After spending 13 years climbing the corporate ladder, Kyle Depiesse was burnt out and knew he needed a change. He certainly didn’t have everything figured out, but he took a single step that the Lord used to guide him towards bigger and better experiences than he could have imagined. In this episode, Kyle shares the stories and advice that shaped his life—and his adventurous parenting style. 

 

  Key Takeaways

 

• Take one step toward your goals and trust that God will bless your obedience and continue to direct you. 
• Slow down the fast pace of life with a simple question: “How am I experiencing God right now?” 
• Spark joy by doing things you’ve never done before as a family. 
• Society puts professional success on a pedestal, so you must play defense to protect your relationships, health, finances, and more.

  Kyle Depiesse

 

Kyle Depiesse is the founder and CEO of Guys Trip, where he organizes adventurous trips and events to help men connect, have fun, and grow. Kyle is married to Lois, and they have one son, Cal. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 6:41 - "It's really important to honor people in front of other people. Thank people and be grateful for people while they're around. Tomorrow's not guaranteed."
• 31:01 - "If you can just take a minute and maybe even have intentional questions to ask yourself, maybe that's the cheat code. Maybe that's the hack, what am I grateful for? How am I experiencing God right now? Just ask yourself some questions and reflect. I don't think we give ourself the gift of reflection and we don't give ourself the gift of solitude enough. And sometimes there's things that just bubble up to the surface And when you pause and you reflect and you're in solitude, you can allow those things that come up to the surface."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• DadAwesome Store
• Make an End-of-Year Donation
• Guys Trip
• Kyle Depiesse on Instagram
• Tough Mudder — Twin Cities

  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 business owner and father to six, Jordan Stone has plenty of reasons to let busyness consume him. But he’s learned the power of slowing down, being present, and creating room in his agenda for how God wants to use him. With real-life examples and practical tips, Jordan Stone will inspire you to rethink the concepts of legacy, ownership, provision, and more. 

 

  Key Takeaways

 

• God may have a calling for your family that extends for multiple generations. 
• A pioneer goes into uncharted territory and tries to establish something that doesn’t exist yet. 
• Make room in your schedule to be available for interruptions. 
• Avoid getting stuck in a singular definition of provision. 
• Parenting is gardening, not carpentry.

  Jordan Stone

 

Jordan Stone and his wife, Elizabeth, live on the Oregon Coast with their six children. After relocating from Cincinnati, they moved into the home Jordan’s grandparents built and lived in for over 40 years before they both passed away. As a family, they own and run multiple businesses together. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 13:47 - "The reason we start out with [with our family mission each day] is because what we're doing is very difficult. A pioneer is somebody who goes into uncharted territory and tries to establish something that doesn't already exist there. And that's how we see what what we're trying to bring Kingdom wise into this place."
• 40:08 - "What really happens, at least in my case, there are so many things that we suppress through busyness. The demons in our life, the baggage in our life, the things that are quite uncomfortable to face. Busyness provides us a very socially acceptable way to never confront those things. When you stop [the busyness] all of it has the opportunity to come to the surface and you don't have any more excuses not to deal with it."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• https://dadawesome.org/store  
• 305 | What an Awesome Ride. What a Wild Opportunity. (Jeff Zaugg)

  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 husband and father, Ben Serpell has been tempted by passivity plenty of times. It was only after confronting certain fears that he was able to begin living with full power. In this episode, he shares practical examples of how to set a high standard of love in your home. Plus, you’ll learn why “winning vs losing” is the wrong mindset and how a learner’s approach will help you extract more wisdom from your parenting journey. 

    Key Takeaways

 

• When you shift from a “winning vs losing” mindset to “winning vs learning,” you can continue to grow without having to start from the beginning. 
• Your job as a parent is not to rescue your children from hardship but to sit with them as they learn necessary lessons. 
• As a man, you should be setting the standard of love in your home through sacrifice. 
• Passivity is birthed from fear of failure and fear of rejection.

  Ben Serpell

 

Ben Serpell moved from Australia to America at the age of 18 and married his wife, Brittney, one year later. They have been married for two decades and have three children. Ben and Brittney both serve on the leadership team at Loving On Purpose, where they provide marriage and family coaching through conferences, online workshops, and more. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 4:33 - "If it's either winning or losing, then someone's losing and someone's winning. If you talk about an argument, if you talk about connection, if you talk about you and your kids and even you and yourself, which is the biggest one where we need to start, especially as dads. If I'm losing today, then I have to start over. If I'm learning then this is stuff I can use for tomorrow's victory."
• 15:33 - "It is hard to watch your child struggle. Oh, it's so hard. But, I think what we do if we're not managing our own insecurity on the inside is we try and rescue our kids from that trouble and then we take away again, well, we're back to the learning. We take away the learning. What the Holy Spirit does is He'll come sit with us and go, Oh, that looks heavy. Wow. What do you think happened? What do you need from me? How can I help? I have a whole slew of resources back here. It's just waiting for you. And it probably starts with peace. Let's get some joy back. Let's get some truth in there. And let's begin to walk together. But I'm going to sit with you and I'm fine if you feel it. I can handle you sitting in your mess for a minute, and I'm going to bring comfort to that person rather than rescue that person."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

• https://dadawesome.org/store  
• 305 | What an Awesome Ride. What a Wild Opportunity. (Jeff Zaugg)
• Imperfect Parenting: Connection Over Perfection by Brittney Serpell
• Loving On Purpose
• KYLO University
• Life Academy
• Loving On Purpose Podcast Network

Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

 

Mike Gallagher’s life changed forever when he and his wife adopted a child. Already the parents of three biological children, they stepped out in faith to meet a need that many people try to ignore. Now, Mike shares how every dad can get involved in reaching the 100+ million children globally without a permanent place to call home.

  Key Takeaways

 

• Help your children build dependency on Jesus by modeling sacrifice and adventurous faith. 
• To reverse the orphan crisis, we must focus on reunification when possible and adoption when necessary. 
• Children who have experienced trauma need true safety as well as felt safety. 
• If you’re overcommitted, you won’t have the capacity to be there for your children. 
• Make praying with your children a core aspect of your relationship.

  Mike Gallagher

 

Mike Gallagher and his wife, Mandy, co-founded The Chosen & Dearly Loved Foundation in 2014. Their campaign, 1MILLIONHOME, focuses on shifting the model of orphan care to prioritize family support and reunification. Mike and Mandy have six children: three biological, one adopted domestically, and two adopted internationally. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 8:16 - "We really believe the Lord was leading us to do specific things like adopt children or move or start things and they were glorious, but they required a lot of suffering and and a lot of cost. Honestly, we knew there was cost, but we didn't know the full costs going into a lot of these things. In that cost, it costs the children as well. It costs everybody in the family, these are family decisions, and yet that's the bad news. The good and greater news is it forged such a dependance on Jesus and dependance on guidance from the Lord where we were in situations so desperately needing His wisdom, His protection, His confirmed will, that they witnessed that over so long. That was one just key part of it that that they wanted that and needed that themselves. The other thing was, even though we were involved with pressing things, far reaching things, they were always number one. And they knew that."
• 12:57 - "[Our children] need to be legitimately safe, welcomed, comforted, supported with whatever they're bringing. And so it's, number one, that sense of felt safety and we can kind of take inventory of how safe are they really with us."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• 305 | What an Awesome Ride. What a Wild Opportunity. (Jeff Zaugg)
• 1MILLIONHOME Homepage 
• The Story of 1MILLIONHOME 
• How 1MILLIONHOME Works
• Everyday Church - The Future Is Family Event

  Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

 

In this special Thanksgiving episode, Jeff Zaugg shares powerful stories of God’s faithfulness to the DadAwesome community and ministry. From global impact to huge fundraising milestones and everything in between, Jeff focuses on gratitude and remembrance for all God has done in recent years. Plus, he shares the exciting vision for the next phase of DadAwesome. 

 

  Key Takeaways

 

• When you lean into remembrance of what God has done, it goes beyond your family to all the world. (Joshua 4)
• 10 areas of massive gratitude
• Reflecting on 6 years of impact
• Entering the next phase of DadAwesome 
• Your invitation to support DadAwesome in two ways

  Jeff Zaugg

 

Jeff Zaugg is a loving husband, intentional dad, and passionate advocate for the fatherless. With experience in nonprofit leadership and pastoring, Jeff founded DadAwesome in 2018 and Fathers for the Fatherless shortly thereafter. Jeff and his wife, Michelle, have been married for seventeen years and are parents to four daughters, ages two through nine.

  Key Quotes

 

• 4:47 - "Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. And when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones shall be to your people, to the people of Israel, a memorial forever. This is the set up, get the stones you're going to walk, you're experiencing a miracle, but get the stones so that your kids, when they ask, what do these stones mean to you?"
• 6:14 - "Our kids are going to ask us, we can answer them, but we can, like the Stones, the moment of giving thanks and remembrance, actually, it went beyond just the Jordan, that God expanded into. And they can remember that God did that same miracle 40 years earlier with the Red Sea. It's not just our kids, but it's all people of the world. So when we as dads live into remembrance and gratitude and telling stories and organizing moments for our kids to to see, look what God has done, it goes beyond our family to all the peoples of the world, that they will see and know that God is mighty and He takes care [of us]."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• Trusted Network
• Join the DadAwesome Prayer Team
• Resource Library
• Venture
• DadAwesome Store 
• Make an End-of-Year Donation
• Become an Anchor Partner

  Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

 

This episode revisits a profound conversation with Ken Helser. He shares timeless fatherhood wisdom about enjoying intimate time with God, making dreams a reality, and raising children who can become your best friends. 

  Key Takeaways

 

• You’re most blessed when you’re most in need of God. 
• The enemy’s greatest strategy against you will always be miscommunication. 
• Focus on raising kids you can become best friends with. 
• The hardest thing in the Christian life is to let God love you, and the second hardest thing is to be still.
• God wants to speak to you more than you even want to listen.

  Ken Helser

 

Ken Helser and his wife, Linda, co-lead A Place for the Heart with their son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Melissa Helser. Ken and Linda pour into the hearts of the students who come for the 18 Inch Journey. They are blessed with four adult children and several wonderful grandchildren. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 4:14 - "God takes us a mountain top to give us a vision, but nothing is ever made reality on a mountaintop. There's rock up there, nothing grows and He always takes us in the valley for the dream and the vision to become reality."
• 13:39 - "What can I do for [my son] to love You and make You Lord of his life? And the Lord said, All you have to do is love your wife. I said, What? He says, if you love your wife in his presence, he will always trust you and believe you. But if he ever sees you abusing his mother, he will never trust anything you ever say to him. The most important thing you could do is love his mother, in his presence, always."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• A Place for the Heart
• Cageless Birds
• No Longer Slaves (Official Lyric Video) - Bethel Music, Jonathan & Melissa Helser | Peace
• 18 Inch Journey

  Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

 

What’s holding dads back from viewing fatherhood as a gift? In this episode, Banning Liebscher tackles some of the most complex obstacles dads face. With joyful reflection and practical advice, Banning will inspire you to approach parenting with a purpose. 

 

  Key Takeaways

 

• Master being self-aware and others-aware. 
• The danger for dads is not a lack of activity; it’s activity that is not going anywhere because you have not defined success. 
• How you love your children will reveal God’s love to them. 
• The goal is not to work harder but to abide more.

  Banning Liebscher

 

Banning Liebscher is a pastor, speaker, and author. Along with his wife, SeaJay, he founded Jesus Culture, a ministry of worship, conferences, and leadership development. Together, they have three young adult children: Ellianna, Raya, and Lake.

  Key Quotes

 

• 13:10 - "Can my wife give me feedback? Can people around me give me feedback? The biggest thing is people giving me feedback about how they were experiencing me and then me having to go do the work around, what's going on inside of me? I think the Enneagram, Disc test, strength finders, love languages, Myers-Briggs, they're all these different ones. Those helped go, this is how I'm wired. They're there for this is when I'm stressed, how I respond, when I'm overwhelmed, how I respond, when I'm scared, when I'm hurt. Those things actually helped me a ton."
• 24:19 - "God's going to ask you about your relationships. He's going to ask you about the people that He put in your life, the people that you're called to disciple, the people that you're called to pour your life out for."
• 33:59 - "The goal is not to work harder, it's to abide more. If you're like, I want to be a better dad, well, you're going to have to work at it. But the point is not, I'm going to work harder. No, I've got to make sure that I am positioning myself in the love of the Father myself, so that I can go be the best version for you."

  Links from Today’s Conversation

 

• The Flip Side: Break Free of the Behaviors That Hold You Back by Flip Flippen 
• Jesus Culture 
• Banning Liebscher’s Books

  Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

Five years ago, Carlos Whittaker joined us on the DadAwesome podcast. A lot has changed since then. With a new perspective of launching his children into the world, Carlos is here to ask the hard-hitting questions. He’ll inspire you to become a father who knows how to be, see, and free. 

 

Key Takeaways

 

• No app can replace the love and connection you provide your child. 
• What are you using to medicate some of the inadequacies you feel in your parenting? 
• Lower the volume of life and be present. 
• See past the problems and behaviors to parent your child.
• You are set apart as a father to breathe life into your kids. 

 

Carlos Whittaker

 

Carlos Whittaker spreads hope and encouragement through his roles as an author, podcaster, and global speaker. He and his wife Heather live in Nashville, Tennessee, with their three young adult children.

  Key Quotes

 

• 14:03 - "Men were just addicted to, dads were just addicted to their work, before that, they were addicted to whatever it may have been. So, what is the medicator? The medicator that you're using to medicate some inadequacies that you feel in your parenting, break those things and be more present. What does it look like to lower the volume of life, slow the pace of life down?"
• 16:54 - "What are ways that you as a father are set apart and separated from the rest of all of humanity? All of the other individuals that are speaking into [your] lives, you as a father, you as a dad, you are set apart in a way that nobody else is. Just a look from their father, looking them in the eyes and saying, I love you and I'm proud of you. Just that is going to free your kids in ways that you probably can't even imagine."

 

Links from Today's Conversation

 

• Episode 300 Dad Notes
• Carlos' Website
• Parenting Podcast Series: Episode 121-125 of Human Hope with Carlos Whittaker
• Episode 122: Parenting Series - My Kids' AMAZING Therapists, David Thomas and Sissy Goff
• How to Human: Three Ways to Share Life Beyond What Distracts, Divides, and Disconnects Us by Carlos Whittaker
• All Carlos Whittaker Books

 

Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

Last week, Brian Stites went to be with the Lord. His life was a walking testament of how men can show up as engaged, front yard fathers. Despite facing some of the hardest challenges, Brian continued to trust God and walk in faith. In his memory, here are ten things that were true about Brian that every dad can strive toward. 

 

Key takeaways

 

• He was serving others.
• He joined other men around a mission.
• He was the first to give.
• He encountered hardship with faith.
• He helped support others.
• He kept serving others.
• He kept being generous.
• He worshiped and he laughed.
• He celebrated others.
• He finished his race with gladness.

 

Brian Stites

 

Brian Stites was a man who took front yard fatherhood seriously. For him, everyone was welcome. He showed up for countless other men as a mentor and father figure. Brian went home to Heaven on October 18, 2023. 

  Key Quotes

 

• 3:26 - "I'm calling this episode Front Yard Fatherhood. If you think of a backyard of a house with a fence, it's kind of private, closed off, you're not welcome there unless you know the person. Front yard is, you're out on the street, you're out welcoming others. I felt a very front yard with Brian. Partially because Brian would have me come sit with him in his front yard, open to the whole neighborhood to see. We would sit and talk and cry, and we prayed together in his front yard. But his heart, him and Heather, their hearts were very front yard, everyone's welcome."
• 10:28 - "He finished his race with gladness. His posture was one of hope, faith, gladness. He's suffering. He was having a hard time speaking and keeping dialog going, yet he had gladness. "

  Connect with dadAWESOME

 

• Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
• Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
• Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

 

It’s the 300th episode of DadAwesome! In celebration of this milestone, check out these 90+ practical takeaways from 30+ fathers in all walks of life. Thank you for being part of the DadAwesome community. 

 

Key Takeaways - please register to recieve the DAD NOTES: https://www.dadawesome.org/300

 

Featured Guests

 

From pastors and authors to CEOs and beyond, these 30+ male voices capture the challenges and blessings of fatherhood. They will inspire and encourage you to lead with wonder as a dad. 

 

Links/Giveaways mentioned

 

• Florida Vacation Giveaway - https://www.dadawesome.org/300
• Other ways to win
• Follow @dadawesome on IG for a chance to win a $50 gift card to the DadAwesome store
• Mention other people in the comments on the DadAwesome Instagram for a chance to win
• Email [email protected] (recommend future podcast guests in the subject/body) 
• Email [email protected] (recommend resources, TedTalks, online courses, etc.) 
• Join the Weekly Text - Text “dad” to (651) 370-8618