This month I want to honor and encourage fathers. I also want to challenge Dads to the very high standard of their God-given responsibility to their children. “ . . . Children are a gift of the Lord . . . like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” (Psalm 127:3) Parenting is hard work, but God is faithful to supply all that we need to parent well and aim our children like arrows towards knowing Jesus. Children are a precious treasure that we are called to steward well. When they are grown, they will represent us and the Lord well or they will not. The formative years of childhood pass quickly and fathers and mothers must be diligent in how they mold the precious lives entrusted to them. ...

The statistics I’ve read indicate that Americans are not getting sufficient sleep. The average in 1942 was 7.9 hours of sleep/night. The current average is 6.8 hours of sleep/night. 43% of American say they would feel better if they got more sleep. Not surprisingly, older adults got more sleep and 20-30 year old adults with children under 18 got the least amount.

Why does it matter whether we get 5 hours (like Winston Churchill) or 8 hours? Again research has shown that if we are shortchanging ourselves on sleep we will be less efficient and more irritable. Our brains will not be as nimble and our response times will be longer. This means that we will be less able to concentrate, more prone to making mistakes at work, and more likely...

One of the most beneficial courses I took at Denver Seminary in 2001 was on addictions. I learned about sexual addiction and alcohol and drug addiction. It was very interesting and highly applicable. In order to work with clients who struggled with these addictions, we were required to deal with our own “stuff.” I had to face my own struggles with pornography and the sexual sin in my family-of-origin.

On the drive home from that summer course, the Lord gave me a vision of a ministry to men who, like me, battled sexual sin. The vision was in my head and heart. It had a military theme and encompassed two stages, a catalytic event, The Battle, and a small group ministry, a Purity Platoon. In sharing the vision with my mentor, Dr. ...

Few of you have ever met the man in this article. His name is Nolan Wike. I have known Nolan for the past 20 years. By trade, Nolan is a firewall expert in the computer field. In ministry, he was part of First Platoon when the purity ministry began in 2002. He is a member of The Grove Church in Maple Grove, MN and serves on the tech team on Sundays and for special events. He also volunteers to provide tech support for several theater groups in the Twin Cities.

Nolan was a sergeant for a number of years leading purity platoons as well as the tech master for the National Coalition For Purity. Nolan and I traveled to churches all across Minnesota helping churches to launch Battles for their men. Finally, Nolan served on the board of the ...