The Father Difference
This podcast is about helping dads become better fathers.
It’s for dads who want to make a big difference in their kids’ lives (and be the best dads they can be) and want their children to have a loving and present father to help them.
It’s the reason we call it The Father Difference.
When God the Father makes a difference in us, we can make the same difference in our children's lives.
Imagine being the father God desires you to be, actively contributing to your children's dreams and future. Being a dad in their life story is crucial, and I believe it’s your most important role in life.
It only takes one Loving Father to change the course of a family for generations - and one perfect heavenly Father to begin the process in us.
We will post new podcast shows weekly.
It is our hope that The Father Difference will equip you to become the father you were meant to be.
I have coached and equipped men for 34 years in 14 countries.
Will you Join Me?
Praying for you - Ed McGlasson
The Father Difference
The Secret of being a Great Father
What does it take to be not just a good father, but a transformational one? Former NFL quarterback Jeff Kemp brings decades of wisdom to this intimate conversation about the journey from boyhood to manhood to fatherhood—and it may not be what you expect.
Growing up as the son of NFL star and vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp, Jeff struggled with the pressure of comparison. "I became insecure because I could never be as good a big deal as my dad," he confesses. This vulnerability opens the door to the episode's most powerful revelation: authentic fatherhood begins not with perfection but with understanding your identity as a beloved son of God.
Jeff introduces us to the concept of "Level 5 Friendship"—the missing ingredient in many men's lives. "A Level 5 friend is trusted, loyal, confidential, intentional, committed and consistent," he explains. "Most men don't have a Level 4 friend or a Level 5 friend." Through his organization Men Huddle, Jeff helps fathers create intentional communities where they can be vulnerable about their struggles without fear of judgment.
The conversation takes an emotional turn when Jeff shares the story of his father's deathbed blessing. After reading his father a three-page list of thanks for everything his dad had taught him, Jack offered his son a final prayer that affirmed Jeff's identity, purpose, and surrender to God's will. This powerful moment illustrates how a father's words can anchor a child's identity for a lifetime.
Perhaps the most surprising insight comes when Jeff suggests that apologizing may be a father's most powerful tool. "My best fathering as a father of grown sons is an apology," he says. "I'm modeling the gospel when I say 'I messed up.'" This humble approach creates a culture of grace that reflects God's heart toward us.
Whether you're a new dad, a seasoned grandfather, or still healing from father wounds of your own, this conversation offers a new vision for manhood and fatherhood. Discover how receiving God's love rather than trying to earn it can transform not just how you parent, but how you live.
Ready to be the parent or grandparent you’ve always dreamed of becoming? Subscribe and Tune into my podcast each week, and check out my resources, heartfelt encouragement, and practical tools to help you make a lasting impact on the ones you love most. Click this link below:
https://www.thefatherdifference.com/links
Courage and kindness, strength and gentleness, fortitude and tenderness. A father, a leader and a lifelong teacher, a comforter and a patient listener.
Speaker 1:A hero and a world changer, a gift from God above. Being a father is a high and holy calling. It is not only a blessing but also a stewardship. Fatherhood is a precious opportunity and a divine responsibility, because it is one of the many ways that God watches over all of us. A father is a protector and a provider, because it is one of the many ways that God watches over all of us. A father is a protector and a provider, a hard worker and a family man, a role model and a faithful friend. And so, from all of us to all of you, thank you to Thank you To the fathers.
Speaker 4:Okay, oh, there you are, jeff gotcha amy. Yeah, I gotcha. Hey, ed, how you doing all right? Well, hey, I am. I am live here and I got a guest that we have today, uh, an exciting, uh friend of mine and, matter of fact, a quarterback who's played an incredible career. But the thing that I love about Jeff Kemp is the kind of learner he is, the kind of father he is, the kind of grandpa he is, and we thought we'd just do kind of a last-minute get-together here.
Speaker 3:It's not a last minute, it's an audible baby. We're doing an audible.
Speaker 4:And so, anyway, yeah, we called an audible to kind of get connected, and so I'm just going to put him right up on the playing field right here as we get connected in. Look at all those game balls back there and you can see my one game ball back here but, yeah, he was an incredible guy. But what Jeff's got working for him more than anything else is about being a father, a real dad, and not only that, he's a tremendous ministry to men. Well, he teaches men how to huddle, he teaches men how to hear from God, read the Word, have guys around him, and today I wanted you to hear from Jeff about him and his dad and what God has done in his story, him and his dad, and what God has done in his story.
Speaker 4:And I got to and Jeff knows all this, but I got an opportunity many, many years ago to go over to his house and sit down with his dad and share Christ with him. I think that it came a little bit later, but he was already on the road out of football. Tremendous senator and compassionate heart for the poor, did so many, many things in his life and yet he stepped into his greatest role that he had. It was above all other things was that it was being a father and, by the way, that is our greatest role as a man, you know, is to be a father and then a grandpa, to which both Jeff and I are grandpas. I mean, I got to, I'm always trying to get in better shape to keep up with my grandchildren.
Speaker 3:I mean they're extraordinary and I took two of my grandkids. We went on little vacations with our son's families and skied with a five-year-old little girl, parker Lee, all over the mountain. And then I skied with Jack, my eightyear-old oldest grandson, four days straight. I think we did 70,000 vertical feet and the funny thing was I didn't even think about his age, so I just skied hard and I took him all over the mountain. He came into the house after skiing the second day and just fell on the stairs asleep because he was so tired. His grandpa didn't take it easy on him and I do need to stay in shape for my grandkids. You know mountain biking and playing pickleball and reading reading books to them, because sometimes you get tired reading, but that's what they need the most. Obviously. What a blast being a grandpa, being a dad, and some of the mistakes we did made as a dad. We can get fixed a little bit when we're a grandpa.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, one of the things is that and that's you and I have had this conversation a lot and it's a big part of your new book and a big part of a lot of things that you do.
Speaker 4:And you know, you know you have this incredible uh uh, a coaching group that you have, just like I coach. It's interesting Got uh called two of his uh gridiron guys to really fulfilling an incredible calling of of coaching men Right and and being spiritual fathers and spiritual grandpas to this next generation. And I don't know that. You know I loved my time playing football, not training camp, not the injuries, but what I loved was the relationship with the guys that I still have today. And then the things that I learned and it's one of the things about being a football player and you know this, especially as a quarterback is that you have to be willing to scramble at times as a dad and to hear from God about dealing with those places in your kids that are completely unexpected. I mean, we think we do it right, that our kids are going to turn out perfect, but they're human beings, they have their relationship with God, just like we do, and they're constantly looking towards us as fathers to capture what? Who does my dad really see me to be?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I went to a counselor one time because we had some conflict and issues with our sons, between them and us, and the counselor said something brilliant. He said what you really need to focus on, jeff, since you're past the stage of fathering these grown men. Stage of fathering these grown men, you need to focus on making sure they know that you enjoy them, the way they like to be enjoyed and when you can get across to your son or your daughter that you enjoy who they are, not just that they hit a home run, especially that you enjoy them, not for the stuff they do, but who they are, their personality, their nature, their character, their quirks. On their worst day do you enjoy them? Because, guess what, we have a Heavenly Father and you have been a champion in my life, ed, and you have been a champion in my life.
Speaker 3:Ed, and in hundreds of thousands of guys' lives, from prisons to the stadiums to executive boardrooms. You've been a champion with a simple message that we don't see God accurately until we see him as the very best, most approachable loving father possible, a perfect father, and that father gives us the God confidence to go be who you are meant to be. And I've been using that message, Ed, and maybe you should ask me to give a one-minute introduction of what I do, and I will, which I just invited you to do.
Speaker 4:So, basically, could you give us a one-minute introduction on what you do?
Speaker 3:I will right after I finish this point. The point was, if you know the Father in heaven that you have, then you know that he enjoys you. He takes delight in you. He takes pleasure in you for two big reasons. One, he made you and he doesn't make junk, he's a great designer. And two, even though you're super jacked up and went your own way and became a fallen messed up person and you're not even a cleaned up act yet he gave you Jesus, who forgave all that stuff in his eyes and gives you credit for Jesus's perfect life. And so he is smiling on you saying I see you in eternity.
Speaker 3:Ed, you are one stud. You're actually pretty thin in heaven and that hair grows back, but your character has all of the best stuff in you. Your laugh is still happening, but the little quirky things that are not so good in you, ed, those aren't there anymore. I don't see any of that because I'm outside of time and space and I see who Jesus earned you to be, who I intended. So I'm proud of you. I take delight in you, I take pleasure in you, I enjoy you. Well, we dads, when we get that from Abba Father, we can do a much better job, giving that to our children.
Speaker 4:That's right, because that core identity of who we are, where we try to name ourselves by our stuff, our things, our failures, our wins, our toys.
Speaker 3:Our brand these days. Here's my brand. Do I dress right? This is my brand this week right.
Speaker 4:My brand this week right. But if we're completely branded as a beloved son or daughter, then you don't have to work for approval anymore. You can just work from it.
Speaker 3:Oh man.
Speaker 4:Ed, that's what this book. Come on, tell us about that book. I love this book. Guys, how do you do it? Let's see, there we go, just put it right in front of you.
Speaker 3:There you see the way of Jesus for man. I was going to call this book. I was going to call it Real Good man. Now I'll do my one minute introduction, then I'll talk about the book. I'm Jeff.
Speaker 3:I'm a well-loved son of a perfect heavenly father. I'm the son of Jack and Joanne Kemp, a pro football player and public statesman. I was raised to compete, to serve, to lead, to make a difference. But I became insecure because I could never be as good a big deal as my dad. But at least I had Jesus Christ. And over the years I've been mentored and discipled and I've gotten the opportunity.
Speaker 3:As a guy that leads an organization called Men Huddle, I speak to men's groups like you do. I'm on the board of the Fatherhood Commission, which is where you and I have spent some time lately with other great fathering organizations. Yours is one of the champion ones that I love, and my mission at Men Huddle is to help men go back to friendship like Jesus, go back to connecting, like you and I did in the locker room. But talking about what matters Backwards, hey, I had a bad week. I messed up and sinned. Today I'm afraid I'm going to get fired. Tomorrow I'm thinking about investing $100 in this stock.
Speaker 3:My wife doesn't really think it's a good idea and I want to say this to my grown son. Well, by talking about that stuff to you, I find out that it's not going to work out so well with my grown son, so I won't do it. I should pay attention to my wife. Is what you tell me when I ask you and I end up saving the a hundred dollars I'm going to lose because I don't do something stupid, because I put it in front of a friend ahead of time. That's how you get the free counsel that Proverbs says we're all supposed to get. But this isn't something you got to go pay for. This was built into the Trinity father, son and spirit. Friendship Jesus said I'm your friend.
Speaker 3:You're my friend because I show you everything my Father shows me. Jesus had Peter, james and John and they hung out a lot. He took them up on the mountain. They got to go heal some little girl and raise her from the dead. They were hanging with him. He made campfire and cooked food for Peter. Gave him some good fishing advice led to 153 fish after zero all night. Gave him some good fishing advice Led to 153 fish after zero all night. He was Peter and James and John's deep core friend and he trained all the other guys to have a couple core friends and never go out alone. You know this Jesus thing, this kingdom of God thing, this walk with Christ thing, this be a solid man, be a good husband be a good dad.
Speaker 4:This is not a solo sport.
Speaker 3:Faith is not a solo sport.
Speaker 4:Men.
Speaker 3:Huddle is simply focusing men on the fact that you were made to live as a son, and I got a lot of that message, yes, from the Bible, but also from you. And secondly, you're made to live as a friend and you'll need one or two or three quality friends and they are distinguished from normal talk about normal stuff. Friends, they're not guys. They're even more valuable than a 2 am friend. A 2 am friend you could talk to about anything. He knows your secrets. You'll call him in a crisis, but you don't talk to him every week. The best friends, the deepest level friends, level five friends. I'll even show you guys a diagram from the book because I know you're very literary and your library is full of great books. You've almost finished coloring them all in, I know.
Speaker 4:Yeah, my crayons. Yeah, that's right, bro, yeah there you go. Yeah, we got it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, A level five friend is trusted, loyal, confidential, intentional, committed and consistent. It's pretty much a weekly connecting friend. You can't have very many of them, but most men don't have a level four friend or a level five friend. But you can get there and you can have it. It's the way of Jesus.
Speaker 3:It's my mission to coach men, especially leaders, ed, because when you get super busy traveling and you've been there you lose the regular consistency with those couple best friends. And then, if you're like a pastor or a CEO or a rock musician or something, you have a lot of power and wealth and position that you don't want to lose. And if someone finds out you're dabbling with porn or you're flirting with an affair or you're drinking, you know, not just a glass of wine at night but seven every night and your finances are really whacked out. If someone finds out you have so much to lose you think that you stop being real. So we have leaders who don't have friendship, which leads them to not having a self-awareness of where their blind spots are and where the next trips are going to come, that will make them fall man, that's so good.
Speaker 3:Pride leads to a fall, humility leads to healing and protection, and friendship leads us to humility and God confidence, because you tell your friends you're junk and they still like you. That's a real friend.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you know, my favorite level five friendship in the Bible was Jesus. In that scripture you talked about, it said that Peter and John went back fishing. He felt like he blew it. He denied Christ in front of the leaders there. He was at a charcoal fire warming himself. Three times he denied Jesus fulfilling a word that Jesus gave to him. Jesus basically said if you're going to try to live in your power, peter, as a man, you're going to fall away. Matter of fact, you're going to deny me three times Peter's like. There is no way. There's no way. And so you go to the end of John, one of my favorite restoration level five friend moments. Jesus is cooking fish at a charcoal fire. Now there's only one other place in Scripture where charcoal fire is mentioned and that was where Jesus denied him, where Peter denied Jesus.
Speaker 4:Yes, so Jesus, with a great friend, brings us back to our greatest failure and he asks him this Do you love me more than these? I think, pointing at the fish, do you love me? Jesus used the word agape, which is unconditional love. Do you unconditionally love me more than fish? And Peter's response was Lord, you know, I love you, and he changes the word I can only love you as a friend. Second time Jesus goes do you love me more than these? And he's asking him a second time and Peter's response was—and Jesus used the same word agape, unconditional love. And Peter said no, I can only love you as a friend. And the last question Jesus said can you just love me as a philo, as a friend? And Peter says that's all I got, friend. And Peter says that's all I got.
Speaker 4:Peter completely understood that God's measurement on his life wasn't that he lived a perfect agape love. I love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, that you never blow it, but that Jesus set him up to be a friend and he restored him. And he didn't really get it completely there because he even was worried about his position with the other disciples on who's going to sit at his right hand. They get in an argument over position. And the next scene, you see, which is one of my favorite little hidden scriptures, is when Peter it says and he takes his stands and he stands up because the Holy Spirit's poured out. See, the bringer of God's blessing in our life, as God blesses us, is the Holy Spirit Himself. And it says and Peter taking his stand. That's what the word means and he stood up. This is the first time he's public since everybody knew that he was a complete failure.
Speaker 4:The man of Jerusalem, and he preaches his sermon and 5,000 people get saved. See, that's how God restores us, is that we finally let Jesus into the ultimate friendship place with us, to where we understand, if we just bring him what we got. And it might. We might, just not we might. I'll tell you a little funny story. I'm, you know, I'm preaching this weekend. I'm getting a little hammered today, jeff, and just feeling like you know, just I'm not feeling it, lord, and I'm just you might really make it by hammered Ed.
Speaker 3:you don't mean the old alcohol hammered, you mean you're overloaded with details.
Speaker 4:No, I'm just I'm overloaded with just you know. You begin to measure your life based on the impact you thought you would make all the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so I just say, you know I'm going for a walk. So I walk down the street take a ride. I'm going to walk and get a little exercise before a meeting. And I'm walking and I hear Ed McGlashan at McLaughlin and I turn around to a neighbor I prayed for about a year ago that was 100 pounds heavier, and he goes come here, come here, come here, I need you, I need you. He said you know that prayer. You prayed a year ago when you and your wife walked by. You don't know.
Speaker 4:I was at the end of my life. My blood pressure was 210 over 190. Doctors didn't give me any hope of survival and you came and shared Jesus with me and laid your hand on me and I started to be healed. I went on your carnivore diet. I've lost 100. I got another 80 to go and I got some health things. So I need another prayer. I need a brother right now to lay hands on me and pray for me and Jeff.
Speaker 4:When I laid hands on him, you know all of the warfare right and all of the. You know the enemy's accusations, because he gets after everybody, no matter what you do left in a moment when I got to just love a brother. There's something about stepping into what you teach to where you're available to the Lord to love somebody. It's like, oh, the great preacher DL Moody said I really felt bad about myself when I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet. It's like God will then bring you right back in this place of understanding that you know, as we receive from the Lord, that God Jesus is such a good friend to me that when I have a perfectly good depression working, he knows how to break it by bringing me somebody that really needs to be loved and just being a friend to him for 15 minutes before our call. I mean.
Speaker 4:I'm walking home.
Speaker 3:My gait is different, man, I am pumped, you know, you did it when you got called by that guy and you made yourself available to him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You were giving him not your own wisdom and strength and intelligence and coaching. You gave him, like a funnel. Gives the bottom of the funnel a bunch of water. You gave him whatever God could give you, which is the Holy Spirit. Gives the bottom of the funnel a bunch of water. You gave him whatever God could give you, which is the Holy Spirit. But it's also revealing to him the Father. You put your hands on him and prayed for him.
Speaker 1:That's what a father does.
Speaker 3:So Jesus said I call you guys my friends because I show you. I reveal to you everything that my father shows to me. And Jesus is described in the Bible as the perfect manifestation of God. On earth. So if you want, to know what God, the Father, is like. Look at Jesus. If you want to know how to live as a man, don't think you've got to muster up the strength on your own. You don't. God took all the pressure off you. Jesus didn't even do it.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 3:Jesus didn't do his miracles, god did. He prayed God do a miracle. Then he praised the Father. God, we're going to feed these 5,000 folks. Bless this food, so it's enough to feed them.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like, how do I do it right? How do I do it? He's there. That's his internal prayer is Father, what are you doing here? We've got 5,000 people, how do we do this? And then Jesus looks to his disciples and goes you feed them. And here you feed them and he blesses the sardines I think there were seven sardines, a couple of beads of bread, and then, I think the disciples, they broke them all up and put them in baskets.
Speaker 4:Because if it would have been a miracle, like thousands of fish flowed off of a hill, it would have been written of a hill, it would have been written. But the miracle happened in. I think. You know, if we had a camera on Peter, he would have acted like it was heavy and he goes to the first person. Don't take too much. I got to spread this out. I get Peter saw was when the kingdom of God shows up, when we have nothing to give, but what he gives us, then the power to do what he's called us to do, happens, and I think if we saw Peter's face on camera, he would go and it was flowing out because the basket never emptied until everybody was fed.
Speaker 3:Oh, they came back with 12 extra baskets. God has more than enough. But the point I want to get across to guys, if you're trying to figure out, am I a good man? Am.
Speaker 4:I even a man?
Speaker 3:Am I a responsible man? Am I a valuable man? I don't feel like a good dad. Am I a good dad? Can I be a good dad? I failed on a past marriage or I'm struggling. I'm not sure if this one's going to make it. Can I be a husband? Do I have to go to church and pretend like I live righteous when I don't? All of the answers to that are God will do what you need him to do if you stop trying to prove yourself as a Christian, husband, dad, leader, whatever and you start receiving A your identity, your beloved son.
Speaker 3:It's the accomplishment of Jesus Christ. It's not your accomplishment. The pressure is not on you B receive. What are you going to do in the next 12 seconds when Ed asks you the next question, or Ed comes up with a new story and there's no time left for you to talk? What are you going to do, jeff, you have to talk to Stacy in a few minutes. What are you going to say? What are you not going to say? I can listen to the father, so he'll give me my identity. He'll give me, like he did to Jesus, all the work and all the words that he's going to do and he had like that helmet cam, I think, ed, like the NFL quarterbacks, not the cam, but the speaker.
Speaker 3:The coaches are talking to the speaker telling him to play, and it doesn't turn off before the play starts. God is talking to his son, jesus, all the time. Jesus was at least smart enough to be humble and dependent upon Abba, father. We who are imperfect and flawed unlike him, we wait till we're in trouble before we talk to him and say give me this line, or we come up with our game plan and say, please bless it, that is so dumb.
Speaker 3:Who do you think is more fun, jeff, or the God who invented marriage, sex, romance, orgasm, hawaii? I think God's more fun. Who's better, jeff, who can maybe give a birthday present that's under $50 to you, or God, who can give you an infinite gift of his son? He is fun, he is beautiful, he is generous, but he won't give you stuff that's going to mess you up.
Speaker 3:He'll give you what's best for you. We got to start seeing him as the perfect Abba father, receiving our identity, our guidance, and then you and I are going to have more confidence. And I want all those guys out there that are afraid if they drop their guard and tell a guy what they're struggling with, the guy will lose respect for them and the friendship will go south or the guy will bail on them. It's just the opposite.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because everybody's in the same place.
Speaker 3:He's in the same place to say what you know. Cs Lewis said this. He said true friendship is born at the moment where one man says to another what you too. I thought I was the only one. That's like my most vernacular version of CS Lewis.
Speaker 4:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 3:But it's so clear. But you were made for friendship guys. I will help you with friendship. Ed is going to have my resources on his website and you can get them at my website, menhuddlecom. I have a level five friendship playbook 10 pages that'll walk you through it. I got a little quick tip sheet on building deeper friendship. We can make that available. And, ed, I'm working on something called core three coaching to help guys develop that core of their couple of closest friends, like Jesus had, and you can do it in 2025.
Speaker 4:It's a different world, but we need it. We got to have it, man. Oh, I didn't shift gears just a little and let's talk about your dad a little bit and some of the things, because you watched your dad, you know just incredible football career, just amazing athlete, and like his son, by the way, and I met, I met. I remember I met you on Churchill.
Speaker 3:Field. Well, you were in college and I. You were with the Giants already, weren't you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I was with the Giants. You were senior year at Dartmouth with the heaviest leather football I've ever seen.
Speaker 3:You gave me a football that was even better than Tom Brady's deflated ball. Let me tell the story quick to save time. Dad was an underdog, came from la on 17th round draft pick. Uh didn't make it in the nfl for three years, finally became a starter with the san diego chargers. Uh became an all pro, got traded or sold to buffalo bills for 100 bucks when he broke his finger, won two championships. Championships there, beat the Chargers, was most valuable player in the league. He's the leading passer in the whole AFL from 1960 to 69. And then he ran for Congress in Buffalo and was running for vice president in 96.
Speaker 3:And one day I was comparing myself at age 50, feeling like how have I done? And I realized, shoot, at 50 years old my dad was running for president. I'm just running a little nonprofit, I haven't accomplished anything. He was the biggest encourager. He hugged me, kissed me, praised me. He said, jeff, I saw you today. You look great. I said dad, I didn't even get in the game. He said, oh, I know, I saw you warming up. You're really throwing the ball. Well, it's spinning great, ed. He was so optimistic, so positive. The word for my dad was lift. Yeah, lift, sunny, yeah, lift Like airplane wings gives you lift.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:A sunny, optimistic disposition that we can always make tomorrow better and that there's God-given potential in every person.
Speaker 4:And we need to lift it up in them.
Speaker 3:My dad was like the angel of Gideon who said Gideon, you're hiding, you're afraid, you're worried. Don't worry, dude, you're a great and mighty man of valor. You are who you will be, because I'm saying you are that now. My dad always said you can't be a leader, you can't be a leader. I believe in you. Your day is going to come. But you know what, ed? A lot of his faith was a little bit of a formula faith that thought, if you quote Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, trust the Lord with all your heart, lean on your understanding. He'll direct you, commit your way to the Lord Psalm 27, and he'll establish your plans. A lot of it was in his mind, not in his heart, of surrendering.
Speaker 3:If you don't surrender and you're still trying to shape your image as a solid Christian, politician and statesman or quarterback, or whatever you're doing, you'll come to the end of yourself. And my dad got to the end of himself with a couple of challenges late in life. After all he'd accomplished. He had cancer. There was nothing he could do and he knew he was going to die. But I think he took the chemo for his kid's sake. I think I was excessively optimistic and wanted him to stay alive. But he took the cancer, the treatments, and I wrote him a three-page front back bullet point list of everything I wanted to thank him for in life. And I went back from Seattle to DC. I went every month to visit him when he was sick and I read my thank you list to my dad.
Speaker 3:Unbelievable, he taught me compassion for the poor, appreciation for the black players and what they've gone through. Ask people's stories. He taught me optimism. He taught me quarterbacking. He taught me to ski. He taught me to trust the Lord that he's got a plan. He included me in adult conversations. I majored in economics because my dad talked about it at the dinner table. He was always there whether I was third string or first string, you know interceptions or touchdowns. He loved me just the same. He did the same for my sisters and my brother. He was great that way, but he still had trouble with his identity getting wrapped up in what he was achieving.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And I read him this list and he cried, I cried, he laughed, I laughed and two months later he was about to die and I was with him. He died four days later and I said, dad, would you pray a blessing on me? And he loved the Judeo-Christian heritage and he was a great friend of Jewish people and Israel. He knew the Old Testament had blessings that fathers prayed on their kids. Why the Christian faith hasn't carried that on is dumb Rites of passage. Is our version of it. We should keep doing that.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 3:I said, dad, would you pray a blessing on me? I'm leaving tomorrow night, and so he's laying on his bed, lost 60 pounds, no hair. His raspy voice is soft rather than loud, like mine, and he puts his hand on my right forearm as I'm laying next to him and he hardly had any breath or energy. Yet he was really close to death. But he prayed the most brilliant succinct prayer ever. I think it was the Gettysburg address of prayers. He said dear God, help Jeff. Remember his talent.
Speaker 3:Help him remember the force for good he is in this world and help us both remember that the only thing that matters is thy will be done. Amen. In my dad's version, ed, when he said, help Jeff remember his talent, he knew those were God-given talents, so he was calling out my identity as God's son who was put on this earth to use my gifts for God's glory. But then he said help him remember the force for good he is in this world. How confident was he making me. He was saying you're the great and mighty man of valor Gideon, you're a great general, you're a stud, even though you're afraid. He was saying, jeff, you're here for a purpose. You make a difference in the world. And he was praying that over me. He was praying my destiny, helping me remember the difference he makes in this world. And then he did something fabulous. He took the pressure off me, yes, and he said but help us both remember and this is a guy on his deathbed who finally had a great vision of grace and forgiveness and Jesus and heaven as the true destination, and he was at peace with that. And he says help us both remember the only thing that matters. Basically, he's saying the very best thing is thy will be done.
Speaker 3:The exact words of Jesus, who told his dad I would rather not suffer on the cross and be separated from you, my perfect dad, and be punished for Ed and Jeff and their stupidity and the rest of the world's rebellion. You know the nails and the crucifixion was very horrendous pain, but that wasn't the worst pain. The pain was Jesus chose to suffer our punishment, which separated him from his dad for the first time ever, and the grave was a monumental division of which it was never intended to be divided. But Jesus said in the garden in fact he said, peter, can you stay awake and pray with me and Peter and the other dudes? They actually fell asleep because they're like you and me and even so, jesus forgave them.
Speaker 3:But he said, father, if there's any way to take this cup away from me, I'd rather not have to drink this cup, to be separated from you and pay this price, to suffer your wrath for humanity's rebellion. But if this is the only way, thy will be done, and that's what my dad's praying and look what thy will be done turned into when Jesus did that. The worst blitz in history. The total shift from Hosanna. Hosanna to crucify him. The worst blitz in history turned into the greatest victory ever, and now we get adopted as God's sons.
Speaker 4:We have the Holy Spirit living in us.
Speaker 3:You go to some guy on the sidewalk and pray for him. You go to some guy on the sidewalk and pray for him, he loses a hundred pounds and gets excited about Jesus and he's healed. You're a funnel of God's love because you're close to his father, Ed. We want all the guys listening on Father's.
Speaker 3:Day to know you matter. You're valuable. Your track record as a dad isn't the determinant of your future. You're Abba, father, and you receiving his love instead of just earning it, which you can't. Tim Keller said you can't do anything to make God love you anymore, and you can't do it to make him love you any less.
Speaker 4:That's right, baby.
Speaker 3:That's it. You receiving that love gives you his control over your future, to make you the dad you were meant to be. And I'll tell you to use the same technique. I use my best fathering as a father of grown sons, grown men is an apology, apology.
Speaker 3:I'm modeling the gospel when I say dude, I messed up and I did it a lot of times. By over-mentoring you, over-coaching you, I gave you unsolicited advice. I know that feels like criticism. Will you please forgive me? And if you catch me doing it again, feel free to tell me? And then, pete and Greg are my two huddle buddies. I talk to them every week and I tell them the things that I confess and the things that I commit to. The bad week I had husbanding, the good week I want to have, by the Holy Spirit and God's help. And I say help me, pray for me, talk to me, keep me on the road and even when I blow it, they don't look down on me. We've shaken hands on confidentiality and trust. We've shaken hands on a no judgment zone. We've shaken hands on we're not here to fix each other. We are here to be brothers and committed friends. Ecclesiastes says a triple braided cord is not broken and Tim.
Speaker 3:Keller, who I'm quoting again. He said a friend always lets you in and doesn't let you down.
Speaker 3:You got to let your friends in. You got to. Let them see the real you. Tell them the abuse you went through in the childhood. Tell them your wounds. Tell them your trauma. Tell them the terrible, heinous sins you've committed. Tell them what you're struggling with right now. Tell them you promised to be confidential and you ask him for confidentiality and then ask him to pray for you and you say well, how can I pray for you? What's the most important thing? I can pray for you. And then I tell men, get spontaneous pray right away. Don't say, oh yeah, I'll pray for you, brother, and don't pray long and holy, just pray a man prayer which is tongue in cheek. But it's like this Dear God, whatever's best for Ed and his son and his daughters and his wife, do it In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Ready Break.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to go too long. I didn't try to guess what's the best thing to pray, I just said God, you do what's best in your beautiful, perfect mind.
Speaker 4:That's right. That's friendship. That is, you know, and the principle that I love, that I see all through your life, is that you're not trying to get permission from God to do something. You're going. What are you doing so I can do it with you? Oh, thank you. So when you're following, you have all the anointing and power and gifting you need, but when you're leading the relationship, god, I want you to do this. I want you to do this Instead of—I had this moment a few months ago and it occurred to me that I not asked the Lord for a couple weeks about—I saw that my wife, jill, was kind of going through a hard time and I said Lord, what are you doing with my wife?
Speaker 4:So I'm driving home, I'm praying. I started weeping because he just gave me this incredible heart for her. So I started praying for her that Jesus would just—because my wife led all of her family to Christ, so I just prayed that she'd have a new season. She calls me 10 minutes later, weeping, going. I said what's the matter? She goes? Just about 10 minutes ago, the Holy Spirit fell on me and he started bringing out that calling that I had when I was a young girl. And I'm just sitting there going. God, you are like, when I follow you that stuff gets done. When I follow Ed boy, I mess it up. So good stuff, oh boom.
Speaker 3:Someone's celebrating what you're saying in the background and putting a bunch of those cool graphics on. It's either the Holy Spirit or someone who knows how to use the technology that we're on, which isn't me.
Speaker 4:So, jeff, why don't you lead these guys? Because there's a bunch of guys, and both you and I know this we're never going to have a perfect dad to model everything perfectly. We're not going to be a perfect dad to model everything perfectly. But when we learn, through Christ, to add the Father in our story and begin to, like Jesus said in John 5, 17, I can only do what I see the Father doing.
Speaker 4:When we live in that place where our true core identity is not football player or retired football player or whatever, a lot of guys' names are just their failure, their brokenness, their weakness. But when we begin to learn that our core and true identity is just to be a son, and from that place of being a son and fathered like Jesus gets fathered, got fathered when he walked on the earth we get everything that we need. We get every bounce back. He shows us about every blitz that's coming, and I mean he prepares us to be a present, loving dad. So could you pray these guys out and your best father's day blessing prayer for these guys.
Speaker 3:I'm going to journey with you because you just explained that we receive everything good. We don't earn it.
Speaker 4:We don't achieve it, we receive it Because if we achieve it, we'll win a trophy. We take credit for it.
Speaker 3:And then our pride would make us idiots again and we'd mess up, just like how the world started. I mean, guys, put an exclamation point on this. Pride divides and kills. Humility heals and unites, that's exactly right. Look at Philippians, chapter two, and you'll find that there's no one ever been more humble than Jesus.
Speaker 3:It's the nature that made him go to the cross. For us it's the nature that made him. You know, get on. All the guys that wanted to stone the woman called an adultery, when they didn't even bring the guy that caused the adultery. And he said if anyone's never sinned you could throw the first stone. Right? And he said if anyone's never sinned you could throw the first stone. It was Jesus's humility that did everything great. And he always said I'm going to depend on my dad because I can do nothing apart from my dad. So that's my prayer First of all, receive Jesus Christ as their complete solution to everything wrong in their life and their Savior and their Lord, so that life becomes abundant even when your circumstances suck.
Speaker 3:You've got joy, peace and you've got the Holy Spirit. You can make incredible lemonade out of lemons, you can turn your mess into a message, but you got to receive Jesus, who is the blitz overcomer. You got to receive Jesus and that might mean surrendering to him for the first time instead of Sunday school. Yeah, I signed up to say I'm a Christian because I went in church. Guys, I pray that you would surrender and receive Jesus and in receiving him, you receive what you gain automatically adoption by your perfect father.
Speaker 3:So, father, I pray that you would convince these men that you have chosen them in Jesus and adopted them as your beloved son, unconditionally agape loved, and that they would receive that as their identity and stop striving and trying to achieve and trying to perform their Christianity or their fatherhood or their husbanding or anything else. They can't. It wouldn't work that way. It's just received.
Speaker 3:So help them to receive and then make every one of us daily dependent sons who live like Jesus did, who say I can do nothing apart from the Father and I'd be an idiot to do anything apart from the Father. I need him to tell me what to do before I do it, and then I need his power to do it, and then I'll give you the credit when it happens and I won't become a jerk who's arrogant. So you're so good in every way. Give guys the receive principle into their lives of living as sons who receive it all in guidance from the Father. And then, lord, I pray that you would help them learn to, in humility, be strong by apologizing, by asking what they can learn from their son or daughter with the question how can I love you better? And the same thing to their wife. How can I love you better? And apologizing it's the most manly, gutsy thing to do and it heals because it's humble.
Speaker 3:Father give them the courage to do that. And then, lord, finally, I pray that every single guy here knows that two other guys need him as their level five friend and he needs them, and I pray you'd talk to them as they ask you to guide them to who their level five friends should be. They're Jesus type friends. They're intentional, consistent, weekly, connecting huddle buddies. God may they get intentional to choose full friendship and full disclosure and full partnership in one another's success. It's an awesome way to live. It's the way Jesus, peter, james and John lived and he wants it for us. Lord, I pray you'd do that for them, in Jesus' name amen, amen.
Speaker 4:Thank you, buddy, that was just awesome. Always love being with you and guys right on the screen Right here, see that book he's holding up. I want you to go right now to jeffcampteamcom slash, receive and get this book. And he's got a beautiful program Like fully endorse him. And I got to snap the ball to a real quarterback today and he just threw a touchdown. Baby, the received touchdown.
Speaker 3:And then I gave you the ball to spike in the end zone and, man, you did a fancy dance and there's fireworks in the background. You spiked in. It didn't even bounce up and hit you in the groin, so everyone's.
Speaker 4:You know it's funny. Oh, there we go.
Speaker 3:This, this little free, 10 page level five friendship playbook, is what you've been offering at my website all day. That's that's the tool I want to help men grow in friendship. It doesn't cost anything. It's Jesus idea. I don't want to charge for it. Yes, you can buy the Receive book and you'll get information on both those things there. But, man, we love investing in men, don't we, Ed and we?
Speaker 4:love giving men. Well, you know what. So goes your father, so goes the town, the county, the state, the nation, the world. That's why God's first priority wasn't to build government or even the church. His first priority was to build family.
Speaker 3:All right, as we wrap up, I got to do something special for you.
Speaker 4:Okay, tell me, tell me.
Speaker 3:All of you, all of you, uh, ed McGlashan fans out there there. This game ball is honorarily being presented to Ed Tandy McGlasson on behalf of his dad that sacrificed his life in the Navy, and his other dad that raised him macho tough to get him in the NFL, and his third dad who did it perfectly. Who's the heavenly father? So, ed, for all you've done to help other men get refathered.
Speaker 4:Oh man, thank you.
Speaker 3:I grant you this game, ball 2025, and you and I haven't even played football in 40 years.
Speaker 4:I take it. I take it. I love you, man. I'm so blessed by you. Again, if you're just tuning in, make sure you get to his website. And right here, jeffteam kempteamcom, I got a little outro video. I'm going to play a little bit about what we do as well, but, jeff, you're one of my heroes, man.
Speaker 3:Love you, praying for you.
Speaker 4:And, just a matter of fact, our wives are very similar. When I first met Jeff, he built a soundproof room for his boys in the garage, remember that, and it was padded so they couldn't hurt themselves. And Stacy was in the kitchen and had a monitor. Well, my wife wears noise reduction headphones when the grandkids get too loud, or my kids, and so she doesn't hear me all the time she goes. They're just really loud.
Speaker 3:She needs those. For you, you alone, there's a lot to handle.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you ain't lying. You ain't lying. She told me somebody said well, how's it being with that? He goes. Well, it all depends on what time it's in the tornado All right, my bro. Thank you very much. God bless you Happy. Father's Day, you're a champ man Happy.
Speaker 3:Father's Day to you and all the dads, it matters.
Speaker 4:Amen, praise the Lord Bye.
Speaker 2:Dear friends, imagine a world where every father feels equipped to lead with faith, love and purpose, A world where families thrive and communities grow stronger because of devoted, Christ-centered fathers. You know, beloved.
Speaker 4:That is the vision that God's put in my heart for every single family. You know he is on the move. I believe he promises in Malachi that before the great and coming day of the Lord, he's going to do something profound. He's going to turn the hearts of fathers back towards their children, so the hearts of their children will turn back to their father. That's what God is doing. I meet dads daily who want to learn to be better fathers. Yet many have never been shown how Too many families are being fractured through bitterness and with parents and grandparents even being canceled.
Speaker 4:That's why we're launching an online community to equip men to be the fathers that God has called them to be. It's more than a program. It's part of a movement that God is already doing to reshape fatherhood as a sacred calling rooted in the teachings of Christ, and we're calling this the Fatherhood Academy, where men will embark on a journey of healing and spiritual restoration that helps them transform their family relationship. And to make this vision a reality, would you consider partnering with us financially as we continue to reach and disciple every man, dad and grandpa that comes our way? Your donation will help create a ripple across the neighborhoods, communities you know and, ultimately, our nation. Anchoring each child, here's a vision in the unwavering love and guidance of a devoted dad, will you partner with us?
Speaker 2:Your gift, whether a one-time donation or ongoing monthly support, will help to transform lives. Together, we can equip fathers and grandfathers to lead with faith and create a brighter, hope-filled future for generations to come. Click the link to donate today. Thank you for believing in this mission and joining us on this transformative journey.
