Fatherlessness is a plague in America is
rampant. Kids grow up without their dads or in broken homes and families. As a result, young people are insecure and unprotected. That is why I believe so much in the call to be a spiritual father and to turn the "hearts of the children back to the fathers." Here's some more on spiritual fathering from Seth Barnes, who is partnering with me in Africa right now where a generation of children have been abandoned by their parents, many of which have lost their lives to AIDS.

 

We who have raised children and who follow Jesus need to respond
to this crisis of fatherlessness.  We have a moral obligation to give
out of our abundance to those who feel orphaned.  Having raised five
kids, I have a burden for those who at their core feel abandoned by
their fathers.  I think about the subject and write about it all the
time (see these blogs). 

 

God's heart breaks for orphans of all shapes and sizes and he has
chosen people like you and me as his instrument to give them the love
they yearn for.  Deuteronomy 10:18 says, "He defends the cause of the
fatherless and the widow." Psalm 68:5 says he is a "Father to the
fatherless, a defender of widows." Psalm 82:3 tells us to "defend the
cause of the weak and fatherless."

 

So many of society's problems can be traced back to this issue of
an absentee dad.  Where do psychopaths come from?  Usually there is a
derelict father who has split the scene, leaving deeply wounded
children. Interview a group of prison inmates and ask how many of them
had good, loving fathers. And the cycle continues: by virtue of their
absence from the home (sitting there in their cell), the generational
curse is passed on to their sons and daughters abandoned by their
daddy.  It's a tragedy that cries out for fathers who follow Jesus to
intervene.

 

Those of us who have been blessed with fathers need to commit
ourselves to fill the emotional gaps in the next generation.  In the
interview below, my friend and covenant brother, Gary Black, describes
the essence of spiritual fathering and mothering:  We serve our kids
and help them get to greatness.