Fathers Day 2026

Good morning church, happy Father's Day, let's stand, let's boast in Jesus this morning, let's celebrate the freedom we have in Him, the life we have in Him, let's sing together, come on. Lord, You saved me, I'm walking in the mercy that You've shown Lord, You changed me, not by words but grace through faith alone You redeemed me, the old is gone, my life has been made new Lord, You freed me, these chains are breaking only because of You, yes sir, because of You, we boast in You Jesus, I will not boast in anything, my hope alone in Christ is my key, not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ, I will not boast in anything, yeah, sing Lord You saved me, Lord You saved me, You graced me, wrote the story of my life, Lord You gave me Your love and joy and peace, You've been so kind, You sustained me, I'll testify of all You've brought me through, it's so amazing, my future is secure because of You, because of You, because of You, I will not boast, I will not boast in anything, my hope alone in Christ is not by strength, not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ, I will not boast in anything, it's only by grace, by grace through faith, I have been saved, we sing by grace, through faith, I have been saved, it's only by grace through faith, I have been saved, by grace, through faith, I'll never be the same, it's only by grace through faith, I have been saved, oh by grace, through faith, I'll never be the same, oh I will not boast I will not boast, come on, in anything, because my hope alone in Christ my King, it's not by strength, not by might, just the cross of Jesus Christ, I will not boast in anything I will not boast in anything, I will not boast in anything, oh, only in Jesus name Jesus plus nothing, say it again and again, it's only by His power, His strength that we have anything to boast in man, got nothing to bring to the table and as a dad especially on a day like this you know we're thinking about fathers and what they mean to us and as fathers we want to provide and we want to protect and we want to present well, we want to know what we're doing and the truth is man, we don't really know what we're doing a lot of the time right, I think if we're being honest like man, I don't know what I'm doing in this thing but that's actually a good thing, the Bible would tell us that we should boast not in our strengths but in our weakness because God's power is made perfect in weakness, when we're weak He's strong and so the most powerful posture that we can take not just as fathers but all of us today is one of surrender, it's one like this with hands up, arms open, just recognizing our dependence on Him, God we need you, I'm not going to boast in what I bring to the table, I'm going to boast in you

And that's the strongest posture I can take. That's what my kids need to see. That's what the world around me needs to see, is a man who's surrendered, a man who's dependent on God above, who's sovereign, who's in control, who actually does know what he's doing, who actually is powerful, who is strong and mighty. And if we can take that posture, man, God can change the world in and through us. So let's take that posture this morning. Let's declare that, God, we need you. God, we come with our arms open this morning, with our hands lifted as a sign not of weakness, but of surrender, trusting that your power is made perfect in us as we come before you this way. Would you just lift your hands across this place this morning? Just as a sign of surrender, it's a sign of strength in him and not in us. Let's sing this with me. Come on, let's sing. We trust in you today, Jesus. Hope is in you. Strength is in you. We call it upon your name today. We declare we need you, God. Your faithfulness. I'm calling on the God of David Who made a shepherd boy crazy I may not face good life But I've got my own giant Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, singing how I need you Oh, you're a rock of ages Oh, rock, oh, rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness Oh, we sing it again Oh God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh, rock, oh, rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness Oh, you're faithfulness I'm standing on you, God We call upon the same God Cause you heard your children And you hear your children Cause you are the same God You are the same God

you answer praise back we believe today because you are the same you are I know you are the same God, you are the same God Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your favor, oh yeah On your faithfulness Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness On your faithfulness Your faithfulness Your faithfulness Oh we declare that we need you Oh God, my God, I need you Oh God, my God, I need you now How I need you now Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness Trusting in you, on your faithfulness Come on, one more time, we lift our voices Oh God, my God, I need you Oh tell Him today Sing how I need you How I need you

Oh rock, oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness So faithful So faithful Great are you, Lord Great is your faithfulness Great is your faithfulness Sing this with me Great is thy faithfulness Oh God, my Father There is no shadow of learning with thee Thou changest not Thy compassion, they fear not As thou has been Thou forever will be We sing Great is thy faithfulness We sing Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning New mercies I see All I have need Is that heaven has provided Great is thy faithfulness You've only been faithful God, pardoned for sin, and a peace that endures. Guide all dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Come on we declare say great is this. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, your love to me. Oh, you've been good, you've always been just so good to me. Nobody like you, God, so good to me. So great is thy faithfulness. Come on sing to me. Oh, God, my father, there is no shelter for me with thee. See, thou changest not, thou changest not. Like a passion, faith is mine. As thou hast been, now forever in me. Let me sing great is your faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Oh, you're so good to me. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness. Sing great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Your love to me. You're so great to me. You're so great to me. Let me give them praise. Thank you so much for lifting up praises with them together. Because he is so good. He continues to be good.

He is always good. And we exalt him in this place. Hallelujah to your name. Can you go ahead and say hello to somebody next to you? Take about 30 seconds and just greet somebody you've never met. That's about it. You can go ahead and stand. Abundant life, Happy Fathers Day. Gentlemen, from one father to another I want to say how grateful I am to be your pastor. What an honor it is to partner with you to raise up our children together to know and love Jesus. This is a very special Fathers' Day, guys. I almost never, ever, in the past have missed a chance to preach on Fathers' Day. This year I am for a reason. Because I want you to hear Blake Brewer. He's got a story that's going to inspire. And I'm so grateful for my friend Blake Brewer being here to minister as a father to other fathers and tell his story of fatherhood. And this story's gonna help you connect with your children in a far, far deeper way. A far deeper level. And it's a joy to introduce him to our church family today. Give it up right now, would you, for Blake Brewer. Thank you. Good morning, Abundant Life! How are you guys doing? How's everybody doing at the campuses and online? It is so good to be with you on this Father's Day. My name is Blake Brewer, and I got a question for you. What is the most important thing that a father does in his children's life? Is it protect them? Is it to provide for them? Is it an education or teach work ethic? All those things are important, but I want to talk about something this morning that I would say is even more important.

And it's the power of a father's voice. And so I was a freshman at the University of Arkansas. Go Pigs! And I was, I got a call from my mom. And this was in the middle of me learning how to call the Hogs, and I will say I didn't grow up in Arkansas, and so the first time I ever heard anyone do that in my life was at my freshman orientation. And I was like, what are these people doing? And I will say a couple months later when we were at a football game and 75,000 people were doing it after a touchdown, I was like, that's pretty cool. And so she calls me and says, Blake, we're gonna take a family vacation to Hawaii. And I said, heck yeah, let's go. I've been to Florida a few times, but never been to Hawaii. So a few months later we boarded the plane and first day there, we decided to go snorkeling at a place called Hanama Bay. And so we're there, we've been in the water, we come out of the water. Now it's my dad, my mom, my sister, my brother, my grandmother was there. We all kind of lay on the beach. And then my dad is standing there and says, we're in Hawaii, like I'm not laying on the beach, like I'm going back out there. And he started walking down the beach. And I remember just laying there and thinking, man, I kind of want to just lay here, but actually more than that, I want to go be with my dad. And so I ran and caught up to him and he looked at me and said, ah, look who decided to join me, which is his way of saying, I'm glad you joined me. And so we go out in the water and we are having the time of our life. Now, my dad, uh, was a, I was really fortunate. I had a really good dad. Um, now he was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Uh, there was moments growing up where I was like, oh yeah, that's my dad. That's my dad.

There were some other moments where I was like, oh shoot, that's my dad. But overall, my dad was my hero. Uh, at this time in my life, my dad was a hospital CEO. Um, but long before I was born, he was known as a football player. So he had been drafted by the Atlanta Falcons to play tight end. But at Louisiana Tech, uh, he had this quarterback by the name of Terry Bradshaw. And so they were best friends and roommates. Uh, my dad caught Bradshaw's first ever collegiate touchdown pass. Um, you can imagine some of the stories that came out of those years. Uh, and if you've ever watched Duck Dynasty, you know, that Phil Robertson was also my dad's quarterback. Uh, there was the story in our family that was shared. There was times that Phil Robertson would show up to practice with a squirrel tail hanging out of his back pocket. And so there we are, uh, out there in the water. Well, I'll say this too. My dad was also a very humble guy. So he hardly ever told anyone that he was Terry Bradshaw's tight end. I told everybody it was my claim to fame growing up. And so there we are out there in the water and we started off and we're, over this, the coral reef and it's like five feet deep. Um, and then we're seeing the beautiful fish. Like it's just amazing. But then we just kept going further and further out. And we ended up at this area that I now know is called Witch's Brew right off this point on the right side. And Witch's Brew is known for its treacherous waters. And it was that day. And there was this moment where I kind of pulled my head out of the water and realized, Oh my gosh, the waves have really picked up. And where did my dad go?

And I panicked a little bit cause now I'm out there all by myself. And so I'm scanning the water, looking for him. I'd have to wait for a wave to come and kind of carry me out of the water. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, the waves have really picked up and I'm like, me up so I could see out higher, and then I saw him. And I remember thinking, okay, good, there's my dad. Except not good, because my dad was struggling. One reason that I knew he was struggling is because he was trying to get out of the water and there was no good place to get out of the water. The waves were just crashing against these rocks. And sure enough, as my dad's about halfway up, a wave hits him, knocks him back down in the water. I swim over there as quickly as I can, I can't find him anywhere, and now I'm exhausted. And I realize I've gotta get out of the water. But the only place was the same place that my dad tried. And so by the grace of God, in between the waves, I'm able to climb up on these rocks and get out of the water. And now I'm standing up there, scanning the water, looking for him. And then I see him. He's still treading water at this time. And he looks up at me. And he says, I need help. I need help. And my dad had this really big, deep, booming voice. And this cry for help was more like a soft whimper. And so I turned around and I faced the beach

and I began to just wave my arms, I'm yelling as loudly as I can, hoping that somebody might hear me, but I had little hope, they looked like tiny ants, that's how far away they were. And I turned back around towards my dad and I had a decision to make. Am I gonna just stand here? Or am I gonna jump in after him? And I knew I couldn't just stand there. And so I jumped in, I swam about 10 yards to where he was at, and now he's underneath the water. And he's unconscious, and he's just kind of floating there. And so I dive down, I put my arms around him, I bring him back up to the surface, and began to swim with him to the shore, to the best of my ability, trying to keep his head above water. And I only made it to about the end of that point where I realized I can't make it any further. And in that moment, a nearby snorkeler showed up, and he began to help me get my dad to the shore, and then the lifeguard showed up, and they put him on a surfboard, and they brought him the rest of the way in. And now we're on the shore. And they're doing CPR to my dad. And I'm standing there next to them, and I don't think I've ever felt so helpless in my life.

And I did the only thing I knew to do in that moment. I cried out to God. God, would you please save my dad's life? And I really thought that any moment my dad's about to come to, and his eyes are gonna open up, and he's gonna spew out water, just like you see in the movies. It never happened. And so my dad drowned that day. And it went from one of the best days in my life to the worst, just like that. And now I'm standing there next to my dad's body. Like, what the heck just happened? We were just in the water a few minutes ago, having the time of our life, and now my dad is gone forever. A few hours later, we're back in the condo. And my whole family is just devastated. And my mom comes to me, new widow. And she said, Blake, we gotta start calling the family members and just letting people know. Will you do it? I can't. And so I had to call my dad's parents. my granny and papa, and let them know that they had lost their son. It was a really hard phone call to make. I called some other family members, called my dad's work, called our church, and then I go to the back bedroom, and I'm sitting there on the edge of the bed. And it was as if the world just stood still in this moment as I was trying to understand

what just happened. And I began to create a story and a narrative about what just happened because this is what we do. This is what we do when we have a tragedy. This is what we do from the moment when we were a little child. We're creating a story and a narrative about our life and who we are, and am I loved, and about God. And the story and the narrative that I would come up with would impact the rest of my life. And I thought, what would my dad do right now? I know what he would do. He would pray. The reason I knew this because I had seen my dad pray hundreds and thousands of times when I was growing up. We'd be in my sister's back bedroom every night, each of us praying. And there's something about seeing a 6'3", 230-pound man praying, humbling himself before the Lord, being grateful for all the things that God has done and saying, God, I need you. That sticks with you when you're a child. And so in this moment, I went before the Lord as I'm sitting there on the edge of the bed. God, I need you. What just happened? How are we going to make it without my dad? How am I going to make it without him? And it was in that moment that my mom appeared in the doorway, and she's holding something. And she said, Blake, I found something in your dad's briefcase, something that I know he was going to give you on this trip. I had no idea what she was talking about. But she walked across the room, and she handed me a letter. It was a letter from my dad. And I began to read that letter. I couldn't have received anything more perfect in that moment. And I heard my dad's voice so clearly. And his voice comforted me. I felt a sense of peace. I felt hope, hope that I was going to make it. And then I felt incredibly loved. Do not tell me that my dad did not love me. He took the time in the midst of his busy schedule with everything going on to put it down on paper. I get to the last line of this letter. And I wasn't surprised that my dad wrote this, but I do believe God allowed him to write it. He wrote, as you are being faithful to the Bible, you're often going to find yourself in the minority on this earth. But I can assure you that in heaven, you'll be in the majority. Love your dear old dad in Christ Jesus. And I remember thinking, I'm going to see my dad again. I can't imagine my life without this letter. In the coming days and weeks and months, I experience more pain and grief than I've ever experienced in my life. I go back to school that fall. And almost every single night in the dorm room, I'm crying myself to sleep. Missing my dad, thinking about this day.

I mean, I could make it through the day and I could talk to people and even in moments, I could put a smile on my face, but every conversation I was having, I was like, do you even know what I'm going through right now on the inside? And my life was really at a crossroads. And I understand that even now more than I did then. But I could have left this situation anxious, depressed, a victim, bitter at the world, bitter at God. I could have tried to run to some things, to take some things, or to drink some things, to escape the pain that I was feeling. I know myself, I could have easily done that. And it was as if the exact opposite happened. I would say over the next 12 months, I grew more as a person, as a leader, and my relationship with God, closer to my family than any other 12-month stretch of my life, discovered my life purpose. And I had some professional counselors tell me, Blake, you have grieved this in a very healthy way compared to most people. And I said, well, most people don't get a letter like that from their dad. Couple things that I really took away from that letter. First thing, that God is good. That on the best day of my life, God is good. But he's also good on the worst day of my life. And every day in between.

And I could stand up here and make a theological argument, and go through the scriptures, and we could talk about how God is good. But in those moments in my dorm room, when I was crying myself to sleep, that's not why I believed that God was good. I believed that God was good because my dad believed that God was good. And then eternal perspective. How short my life is compared to an eternity. And for the time that I'm here on this planet, I wanna live for what matters. I wanna live to serve the Lord. I wanna live to serve the souls of man. For eternal things. And God, in his goodness, brings a couple men into my life. I met them at the cafeteria table. They were on staff of the campus ministry, and they began to invite me into a Bible study, and they began to mentor me, and disciple me, and teach me how to share my faith. And within a couple months of my dad drowning, I was on campus sharing the story with some guys on campus. And using it to help them think about their eternity, and have a relationship with God. And I couldn't have said that then, but now I can. That was part of my healing. Because in that moment, I wasn't focused on myself.

It was on others, and serving others. I ended up going on staff with that ministry. And I was on staff at Arkansas for five years. During that time, I met my wife. She was involved with this ministry as well. And then they asked us to go start a new chapter at Missouri State in Springfield. And so in 2012, my wife and I moved up to Springfield, not knowing a soul, but just asking God, would you move in the hearts and the men and women on this campus? And I would go on campus, and I'd meet people, and I would see them, and ask God to help me see them as he sees them. God, help me to love them as you love them. And there was moments that I would be sitting across from some freshman guy that I barely know. And I would just think, man, if he only knew how much I love him right now. But I could never say that, because I'd weird him out. but it's not me, it's God. And people started coming to Bible study, coming to meetings, and over several years, we saw hundreds and hundreds of people come to Christ. And every summer, we would go down to Destin, and we would have a summer project for nine weeks, and students were getting a job, but then at night, we're doing small group Bible study, and learn how to pray, learn how to study the Scriptures, learn how to share their faith,

and every summer, there'd be students who would give their life to Christ, and they would say, hey, I need to be baptized. There's a lot of water right there. And so every summer, I was out in the Gulf of America. I was, baptizing these students, and there'd be students on the shore, and we'd go out, and they'd be cheering him on, and every single time, I could not help but think about my dad. And the day that he died, in the water, in the ocean, and now I'm out there baptizing these students in the ocean, God is good. Amen. One day, one summer, my mom and my stepdad, my mom got remarried to a great guy named John. He's an incredible grandfather to my kids now, but John came up to me and said, Blake, I love the Lord, but I've never been baptized, and I got to go out in the water and baptize my stepdad in front of all the students. It was amazing. My mom and stepdad are watching online right now in Arkansas. Hey, John. Hey, mom, love y'all. Everybody else online, love you guys too. Love my mom more. But then it was a few years ago,

I became a dad. And so here's my family right here. This is my wife, Amanda. She's back in Tulsa with the kids today. They were hoping to come to Kansas City, but the stomach bug went through our house this week, and so she's back with them. And so we've got Gracie Kate. Gracie Kate's my 10-year-old. Oh, man, I love her. She's so sweet. And I got to be the one. I came up with the idea for Gracie Kate, for the name, and my wife said, yeah, I like that name. I was like, yes, I get to name her. But it is kind of a mouthful, so we named my son Bo. And Bo's our little athlete. He loves playing sports. He's in the middle of baseball season right now, and all spring, all summer, he's been working so hard, he just wants to hit a home run over the fence. I'm like, man, you're eight years old. It's not gonna happen. Last weekend, we're playing, it was our first tournament, and the fences are really short. He hit one over the fence, and I was like, yeah. I was so happy for him, because he was so happy. Now, he knows. I'm not proud of him for hitting a home run.

I'm happy for him. I'm proud of how he treats his teammates. I'm proud of his attitude, his work ethic. Those are the things that make me proud. He knows it. Then we got Brooks over here. Man, Brooks, he's so intuitive. We can be driving down the street, and he's like, like, hey, I think we're going the wrong way. I'm like, how do you know this? Like, you're five. He just, he picks up on, if he was in the room right now, he loves people, he'd be in the lap of somebody right now. And then we got baby Baylor, and Baylor's about 21 months old, and I gotta say, I just wasn't just so excited to name him Baylor. That one was my wife's name, my wife's idea, and I was like, because we have no connection to that school. And I was like, but we're in Oklahoma. I finally gave him, you know, if we were in Texas, no way, but we're in Oklahoma. Well, then, and maybe you guys have done this kind of stuff in your family, but little nicknames, but when Bo was little, we started calling him Bo Bear. Hey, come here, Bo Bear, and then Brooks comes along. Hey, come here, Brooks Bear. Well, then the other day, I heard my wife saying, come here, Baylor Bear, and I said, no.

We are not calling him Baylor Bear. We're the Razorbacks in this family. Well, a few years ago. I was looking at my family and thinking about them just like any other parent in this room, and I'm like, man, I wanna help them be confident, successful, I wanna help them be resilient, I wanna help them reach their full potential, and I've never been a dad before, like how do I do this? Man, what would my dad say to do? He'd say, go to the scriptures. And so I went to the scriptures and I see some verses. I see Matthew 3, 17, and suddenly a voice came from heaven. Now, this is right after Jesus is being baptized, and he comes out of the water and his father says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Before he had ever done any ministry, before he had healed anyone, his father was pleased with him. He said, this is my beloved son, identity. This is who you are, and this is important because in a little bit, Satan was gonna tempt Jesus, and what does he go for? He goes after his identity. Is this really who you are? Can you really, the son of God? No, this is who I am, and then I see in Matthew 17, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son again in whom I am well pleased.

Hear him. The father had confidence in his son. Listen to my son. And then I start reading and thinking about the end of Jesus's life. Right before he's about to go to the cross, and the weight of the entire world's sins are on him, what does he do? He goes to be with the father and prays, and he took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be troubled and deeply distressed, and then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch, and he went a little further, and he fell on his face, and he said to them, and he went a little further, and he fell on the ground, and he prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. And then what do the scriptures say happened? An angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. God sends an angel, and in that moment strengthened him. It's like, how do I have children that will one day, when I know that they're gonna be overwhelmed, something is gonna, they're gonna hit rock bottom, something's gonna stress them out, there's gonna be good moments and bad moments, how do in those moments do I have children that will come to me and know that I am there for them?

They can share with me. I'm not gonna bring more shame and make them feel even worse. How do I have children that not only come to me, but ultimately go to our Heavenly Father? And I see the things that God said to him leading up to this. Of course, Jesus went to his Father. And so as I'm thinking about my children, and I know they need to hear my voice so they can hear their Heavenly Father's voice, and there's a lot of noise out there in the world, way more than when we were growing up, with social media. A lot of people are gonna try to distract them. We have an evil one who's gonna try to distort the truth of the things that I'm saying to them. What do I do? I know what I gotta do. I gotta write them a letter. If anyone knows the value of a letter from their dad, it's me. And so I'm sitting there at the kitchen table, pulled out a blank sheet of paper, and I gotta say, I was so overwhelmed looking at this blank sheet of paper. Like, what the heck am I about to write? And I had a new appreciation for my dad, because there was a moment where my dad was looking at me. looking at a blank sheet of paper.

And he got the letter done. And if he can do it, I can do it. And so it took me a couple months, one of the hardest things I ever did, but I finished, and man, it felt amazing to have this letter done, knowing that there will never be any doubt about how I feel about you. It's down here on paper. This is how I feel about you. And so I finished, and then I did decide to go ahead and read the letter to Gracie Kate. She was four at the time. And so I said, Gracie Kate, I got something for you tonight. And normally every night I'm reading her like a book, like a princess book or something. Well, that night I began to read this letter to her. Do we have any criers in the room? Do we have any criers in the room? Because if you're not a crier, wait till you read this letter. Because man, it was so emotional. Tears are coming down my face. I'm just like boo-hooing through this whole letter. And the whole time I'm wondering, okay, what is she thinking right now? So I get to the end of it, and I finish. And I look up at her. And she looks right back at me.

And she says, Daddy, can you read me the princess book now? Yeah. And so I read her the princess book. I think I cried during that too. But then the next night at dinner, she went up to my wife and she said, last night Daddy read me a message. Can he read me that message again tonight? And so she didn't understand everything that I wrote in that letter, but she got the main point. She's got a daddy who loves her. And so it was really through this process of writing this letter, and then a month later, I meet another guy, I meet a guy, and he kind of out of nowhere shares this story about receiving a life-changing letter from his dad when he was 26. He didn't know my story at all. I'm like, okay, you got a letter, I got a letter. And then a month later, after that, I meet another guy, and he shares another story about how he had received a life-changing letter from his dad. And I'm sitting there like, oh my gosh, okay, God, I get it. We gotta help more people get a letter. That we can change relationships, we can change families, we can change communities, we can change the world by helping dads, and we also help moms, and we help grandparents, share their heart, share their voice, and get their voice out of their heart,

to their mind, to a piece of paper. A lot easier said than done, but ultimately, get that voice into their children's life. And so we did some research, and to really understand, okay, if we're gonna help people write this letter, then what goes into this letter? And so we came up with this outline, the intro, the apology, the I love you, I'm proud of you, I believe in you, the memories, the advice, the closing paragraph. And so for the last five years now, I've been guiding people through this outline. Do a couple hour workshop, helping people share what's in their heart, and also share the words that their loved ones absolutely need to hear from them. And when we started, I had no idea how this was gonna go, and my wife, I gotta say, she was a little nervous. She's like, looking at our children, so you're gonna provide for our family by helping people write a letter? She's like, I don't know about this. I was like, well, I believe the Lord's in it, so I think we're gonna be okay. And turns out, there's some wonderful people in this world who are leaders in organizations who say, hey, I've got some people that we care about, and that I care about, some clients, some employees, and so next thing I know, I'm at these different corporate places, like helping people write a legacy letter. And there's some amazing people in Kansas City.

I've been up here, I don't know, 10 or 15 times. Been at Helzberg Diamonds, groups like Acumen, Father's Club, Ryan Rink, Samantha Compton, who's in the room, bringing me up in September for her clients. and helping people put their voice on paper. One of the groups that I was helping write this letter, it was like a team. And one of the guys on the group was like, man, I don't know if I really need to do this. Like, my family's good, my kids know that I love them. Maybe this is how you're feeling right now. Like, I don't know if I really need to do this. But he said, okay, I'll go through it. Everybody else is going through it. Well, about halfway through writing his letters, I'm guiding him through it, man, he got it. And he was like, oh my gosh, I can't wait to finish this. I can't wait to give this letter. And so he decided on Christmas morning to give it to his three adult sons and his adult daughter. And he got some little wooden boxes. He put some family heirlooms in each one, puts the letter in there. His three adult sons, of course, loved to read. They read the letter, they opened it up, and they're like, you know, of course, from their dad, how much he loves them and how proud he is of them. But then it was his daughter, 31 years old, young mom. She goes home that night and she calls back.

Dad's gone to bed, so she gets mom on the phone and she says, mom, this is the best Christmas that I've ever had in my life. And mom said, well, you know, we love hosting you guys. We love having everybody here. She goes, no, mom, it was dad's letter. I did not know how much dad really loved me. I just assumed that he loved my brothers more than me because he's always hunting with them and fishing with them and doing sports. But now I see how much he loves me and this letter has brought closure into my life. And it's been a couple years now and the relationship is better than it's ever been. But initially I asked him, I said, man, did you have any idea that your daughter was having those thoughts? And he was heartbroken. He said, man, I had no idea. But he told me, he said, Blake, the truth is we spent twice as much money on her as we did the boys. We spent twice as much money on her as we did the boys. We spent twice as much money on her as we did the boys. But here's the thing. We're all telling ourselves a story about how much we love our loved ones. And they're also telling themselves a story about how much you love them. And there's no way that this story is absolutely right. And so this letter is about getting the story right,

leaving nothing to doubt. No, this is how I feel about you. How many people walking around in Kansas City right now have the story wrong about how God feels about them? We gotta help them get the story right. One of the guys that signed up for my program a few years ago out of San Francisco, he had heard me on a podcast. And he signs up and there's like 10 guys on the call and then I kind of have a one-off with him and he tells me, he said, Blake, to be honest, I'm an atheist. But I really wanna be a good dad and I've been listening to different podcasts and different things and man, there is just something different when I listen to a Christian talk and the wisdom that they have. And so we began to talk about God and I began to share with him the gospel about how Christ had come and lived a perfect life. And died on the cross because he loves you. And then when you put your trust in him, that all of your sins will be forgiven and you can have eternal life. And Corey took a couple months as he was processing it, looking at the scriptures, thinking about it. And then one day he called me and said, Blake, I'm not going another day. I'm giving my life to the Lord.

And Corey gave his life to Christ. And then he says, well, Blake, what do I do now? Like, I don't even know another Christian. Like my wife's not a Christian. And so then I was like, we gotta find you a church. In San Francisco, I'm like, oh my gosh, like, is there an abundant life in San Francisco? We gotta get one there. But I found him a good, what I thought from the website, a good Bible believing church. And so I said, man, go here. And sure enough, it was. And he, we talked a little bit later, this pastor started to meet with him and disciple him. And then he sends me this picture from the front of the church, Corey getting baptized. And Corey. Another year goes by and we'd kind of texted every once in a while, but then we'd get on the phone. I said, man, just give me an update. Like what's been going on this past year? And he said, Blake, it's been one of the hardest years of my life. So I'm still going to church. And that's part of my life is going good. But my wife, man, she's kind of just mad. And she's mad at God and she's, she's, she doesn't even want to believe in God, but she's mad at me that now I'm trying to follow God and my whole church is praying for her. And there's just been a, man, we've gotten really close to getting a divorce. But then he told me a couple months ago, it's previous to this. He said, my wife hit rock bottom and she started coming to church with me. And he said, Blake, a couple weeks ago, my wife gave her life to Christ.

And he sends me this picture of his wife being baptized. She told him, she said, Corey, this is the most peace that I've ever felt in my life. He said, well, this is what I've been trying to tell you about for the past year. I talked to Corey recently and he said, man, my, my children go with us to church every Sunday. He said, my daughter just gave her life to Christ. He's an elder at his church now. And Corey's life has completely changed. But he told me, he said, it all started with writing that letter. He goes, how could I not be thinking about God as I was writing that letter? And so as you're sitting there today, and especially you dads, and you're carrying the burden that comes with being a dad, it's not an easy job. And you've got the stresses of work and things that are going on there. And you've got stresses in your marriage and with your family. And you just want the best for your children. And you're at times you're like, I don't even know what to do. I don't know how to, to give them what they really need. And the truth is, you're never going to give them everything they need without tapping in to God and His love and allowing Him to work through you. And so you've got to get to this point where you're willing to get humble yourself and get on your knees and say, God, I need you. So that your voice can be in your children's life, because there's a moment coming in their life, and maybe they're in the middle of it right now, and they're going to hear a voice. And is it going to be your voice? And is your voice going to push them towards the Father's voice? Let's just close by praying for all the dads in the room. And is it gonna be your voice? And is your voice gonna push them towards the Father's voice? Let's just close by praying for all the dads in the room. God, we come before you. God, admitting and confessing our need for you. We are nothing without you. You are our creator. You're our sustainer.

You're the King of kings and Lord of lords. And we pray, God, that you would come and work through us and work through our families. God, I pray for all the burdens that the dads in this room carry. For those that currently don't have a relationship with their children. I pray for those that don't currently have a relationship with their father, that may they be reconciled. And I pray for those that don't currently have a relationship with you, with their heavenly father. And that today may be the day that some might come to know you. Christ, I am I pray, amen. Amen.