441 | Follow Jesus, Live With Enthusiasm, and Fight for Family (Tyler Van Eps PART 1)

Rhythms & HabitsAdventure & Creating Memorable MomentsRaising Jesus Followers
Written By Jeff Zaugg

Episode Description

What happens when two dads strap GoPros to paddleboards and hit the lake at 5:45 in the morning? In this first part of a two episode conversation, Jeff sits down with longtime friend Tyler Van Eps for a raw, reflective discussion 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 to build something that actually lasts.

  • 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.

    • 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.

    • "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."

 

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Jeff Zaugg
Next

440 | Emotional Detachment, Unhurried Presence, and Pointing Your Kids to the True Source (Dad Year in Review PART 2)