DadAwesome

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

Welcome to Episode 443 and the kickoff of a brand new seven part summer series: the DADAWESOME MULTIPLIERS. It's a lightweight, campfire ready series built to help you spread the mission of Dad Awesome through the end of August. Each week you'll get a slice of the forthcoming Dad Awesome audiobook, a featured guest voice from the vault, real time multiplication coaching, three practical lab activation steps, and a giveaway.
https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/443
In Part 1, Jeff Zaugg sets the flyover. He reads the book's dedication and preface, tracing how one casual patio question from his cousin in Arizona, "How do you stay intentional as a dad?", exposed that he was pouring growth into every area of life except fatherhood. That single unanswered question sparked a ten week experiment with twenty friends, a first episode filmed at the base of a snowy sledding hill, a name change from DadVentures to DadAwesome, and eventually a movement built on hundreds of small yeses. The episode closes with a two minute clip from Jeff's first ever interview with Mark Batterson, who wrote the forward for the book.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Intentional fatherhood starts with a question, not a program. Staying awake to "How do you stay intentional as a dad?" changed everything.
The mission runs on two turnings from Malachi 4:6, hearts toward heaven and hearts toward home.
Read to lead. You don't need 250 books, but read a dozen so you can lead on the home front.
Your mistakes are one of your greatest teaching tools. Kids learn to apologize by watching you do it.
Prioritize your children, don't idolize them. Batterson names that as a big difference.
Batterson learned more about the heart of the Heavenly Father from parenting his three kids than from all his degrees and seminary trips combined.
Movements are built on small yeses, not one grand gesture.
THIS WEEK'S LABS
Reflection: Do an intentionality audit. Open your notes app or a journal and honestly assess how you're staying intentional, heart toward heaven and heart toward home. What are you reading and listening to? Does your calendar show fatherhood is an area of real pursuit?
Multiplication: Be an inviter. Copy paste one text to ten dads inviting them into the seven week challenge through the end of August. Listen each week, then get together to talk about it over coffee, wings, a campfire, a run, a bike ride, or a boat. Get two or more to say yes and you've moved from addition to multiplication.
Activation: Name your small yes. What yes have you been putting off that God is nudging you toward this week? A dad daughter date, a date with your wife, a follow through you keep intending but haven't done. Pick it and act on it.
GIVEAWAY
Send Jeff a voice message up to 90 seconds using the link in the show notes. Introduce yourself and share what this first episode stirred up, your action step, or a question. Each week one message gets randomly picked to win DadAwesome summer gear.

Send DadAwesome a VOICEMAIL (and we will send you the SMALL GROUP guide)
 
Jenga blocks, jiu jitsu mats, and a decade vision for your family. 👊

SUMMARY
What if your family values were something your kids could actually touch? In Part 2 of this paddleboard conversation, Tyler Van Eps shares how he turned a Jenga set into a discipleship tool, why physical discomfort opens the door to spiritual growth, and what it takes to build a legacy of courage in your kids. Plus, he unpacks the question God placed on his heart: what is required to be a founding father?

TAKEAWAYS
You can only control the outcomes so much as a dad, but you can control the inputs. Zoom out to a 90 day view to realign your family direction.
Purpose, vision, and value language is abstract for kids. Make your family values tangible with tools like Jenga blocks and card decks so your kids can see, touch, and speak them.
Your family values will stay the same, but the language needs to match the season your kids are in.
Men grow through moments of physical and spiritual discomfort. Gatherings like Manmaker sneak spiritual vulnerability in the side door.
Think in decades, not just weeks. Ask yourself what you need to be doing today to have a strong relationship with your kids as adults.
Your kids will face fear, but you can build a reservoir of courage into their heritage that they can tap into for the rest of their lives.
GUEST

Tyler Van Eps is a husband, father, and intentional family leader passionate about making spiritual formation tangible. He and his wife, Shelly, practice quarterly whole life stewardship reviews and have built family values their kids can see and touch. Tyler is also the creator of Manmaker, a series of high intensity gatherings that challenge men toward biblical manhood through physical and spiritual growth. He and his family live in Minnesota.

#DadAwesome #christiandad #dadlife #parenting #dadpodcast #fatherhood #intentionalfatherhood #familyvalues
 
LINKS
Send a Voice Message to 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

Vince Miller (on DadAwesome)

https://wildatheart.org/




QUOTES
"I wanna be remembered as a good husband, a good father, a follower of Jesus... I wanna be remembered as a courageous person... I can't control whether my kids are afraid or scared of something, but I always want them to feel that they've got somewhere in them, somewhere in their heritage, somewhere in their spirit, a reservoir of courage that they can tap into."
 "I'm so dialed into what success looks like in my career... I can tell you if I'm on track, off track on anything, but I have no idea how it's all feels as a dad... you can only control the outcomes so much, but there's so much that you can control as far as the inputs." 
"I want these moments where we ramp up the intensity a little bit... it's immediately putting you in a space of both physical and spiritual discomfort and a little bit of vulnerability. But for men, the physical discomfort almost overrides your awareness of how spiritually uncomfortable you might be." 
"I was challenged for the first time to think in like a decade thing... when I think about wanting to have a strong relationship with my kids as adults, what are the things that I need to be doing today to set the tone for that?" 
"Personally I wanted an environment where it felt like I don't know what's gonna come out of this. I don't know when a guy's gonna step up to this blocking sled. I don't know what he's gonna say right before he pushes this thing down ten yards downfield."

Join the up coming DadAwesome ACCELERATOR Coaching Cohort: https://www.dadawesome.org/coaching
 
SUMMARY:
What happens when two dads strap GoPros to paddleboards and hit the lake at 5:45 in the morning? In this episode, Jeff sits down with longtime friend Tyler Van Eps for a raw, reflective conversation about intentional fatherhood, family rhythms, and what it looks like to lead your kids with purpose. From milestone trips to weekly family huddles to quarterly prayer rhythms, Tyler shares the experiments his family has been running...
FIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS
Fatherhood moves through three distinct seasons of investment: physical, time, and emotional, and knowing which season you're in changes how you show up.
A weekly family huddle built around purpose, vision, and values gives your kids a compass they will eventually use to call out greatness in each other.
Milestone trips don't have to be expensive or elaborate because what your kids remember most is being pulled out of the normal lineup and seen as an individual.
The goal is not to control your family's calendar but to steward it, which means learning when to add things and when to subtract them without shame.
Adopting a posture of exploration in your fatherhood is far more sustainable than building rigid rules, because it invites your family into the journey with you.
TOP QUOTES
"Instead of being an amazing leader and a decent dad, I want to be an amazing dad and a decent leader."
"Follow Jesus, live with enthusiasm, and fight for family. The fight for family came out of, hey guys, we gotta stop fighting with our family and we gotta figure out a way to fight for our family."
"There has to be a surrender that's kind of fundamental to the way that you approach fatherhood and family and faith."
"Soaking in the moments of peace and allowing them to be there with the assumption that disruptions are around the corner."
"If I'm not a steward of the time God's given me with my kids, there are these core memories that I could just be blazing by without even realizing it."
GUEST
Tyler Van Eps is a husband, father of four, and Senior Vice President at the National Christian Foundation Twin Cities, where he serves families and business owners around the stewardship of generational wealth and kingdom-minded generosity. A longtime friend of the Dad Awesome community, Tyler has joined the show multiple times including a campfire conversation and a tree fort recording. He is passionate about leading with purpose, living with enthusiasm, and building a family culture rooted in faith. 
LINKS
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

Your emotional detachment might be quietly wounding the people you love most.
In PART 2 of our Father's Day LOOK-BACK, Jeff resurfaces five more conversations that hit different the second time around.
✅ Why your kids can feel when you've checked out emotionally
✅ How to stop pointing your kids to yourself as the source of life
✅ The dad who never raised his voice and what it did to his son
✅ What "unhurried presence" actually looks like in everyday moments
✅ The hard truth about emotional regulation every dad needs to hear
INVITATION
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
SUMMARY
In Part 2 of this Father's Day look-back series, Jeff Zaugg resurfaces five more powerful conversations from the past dad year, featuring Jeremy Pryor, Ted Cunningham, Pastor Tim Timberlake, Mac Lake, and Seth Dahl. The clips cover a dad's superpower of emotional detachment and how it can quietly wound the people he loves most, the faulty input-output theory of parenting and why God is the only true source of life, the transformative power of tone and speaking to the king in your child instead of the fool, the gift of unhurried presence and what it looks like to truly savor your kids, and the hard truth that a man who can't regulate his emotions forces his family to do it for him. This episode is a flyover packed with activation, challenge, and the kind of dad wisdom that sticks.
KEY QUOTES
"My kids can actually feel that. Like, if something were to happen to me, I think dad would be the least affected." — Jeremy Pryor, Ep. 415
"My source is Jesus, not you." — Ted Cunningham, Ep. 417
"In us we have both a fool and a king. The one that you address is the one that will respond." — Pastor Tim Timberlake, Ep. 424
"A posture of unhurried presence. So often we are present with our kids, but we're not present with our kids." — Mac Lake, Ep. 435
"A man who can't regulate his emotions forces his wife and kids to do it for him." — Seth Dahl, Ep. 429
TAKEAWAYS
Your emotional detachment is a superpower that can become a weapon. Dads are wired to disconnect under pressure, and that's often a gift. But when that same skill gets used to keep your family at arm's length, your kids feel it. The question isn't how attached you feel. It's whether they feel attached to you.
You were never meant to be the source. Pouring into your kids so they pour back into you is a trap. Your job, according to Deuteronomy 6, is to point them every single day to the only true source of life. Fire yourself. Fire your kids. God in heaven is the source.
Tone is one of the greatest gifts a dad can give. Pastor Tim Timberlake's father never raised his voice, never disciplined from anger or frustration, and the love in his tone did the convicting. Your size, your volume, your first response, those things mark your kids. Speak to the king in them, not the fool.
Unhurried presence is a posture, not a schedule. Mac Lake leaves adult conversations to throw a football for 60 minutes if that's what his grandkids want. The shift is simple but hard: let your kids be the thing that matters most in the moment, not an interruption to what actually matters.
Emotional self-control is a fruit your family gets to eat. When you're getting triggered by your six-year-old, you're not parenting. You're asking them to regulate you. The Holy Spirit wants to grow self-control in you so your family is nourished by it. Your heart is upstream to everything in your home.
LINKS
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

Jeremy Pryor — https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/415
Ted Cunningham — https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/417
Pastor Tim Timberlake — https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/424
Seth Dahl — https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/429
Mac Lake — https://www.dadawesome.org/blog/435