A Father’s Riches

With Father’s Day this Sunday, it seems a good time to reflect on the strategic importance of fathers. Not just for our personal sense of security and well-being, but the future of our nation.

This thought came to me recently reading From Chaos to Clarity by Mike Signorelli. The Indiana native made waves after moving to New York and launching V1 Church, a multi-site church that has been the nation’s fastest-growing of late.

While the pastor’s book is about keys to walking with Christ and overcoming sin, what caught my eye was a side note about leadership expert Simon Sinek.

The pastor talked about listening to a talk in which Sinek said organizations are structuring themselves around creating an unfireable work culture.

“Think about it,” Signorelli said. “Our culture is so abandoned and orphaned that we’re creating unfireable work cultures.”

Signorelli went on to note that when he started studying leadership topics more than 20 years ago, the focus was on leaders. But, he added, today we are in the era of mentor, mentor, mentor—which boils down to father.

“People don’t want a boss; they don’t want a leader or a guru,” Signorelli wrote. “They want a father, someone who will accept them back no matter what.

“Who will stay with them and correct them and teach and guide them. Someone who will love them when they have it all together and love them when they don’t.”

Not Many Fathers

The author’s comment brought to mind the late Edwin Louis Cole. The men’s ministry pioneer was doing Promise Keepers-style encouragement before PK burst onto the scene in the 1990s.

I ghosted or edited a dozen testimonies in Cole’s 1997 book, Man Power, which included contributions from 14 African American pastors.

They talked about a move of the Holy Spirit in which Black men were finding fulfillment, family, and freedom through faith in Christ.

I mainly worked from rough drafts or transcripts of talks. But I also received a collection of tapes—when cassettes were still a thing—of many of the pastors.

The one that stands out in my mind was the one I listened to while driving around Louisville, Kentucky, where we then lived.

In expert rhetorical fashion, throughout his sermon, the pastor kept returning to his cornerstone verse, 1 Corinthians 4:15: “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (NKJV, emphasis added).

While time has eroded from my memory the names of the speaker and the title of his message, it hasn’t erased the theme he kept hammering home: our need for fathers.

Fathers, who serve as primary disciplinarians and steady guides through life, instill courage and demonstrate a work ethic that in recent years has grown faint.

As Signorelli says, today millions are longing for a father who will back them, stay with them, correct them, and guide them.

Negatives Don’t Negate Value

Sadly, I know “father” is a negative word for many, especially those from broken homes and whose dad was missing in action.

Or, even if they grew up in an intact home, their father was physically present but emotionally absent.

Still, the failures of some men to fulfill their most important role on earth doesn’t negate a father’s value. I know, since this year marks the 28th time I won’t be able to wish mine “Happy Father’s Day.”

For those who do, take the time to visit him, or at least call. The day is coming when you won’t have the opportunity.