A child whose faith consists solely of a learned doctrine may have that faith badly shaken when it collides with rival doctrines. But a child who carries about within him the memory of countless encounters with the reality of God will not have to worry about holding his faith. His faith will hold him.
Here's another aptly named Colorado-based company offering father/son adventures based around the theme of discovering Biblical manhood:
In summary, our passion is to fuel the heart-to-heart relationship between a young man and a guide, preferably his father, in order to help him successfully traverse the formative adolescent years and follow Jesus into the later stages of life.I really like the compass metaphor they use:
Our conferences and resources are designed to be a catalyst to serve the churches with the necessary ‘scaffolding’ to have their own ongoing, biblically based rite of passage initiative. Consequently, we foresee a day when a church can confidently send a young man to college or into the marketplace knowing his unique design as a man, what it takes to follow Christ, and have within him the beginning skills to navigate his faith within the culture.
My oldest son is a junior in high school so we are starting to look into options for after he graduates. One serious consideration is taking the semester before college to go abroad. Here's a great ministry that provides Christian educational ministry opportunities for college-age kids:
Are you ready to experience student travel with purpose? Joshua Expeditions specializes in quality Christian travel designed to integrate Christ and ministry into student trips. We not only help your students see the world, we give them the opportunity to change it! Our educational student trips are designed with a service and ministry component in every program.
This looks to be a great site for Christian guys to get authentic:
BattleZONE combines basic Christian spiritual training with a cyclical discipleship strategy designed to build and reproduce strong, effective disciples of Jesus Christ. BattleZONE Ministries helps churches develop male leadership.
Most men learn best by seeing and doing, by being mentored and coached. BattleZONE is designed to create a culture of open learning where men like you can bring real-life temptations and struggles into the open where they can be taught, shown and coached.
I'm personally not a golfer, but I understand that many men enjoy it. Here's a website that takes the love of golf and father/son bonding and puts the two together in a great way:
Father and Son Golf Adventures (FSGA) provides an awesome venue for Fathers to spend quality time with their sons doing things that they both enjoy and can contribute too. The events that FSGA organize and run are specifically designed to engage Fathers and Sons in fun and interactive activities. They are structured to allow both the Fathers and Sons to fully enjoy themselves (they are adventures) and encourages Fathers and Sons to work together and play together.
While shopping for a medieval sword for my son, I came across this great source for swords, armor, period gifts, etc from the Roman, Medieval, and the Renaissance periods.
Not only do they have a ton of great stuff for the collector, reenactor, and gift giver...but they are also Christians committed to using their business as a platform to share the gospel:
Real Armor of God.com is a Christian based business promoting the gospel message of "forgiveness of our sins against the one and only true God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Here's another voice in the strategic-father-blog-o-sphere. Some really interesting posts already in the three months since it started.
I've posted a bit about creating family crests in the past, so I'm especially interested in his take on a "modernized" family crest.
Check it out:
Way back in February of 2007, the third post on this blog was a review of Brian Molitor's book Boy's Passage, Man's Journey.
From the looks of his website, it seems his ministry is still going strong!
I hope to soon read his book for daughters: Girl's Passage - Father's Duty.
Check him out here:
Malachi Global Foundation
I've always tenuously recommended John Eldredge's stuff. I have heard and read the many arguments that his ideas are "radical" and that he tends toward "open theism".
If I take his books as just another Christian guy sharing his story and not as a theological treatise, I find that his works are inspiring and encouraging.
His latest book is no different. Here he explores an idea that popped up a lot in his previous books: that we are living our lives as part of a grand story along the lines of the "epic" movies he so often references (The Matirx, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc).
He suggests that our lives have purpose and meaning and that we realize that meaning as we participate in the story God is telling...none other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is a easy yet inspiring read, and I can't help but feel it might be a good way to share the gospel with certain people in my life. I recommend this book.
Here is a cool website that goes along with the book:
