450 | Running 24 Hours for Freedom, Writing Birthday Letters, and Why Family Mission Beats Solo Missions (Brent Silkey)

DADAWESOME BOOKFreedom & ForgivenessFamily Vision
Written By Jeff Zaugg

Episode Description

Your words become your child's inner voice, for better or for worse. In this episode, Brent Silkey shares the practice he's kept without missing a single year — a handwritten letter to each of his four kids on every birthday, so that by graduation they'll hold an 18-year catalog of God's faithfulness over their life. Recorded in the pouring rain during Brent's 24-hour run for freedom, this conversation will challenge you to speak life over your family, stop settling for comfort, and take the next step you already know you need to take.

  • Brent Silkey is the founder of 30 for Freedom, a ministry mobilizing runners to rescue girls out of trafficking. He's completed 71+ marathons and ultras — including seven marathons on seven continents in seven days — and has helped raise more than $4.3 million for freedom. Brent also directs Chi Alpha at the University of St. Thomas and runs with UNRL. Adopted from South Korea as a baby, he and his wife live in Minnesota with their four kids: two daughters, 14 and 11, and two sons, 8 and 5. This fall he's taking on 40 for Freedom — running 40 miles for his 40th birthday and inviting 40 leaders to multiply the vision toward $300,000 raised in a single day.

    • You can do hard things, or you can have hard things happen to you. Dads who train themselves — physically, spiritually, emotionally — build a reservoir their whole family draws from.

    • Your words are the foundation blocks of your family's culture. Brent has written and read a letter to each of his four kids on every birthday, so by graduation they'll hold an 18-year catalog of God's faithfulness over their life.

    • Big vision belongs to the whole family, not just to dad. Bike rides became park days, marathons became bake sales and jewelry stands, and the kids caught the heart without ever being told to.

    • Freedom from pornography is one of the greatest gifts a dad can give. Shame keeps men isolated; rootedness in a real community — not a la carte Christianity — is where the healing starts.

    • You'll never regret investing more in your family. You'll know your kids as adults far longer than you knew them as kids, so when they say "up," pick them up.

  • This is episode 450 of DadAwesome. Guys, I am so thankful that you're listening today. My name is Jeff Zaugg, and we are launching into season 11 of this podcast. 450 episodes into this weekly journey of becoming DadAwesome. And we exist — it's the heart turn, guys. The turning of a father's heart toward heaven and toward home.

    And today's conversation with Brent Silkey. This is the first time we've ever recorded in the pouring rain. First time I've ever recorded a podcast while running six-plus miles. So I ran over six miles with Brent while recording. Microphones clipped on. The audio actually did a pretty good job — my software removed all of the crazy step sounds and all the crazy bumps, and even in the pouring rain, we're wearing rain gear, that kind of rubbing. But it's pretty cleaned up. I'm pretty pumped.


    So Brent Silkey took on, at the end of July in Minnesota, this wild idea of 24 Hours for Freedom. Running on a track, round and round and round, for 24 hours on behalf of freeing young girls who are being trafficked. He ran 84 miles. He ran 336 laps around this track. And it started at 9 a.m. on a Friday, and I got to run the first hour with him. So I did not run 24 hours — I ran one hour. In the pouring rain. I was completely soaked, and we talked about being DadAwesome.


    So welcome. I am so thankful you guys are listening. In the show notes is linked 30 for Freedom, the ministry that he started, and then the 24 Hours for Freedom and the organizations that cause supported. You can certainly still make donations to this amazing ministry.


    I loved that I got the chance to run with Brent and learn about being an awesome dad from Brent Silkey. So here's our conversation.

    JEFF ZAUGG [03:38]

    I hear nuggets of fatherhood wisdom trickle through your family and friends — like, "I learned this from Brent. I learned this from Brent." So it's been fun to learn from you from kind of afar. And now we get to run next to each other. So start with this though: what are we doing right now, and why?


    BRENT SILKEY [03:53]

    Of course, I appreciate that. We are on a 400-meter track in Lakeville, Minnesota, running for 24 hours to help raise awareness about the issue of trafficking and to help make a difference by raising a lot of money to rescue girls out of trafficking, both domestically and internationally.


    JEFF ZAUGG [04:16]

    Brent, my daughter is about to turn thirteen. She's twelve right now. In that age of twelve- to thirteen-year-old girls — as I even say that, I'm getting emotional. Why does that age matter?


    BRENT SILKEY [04:28]

    Well, the average age of a sex-trafficked victim is between twelve and thirteen years old.


    JEFF ZOGG [04:32]

    And is it one every thirty seconds, someone new?


    BRENT SILKEY [04:37]

    Somebody new becomes a victim of trafficking. And the crazy thing is that the average age is twelve to thirteen. But there are places where, when they find out a mother's pregnant, a trafficker will come to a village and pre-purchase in utero, and then come back when they're like eight or nine.


    JEFF ZOGG [05:01]

    So give the family money. And there's a lot of fear attached, I'm sure, to that pre-purchase — that they have to follow through. Families will sell their babies before they're even born.


    BRENT SILKEY [05:11]

    Yeah, and this is like — just for the context of the audience — this would be in very rural parts of developing nations where there's a caste system, and people believe that they're born into a caste to be trafficked, basically.


    JEFF ZOGG [05:29]

    And that their purpose isn't beyond that. Their belief.


    BRENT SILKEY [05:31]

    Yeah, that's their cultural belief. And because of the poverty — it's staggering poverty — when they sell their daughters, it's a huge financial game changer for their struggling family. So it's just sad on so many different levels.


    JEFF ZOGG [05:58]

    Fathers matter. Around this cause.


    BRENT SILKEY [06:01]

    There's so many things to speak to on that. A few things that come to mind immediately would be if you think of next-generation students…


    JEFF ZOGG [06:12]

    Yes.


    BRENT SILKEY [06:13]

    The passion. There was a guy that I love — he's a friend. He said to a huge group of hundreds and hundreds of students at this gathering: "How many of you want to end human trafficking?" And everyone just screams. And then he drops a line that had the whole place so quiet. He goes, "Then stop looking at pornography." Dead quiet. He said that perpetuates all of these cycles and all of these things like you would not believe.


    JEFF ZOGG [06:35]

    Yeah.


    BRENT SILKEY [06:43]

    When I think about dads, man, I think about dads who are in bondage to that. The addiction of sexual addiction or pornography, and the shame that can come around that. When you're looked at as a leader in your company or a leader in your family or a leader in these different areas, but you have this thing holding you down like a ball and chain around your neck, and you just can't get free. And I would encourage any dad listening that there is freedom and there's hope.


    JEFF ZOGG [07:12]

    Yeah.


    BRENT SILKEY [07:12]

    And it takes courage, and it takes a community of accountability to get free and stay free. But if you can live that transformed life, the impact that will have on your marriage, on your kids, on the people that know you — they'll see something lighter, like something's changed about you. Like, "Wow, I can't put my finger on it, but man, something's changed." It's one of the greatest things that dads can do, if that is a struggle: to face that.


    I think the scariest thing, and the most unknown, is: well, who do I tell? What do I do with this? And I would say this is where one of the greatest needs I see is the need to be rooted in community, like within the local church. My pastor Greg Lynn says this: there's so many great preachers out there, there's so many great churches out there, and a lot of people like to have the a la carte version of Christianity. But they're never rooted enough in a community where someone can hold them accountable, where someone can say, "Hey, how is your marriage doing? Hey, how are you doing with that? Hey, how are things going with your taxes and business and whatever?"


    And so if there's not a rootedness and connectedness with a local community of faith, I would say that would be a great step. And then to be able to tell a trusted brother in Christ — maybe it's a pastor, maybe it's a small group you're a part of — and then start from there and get the help you need. There's a lot of people I know that went to counseling with an addiction specialist to get free.


    JEFF ZOGG [08:47]

    Yes. So courageous. Own it and step. And not just us. So Brent, my heart — "darkness ripples" is what just jumped in my heart. And it's not the dad — you're not dark. That's not defining who you are. But darkness of entering lust, pornography, objectifying women — that ripples to our own families. It ripples to the demand of this greater evil of trafficking.


    And if we can understand the greater ripple and the generational ripple, then freedom becomes crystallized: this is why freedom matters. The eyes of a dad looking into the eyes of their daughter or their son — when we're stuck in darkness, it's hard to look in the eyes of people we love, right?


    What's the current chapter? How old are the kids right now?


    BRENT SILKEY [09:51]

    Yeah, my girls are 14 and 11. My boys are eight and five. So there's never a boring day, never a dull moment. It's so sweet.


    I heard something a few years back that kind of changed how I saw fatherhood. They said there's gonna be a day that your daughter says "up" — "hold me, Dad" — for the last time. And I was like, what? Because my kids were younger then.


    And so anytime it's "Hey Dad, can we…" — "Hey Dad…" — all of those things, I'm like, everything else doesn't matter. And just to lean in. And I don't do it perfectly, but those reality-check things, it's like, man. Another quote that I heard was: you're gonna know your kids as adults longer than you knew them as kids.


    JEFF ZOGG [10:48]

    I know.


    BRENT SILKEY [10:51]

    A precious gift we have — of having them in our home and investing in their lives and challenging them. It's pretty awesome.


    JEFF ZOGG [11:01]

    I've seen you live family mission. Family together in college ministry. Family together — seven marathons, seven continents, seven days. I've heard the stats around Ironman athletes and divorce, because we can give ourselves to these crazy pursuits and it's not family shared mission. What's your heart, and how do you approach these 24-hour runs, like you're doing right now, as a family?


    BRENT SILKEY [11:29]

    That's a great question. So my wife — I have to give her a thousand percent credit. We got home from Disney World Marathon Weekend 2017. And so 30 for Freedom was one year old. And I had done the Dopey Challenge — 5K on Thursday, 10K Friday, half marathon Saturday, and then full marathon Sunday.


    JEFF ZOGG [11:52]

    I'm just smiling. Some of these things that organizations think up are challenges — and now you're the one thinking them up. You're thinking of the crazy stuff. To me it's like — just to interrupt your story — challenge training, doing things that are unexpected and hard, that are unforgettable. You'll never forget the next 24 hours. The rest of your life. But it's also sparking: what could we each as dads create? Like a Dopey Challenge. Something that matters beyond our own checklist, bucket list.


    Okay, back to talking about your wife with the Dopey Challenge.


    BRENT SILKEY [12:24]

    So I ran that to help find a cure for blood cancers. Both my mom and dad have battled those. So it's a personal family mission. And then we get home from that. And I'd been preaching this message: do something you've never done to reach someone that's not yet been reached. And I'm thinking, what am I gonna do this year that I haven't done?


    And I talked to my wife. I was like, "Hey, what are your thoughts on me doing the Ironman?" And she's like, "Well. That's a big commitment. It's a pretty big financial commitment as well. And I don't know if you have a bike." I'm like, "No, you're right." "Yeah, I don't know that you know how to swim." I was like, "Well, that's fair."


    And so we chatted about it, prayed about it, and she's like, "Okay, here's my deal. That's a big undertaking. And you will not undertake that alone. But it will be a family thing." I was like, "Okay, what do you mean?" She's like, "When you do long bike rides, hundred-mile rides, we're gonna go."


    JEFF ZOGG [13:15]

    Yes.


    BRENT SILKEY [13:21]

    "And we're gonna be along the route. We're gonna play at the park. We're gonna meet you at different places and bring you food. But this will be a family thing that we do. Not just a solo endeavor." I'm like, that's fantastic.


    So the buy-in that my kiddos had at the time — it was just my girls at the time, my boys weren't born yet — was off the charts. They were a part of it. And God provided a bike, an amazing coach, and I learned how to swim that year.


    When we did the Great World Race, she was like, "Again, this is gonna be a family endeavor." So we set a crazy audacious goal — again, outside of our college ministry and funding for that — of a hundred thousand dollars raised for freedom last year. And I was like, this is several times bigger than the biggest goal we've probably ever had before.


    And my older daughter is a phenomenal baker and she's so creative. So she was baking up all this stuff, and she helped raise thousands of dollars. My younger daughter makes jewelry — she also helped raise thousands of dollars with her jewelry. And it was so cool because they all ran for freedom. I have never once said, "Hey, you gotta do this." But they catch it. They catch the heart.


    And one of the craziest, coolest things ever, as far as the Great World Race, was our goal was $444,000 as a team.


    JEFF ZOGG [14:21]

    Selling bread, right?


    BRENT SILKEY [14:49]

    We rounded up to $500,000. And when we finished the sixth marathon in Colombia, Paul Herkman was like, "Hey, I think we need to go for a million." I'm like, "That's like $200,000-some more dollars, Paul, with one marathon left." And we put the video out, and the race finishes in Miami. We don't hit the goal. And it's two days later, and we're flying home.


    And I get a message on Instagram and someone says, "How close are we to the million?" And I was like, "We're about $34,000 in change away." And his next message was: "Check again." I was like, "What?" He literally got us to the million dollars, on the money. And I'm crying in the airport, looking at my phone. I call my wife and kids over. I said, "I never want you to forget this moment." Because we have prayed every single morning for the last year.


    And in this moment, God just brought in more than double that — at a million dollars for freedom. And you guys are a part of that. And it was so powerful, Jeff, to look in the eyes of my kids and my wife and see: this is a family thing, not a Brent thing. Not a solo guy thing.


    And our family — this is the praise report by end of year — that $100,000 stretch goal for our family? We had over $250,000 that came in. And I'm like, I just don't want you kids to…


    JEFF ZOGG [16:12]

    Yeah.


    BRENT SILKEY [16:17]

    …to forget who our God is, you know? The things He does that are instant, that are immeasurably more than we could ask for, think, dream, or imagine. And to share those moments with my kids — that moment in the airport was the highlight of the whole thing.


    ——————————————————————————————


    MID-ROLL


    JEFF ZOGG [16:33]

    Just a quick pause from the conversation to invite you guys into two action steps.


    The first: if you have not picked up a copy of the book DadAwesome, it launched just a few months ago in March. The book basically takes all of the core discoveries from eight-plus years, 400-plus podcast conversations, and brings it into short seven- to eight-minute chapters that are story-driven, super activating, with steps so we can actually be DadAwesome — not just think about it. You can read the book in any order. You don't have to start at the beginning and read your way through. You can skip through and just find some core discoveries that you can bring to the dad life.


    So check out the book. It's on Amazon — if you search "dadawesome" with no space, it'll pop right up. We're just encouraging all of our community to go buy a copy as we head into the fall season. And many of you are giving away copies, which is amazing. Part of our community is just to carry an extra copy of the book and look for the dad being awesome and encourage him, bless him, saying, "You're an awesome dad. I want you to have this book."


    The other quick invite: we still have a couple spots left for our fall coaching cohorts. Our Accelerator is six weeks of a deep-dive sprint into all things DadAwesome. We have about eight to ten dads that join us for every cohort. We just graduated the 12th cohort — a hundred dads have said this makes a difference. And I want to invite you guys to prayerfully join us. There's only a few spots left. Go to dadawesome.org/coaching.


    Okay, that's it. Let's jump back into my conversation with Brent Silkey.


    ——————————————————————————————


    CONVERSATION (CONTINUED)


    JEFF ZOGG [18:47]

    I love the shared victories — this is a marker moment of victory, miracle, answered prayer. But shared. And kids don't get to share a victory with their dad if their dad isn't willing to train himself.


    I've been praying into "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength." And there's rollover effects beyond strength. We're talking way more than marathon running, ultramarathon, 24-hour runs. Strength is connected to heart, soul, and mind. But being a dad who trains himself versus coasts and looks for comfort — why is a step forward this year critical for dads? Why would you challenge every dad to do something to train yourself and press into hard?


    BRENT SILKEY [19:13]

    Someone said it this morning, so I'll steal the line from them. They said: you can either do hard things, or you can have hard things happen to you — in terms of discipline. Obviously we know that Jesus said, "In this world you're gonna have trouble. But take heart, I've overcome the world."


    But when I think about dads — would it be easy to come home from work and just completely zone out and not be engaged and not be present? Some people are physically present but not emotionally present. And I want to live a life serving a great, awesome God, seeing Him do things that are beyond what we could have ever dreamed, and having family be a part of that.


    And so taking a step forward for a dad might be like, "You know what? I'm gonna treat my phone like a Taylor Swift wedding and put it in a box, and it's gonna go over here when I'm home, and I'm just gonna be with my family." You know what I mean? It might be taking a step of just saying, "I'm gonna switch around my golf game from playing 18 every weekend to playing nine." Or — I don't know. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes and their passions, but man, we have kids in our home for such a short time.


    JEFF ZOGG [20:19]

    Calibrate.


    BRENT SILKEY [20:28]

    …to not have regret. I don't want to look back and say, "I should have really been more emotionally present for my kids. They didn't want to be around me as adults." You know what I'm saying? You'll never regret investing more in your family and taking that step to build that in.


    JEFF ZOGG [20:45]

    I've noticed that words — spoken and written words — for both your wife and you… I've noticed you guys, they pierce to a heart. But you've chosen to even share some of those words publicly, about each other and about your kids. Where did that come from? This really bringing intentionality with your words.


    BRENT SILKEY [21:09]

    Well, I think words are so powerful. My friend Clint Reddy says words are the foundation blocks of building culture. And if you want to build a certain type of culture — whether it's your business, whether it's your family, whatever — it starts with your words.


    And one thing: when we found out my wife was pregnant with our first, I was over the moon. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I get to…" And then we found out we were having a little girl and I was like, this is amazing. I was just over the moon, and I was reading books about how to be a good dad and trying to…


    JEFF ZOGG [21:45]

    Pause you there. Books you chose as a dad, expecting your first, to start reading books. I was four years into fatherhood before I even thought about reading a book on fatherhood. So I applaud that, and I want to celebrate and encourage that. Why would we not be learners in that sphere, right? Okay, keep going.


    BRENT SILKEY [22:05]

    And part of my story is, being adopted from South Korea — my whole life I remember being so fascinated by resemblance, physical resemblance in families. And I didn't have the deep "man, I'm missing that." But I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. Like, wow, you can tell that they're family.


    And so I'm praying the whole time after I find out my wife's pregnant: "Lord, help me have your heart as a father for my little one coming." And just praying for a future husband, you know — way down the road things.


    And when she was born and the nurse put her in my arms — I look down, and I'm wet-eyed. I mean, I'm crying. And I'm just like, wow, this is the first person that I've ever seen with my own eyes that shares a resemblance with me. So that moment for me was unbelievable, at twenty-five, twenty-six years old.


    JEFF ZOGG [22:56]

    Wow.


    BRENT SILKEY [23:02]

    And I was like, man, the love that I prayed for for this little one — the love of a father just got downloaded. Like a waterfall, overflowing.


    And as far as words go, I just made a determination when my kids were really young. I decided that every year on my kids' birthdays, I'd write them a letter. And then I'd read it to them on their birthday. So I haven't missed…


    JEFF ZOGG [23:22]

    Yeah.


    BRENT SILKEY [23:28]

    Fourteen for my oldest. Eleven for my daughter Clara. Eight for Henry. Five for Josiah. So even when they're babies, I do it. But going back to words — they're so important. So in the letter I recap the things that I've seen, the growth areas in their life, the things God's done, amazing moments, hard moments we've walked through. And by the time they graduate high school, they'll have a catalog of God's faithfulness over 18 years in these letters.


    And I have them printed out and signed, but then I also have them emailed to myself — backed-up copies.


    JEFF ZOGG [24:04]

    Yes, they're priceless. Priceless.


    BRENT SILKEY [24:07]

    And so yeah, words are so powerful. And the words that dads speak — I've seen it on the very awesome side, and I've seen it on the most detrimental imaginable side. And if we can be people who speak life over our families, life over our kids, it really goes a long way.


    JEFF ZOGG [24:28]

    Deuteronomy 30:19 — "I have set before you life or death, blessings or curses. Choose life, so that you and your children may live."


    So Jordan's been running along with us the whole time. You're pregnant. When are you having your first baby? How soon? About midway — so you're three months out. So there's one practical: you could write a letter every year, birthday, speak life. What would be one or two things that you'd say to Jordan? Like…


    BRENT SILKEY [24:35]

    Amen.


    JEFF ZOGG [24:57]

    …this will be helpful.


    BRENT SILKEY [24:58]

    Alright, rookie dad advice: I'd say especially like newborn stage — when baby sleeps, try to sleep. It's crazy how loss of sleep chronically can impact decision-making and mood and everything. So when baby's sleeping, we try to sleep.


    JEFF ZOGG [25:15]

    Otherwise we become DadAngry instead of DadAwesome. It's real.


    BRENT SILKEY [25:18]

    Yep, that's real. And so I think too, there are different seasons and stages to life and to fatherhood. But we can be intentional and we can do things like habits consistently kind of throughout the stages. Like, some people are like, "I pray in the morning." So if you have a morning prayer time — when I start praying in the morning, it's always the first people I'm praying for, is my wife and my kids. And then just building that into the rhythms of your life.


    And then as they get older, the prayers are consistent, but they change because of the needs that change. But man, it's so good to be building those things in. Especially if you have an advantage, because you can start. I mean, you've probably already started, but you could even start now. And it's like you're just building this reservoir of blessing and prayers and covering over your family.


    JEFF ZOGG [26:19]

    Wow. I mean, and when your little one says "up" — pick up, every time. And when they say, "Will you hold my hand on the way into the store?" I've heard you say that one. Brent, hold their hand — 'cause my twelve-year-old doesn't want to hold my hand on the way to the grocery store anymore.


    What and who is upstream of you as a dad today? The wisdom, the heart, the passion, the prayer you bring into fatherhood today — who are some of the people, or what could be an experience or a book or a resource? What's upstream of who you are today?


    BRENT SILKEY [26:54]

    Yeah, I mean, I had the greatest dad in the whole world. My dad was the best ever. His example — he was a guy of not too many words, but the words he did speak were always jovial, life, "love you," "love you, guy," you know what I mean? And that's my example.


    Ryan Schog has been a spiritual father. Jerry Stranquist. And when it comes to resources and things, I think it was called First Time Dad — one of the books I read, back in 2011. Just getting ready. And that was a helpful one at the time.


    Kind of back to something we started out talking about — community. It's so life-changing to be in a community of dads who are of a similar stage, who can relate. I had a coffee meeting with some friends recently. It was supposed to be like an hour. Four hours later, my wife texted me: "Are you safe? Are you good?" I'm like, "No, no, we're all good." But we were connecting on such relatable things. Just to know you're not alone, to know you're not crazy, you know what I mean?


    JEFF ZOGG [28:07]

    Jordan, you're not alone. Speaking to the young rookie dad expecting — you're not alone, you're not crazy, but you have to build those friendships. They don't just bump into you at the coffee shop and have a four-hour conversation. There's a lot of building that takes place.


    Brent, you get the final words. Final lap. What did we not talk about that you're like, "I would love for the dads to hear this"? Anything else in your heart?


    BRENT SILKEY [28:30]

    I think dads listening will find themselves in lots of different places. And I think about the dad that maybe someone shared the podcast with, and it's their first time listening. And they're like, "Wow, my kids are late teenagers and I don't even know where to start." And it can kind of feel like you're staring up at a mountain and you're like, "Well, I don't even know what to do."


    And my heart goes out to that dad — but I'm so proud that they would tune in, and that they would even make it this deep into an episode and just say, "Okay, yeah, I'm starting. I'm doing something today."


    And so my encouragement would just be to take that step. The most life-changing question outside of the gospel being shared was: what's my next obedience step? And for dads to know there is a step for them to take. And for them to seek God and seek that community and say, "Hey, what's my next obedience step as a dad?" Well, maybe it's apologizing. Maybe it's humbling yourself. Maybe it's putting down the bottle. Maybe it's — you know what I mean — whatever it might be.


    And humility, and "what's my next step" — are the last things I'd like to say.


    JEFF ZOGG [29:36]

    Would you pray for the dads? A short prayer over the dads?


    BRENT SILKEY [29:38]

    Yeah. Lord, I thank you so much for all the dads out there and all those who are listening and tuning in to DadAwesome. And I pray, Lord, that you would speak to their hearts today. Help them to be encouraged in their walk with you. Help them to be encouraged, God, as husbands and dads.


    And I pray for those who are trying to discern their next obedience step. Lord, I pray you would make it so clear to them, and as they are led to that next obedience step, give them courageous and bold faith, Lord, to take that step. And to see the things that you want to do in them and through them as dads.


    Man, I just pray your richest blessings over every family represented. I thank you for your faithfulness, God, in every area and aspect. And I specifically ask, Lord, for your provision for dads in a financial way, but even more importantly in an emotional, spiritual way, God — that you would come and meet them today. In Jesus' name.


    JEFF ZOGG [30:31]

    In Jesus' name. Amen.


    ——————————————————————————————


    OUTRO


    JEFF ZOGG [30:35]

    Thank you so much for joining us for episode 450 with Brent Silkey. All the conversation links, the show notes — they'll all be available at dadawesome.org/podcast.


    I wanna encourage you guys: let's be dads who do the uncomfortable thing, the hard thing. Many of us have found ourselves drifting toward making decisions based on what's comfortable and safe. And when Brent said yes to 24 hours of running — all through the night, all through the rain, 24 hours — it sparked a change in other people around him. And it raised like $40,000 to free young girls from trafficking.


    Guys, it makes a difference when we say yes to the uncomfortable. We put ourselves in an area of discomfort on behalf of others. And your friends, other dads in your circle, are waiting for you to say yes to doing something hard.


    So whatever that hard thing is — it might be a conversation, it might be taking on running a half marathon, it might be joining a ministry who does activation events, who does challenges. We host them, but there's many ministries that host, and you can join in doing something hard. And you will be a better dad because of stepping in.


    There could be so many takeaways from today's episode, but I just hope you pray about moving into an area of vulnerability, an area that will take courage. It takes courage to step into doing hard things. But it will make a difference — and way more than you. It's gonna make a difference for your family.


    So praying for you guys. Let's be dads of action this week. Thanks for being DadAwesome.


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    Transcript lightly cleaned for readability. Timestamps are approximate.

    dadawesome.org/podcast


    • "By the time they graduate high school, they'll have a catalog of God's faithfulness over 18 years in these letters."

    • "You can either do hard things or you can have hard things happen to you."

    • "Do something you've never done to reach someone that's not yet been reached."

    • "This is a family thing, not a Brent thing."

    • "The most life-changing question outside of the gospel being shared was, What's my next obedience step?"

    • “We can be people who speak life over our families, life over our kids. It really goes a long way."

 

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Jeff Zaugg
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449 | MULTIPLIERS Part 7: The Italian Angel, Small Yeses Multiplied by 100, and Why You Can't Control Your Kids (Ft. Danny Silk)