“When I stop dreaming, when I stop allowing my heart to really dream about things that apart from God are impossible, I not longer kind of lean in, I begin to lean back. I don’t engage, I disengage. And I would say the greatest thing in the world you could do for your kids is to be a dreamer that’s pursuing what God has in your life.”

“Human beings were not meant to live in isolation and we weren’t meant to live in a constant unknown. Learning to let it go (benevolent detachment)… is step one.”

"So you’re going to make some sort of mistakes. But fellas, I want you to know for sure you are absolutely dadAWESOME, because I got an awesome dad and I know I’m going to be an awesome dad because I’m a give it my all. Even if we’re going the wrong way, I’m going the wrong way all the way, because I’m doing it because I love my kids and they’re going to know that.”

You can’t take out a pair of pliers and change wires and go, there you go, I told you, this is how we can fix you. We’ve got to cultivate what we want, and I think part of us as people looking back at our lives, I think if we don’t get over ourselves early enough, then we take up all the energy to fix ourselves and we ignore to sow what we want in our children. It’s amazing when the kid starts drifting, and you no longer have the reach and control you think you have.

"it's going to take intentionality and it's going to take you guarding your heart above all else. For from it flows living water. And this is meant to be an overflow journey, not one of scarcity, but one where you are being filled up daily to be poured out like a reservoir to fill your kids up and your wife and you can do it. And it's an invitation piece. It's not... God's not going to ever make you do this. You've got to take him up on his invitation."

Don't run away from it. Dive into that because in it, your pain, your weakness actually...Paul said that his power is made perfect and our weakness

We are our best father when we have our best brothers with us. And so we need those guys and those are the guys that you came in and went rafting with, you know, with me... Those are those guys in my life and we need our brothers. But then also sometimes we need someone else who's on the outside who's got some training is a professional in some ways to come along side to create a safe space for a child to unfold.

Living intentionally in the same direction over an extended period of time will have a greater impact on your children than anything you could possibly say.

One thing I learned is you can't just set the goal, like you got to reverse engineer it and figure out what are the daily habits that are going to get you to those goals. And that's where the magic happens. That's where the hard work habits. And that really is the key to going after those goals. 

And just because you may not have the skills that another brother may have or, the abilities that someone else may have, understand that you, your value is not based off of what you do. It's based off of whose you are, you belong to the Father and your value is rooted in that. Stand confident in that understand you have something to offer your kids. You have something to offer your spouse. You have something to offer your church. You have something to offer this world and walk in your gifts and let other people do the things that you're not so gifted in and celebrate them in it as well."

Have courage. Pray dangerous prayers. What kind of mission do I have for my life? Take risks. Fail often and early. Don't be a critic. Be an encourager.

"We should have this vision to have kids who are emotionally healthy and capable in their friendships and their marriages and their careers and we have to begin by doing the inner work ourselves"

"Anything lasting, anything of eternal value, anything of substance, we can't do without Him. But as far as the big picture....we parent out of relationship - our relationship with God and our relationship with our kids and life, it's a rhythm, and God designed it that way."

Aaron Smith was one of the founders of Venture, now living full time in Thailand as a missionary with his wife and nine year old and thirteen year old kids. He has a passion to resource dads both in Thailand and the US.

Jonathan Wiggins is a Christ follower who loves his wife, his family and his community of friends. Jonathan speaks, writes and mentors leaders. He is the lead pastor of Rez.church in Loveland, Colorado.

After thirteen years of playing professional basketball all over the world, Moses is now the Senior Assistant to Athletic Director at Oral Robert University. Moses and Sarah have 5 kids. Living the DREAM one moment at a time. 

How your heart’s doing affects everything else in your life. If your heart’s not doing well, you don’t love very well, if your heart’s not doing well you don’t have a lot of dreams. It is the epicenter.