Testimony by Ed Heinrich-father, grandfather, great grandfather and church leader. He shares about his journey through the Abiding Fathers’ material with his family and leading men in his church.

Pastor Emile is one of the first trained cohort of pastors serving the Church of God of the New Testament in Rwanda. He shares the impact the training has performed in his life, his family and his ministry.  In this special testimony, he also shares what the future looks like after being transformed by the Abiding Fathers’ discipleship tool.

This is the expansion of Abiding Fathers program in Rwanda in one of the biggest denomination called the Church of God of the New testament. The Bishop shares his testimony about the impact the program is having on their church and the multiplication phase that will follow.

We are offering the progress of the African countries towards the growth of Abiding Fathers men’s discipleship journey. This is a call for more support to reach out to more men in Africa and beyond.

Romeo’ life story is about a journey of discovering what it takes to be a man after God’s own heart. First by understanding his relationship with his father and working on himself to be a better man, husband and a good father. As a disciple maker he is discipling other men to be better and become the men God wants them to be.

So, I guess I was one or two when they got divorced, and there was a lot of drugs and alcohol involved in that early scene. My father eventually died of alcoholism in my arms years later. You know, at that time it was just too much for my mother to be around, so that was sort of my very first taste of that type of environment.

My name is Holt Haynesworth. I’m a new father. I have a brand-new daughter who’s two months old now, Chloe, with my wife Megan Haynesworth. Learning to make good decisions about things and intelligent decisions, whether or not you’re on the spectrum of smart or not so smart, you have to practice making decisions. And, you have to be encouraged when you do something right, say “Hey you made the right choice.” My stepfather was very controlling versus John, my father; John would allow me to figure this stuff out on my own. Where my stepfather, even when he was helping would want to think for me, and then force the answer on me for me to accept it. He was very smart, and it was very much the right answer, but the difference was I was not challenged to think, and make these decisions, and practice making decisions in that kind of environment.

You don’t want your kids… I don’t think anybody would want their kids to be hurt, and it’s hard to sit back on the sideline and actually watch someone make the wrong decision. I don’t think you should stand on the sideline and watch your kids mess up constantly, but to actually allow them to make a decision, allow them to make a mistake, and then come in and talk to them about it. Say “Hey, what do you think happened? Why do you think it didn’t work out the way you wanted it to? What would you do better next time?” Challenge them to think about these things, and not be afraid of making mistakes, because usually you get afraid of someone criticizing you. Make them so they’re fearless about attacking life, and be OK with making mistakes, and welcome them to try to learn from those things so the mistakes become less and less and less.

Share your father story with Be The Dad Movement here.

I think what she saw and what I was used to seeing growing up were very different. I think she saw some things in me that were scary. She actually broke up with me and that really set me back. I kind of went off and went into a pretty dark rebellious stage.

I’m Chris Harden and this is my wife Alexa. We’ve got three children. We have been married for 13 years and we have three children.

I grew up Catholic. I made a lot of bad decisions growing up. I experienced a lot of abuse growing up, both emotionally, physically, mentally, and other. When I went to college, I was pursuing money and trying to be popular and trying to be liked by others around me. I was into things I shouldn’t have been in: drugs, alcohol, promoting bands and clubs, just that party scene.

One night, I was walking out of a club I was promoting. I had a bunch of money in my pocket and I was drunk. There was a fight in the parking lot. I walk out and the last thing I remember was talking to some guy at his car and I woke up the next day in the hospital. The doctor said I was lucky to be alive.

Alexa: He was in the ICU for a while.

I was in the ICU for about a week and the doctor said I had a fractured skull and a fractured jaw and a broken ear drum from – he thought I got hit with a tire iron in the back of my head. That’s really where –

Alexa: rock bottom –

God said “What are you doing? I’ve given you blessings that you’re not… So anyway, that prompted me to get out of Lubbock and interestingly enough, it brought Alexa and I together quickly after that.

Alexa: I had heard about this happening to him. I was in Dallas at the time and I heard about that happening. I had actually heard that he had died. For me, that was horrible because we were broken up, but I loved him and I had hoped that we would come back together. I think that God definitely had his hand in that because all the pieces worked their way back to us getting back together.

When we did get back together, that was really the turning point in my faith. That was when I started to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He was pursuing me and I was pursuing him.

When Sophia was born, we didn’t know what we were doing. When we decided to move from Fort Worth back to Dallas, I was looking to get plugged into a ministry in the real estate industry and I came across Abiding Fathers. Based on the way I grew up, it was intriguing because it’s like “Wow, what is this? There is a ministry dedicated to training and equipping fathers on how to be a dad? As a Christian? I’m in on that.” So I signed up for the class that Bill Dotson was teaching at the church and went to this class and just ate up the material. It was amazing because I was getting practical, real-world knowledge and application of how to take biblical principles and apply them to fatherhood.

Alexa and I have talked about this: We are going to raise our kids differently than we grew up. The things of your past don’t have to be carried on into your future. You can change the way you grew up for your kids. I didn’t have a father who mentored me, who prayed for me, who listened to me growing up – not a mentor type. Through the Abiding Fathers, I’ve learned to mentor, I’ve learned to disciple my kids, I’ve learned to pray for my kids, I’ve learned to teach my kids, and listen to them.

Author & Motivational Speaker Jeremy Anderson visited Columbus, GA and spoke at a local middle school, high school, and Columbus State University. During his time at the middle and high schools he noticed that the vast majority of the students live in homes where their fathers aren’t present. This is a problem, and Jeremy’s on a mission to fix it. This video below will show what took place during the Columbus School Tour. To book Jeremy for your school or University visit www.jeremyanderson.org or email his assistant Ebony at Ebony@JeremyAnderson.org.

If you need help taking the next steps in becoming a man, a son, a dad of consequence and purpose, feel free to contact us at: bill@abidingfathers.org.