This is an incredibly significant day for me and my son, Parker. He celebrated a birthday this week and I decided to put together a birthday covenant. I really feel like this is a critical year in his physical, spirtual, and intellectual development. So I want to be very intentional about discipling him over the next year. So tonight we’re going camping and I’m going to present him with a covenant that will consist of three challenges. I will detail it more at a later date, but it involves a physical challenge, intellectual challenge, and spiritual challenge. My hope is that it will stretch him in those areas and help form a stronger bond as father and son. If he completes those three challenges, then my part of the covenant is taking him on a trip for his next birthday. But it will be more than a trip. It will be a celebration of his accomplishment. And it will be a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts–a rite of passage.

I would covet your prayers for my kids! I really think this could be a milestone in Parker’s life! I’ll try to share the things I’m learning as a dad because I know that is what is most important to us and where many of us feel like failures.

More than anything else, I want my kids to grow up and be glad I was their dad! I know I’ll mess up and make mistakes. But I want the personal knowledge that I gave fatherhood everything I’ve got! And as a pastor, I absolutely refuse to sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry! I’ve seen it happen to too many PKs. One of my deepest desires is that my kids would love God and love the church BECAUSE their dad was a pastor. Not inspite of it. I want them to feel like they were lucky to be PKs!