“As a Mentor Father I have made an intentional commitment to my Field Buddy Tristan, but so has our church. Our church has intentionally included Tristan in our work to the church body and our community at large. Our women’s ministry includes his mother. Helping to heal a fatherless boy is a community effort.” – Mentor Father Johnny Pyles
As a ministry we have Mentor Father’s and Field Buddy’s sign a one-year intentional commitment, but this commitment also includes the church. At the signing ceremony that begins each year the church reads and signs their commitment too.
The church’s commitment is to support the Mentor Father and to let the Field Buddy know that they are going to support him too. The Mentor Father is successful when he honors his commitment. The church is successful when they provide a community to support this commitment.
Mentor Father Johnny Pyles and First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs Mississippi exemplify what it means to honor this commitment. Johnny is a grandfather with a full work schedule, but rather than using these as excuses to not mentor a boy he uses them as reasons to work harder to honor his commitment to Field Buddy Tristan.
“Tristan’s dad passed a few years ago. He’s a quiet young man with a desire to serve other people. We honor our commitment to meet four times a month. Twice to church, once a month serving widows and once getting outside and talking about the Lord. But we do more than that because I always have stuff to do, and Tristan likes to help and be around. The men in the church invite Tristan to serve the older people in the church and pitch in to teach him new skills. They treat him as if he belongs to the body of Christ. They want him to know that they care about him and want to help him become the man God created him to be.
“Experiencing how the church cares for people led Tristan to start doing lawn care for an elderly widow in our church. He started with borrowed tools and the community has blessed him by giving him used tools and helping him to buy new ones. They want to bless him as he blesses others.”
Johnny and Tristan’s experience is how this ministry is designed to work. The Mentor Father should never feel alone in his ministry to a fatherless boy. He should experience the support of the church community and so should his Field Buddy.
Fathers in the Field is designed to help a church begin to heal the broken heart of a fatherless boy and demonstrate the love of God in Christ. Every person in the church has a role to play, because God has called all of us to be Champions of the Fatherless and the Widow.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” ~ James 1:27 (ESV)
Contact me today to begin helping heal the broken heart of a fatherless boy.
Standing in the Gap,
John Smithbaker
Founding Servant
p: 1-844-472-4241 e: info@fathersinthefield.com
