The #icorphan fire hose blasted me (and several others) with many life-changing stories and truckloads of personally challenging information. And even a couple of weeks later, one thing that stands out in my mind is the effect that fatherlessness has on children. The truth is that many of our biggest societal problems have their root in the absenteeism of a worthwhile father figure.
I’m really excited about this next group blogging project. This isn’t about simply working out our own feelings, but more so about fixing some of our culture’s deepest issues. Check out the description of Fatherless Generation: Redeeming the Story by John Sowers:
What happens when givers of life give a lifetime of tears?
The story of fatherlessness is written into the heart of our generation. It is heard in our songs, seen in our movies, read in our blogs. It is a story of shame, loneliness, and rejection. A story of missed potential and wasted opportunity. A story that desperately needs to be heard.
But fatherlessness is more than a personal tragedy. It is a growing epidemic. Fatherlessness is a driving force behind gangs, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, and suicide. And all too often, the fatherless are either marginalized or ignored.
Weaving in his own experience of fatherlessness, Dr. Sowers eloquently presents the desperate reality of fatherlessness in our culture and how awareness and compassion offer a solution of hope—a hope that will write new stories for generations to come.
And and we have an incredible team leading us through discussion on this book:
- Jeremy Carnes – Blogger at Unconformed: Transformed
- Kevin DeShazo (@kevindeshazo) – Blogger at dadlife.net
- Seth Haines (@sethhaines) – Blogger at Seth Haines …a collective
- Brent Kelly
- Crystal Matherne (@MrsMath)
- Elora Ramirez (@eloranicole) – Blogger at eloranicole.com
- Crystal Rowe (@soulmunchies) – Contributing Editor at BibleDude.net, and Blogger at Soul Munchies
- Julia Swodeck (@juliakate) – Blogger at Tither of Innovation
And here’s our posting schedule:
Introduction (Crystal Rowe)
PART 1: FATHERLESS GENERATION
Chapter 1: Somewhere I Belong (Seth Haines)
Chapter 2: Haunted Houses (Jeremy Carnes)
Chapter 3: Midnight Sons and Daughters (Kevin DeShazo)
Chapter 4: The Fatherless Gang (Julia Swodeck)
Chapter 5: Forgotten Fairy Tales (Crystal Matherne)
Chapter 6: Running to Stand Still (Elora Ramirez)PART 2: REDEEMING THE STORY
Chapter 7: Returning the Favor (Kevin DeShazo)
Chapter 8: Belonging to God (Seth Haines)
Chapter 9: Father to the Fatherless (Julia Swodeck)
Chapter 10: Of Musth Cycles and Mentoring (Brent Kelly)
Chapter 11: Anatomy of a Mentor (Crystal Matherne)
Chapter 12: In Search of a Name (Jeremy Carnes)
Chapter 13: Sustainable Communities (Brent Kelly)
Chapter 14: Redeeming the Story (Elora Ramirez)Author’s Closing Thoughts (John Sowers)
So stay tuned for some great discussion, and please feel free to jump into the comments and share your thoughts! In the meantime, here are a few things that you can do right now…
- Buy the book. It’ll be a much better experience for you if you follow along in your own copy of the book.
- Subscribe to updates. Get the latest posts in this series in your email inbox or favorite feed reader. This is the best way to keep up with everything!
- Tweet it up! Follow @bibledude and retweet updates from this event. If you want to share your own tweets, make sure that you use the #fatherlessgen hashtag.
Fantastic work, all the posts so far have been spot on. There is no question in my mind that the fatherhood epidemic is at the center of our current cultural implosion. I just wish we could smooth over the hurt, but we cant.
http://dad-u.blogspot.com/2011/04/fatherless-generation-group-blogging.html