442 | Gamifying Family Values, Manmaker Challenges, and Founding Father Faith PART 2 (Tyler Van Eps)

Rhythms & HabitsFamily VisionBrotherhood & Mentorship
Written By Jeff Zaugg
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Episode Description

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?

  • 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.

    • 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.

    • "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."

 

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