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Our next project will be a four month men's study called "Letters from Dad" based on the book by Greg Vaughn of that same title. Beginning this fall, men are invited to join us as we study how we can leave a legacy both now and after we are gone for our wives, children, grandchildren, and ...
Here is more information about Letters from Dad taken from their website. Stay tuned for more information as to when we will begin meeting but make plans now to join us!
How did Letters from Dad come into being? Four years ago I lost my father to Alzheimer’s. Shortly after his death, I found myself alone in my garage staring at his old rusty fishing equipment that I had some how inherited. At that moment, I was overcome with feelings of anger and hurt. Angry at my father, at God and myself. I found myself asking the questions that many of you may have asked, “Why couldn’t my father tell me he loved me? Why couldn’t we have been closer? Why couldn’t you have given me a father like ___ ? ”
I was saddened by the fact that I did not possess even a signature of my father.
At that moment, a haunting question came to my mind and it went something like this: “Greg, if you were to die today, what would your kids hold in their hands tomorrow that would let them know that they were the treasures of your life? As I pondered that piercing question, I had to sadly answer…NOTHING, just like my father left me NOTHING.
Shortly after this garage event, I called twelve of my closest friends and asked them to go with me on a journey I was calling Letters from Dad. It was during our months together that God revealed a marvelous plan whereby we could leave a legacy of faith, hope and love through the lost art of letter writing. Upon completion of our time together every one of these Godly men told me that it was one of the most significant events of their lives.
These twelve men were so excited about what had happened in their families, they invited their closest friends to a dinner and asked me to come share the vision of Letters from Dad. To my amazement over 120 men came to this dinner and during the next few months I led this group through the Letters from Dad process. Upon completion of that semester the men again held a big dinner but this time over 250 men showed up. At the third dinner in the spring of 2004 we had over 750 men present. It was after the third semester that we knew God was doing something that needed to be shared with the rest of the country. At the time of this writing (9/1/04) we are preparing for over 1,200 men to attend our fall dinners.
Every week we receive calls from all over the country asking us to bring Letters from Dad to their cities. After much prayer and great planning we are asking God for over 1,000 Letters from Dad groups within the next 12 months in local churches throughout the country.
God is truly using this simple concept as part of His promise of Malachi 4:6 where He says before His great and mighty return He will “turn the hearts of the Fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their Fathers.” As men hear about Letters from Dad they almost immediately want to be a part. It is as if men’s hearts are burning to be connected more deeply with their wives and children.
Greg Vaughn, author of Letters from Dad
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