DadAwesome

SUMMARY:
Most of us parent from what we already know and love. We steer our kids toward the sports we played and the interests we developed, and then we wait for them to get excited about our world. In Part 6 of the Multipliers series, Jeff reads Chapter 23 of the DadAwesome book and shares an archive clip with Alex Burton about a prayer, a purple carabiner, and a campfire question that changed everything.
TAKEAWAYS
Delight in what they delight in. Stop waiting for your kids to get excited about your world and step into theirs instead.
Our Heavenly Father does not just tolerate what we care about. He delights in it. He came down instead of making us climb up.
Ask the men who know you best: what do you see in my life that I am not seeing, and what am I missing? Then do not get defensive. Write down what they say.
Connection is worth the sacrifice. The cost is not always money. Sometimes it is time, and sometimes it is setting aside your preferences for theirs.
Pause and pray before you show up. Alex asked God what to bring before he ever left his house, and a child he had never met walked away knowing she was known.
Guest
Alex Burton is an outdoors enthusiast, a climber, and a father of three. He and his wife, Mel, have been married more than 26 years. Alex serves on the staff team at Wild at Heart. His full conversation with Jeff is Episode 297.
QUOTES
"I experienced something I can only describe as kind fathering from a complete stranger." (04:30)
"This wasn't just a piece of climbing equipment anymore. It was proof that someone saw her. Someone cared about what brought her joy. God knew her favorite color, and He used Alex to show her." (04:50)
"Alex, right now, if I could choose who'd be around this campfire with, I would choose my son. Can you say the same?" (06:30)
"You don't need to become an expert in what your kids love. You just need to show up and jump in. When you step into their world, you're reflecting how God treats us. He came down instead of making us climb up." (10:20)
"It wasn't even so much, it could have been anything, but it was purple." (13:20) Alex Burton
ACTION STEPS
I. Reflection
Name what each child delights in. Write down each kid's name, and next to it, what they are into right now. Legos, surfing, bike rides, theater, dance, soccer. If you are not sure, that is your invitation to get curious.
Find where you are resisting. Is there a passion of theirs that annoys you, crowds your calendar, or that you secretly hope they outgrow? Name it, then go a step deeper and ask why your heart is positioned that way.
Ask if your kids know they are delighted in. Do they know that your favorite role in life, outside of being married to their mom, is being their dad? Try asking them directly: do you have any idea how much I love you? Then watch their eyes.
II. Multiplication
Ask the campfire question. Take it to two or three friends: what do you see in my life that I am not seeing, and what am I missing? Do not defend yourself. Just write it down.
Be an Alex for another dad. Alex took a half day off work for a family he had never met. Could you take time off, help with a project, or create a moment for another dad and his kids?
Send a joy bomb. An unexpected gift at an unexpected time, to your wife, your kids, or a dad who is grinding. No occasion required.
III. Activation
Pray before you show up. Before the recital, the game, or youth group pickup, pause in the car and ask God if there is something He wants you to bring or say. The pause is huge.
Jump into their world this week. Research what they love. Show up with a surprising level of joyful curiosity and joyful participation.
Put something in their hand. Something small from the store or ordered online, given for no reason, with the words: I see you, I love you, I delight in you.
Pray Zephaniah 3:17 over each child by name, out loud, this week. Insert their name into the verse and let it reshape how you pray for them.
LINKS
Spartan Team DadAwesome, Dallas, Texas, October 17 https://givebutter.com/DallasSpartan

Leave a VOICEMAIL: https://www.speakpipe.com/DadAwesome

Join Team Awesomeness (monthly support team) at any level from $7/month to $1000/month... We have 41 families committed to fueling the ministry DadAwesome as we head toward celebrating 9 years of AWESOMENESS this coming winter: https://www.dadawesome.org/give

Join the DadAwesome Prayer Team: Text "pray" to (651) 370-8618

Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

7-Day Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Free Chapter + Intro Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

297 | Cultivating a Prayer Life, Sharing Joy Bombs, and Delighting in What Your Kids Delight In (Alex Burton)
DadAwesome LABS from Chapter 23: The Purple Carabiner Principle
Zephaniah 3:17
Wild at Heart Ministry

Summary
A $30 campsite with a canyon view felt like hitting the jackpot… until Jeff flipped on the lights and watched the floor move. In part five of the DadAwesome Multipliers series, Jeff reads Chapter 19 of the book, "Ant Attack," and unpacks what a million ants taught him about spotting threats, sealing entry points, and cleaning up what already got inside. Then Zach Neese joins with a sobering four minutes on the doorways we open without realizing it, and why nobody else in this world is going to guard your house but you.
Heads up: this episode is not designed for little ears. The conversation goes into spiritual warfare, darkness, and the ways private choices affect the people we love most.
Top 5 Takeaways
The first few ants are scouts, not the problem. Train yourself to look past what's obvious and ask harder questions about attitudes, friend groups, and entertainment choices before they become a full scale invasion.
Real freedom propels you to lead. Freedom is not permission to do whatever you want. Healing, forgiveness, and wholeness are what unlock your ability to serve and protect the people God gave you.
Threats come through old bridges and new ones. The septic hose was modern convenience turned against them. The tree branches were nature's ancient highway. The tactics evolve, but the goal stays the same.
Sealing the doors is not enough. You have to deal with what already got inside, and then intentionally replace it with something life giving. Removing the threat is not the same as restoration.
Nobody else in this world is going to guard your house but you. Not schools, not church, not extended family. The assignment is yours, and it takes courage plus God's strength.
5 Quotes
"Real freedom propels us to lead. That healing, forgiveness, and wholeness unlock our ability to serve and love the way God designed." (Jeff Zaugg)
"A dad fighting his own addiction can't guard his family's doorways. A father still carrying his childhood anger can't see the real threats to his kids." (Jeff Zaugg)
"Every open door is a spiritual gateway." (Zach Neese)
"We give him permission all the time to rearrange the furniture, so to speak, in our hearts and our house, so that he is the only spirit that feels welcome here." (Zach Neese)
"I wasn't just being entertained by a movie. I was being entertained by the spirit behind the movie. And that spirit wasn't just in my closet. That was roving through my house." (Zach Neese)
 
Guest Bio
Zach Neese is a pastor, worship leader, and author who has spent years teaching on worship, spiritual authority, and the doorways we open in our homes. His conversation with Jeff first aired on DadAwesome episode 159, and the clip featured in this episode digs into how entertainment choices, conflict patterns, and private habits can invite influences we never intended to host. (Verify current role and book title before publishing.)
Action Steps
Reflection
Walk your doorways. Grab paper or a note on your phone and list them out: phones, tablets, gaming systems, streaming devices, specific apps, YouTube, Instagram.
Look for the white powder. What warning signs have you driven past without asking questions?
Notice the small stuff. What are the few ants on the countertop right now? An attitude, a mindset, an entertainment choice that could become a full scale assault?
Check your own closet. What is hidden that you have convinced yourself is not really causing harm?
Multiplication
Who are the men who know what is in your closet? How do you close that gap this month?
Share episode 447 with a few dads who are fighting for freedom alongside you.
Read Nehemiah 4:13 and 14 with your family and unpack what it means to fight as a family.
Listen to the full Zach Neese conversation in episode 159.
Apply for the September DadAwesome Accelerator cohort.
Activation
Cut down one bridge this week. Remove a subscription, remove a device, create a new boundary.
Pray out loud. Use the John Eldredge Daily Prayer and the head of household prayer. Out loud matters, because the enemy cannot hear your thoughts.
Replace, do not just remove. Pick a book, a rhythm, or a practice to fill the space.
Go deeper with the Chapter 19 DadAwesome Lab.
LINKS
Spartan Team DadAwesome, Dallas, Texas, October 17 https://givebutter.com/DallasSpartan

Leave a VOICEMAIL: https://www.speakpipe.com/DadAwesome

Join Team Awesomeness (monthly support team) at any level from $7/month to $1000/month... We have 41 families committed to fueling the ministry DadAwesome as we head toward celebrating 9 years of AWESOMENESS this coming winter: https://www.dadawesome.org/give

Join the DadAwesome Prayer Team: Text "pray" to (651) 370-8618

Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

7-Day Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Free Chapter + Intro Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

DadAwesome Labs, Chapter 19

Episode 159 with Zach Neese https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/216

Entertaining Demons Unaware: Closing the Doors of Demonic Influence in your Life
by Zach Neese

John Eldredge Daily Prayer https://wildatheart.org/prayer/daily-prayer-john/

Galatians 5:13

Nehemiah 4:13 and 14

SUMMARY
When Jeff's sister lost her engagement ring in a five acre pasture hours before her wedding rehearsal, a rope, a grid, and a prayer turned an impossible search into a three minute miracle. In part four of the DadAwesome Multipliers series, that story becomes a blueprint for intentional fatherhood built on three things: a system that works, partners in the search, and faith in what you cannot yet see. Chad Johnson joins with a segment unpacking his Giant Five framework and why putting career first costs a man everything that matters.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Intentional dads need a system. Without one, you chase whatever is loudest instead of the people you love most.
The Giant Five framework orders your priorities: faith, marriage, children, health, and work. Most men have that list upside down.
You were never meant to search alone. Partners spot what you miss and call you higher when you drift.
Love sometimes looks like challenge instead of comfort, especially when your kids are settling into ease.
You don't have to search the whole field today. Move the rope a few feet and walk the line again.
QUOTES
"I really am okay with stirring the pot." (Chad Johnson)
"Live like a movie you'd want to watch with your children and grandchildren." (Chad Johnson)
"I call it turning success upside down." (Chad Johnson)
"Any fruit that anybody ever sees in my life is in spite of me." (Chad Johnson)
"Don't get overwhelmed with the entire field. One pass at a time." (Jeff Zaugg)
ABOUT CHAD JOHNSON
Chad Johnson is a father of eleven, an entrepreneur, and the creator of the Giant Five framework, a simple system for keeping faith, marriage, children, health, and calling in their right order. He is known for pushing his family toward character over comfort, including relocating them to Los Angeles for five months so his kids could work in his business facility. Chad previously joined DadAwesome for episodes 216 and 217.
ACTION STEPS
REFLECTION
Map your fields. Get a piece of paper and map your current life as a dad. Where does connection feel distant? Is there a child where things feel cold? Where could you raise your game in pursuing your wife or your time with God?
Be honest about the gap. Name what you are hoping for in each area. Without naming the hope, you cannot see the distance between where you are and where you want to be.
Run the Giant Five. Faith, marriage, children, health, work. Pray through which one is currently getting your leftovers. For many men it is work that needs to be turned upside down. For others it is the opposite, and career needs more drive because provision is the real need.
Celebrate one win. Look back and name one victory. Do not skip this part.
MULTIPLICATION
Name your partners. Who are the other dads in this adventure with you? Is there a rhythm of meeting? Is there a text thread already going? The field search never would have worked alone.
Get the free small group curriculum. Send a voice message with your name, where you are located, and your idea for a fall small group. You will get the three page PDF back.
Send a few texts. Invite two or three dads to listen to episode 446 so you are all working from the same framework.
Use the side door. Extend a tangible invitation: the Spartan race in Dallas on October 17, or the fall 100 mile running challenge.
ACTIVATION
Block the time. Put a block on your calendar this week for deeper work on the Giant Five. Do not just listen and move on.
Open Luke 15:3 through 7 with your family. Read the parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99, then tell your kids directly: this is how I feel about you. I will always come looking for you.
Pause and pray first. Before stepping into any of these areas, stop and pray, the same way Jeff and his sister did before they started the search.
Move the rope. Ask God for one area where you can move the rope seven or eight feet tomorrow. One pass at a time.
Keep celebrating. Look at what God has done and mark it.
Go deeper. DadAwesome Labs for Chapter 11 is linked below with additional activations and discussion questions.
LINKS MENTIONED
Spartan Team DadAwesome, Dallas, Texas, October 17 https://givebutter.com/DallasSpartan

DadAwesome 100 Mile Fall Running Challenge - https://givebutter.com/dadawesome100

Leave a VOICEMAIL: https://www.speakpipe.com/DadAwesome

Join Team Awesomeness (monthly support team) at any level from $7/month to $1000/month... We have 41 families committed to fueling the ministry DadAwesome as we head toward celebrating 9 years of AWESOMENESS this coming winter: https://www.dadawesome.org/give

Join the DadAwesome Prayer Team: Text "pray" to (651) 370-8618

Send a Voice Message to DadAwesome

Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

7-Day Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

DadAwesome Podcast: dadawesome.org/podcast

Free Chapter + Intro Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

DADAWESOME book: dadawesome.org/book

DadAwesome Labs, Chapter 11: 
Episode 216 with Chad Johnson: https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/216
Episode 217 with Chad Johnson: https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/217

Join the TEAM DADAWESOME prayer team and pray for 20-minutes this Saturtday morning:
 
Episode Summary::

One ordinary Tuesday in the summer of 2001, Jeff sold a $200 television to a couple in a minivan — and only found out afterward that they were worth $5.5 billion and ranked 57th on the Forbes list. His unawareness didn't change their wealth by a dollar. It only changed how he treated them. In this chapter from the DadAwesome book, Jeff makes the case that most dads are doing the same thing with their own identity: parenting from poverty while holding access to infinite resources, working to earn what's already been freely given.

TAKEAWAYS
Your unawareness doesn't change your position. Not knowing who those customers were didn't subtract a dollar from their net worth — and forgetting you're God's son doesn't change that you are one. It only changes how you show up.
The clipboard teaches conditional love. When affection gets tracked point by point, kids learn love is something they earn.
Most of us carry that invisible scoreboard straight into adulthood and into our relationship with God.
God set the scoreboard to infinity. Not a clipboard with changing numbers — a gymnasium scoreboard with the infinity symbol permanently displayed.
You can't add to it with your wins or subtract from it with your failures. (It's why the DA logo looks the way it does.)
Employee mindset and son mindset produce two different fathers. One strives, fears mistakes, measures worth by performance, and competes for attention. The other rests, lives from security, measures worth by belonging, and celebrates other people's wins.
Position changes the daily stuff. Instead of managing behavior, you cultivate hearts. Instead of panicking about finances, you remember your Father owns everything. Instead of shame spirals, you experience conviction that leads to growth.

TEAM DADAWESOME SPONSORS:
 
Aleph Ventures — Twin Cities based, partnering with and supporting painting companies across the country to calibrate, deepen impact, and go further than they could alone. https://www.aleph-ventures.com/
 
TRACK CPA — Minnesota-based, nationwide tax, accounting, bookkeeping, and financial services. https://trackcpa.com/
 
QUOTES

"My ignorance of their position didn't change their actual wealth. It only affected how I interacted with them."
"Over time, that clipboard became a symbol of conditional love. I learned that affection was something I earned — point by point, performance by performance."
"My heavenly Father has set the scoreboard to infinity. It can't increase with my successes or decrease with my failures. I can't add to infinity. I can't subtract from it."
"We parent from poverty when we have access to infinite resources — striving for acceptance we already possess and working for approval that's already been given."
"You're not God's employee, you're His son. And sonship is where fatherhood begins."
Bonus — Jamie Winship: "Parenting is very much about the identity of the dad. The greatest gift you can give to your kids is the truth of who you are."

ACTION STEPS


1. Reflection

Name your clipboard. Every one of us has an area — points, grades, obedience, success, output — where we experienced conditional love. Name it, and name what pushed you toward living like an employee instead of an heir.
Do the two-column audit. Am I living like an employee, or like a loved son and heir? Scarcity or abundance? (Downloadable PDF in the show notes.)
Ask the two questions. Borrowed from Jamie Winship: sit alone with God, settle down, and ask, "What are the things I believe about myself that hurt me?" Name the disappointments, the failures, the places you feel like you're not enough. Then ask the follow-up: "Jesus, what do you say about me?"

2. Multiplication

Send a couple of texts. Invite other dads into episode 445 and grow a circle of men who are growing alongside you.
Join the prayer team. Team DadAwesome — 55 men — rides this Saturday to fuel fatherhood ministry. Give 20 minutes of prayer sometime Saturday morning, August 1st. Let's multiply in prayer.

3. Activation

Start tomorrow with a declaration. Before you check your phone, before your to-do list starts talking, answer whose you are — and say it out loud, don't just think it: "I am a loved son of God."
Remind your kids the scoreboard is set to infinity. Tell them, "I love you because you're mine," not because of what they accomplished. Try, "I'm so glad I get to be your dad. I'm so thankful you're my son."
Take the holy pause. When you feel a critique or a scorecard-based thought forming, catch it before it comes out. Notice the moments you'd communicate more love if they performed.
Ask your spouse. "Are there ways or times I communicate a lack of love because of a performance or a mistake?"

SUMMARY
 
The current chapter of dad life is not the whole story. In part two of the DadAwesome Multipliers summer series, Jeff reads Chapter 2 of the DadAwesome book, The Tale of Two Thieves, and unpacks what a three dozen cookie dough heist taught him about choosing curiosity instead of reactivity. Then Phil Comer joins with a powerful clip on giving a blessing instead of returning evil for evil, and how one choice in a tense room trickles down for generations. This episode closes with clear reflection, multiplication, and activation steps you can take this week.
 
Key Takeaways
You are living into a multigenerational story, and this chapter is only a tiny slice of it.
Curiosity opens doors. Reactivity closes them.
You cannot eliminate chaos, but you can shape how it unfolds.
Stones of remembrance are about keeping the stories alive, not preserving the reminders.
Giving a blessing when you have received a criticism changes the atmosphere of a room.
Action Steps
REFLECTION
Look back at the chaos. When curveballs hit recently, were you reacting or responding? Were you making assumptions or staying curious and asking God what He wanted to teach you in that moment?
Open your phone and look back at the last month. Scroll your photos, scroll your calendar. Where has God shown up that you have not paused long enough to call to mind?
Ask the honest question. If your kids described the atmosphere you carry into the room right now, would tenderness make the list? Would softness? Would kindness?
MULTIPLICATION
Send the text. Reach out to seven or eight dads and invite them to journey with you through the end of August. If two or three say yes, you have moved from addition to multiplication.
Pick your gathering. A text thread, a campfire, a boat, a camping trip with your kids. Make one specific invite this week.
Carry a copy. Keep an extra DadAwesome book in your vehicle or your laptop bag and look for the moment to hand it to a dad and tell him you see him being awesome.
ACTIVATION
Start a family remembrance list. Sit down together, scroll photos and your calendar, and capture the answered prayers, the provision, the goodness, the moments God showed up. Let every kid contribute.
Tell the stories out loud. At the dinner table or at bedtime, tell your kids one story of God's faithfulness in your family.
Flip the switch this week. The next time a curveball comes, choose curiosity first. Laugh at the moment. Show your kids that dad is anchored and steady, not thrown off.
 
Timestamps
03:00 This week's theme is story
04:00 Chapter 2, The Tale of Two Thieves
06:24 React or respond, curiosity or reactivity
08:49 The Dad Detective's approach, five practices
11:11 Crafting your family's story
12:45 Stones of remembrance
14:30 Building your family's remembrance list
18:21 Remember this
19:20 Setting up the Phil Comer clip
20:20 Phil Comer on tenderness, blessing, and the choices we pass down
26:45 Action steps: reflection, multiplication, activation
Guest
Phil Comer is a husband, father, and grandfather with 40 years of pastoral and counseling experience. After planting a church in 2004, Phil and his wife, Diane, went on to launch Intentional Parents International, a ministry equipping young parents and providing focused teaching in the spiritual training of children. This clip comes from episode 317.
Links Mentioned
Listen to the full conversation with Phil Comer: DadAwesome Episode 317

Intentional Parents: intentionalparents.org

Spartan Team DadAwesome, Dallas, Texas, October 17 https://givebutter.com/DallasSpartan

DadAwesome 100 Mile Fall Running Challenge - https://givebutter.com/dadawesome100

Leave a VOICEMAIL: https://www.speakpipe.com/DadAwesome

Join Team Awesomeness (monthly support team) at any level from $7/month to $1000/month... We have 41 families committed to fueling the ministry DadAwesome as we head toward celebrating 9 years of AWESOMENESS this coming winter: https://www.dadawesome.org/give

Join the DadAwesome Prayer Team: Text "pray" to (651) 370-8618

Send a Voice Message to DadAwesome

Apply to join the next DadAwesome Accelerator Cohort

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text the word "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

7-Day Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

DadAwesome Podcast: dadawesome.org/podcast

Free Chapter + Intro Video Series: dadawesome.org/book

Subscribe to DadAwesome Messages: Text "Dad" to (651) 370-8618

DADAWESOME book: dadawesome.org/book

Top Five Quotes
"The current chapter of dad life is not the whole story."
"You can't eliminate chaos, but you can shape how it unfolds."
"Your kids are watching how you handle the unexpected. What story are you writing?"
"It's not about preserving the physical reminders. It's about keeping the stories alive."
Phil Comer: "If you, with God's help, can give a blessing when you've received a criticism or a curse, it brings peace and it honors God."
Tags
DadAwesome, Jeff Zaugg, Phil Comer, DadAwesome Multipliers, fatherhood, christian dad, dad life, parenting, dad podcast, intentional parenting, story, legacy, generational blessing, stones of remembrance, God's faithfulness, curiosity, marriage, tenderness, scripture, Intentional Parents