DadAwesome Jeff Zaugg

In the second part of our conversation, Gaelin Elmore describes the spiritual awakening he experienced in his journey through professional sports. He also shares the lessons he learned by walking away from the things he idolized in order to be all-out for God.
 
Key Takeaways  
There is an internal conflict between following the real Savior and the things you thought would save you. Be all-out for God. Never underestimate the power of being present as a husband and father. What does your church do to actively engage the foster care community?   Gaelin Elmore  
Gaelin Elmore is a leader, writer, and motivational speaker whose childhood was marked by foster care, abuse, and homelessness. Now, Gaelin advocates for youth with adverse backgrounds. He and his wife, Micaela, have two young daughters.
  Key Quotes  
19:49 - "We can never measure or fully comprehend the power of being with someone while they're going through the good and the bad. If you listen to this and you hear any consistency through my story, it's at the lowest low, at the highest high, I just wanted my people." 26:40 - "Foster care doesn't make sense if Christians aren't the ones leading it. Does not make sense. It is not a wisdom of this world. It is something that is such a greater calling in ministry that that only God could call us to and and support us in."   Links from Today’s Conversation  
SAVE THE DATE: October 19, 2023 at 7pm CT - Episode 300 Live Event: 30 Voices, 90 Takeaways Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches by Russell Moore The Reel Hope Project The Forgotten Podcast - (The Forgotten Initiative) GaelinSpeaks.com (Gaelin’s website)   Connect with dadAWESOME  
Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618

Episode Description
Gaelin Elmore’s childhood experiences included foster care, homelessness, and abuse. Now a father of two young girls, he reflects on how his past shaped his parenting and shares what other dads need to know about stepping up for children in foster care. 
  Key Takeaways  
Children naturally give you grace.  You don’t have to minimize what you’ve gone through. 
Children in foster care are looking for someone to be looking for them. 
What if God asks you to make room for another child in your home? 
 
Gaelin Elmore  
Gaelin Elmore is a leader, writer, and motivational speaker whose childhood was marked by foster care, abuse, and homelessness. Now, Gaelin advocates for youth with adverse backgrounds. He and his wife, Micaela, have two young daughters. 
  Key Quotes  
    Links from Today’s Conversation SAVE THE DATE: October 19, 2023 at 7pm CT - Episode 300 Live Event: 30 Voices, 90 Takeaways
The Reel Hope Project
GaelinSpeaks.com 
 
 


 
 

After 52 years of marriage, Roger Thompson has learned a thing or two about how to have a thriving relationship. In this episode, he shares his powerful tactic for keeping his marriage strong. Plus, he urges young dads to reconsider the way they prioritize their children’s activities. 
  Key Takeaways  
You often don’t know who you are until someone else tells you who you are.  Get one ahead everyday. Busyness is a concern for young parents and their children.  Don’t forsake your spiritual development and brotherhood for your children’s activities.   
Roger Thompson  
Roger Thompson is a passionate men’s ministry leader and pastor at large based in the Twin Cities. He and his wife, Joanne, have been married for 52 years and have two daughters, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. 
  Key Quotes  
5:55 - "An affirmation is, here's what you bring to the game. I saw your strength when... Or thank you for reminding me, in your behavior, of something you've done. So when we do that with other men, it's like a blacksmith's bellows, it heats up the fire, the coal is there, but we don't know who we are until somebody else really tells us who we are. And if we can build a culture of mutual affirmation and get out of the culture of sarcasm, a true affirmation cuts through all the shyness of really looking at another man in the eye and saying, Brother, I love you." 11:59 - "How can you stay married for 41 years? You just have to do your part and your wife is the only one who can do her part. But a lot of times men give up. Well, I'm not getting back what I'm putting in, so I'm going to quit. You think about the five love languages, I'm trying to love my wife in my language and it doesn't translate. I need to, I need to learn her language."   Links from Today’s Conversation  
IronWorks Website YouTube: 40 Days of Wisdom Series Book: Do The Next Right Thing: Wisdom For Your Next Step by Roger Thompson Book: Love And Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs   Connect with dadAWESOME  
Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

For Roger Thompson, discipling other men is life-giving. Between his father’s salvation story and his own childhood, Roger has experienced the empowering nature of brotherhood firsthand. In the first part of this conversation, he highlights the role of endurance and fortitude to encourage you in your fatherhood climb. 
 
Key Takeaways  
God is reparenting us.  Your investment into brotherhood will leave a multigenerational impact.  Endurance is when you continue forward without seeing any finish line.  In the rock climbing analogy of life, there are eight handholds you must master.  
Roger Thompson  
Roger Thompson is a passionate men’s ministry leader and pastor at large based in the Twin Cities. He and his wife, Joanne, have been married for 52 years and have two daughters, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. 
  Key Quotes  
8:47 - "I'm an inheritor of that. I'm a complete recipient of a man with whom God broke the chain. So my dad's a first generation chain breaker. A New Testament disciple and look at what that has done. Don't look at me, but just look at what I got as a gift. I got a dad who loved me, who cared for me."  16:16 - "That's how manly affection was conveyed to me. I'm with you. We're in this together. I need you for this. And I certainly needed him, but [my dad] made it clear that he needed me."   Links from Today’s Conversation  
IronWorks Website YouTube: 40 Days of Wisdom Series Book: Do The Next Right Thing: Wisdom For Your Next Step by Roger Thompson Book: Endurance by Ernest Shackleton  
Connect with dadAWESOME  
Make a Donation to dadAWESOME Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

In the second part of this campfire conversation, Jeff, Joe, Tyler, and D**o discuss fatherhood models, top resource recommendations, and advice for rookie dads. They conclude with powerful intercessory prayer for other fathers in the DadAwesome community. 
  Key Takeaways  
Learn how to learn from the wisdom of others.  Pray generational blessings over your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and beyond.  Working on yourself and your marriage will make you a better dad.   Your greatest joys will come from your most challenging responsibilities. Plus, top fatherhood resources, books, and apps.   Tyler Van Eps, D. Darezzo, & Joe Ostrem  
Tyler Van Eps and his wife have four children and describe themselves as a quintessential Minnesota family. Originally from Brazil, D. Darezzo and his wife have two sons and enjoy being active as a family. Joe Ostrem and his wife met as kids and are now parents to four daughters. 
  Key Quotes  
8:45 - “Parenting all girls, and my girls are interested in things that on my own I would not be interested in, but because they're interested in it, I'm interested in it.” 9:42 - “Working on yourself and your marriage will make you a better dad.” 26:31 - “Your greatest joys are ultimately going to become your heaviest responsibilities or the responsibilities that seem like the biggest challenges in your life… Celebrate responsibility, knowing that it's refining your character, knowing that it's strengthening you as much as it may feel like it steals from you in a season, steals capacity or steals energy, it just returns to you in so many more ways than it takes from you."   Links From Today's Conversation  
NEW https://dadawesome.org website (DM/Text/Email jeff@dadawesome.org with feedback for a free gift - first 20) Atomic Habits by James Clear Pray First: The Transformative Power of a Life Built on Prayer by Chris Hodges Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Roar The Pause App (John Eldredge)    Connect with dadAWESOME  
Learn about our FATHERS FOR THE FATHERLESS events in 2023: https://f4f.bike/ Follow @dadawesome on Instagram Make a Donation to dadAWESOME (tax-deductible) Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618  

In this conversation, four fathers sit around a campfire to discuss all things fatherhood. You’ll be inspired and equipped to live out your family values, lead by example, and engage in significant spiritual conversations within your brotherhood.   
Full SHOW NOTES for today's conversation  
Key Takeaways  
Identify your family values, define them, and create “I will” statements based on your definitions.  You can know you are succeeding as a father when your kids ask questions about how you live out your faith.  Take note of the stories that demonstrate your child growing closer to Jesus.  Based on the example of Gideon, what beliefs do you need to tear down and rebuild in a way that pleases the Lord?  When did you last have a vulnerable spiritual conversation with your brotherhood?   Tyler Van Eps, D. Darezzo, and Joe Ostrem  
Tyler Van Eps and his wife have four children and describe themselves as a quintessential Minnesota family.
Originally from Brazil, D. Darezzo and his wife have two sons and enjoy being active as a family.
Joe Ostrem and his wife met as kids and are now parents to four daughters. 
  Key Quotes  
18:35 - "We want to take some time to re-articulate our family values. Shelly and I have gone through processes where we we identify our values, we define them in our own words, and then we really look at what behaviors support those. And we frame them as I will or I will not statements." 21:06 - "I know that I'm winning or I know that I'm being successful when my kids are asking me questions out of curiosity about different things I'm doing with my faith. When they're asking me questions about the way that I'm living out my faith, I know that's a part of being successful." 29:29 - "As men, we believe we don't need [male] friendship. We believe we're too tough for that. Or we don't need to go deeper. We don't need to be vulnerable. We don't need to be authentic. We don't need to share struggles because that will make us less of a man. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started getting more into this community and having the consistency of connecting, the consistency of sharing and listening and getting deeper and intentional and that started transforming my life. My parenting, my marriage, you name it. My physical health, mental health, everything."   Links From Today's Conversation  
Full Transcript of the Conversation     Connect with dadAWESOME  
Learn about our FATHERS FOR THE FATHERLESS events in 2023: https://f4f.bike/ Follow @dadawesome on Instagram Make a Donation to dadAWESOME (tax-deductible) Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team Receive weekly encouragement by texting "dad" to 651-370-8618