“A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Fatherless boys suffer from an abandonment wound that causes them to struggle with self-worth, with few or no good memories of being shepherded into manhood.
Their earthly fathers are uninterested, unknown, or gone. Men come in and out of their lives, and they learn that men will easily give them promises, but so many of them are never kept. They are left asking, “What am I worth?”
When a Mentor Father enters the life of a fatherless boy, he is saying, “You have value. You matter to me, to the Church, and most importantly to God Almighty.”
Each year begins with a Mentor Father and Field Buddy making an intentional commitment to one another. They will go to Church at least two times, serve a widow or someone in need, have the Mentor Father teach life and service skills, and go through their Journey Guide together each month. This commitment culminates in an end-of-the-year celebration trip in which the Field Buddy is presented with a photo album.
This album is a visual representation not just of an honored commitment, but of a life lived together.
This man has signed a commitment to this boy.
Yet it is the unspoken message of time spent together that speaks the loudest.
For the Field Buddy, this relationship isn’t about activities or teachable moments, but about time.
A man of God is spending time with him. Being interested in his life; developing a caring relationship; being around on a regular basis, and he has pictures to prove it.
These albums become the most treasured possession for a Field Buddy, as they might be the only pictures they have one day of a godly man in their life. Pictures are not just evidence of the story; rather, they contain the entire story within one frame.
Over the coming years, these young men will look back on these photos and see the entire story of their time with their Mentor Fathers, captured in each photo. While the image of a day will bring back fond memories of people helped and trips taken, it will be the memory of the man that brings tears.
For a boy whose life was marked with pain, frustration, sadness, and unforgiveness before this Mentor Father, these pictures represent a new chapter in life.
Even now, after their intentional mentoring year or years is completed, this album brings the boy back to those times. A widow helped, a conversation had, time spent together. The tears well up in the boy’s eyes. Not tears of sadness, but of gratitude for a man willing to give of himself and of his time to matter greatly in the life of a fatherless boy.
He has been shepherded, he has been discipled in the Lord, he has been important to a man, he has seen a man keep his commitment. He now has a picture of a godly man to visualize and a path to follow.
These albums are a truly powerful gift for a boy: visual stories that reflect time spent with a man who modeled Christ.
As fatherlessness grows in our country, the need for Mentor Fathers has never been greater. Contact me today; together we can help these boys see the value they have to God.
Join with us today.
Standing in the Gap,
John Smithbaker
Founding Servant
p: 1-844-472-4241 e: info@fathersinthefield.com
