their parents. Living out your faith in front of your family can be especially challenging for fathers. According to George Barna, only four out of ten men attend church on a given Sunday. Dan Erickson and Dan Schaffer write, “The typical adult male in our society is more likely to spend his Sundays watching sports on TV that attending a church service.” But there is a trickle-down effect for families when men neglect their own spiritual lives. One source states that when a mother comes to faith in Christ, the rest of her family follows 17 percent of the time. But when a father comes to faith, the rest of the family follows 93 percent of the time. Fathers can be a powerful influence in leading their children to God. The role of both parents is vital, and men need to step up to the plate.

Where do we start?
The Puritans, like earlier Jewish families, understood the great soul-forming power of the family. They perceived the home as “the church in miniature” and therefore a place to pray, worship, and focus on God. If “worship at home” is a new concept to you, you’re not alone. According to a poll conducted at my own church in 2008, only 27 percent of families had a regular time of worship together in the home. I’m not suggesting that parents conduct formal mini-church services at home. But there are an infinite number of ways to bring spirituality into your home, in both structured and free- flowing activities. Following are nine suggestions for family worship (and spiritual formation) that might sound like more fun than you expected.

1) Sharing meals together. Let each person share high points and low points of the day. Remember to bring yourself to the conversation, sharing appropriately the challenges and joys of your life. Speaking about how you trust God during a difficulty at work, or praising God for life’s blessings will model spiritual language for your young ones. You’ll be delighted to see how they enter the conversation as well!

2) Sing the Doxology at mealtime:
“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen.”

3) Pray Aaron’s Blessing over children at bedtime. Taken from Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine upon
you and be gracious to you; the LORD
turn his face toward you and give you
peace. Amen.” (NIV)

4) Read Bible stories together as a family. This can be a daily or weekly activity, based on the age of your children.

5) Recite the Lord’s Prayer at bedtime and/or pray over the children. We also ask them “how can we pray for each other?” They learn that there are no silly prayer requests, that it all belongs.

6) Pray about world affairs. News events affect children more as they age, so let conflicts, disasters, and other news stories become an opportunity for prayer.

7) Create and use a Blessing Cup. After reflecting on a passage of scripture and praying, young and old alike drink from the blessing cup. This expresses praise, celebration, and unity on special occasions.

8) Honor the life of a family member by reminding them that they are special, especially on birthdays. In our family, the celebrated family member eats from a “You Are Special” plate, and we remind the child that he/she is valuable to God and our family.

9) Sponsor a child via World Vision or some other agency. We allow our kids to sponsor a child with the same birthday as their own. This is a great way to develop compassion in your children and allow them to pray for others.
You may have excelled in sports as a young person. You can excel as a spiritual leader in your family in your adulthood. If you focus a little time and creativity, you’ll find your skills will expand quickly. This is what you are called to, and God will empower you to answer this call.

Glenn McClure holds a Masters degree in Worship Studies and is co- founder of Abba’s Way, www.AbbasWay.com, a ministry dedicated to drawing the hearts of fathers to their children. Abba’s Way hosts sold-out Fathers Heart Weekends for fathers and sons each summer. Glenn lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and three young children. His new musical project, Songs From the Father’s Heart can be purchased on iTunes.

www.abbasway.com

Father’s Heart Weekend 2010 was a great success and time for fathers and sons to connect and to be affirmed.  Stories and comments of the event will be posted soon as well as additional photos.  Thank you everyone who attended and to those who served for making this event possible. Praise God!

Glenn McClure is a worship leader, songwriter and co-founder of Abba’s Way, a ministry dedicated to drawing the hearts of fathers to their children, which hosts Fathers Heart Weekends each summer – a place for many of these songs to be sung by campfire.

Click here to listen to the music and purchase!

Produced by Scott Dente and Ken Lewis for Global Genius Productions, globalgeniusproductions.com

Tracking Session and lead vocals for Shadow Road, A Hymn To Life, Blessed Trinity, Brother Will You Help?, and Door Of Hope Produced by Paul Marino, paulmarinomusic.com

For more about Glenn’s worship leading and workshops, visit www.glennmcclure.org. For more about Abbas Way, visit www.abbasway.com.

Many men (including myself) in our community have been disillusioned by poor masculine leadership…many of us are desiring to be better and more loving leaders…found this in Proverbs this morning…qualities that make a good Christian leader…Eugene Peterson notes that “transforming leadership is the kind where the first one transformed is the leader.”

Pr 16:10

A good leader motivates, doesn’t mislead, doesn’t exploit.

If you notice, the values that we are learning (embodying) in our community are helping us become better leaders. We should motivate others and not mislead or exploit them. Can you imagine this type of leadership in the workplace? Can you imagine a boss (or being the kind of boss) who motivates with truth and honesty and desires your ( employee’s) ultimate good? What ripple effect would that have on companies and careers?

What about at home? The best way I know to motivate my wife is to serve her. She especially loves acts of service. She loves when I help clean up the house, do the dishes or make sure the kids are bathed and put to bed. When I serve my wife this way she lights up like a star. When she gets “Mommy time” and is able to enjoy solitude and recharge her batteries-she comes home not feeling mislead and exploited but cherished.

With my brothers-it is the practice of continued honesty, taking my turn on the mat, bringing current sin to confession-this keeps me from misleading or exploiting my friends.

As a father, apologizing to my son and daughters when I sin against them, deposits in them a gift that Dad is leading and loving with authenticity and not rhetoric. Bottom line: leading with honest weakness and current struggle will ensure that I am not exploiting and misleading the people around me.