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After the scientists introduced the elders to the rogue teenagers, they observed an amazing change. Immediately, the teenagers calmed down, and their musth cycle ended within a few days. ˜ John Sowers, Fatherless Generation
After reading this chapter and the entire book I can’t help but think about the fatherlessness that is in my family today. It breaks my heart to see my nieces and nephews without their fathers. My prayer is that God will put a hedge of protection around them and that He uses me to show them who He is as their father.
John Sowers, Don Miller and their friends had what they called an “audacious dream”- to transform the lives of the fatherless generation. Through a small group of friends, Don’s book “To Own A Dragon” and a documentary about elephants that he saw on the TV are answering God’s calling.
“Our starting vision is to equip and support one thousand churches, which will mobilize ten thousand men and inspire them to become mentors to this fatherless generation of boys.”
With a vision after God’s own heart, great things can happen.
I think they should have set a goal of twelve hundred churches, each church selecting twelve mentors, reaching a total of 14,400 fatherless children or more. Use the example of Christ and the twelve disciples. Remember, you will always have a “Judas”.
They have defined mentoring as “an intentional relationship with the goal of seeing the mentee grow and mature into a complete adult.”
To be a mentor they “look for men who can fill the role of the older elephants as they walk alongside a boy, giving him guidance, teaching him to understand what his strength is for, showing him how to work, how to relate to women, and how to contribute to the larger community.” And I hope that they would lead him on the path of salvation through Jesus and fulfill the “Great Commission” given by Jesus.
George Barna would call these men “Revolutionaries.” He stated in chapter one of his book Revolution, “The United States is home to an increasing number of Revolutionaries. These people are devout followers of Jesus Christ who are serious about their faith, who are constantly worshipping and interacting with God, and whose lives are centered on their belief in Christ…” He goes on to say, “These are individuals who are determined to glorify God everyday through every thought, word, and deed in their lives.”
Fatherless Children with Mentors are:
- 46% less likely to do drugs
- 33% less likely to resort to violence
- 53% less likely to drop out of school
- 59% more likely to improve their grades
“One-to-one mentoring is the most effective way to reach a fatherless child.”
“Mentoring is the garden in which healthy and organic relationships grow. It produces fruit that leads children to do better in school, with their peers, at home, and in life.”
As a father of two God loving children I truly understand how important it is to spend time with each child separately. It gives each of them time to ask questions that they may not ask at other times when we are together as a family. It also gives me a chance to LISTEN to what is going on in their lives.
As an Awana Commander at our church, it is awesome to see relationships grow between the leaders and the clubbers as they spend time together.
John Eldredge wrote in his book, Fathered by God, “You see, the world in which we live has lost something vital, something core to understanding life and man’s place in it. For the time in which we live is, as the social prophet Alexander Mitcherlie had it, a time without a father. I mean this in two ways. First, that most men and most boys have no real father able to guide them through the jungles of masculine journey, and they are-most of us are-unfinished and unfathered men. Or boys. Or boys in men’s bodies. But there is a deeper meaning to the phrase “a time without a father.”
Our way of looking at the world has changed. We no longer live, either as a society or even as the church, with a father-view of the world, the view centered in the presence of a loving and strong father deeply engaged in our lives, to whom we can turn at any time for guidance, comfort, and provision we need.
Check out these mentors you might know.
I have chosen to raise my children the way God intended and He has blessed us because of that choice. My wife and I always get complements about our children, their behavior, how forgiving, and how loving they are. They are doing very well in school, with friends, and knowing who they are. I have to give all the praise to God for putting the mentors in my life, for showing me who my true father is and giving His own son, Jesus, as an example to how I should live my life.
As I prepared to write, I went to the internet and binged “musth cycle” in hope to fully understand what they were writing and talking about. I stumbled across an article by Charles Seibert that was in the New York Times on October 8, 2006 titled “An Elephant Crackup?” It was directly related to what both John and Don wrote about, but in greater length. It was a little more scientific than I expected. The words were not typical to my everyday usage of the English language. But anyway, I found it to be a very interesting read; ten pages. It made me realize God created two totally different species that act socially the same way and with each other.
After you read the books (To Own A Dragon, Fatherless Generation, and Fathered by God) and “An Elephant Crackup?” you will understand what all the talk is about.
I pray you will be moved as I was and answer the call as so many others have.
OH! YA! I Forgot about this … check out this video for a little more info on the musth cycle!
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