423 | A Miracle in a Jail Cell, Death to Life at Death Beach, and Why Getting Uncomfortable Reveals God's Love (Jeff Zaugg)

Episode Description

What happens when you step into a dark, crowded jail hallway in El Salvador and a man starts screaming curses at you in English? In this raw solo episode, Jeff shares the miraculous story of what God did on a mission trip over his 44th birthday — and why getting uncomfortable as a dad is exactly where God wants to meet you. Plus, he reads the beloved story You Are Special by Max Lucado and shares why it changed everything inside that jail cell.

  • This is a solo episode with Jeff Zaugg, founder and executive director of DadAwesome. Jeff shares from a recent mission trip to El Salvador where he traveled with a group of fathers and teenage sons, served alongside the ministry of Jonathan Ferrant, and witnessed a miraculous encounter in a county jail in La Libertad.

    • Worship often precedes breakthrough. When darkness and resistance filled that jail hallway, it was worship that flipped the entire environment from hostility to God's peace.

    • Getting outside your comfort zone reveals places in your heart where God wants to bring healing — you can't grow staying in the comfort loop.

    • The marks the world gives you — and the marks you give yourself — don't have to stick. What matters is what your Maker thinks of you.

    • Teenage young men who dream about being dads and starting families are growing up in homes where fatherhood is cast as a vision worth pursuing.

    • You are special because God made you, and He doesn't make mistakes. That truth changes everything — for you and for your kids.

     

    1. "Worship released peace. Worship flipped the environment of that space. It radically shifted things — worship."

    2. "Getting uncomfortable going, serving — getting to new places often reveals new places of our hearts."

    3. "We can stay in a comfort loop and continue to stay comfortable — or we can go."

    4. "I'm dreaming about being a dad, starting a family. I loved hearing that answer from teenage young men."

    5. "The marks from the world don't have to stick. Walk in freedom and know your true identity."

 

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424 | The Fool and the King, Turning Pain into Praise, and Love Times Three with Tim Timberlake (Part 1)

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422 | FROM THE VAULT: False Identity, De-Escalation, and the Dad Wisdom You Didn't Know You Needed (Jamie Winship PART 2)