Ever feel like you're talking… and it goes straight through your kid's ear and right out the other? This week in part 2 of our series we're calling "From Overwhelmed to Intentional," Kent and Lawson get super practical about communication with your kids, especially in the teen years.
You'll be challenged to consider why "Why won't they listen?" might be the wrong question, how your posture and timing matter more than your volume, and why listening is not weakness, it's leadership leverage. Lawson shares a real story from a weekend with his daughter in New York that reframed how he shows up in deeper conversations. Kent breaks down how to season hard conversations with grace (Colossians 4:6), ask questions that are not "gotchas," and trade control for influence so your kids learn to listen to God, not just comply with you.
If you want the kind of relationship where your kids, no matter the age, want to talk to you, this is a deposit worth making.
Want to shape the direction of the show this year? Leave us a voicemail and tell us what you're facing as a dad: manhoodjourney.org/podcast Scroll down to "What's Your Story?" and leave us a message!
You're not a father on accident. Go be a father on purpose.
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MEET THE HOSTS
Kent Evans is the Executive Director and co-founder of Manhood Journey, a ministry that helps dads become disciple-makers. After a twenty-year career as a business leader, he embarked on biblical fatherhood ministry projects. He’s authored four books. The most recent, Don’t Bench Yourself: How to Stay in the Game Even When You Want to Quit. He and his wife April have been married for three decades and they have five sons.
Lawson Brown married his high school sweetheart, and is a father of two adult daughters. He’s a business leader and a former (always!) Marine. He’s served as a small group leader, helped launch ministries and a church plant where he served as its Men’s Ministry leader. His faith journey has always been centered in a grounding from his wife, Audrey, and supported throughout by many men who’ve been brothers along the way. His family is nearing an empty nest phase and has recently relocated to the Florida Gulf Coast beaches area.
FEATURING GREAT GUESTS
Gary Chapman
Ken Blanchard
Chip Ingram
“I listen to the father on purpose podcast and you guys are amazing. Thank you for all you guys do and please keep it up. Us Fathers need this NOW more than ever.”
–Joel C.
“Thank you for the effort and time you put into leading us dads toward the Kingdom of God. I have learned and put to use so much by listening to the podcast.”
–Cole S.
RECENT PODCASTS
Ever feel like your past is holding you back as a dad? You’re not alone—and you’re not disqualified. This week, we sit down with a very special guest and new friend of the show, Sammy Perez. He's a husband, father of four, and national voice for second chances through his work at Prison Fellowship. Sammy’s story is raw and real. From time behind bars to meeting Jesus in a prison cell and even finding his own father figure, his testimony will move you, but what God has done in his life since then and the work that has been done in his family is where the real story begins.
We talk about:
- What it means to father with grace instead of guilt
- Why humility is a dad’s greatest strength
- Breaking generational cycles (even if you were never shown how)
- The kind of legacy Jesus can build from failure
Whether you grew up with the wrong role models—or none at all—this episode is a hope-filled reminder that it’s never too late to begin again. Whenever you feel like life is running you over and it seems impossible that God could use you any more, soak in this reminder from Sammy: "I was created for more than this." This one is for the dad who feels disqualified. God’s not done with you, even if there are times you might feel like you're done with him.
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Today's episode, we have the pleasure of talking with pastor Aaron Harvie. Aaron is the senior pastor at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. Prior to his role there, he served as a Church Planting Mobilizer with the North American Mission Board and taught at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has an extensive background in pastoring and planting churches in Kentucky and Philadelphia. Aaron and Allison have 5 children: John, Grace, Luke, Porter, and Claire. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Ouachita Baptist University in 1995 and a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1998.
Needless to say, Aaron's a sharp dude. Not only that, he's a gold mine for dads who want to better disciple their kids. We get into some of his personal testimony, the importance of a close relationship with God's word, what it really means to "measure up" as a dad, and much more. You don't want to miss this one.
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It started as a simple family phrase: "Look for the overlooked." However, Lawson's daughter Olivia flipped this on its head, encouraging her students to ask if maybe one of the people you're overlooking is yourself—or even a version of yourself you've neglected for too long. In this episode, we unpack what it means to notice the unseen, and not just in the people around us, but in the parts of ourselves we’ve pushed aside. What have we neglected in the name of productivity? What’s been quietly waiting for us to slow down, breathe, and listen?
Turns out, Jesus was in the business of seeing the overlooked—from the woman at the well to the leper no one would touch. And if we want to follow His lead as dads, it might mean noticing the quiet parts of our own soul that need care, rest, and reconnection with the Father. This one’s part biblical reflection, part personal confession, and part reminder that even (especially?) the busiest dad needs to hit pause and pay attention to the ones that no one else will.
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What’s Your Mission as a Dad?
Being a godly dad is hard work. Challenges abound, and sometimes, we just need some ideas, encouragement, and a little laughter along the way. So, we created the Father On Purpose Podcast to have real, fun, and practical conversations about being dads. Fatherhood is awesome, sacred, and hard all at the same time. We don’t have all the answers, but together as dads, we’ll try to figure it out.
