200 | Belly Laughter, Feeling Stuck & Sailboat Fatherhood (Jeff Zaugg)
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Jeff Zaugg
Jeff and Michelle Zaugg celebrated 15 years of marriage last summer. They currently live in a 37 foot RV traveling across the United States with their 4 young daughters. After 10-years of entrepreneurial non-profit ministry leadership, Jeff served as a pastor at Substance Church in the Twin Cities for the past 7 years. In Fall 2020 Jeff took the leap and went full-time fatherhood ministry. He is the founder and lead cheerleader at dadAWESOME & FATHERS FOR THE FATHERLESS. When he's not wrestling or playing hide and seek with his daughters, you might find Jeff out for a bike ride, making a pour over coffee, sitting by a fire with his wife or challenging some friends to a game of Spikeball.
Show Notes:
- 1:23 - "When I say become dadAWESOME, it's never been about an arrival or I am dadAWESOME. You're not, I'm more dadAWESOME than you are anything like that. It's a journey of focus and intentionality of saying, I'm going to be dadAWESOME for my kids and I'm becoming. It's a never ending journey of becoming that will continue till we reach heaven, because even as a great grandfather, someday I'm still going to be becoming dadAWESOME. And I think focus matters. Focus matters on this journey.
- 2:28 - "A look BACK. This thing started with an idea of, what if we help encourage intentional fatherhood?
- 6:03 - A look FORWARD
- 6:12 - GOALS:
- Keep cheering on intentional fatherhood.
- Keep seeking wisdom, both practical ideas and high level perspectives around intentional fatherhood through interviews on the podcast
- Keep rallying fathers to train together to do a hard thing on behalf of the fatherless
- Keep growing partnerships with other like hearted organizations so that we can resource dads further with books and retreats and other things that we're not going to do immediately
- 6:49 - "My prayer is that we would awaken a generation of dads that would realize the fact that they have a Heavenly Father who wants to father them. I believe that many of us dads are living as if we were fatherless, so we're accidentally passing on pain to our kids, were passing on hurts to our kids because all of us have imperfect fathers... none of us are perfect fathers. None of us had perfect fathers, but were accidentally, I believe, living as if we were fatherless. When we have a Heavenly Father who wants to bring freedom and healing so that we can pass on LIFE and we can pass on JOY and PEACE and LOVE to our kids, not pain to our kids. So that's I look forward. I'm more passionate than ever."
- 8:01 - "My prayer is that every interaction (from dadAWESOME) would just be a nudge in the direction of treasuring the role of being a dad. It is such a gift that we get to be dads. It's such a gift and we've been entrusted these treasures, our kids. And that's my main prayers that any time you interact with dadAWESOME in any way that it would nudge you in that direction of seeing this as a gift from God that we get to be dads."
- 8:57 - IDEA #1 = "I think God wants me to laugh more often with my kids"
- 9:52 - Acts 8:8 says. And there was great joy in that city
- 10:21 - "May your homes be known as a place that there was great joy found in that home where kids think back about all these years and their dad and say there was great joy that just radiated from my dad. His eyes shined as he belly laughed."
- 10:44 - IDEA #2 = RV Story - the first 48 hours
- 14:05 - "I want to encourage you guys that stuck does not mean you're outside of God's will. Stuck does not mean you're going to stay stuck. Stuck does not mean that you messed something up. Stuck does not mean that you're inadequate. Stuck does not mean that you're unloved. Stuck does not mean it's easy. It's stuck is a perfect setup for the John 10:10 the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to do that in your fatherhood journey your dad life. He wants to steal kill destroys often as possible"
- 14:48 - "You have a Heavenly Father who is for you and is known. He is famous throughout the history of the world for getting stuck people unstuck."
- Exodus 14:13 "Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today."
- 15:34 - "I'm a dad who has what it takes. I am dadAWESOME. You are dadAWESOME. Do not think that being stuck means that you don't have what it takes because God is fathering you. He's your Heavenly Father and he has gifted you your kids and he's like, Treasure those gifts"
- 16:08 - A speedboat mentality or a sailboat mentality
- 18:16 - "When we're feeling stuck, think sailboat, not speedboat. What if the wind is just not blowing? What if this is the time to learn and to be humble and to say, what can I take away from this versus a pointing at all the things that are wrong? What can I experience now that will help me be the dad that my kids need me to be?"
- 19:05 - "There are 40 people who have given to help finance some of the budget. This last year, about half of the budget was financed through 40 families. And and if some of you guys want to join that team to help fuel this movement www.dadawesome.org/give
Episode Links:
- https://thelifechurch.com/locations/new-york
- http://leadershipinblackandwhite.com/
- FATHERS FOR THE FATHERLESS
- Make a Donation to dadAWESOME
- Join the dadAWESOME Prayer Team
Conversation Transcript
Coming Soon!