July 30, 2025 • 47 mins
Few societal institutions are as vital yet as overlooked as fatherhood. It is imperative that we rebuild the role of fathers in the family—but how do we do that? On the next Equipped, Chris Brooks talks with Dr. Anthony Bradley about how to encourage fathers to grow in their roles to lead their children well.
Article mentioned:
"The Crisis and Promise of Fatherhood" by Anthony Bradley
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:19):
Well. Hey there friends, welcome to another exciting edition of
equip with Chris Brooks! I'm so thrilled that you've joined
us today. Do me a favor, strap on your seatbelt.
We're going to navigate through the contours of culture, as always,
with the lens of the biblical worldview on. But before
we do that, let me remind you, this is the
day that the Lord has made. He has given it
as a gift so that you and I can rejoice
(00:42):
and be glad in it. So let's do just that.
Let's follow the words of the Apostle Paul. Let's rejoice
in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Well,
today I want to talk to you about fatherhood. It's
been called one of the most important ingredients to a
flourishing society and church. And I don't think that's an overstatement,
(01:04):
but it's also equally true that we are in a
fatherhood crisis. You see it all around us. You see
it portrayed in the cultural messages that are given to
us through the media, through, uh, so many of the
social and programmatic and academic studies that, uh, have produced
a culture that diminishes fathers and their role in the
(01:29):
hearts and minds of many. Uh, but yet there is
a quiet revolution, I think, that's beginning to happen that
is pushing back on those false cultural narratives. And one
of the leading voices for that in, uh, in the
Christian faith has been Doctor Anthony Bradley. It's been my
long desire to have him on to talk about this topic.
(01:53):
He's a scholar and a distinguished research fellow at the
Acton Institute. He also is a research professor of interdisciplinary
and theological studies at Kuyper College. And, uh, someone who
has in many ways, at times had to, uh, stand
on an island alone. I'm sure at least it felt
(02:14):
that way, calling the church to reconsider its biblical understanding
of the roles of fathers and the commitment that we
need to have to fathers if we're going to successfully
disciple and reach the next generation. Doctor Bradley has written
Voluminously on this and has spoken on this, and today
(02:38):
he's my guest now, for he joins us. I do
want to say that what makes this program special is
your interaction. We are live today and that means something
because that means we can take your calls. And I
don't want to just talk about fatherhood in the philosophical sense.
There are men who are listening to us right now
(02:58):
who are saying, I'm a new father, pray for me.
There are men who are listening right now that say, um,
I'm fathering from a distance and I don't know how
to do that. Well, and I'm facing challenges. There are
men who are listening right now who say, I feel
like I've blown it and I don't know how to
make things right again. Wherever you are on the spectrum
(03:21):
of fatherhood, I want you to know today is your
day and we want to pray for you. I would
love nothing more than to be a prayer partner with
you today, to come alongside brother to brother, man to man,
to just encourage you, to pray for you and to
with Doctor Bradley, share whatever wisdom and encouragement we can.
(03:42):
Here's the phone number. Man 8775675. That's 877548 3675. This
is not this is not an environment to bash men
to heap on you condemnation. That's not what this is about.
This is wall to wall encouragement. Uh, we got to
(04:04):
talk honestly, but we're going to do so with a
redemptive voice. The phone number Five. Four. Eight. 36. 75.
Not a coincidence. You're listening today. If you're a man
out there and you say, hey, I could use some encouragement.
Pray for me. Pray for my marriage, pray for my kids.
I want you to call right now. 8775675. Doctor Anthony
(04:27):
Bradley is my guest today. How are you, sir?
S2 (04:30):
I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
S1 (04:32):
It is so good to, uh, to have you on. Obviously,
you've written about a lot of things, uh, from economics
to issues of theology and faith. How did you stumble
upon this? And how did this emerge as one of
the great focuses for you? The crises and promise of fatherhood?
S2 (04:53):
That's a that's a fantastic question. So, so for me,
this journey began. I've been working on this project really
for about 25 years. I have a book coming out
in the fall of 26 called Dad Deprived with Baker Books. Wow.
And this project has really developed over about 25 years
of both doing youth ministry, college ministry, teaching at a
(05:16):
Christian school, teaching seminary students, teaching college students. And I
just noticed that on the one hand and the girls
are doing great in the boys weren't. And about 20
years ago or so, I started to ask these questions.
I got a group of guys at a Christian school
in Philadelphia, and I just started asking them questions about
(05:37):
why they were struggling. And consistently again and again and again.
When it came down to the difference between those who
were doing great and those who weren't, the variable was
the dad. And that was a key sort of aha moment.
The other thing that got me into this was the
research that I did years ago on the juvenile justice system,
(06:00):
and what the research shows is about close to probably 80, 80%
or so, uh, depending on the year that they study,
between 70 and 80% of all. All of the kids
in the juvenile system come from father absent homes. Wow.
And what the data shows is that, and this was
(06:21):
a big aha moment for me, that in the juvenile system,
we don't have bad kids. We have hurt kids. And
when boys experience neglect, when they experience abuse, they act
out and they tend to hurt other people. So we're
thinking about violent crime and property crime. When girls experience
(06:43):
that deprivation, they tend to hurt themselves. And so girls
will cut themselves. Uh, they'll be more likely to commit suicide.
They'll be more likely to be sexually promiscuous and things
like that. So as I begin to see these trends,
both in the Christian community and in the juvenile system,
I begin to ask these sort of questions. And it
(07:03):
landed very squarely the data as well. On the role
of the father.
S1 (07:07):
It's interesting because it was Professor Paul Vitz who wrote
the book, uh, I believe it was, uh, back in, um,
maybe late 90s. He wrote the book called the Faith
of the fatherless. No, actually, 2013, the book came out and, uh, he,
he tracked this data that connected, um, many atheists to
(07:28):
fatherless homes. And, uh, and it was the first time
that I began to really think about the connection of
faith and fatherhood as well. Talk about what you've discovered there,
because I do think there is a lot of data
out there to talk about social outcomes, uh, that just
about every social outcome improves when the fathers present. It
(07:50):
is severely, uh, devastating when the fathers are absent. But
that doesn't stop at social outcomes, does it?
S2 (07:59):
It most certainly does not. We have about three decades
worth of research that demonstrates Streets that the greatest predictor
of faith persistence from childhood to adulthood is the sense
of closeness and intimacy that kids have with their fathers,
and even press the point more, more directly. One of
(08:21):
the the key variables, even within the relationship with the father,
is if the children watch their father sing during worship.
So when children are watching their dad sing openly, sing
during worship, they are much more likely to persist in
their faith. You can think about it this way kids
(08:41):
get excited about whatever their dads get excited about. And
in the context of sports, I mean, think about how
many children are fans of sports teams that their fathers
are fans of. I'll be in a city somewhere. I'll
be in Detroit, and I'll ask, you know, who's your
favorite baseball team? And they'll say, oh, I'm a Cubs fan.
And I'm like, why are you a Cubs fan? You've
(09:02):
never been to Chicago ever in your whole life? You
ever been to game like, oh, no. I grew up
in a family. My dad was a Cubs fan. My
grandfather was a Cubs fan. Well, that works on lots
of different variables, uh, both in terms of faith, persistence.
So if dad's excited about Jesus, the kids will be
excited about Jesus. If dad is excited about the Detroit Lions,
the kids will be excited about the Detroit Lions. So
(09:24):
fathers really do have such a massive, massive impact. And
so the one controversial statement that I make is that
fathers are the most important men in any community, anywhere, ever. Period.
Yeah they are. They are more leveraged and more important
than pastors, politicians, policemen, youth pastors, uh, Christian school teachers.
(09:46):
And we've again, we've have the data to show this. Yeah.
That the greatest, the greatest.
S1 (09:52):
Let me just jump in there because you have said
some so many profound things. I don't want to miss it.
And I also want to get to the phone lines.
But I just want to say this, that, um, if. What?
Doctor Bradley just said that fathers are the most important
men in, in our society, in our children's lives, of
any person, anywhere. Um, then that has profound implications about
(10:16):
the way we should approach ministry. And I want to
unpack that, because I think this is one of the
great eyesores for the church today. And I'm a pastor. And, uh,
and so I own some of this, but I also
want to see us, uh, take the right steps going forward.
So that's why I'm glad that Doctor Bradley's here. Doctor Bradley,
you could not have used, uh, a more apropos example
(10:40):
as you did with the Chicago Cubs. I'll never forget
the Cubs last won the World Series 2016 on my Chicago.
Listeners will remember that. And I remember being on the
air the day after, and I watched it with my
then five year old son. We were watching the Cubs
win the World Series, and I told him, this is history,
so you got to stay up and watch it as
he was trying to fall asleep. But the next day
(11:02):
I was surprised because when I took calls, I thought
it was going to be calls about sports. But man
after man called me with tears in their voice, saying,
my father, who isn't here right now, would have loved
to have seen this moment. And I didn't realize how profoundly, uh,
(11:23):
moment of father and son bonding this was, you know.
And so you're exactly right. How the loves and the
affections of the father do profoundly impact the son and
daughters as well. I want to go to the phone lines.
Jennifer is listening in Chicago. Hey, Jennifer, thank you so
(11:43):
much for listening to equip. What's your comment today?
S3 (11:51):
And, um, I see so many of these kids that
I have to deal with that are having problems that
are starting to enter into the system is because of
the lack of fathers in their lives. And, um, I
think your guest said it perfectly when he said about
fathers are just so vital to these kids, and they
make such a profound difference, because I rarely do I
(12:15):
encounter a child who has a father in a law
enforcement setting.
S1 (12:21):
So are you were a little bit broken up at
the beginning of your comments, but it sounded like you
said you work in law enforcement. Is that right?
S3 (12:30):
That's correct. Yes.
S4 (12:31):
I'm a police officer.
S1 (12:32):
Yeah, yeah. First off, thank you for doing that. Secondly,
thanks for calling in and adding your voice, uh, to this. Uh,
it's an important work you do, but obviously a lot
of the reason why you got to do the work
you do is because of the very issue that we're
talking about today. God bless you, Jennifer. Thank you for calling. So,
Doctor Bradley, here you go. First call, uh, police officer
(12:55):
saying that, um, very rarely does she see someone in
the system. And, uh, there's a father that's active and
present in their life.
S2 (13:05):
That that makes complete sense. They're sort of two two
things to think about here. Number one is that boys
learn impulse control from their dads. Uh, they also learn
delayed gratification from their dads. They learn how to control
their aggression from their father. And. And this isn't, of course,
to denigrate the role of mothers at all. But the
(13:28):
data is really clear on that. The second thing is
that the juvenile system was created in the late 19th
century because for the first time in human history, fathers
were absent from the home, uh, during the Industrial Revolution
because they were at work first time ever. So if
you look at from the Book of Genesis to about
the 1840s and 50s between Genesis, think about this, between
(13:51):
the book of Genesis all the way to around the
1830s and 40s. Boys were adjacent to their fathers all
day long. And when what the Industrial Revolution did, it
took dads from the home. So they were away. And
it created two things. One was this thing called adolescence,
which was a late 19th century invention, but it also
(14:13):
created the juvenile justice system. Now, the first juvenile court
was was instituted in Chicago. And the Latin phrase that
was used was in loco parentis, which means in the
place of the father.
S1 (14:27):
Wow. Wow. You know, as we unpack this, the data,
if you're being exposed to it for the first time,
can feel somewhat overwhelming. I don't want hopelessness to settle in.
We do have to unpack the reality of where we
are as a culture and society, and understand how we
(14:48):
got here. But friends, I tell you, there is tremendous
hope in my heart. And that's why I'm so grateful.
Doctor Anthony Bradley is with us today. We're going to
take your calls at 8775, six, seven five. On the
other side of this break, find out more at Equip Radio.
We'll be right back right after this. Do you wrestle
(15:13):
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God cares about your wounds and desires? Would you love
a more intimate, honest relationship with him? Then you need
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(15:37):
of Surrender Sexuality when you support equip this month. Simply
call 888644 4144 or visit Equip Radio. Rebuilding the role
(15:58):
of fathers in the family is not simply a social
policy concern, it is a moral imperative. Those are the
words of Doctor Anthony Bradley. Today we're talking about fatherhood,
why it's so important, how we've overlooked it as a
society and as a church, and how we can help
to re-engage dads for the future of the faith. Doctor
(16:22):
Anthony Bradley is my guest. Today we're taking your calls,
and I'm in particular encouraging fathers to call if you're
a new father. We would love to hear from you
at 8775675. How can we pray for you? Uh, maybe
questions that you might have on the front end of
the journey. Uh, but if you're a dad, that's somewhere
(16:43):
in in the journey and you say, uh, please pray
for my children. Pray for our relationship. Pray for me. Uh,
We'd love to do that as well. We'd love to
be your prayer partner today at (877)Â 548-3675. Doctor Bradley, uh,
we've gotten a number of calls to today already. Uh,
(17:05):
we're not able to get to all of them, but
Abraham from Tampa called, and he said, it seems to
me that before we can talk about fatherhood, we need
to talk about manhood. Can you, uh, make a connection there?
S2 (17:22):
Absolutely. I think that when we when we talk about manhood,
I mean, one of the the best definitions that I
use is from a book by Chris Hemmer. He's a
pastor in Illinois. It's called Man Up. It's it's, in
my opinion, the best book on this topic. And he
basically describes what it means to be a man this way,
that you use your power and your presence and your
(17:43):
strength and your creativity, all the things that God has
given you for the benefit of others. And if you
think about that theologically, that's what the father does for us.
He uses all of his resources, including his own son,
for the benefit of his people. And so what makes
a man a man is that he is raised in
a way, uh, to see himself as caring for other people.
(18:05):
And he's equipped by his community and given a rite
of passage into seeing his role that way. And so
when we talk about fathers, we talk about masculinity. These
things are actually correlated with the same principle that you're
using your power, your presence, and your and your your strength,
your creativity, etc., for the benefit of other people. And
(18:28):
I think one of the reasons that sort of marriage
has imploded, fatherhood has also imploded, is that we don't
think about manhood that way. I think in American culture,
we think primarily about manhood as a self-centered activity where
I'm forming myself for my own sort of clout and
my own self advancement, my own power. And the biblical
(18:48):
model of what it means to be a father is
is the the sort of service of others. And and
we have to we absolutely have to form men in
terms of their identity of of seeing themselves first and
foremost as that and being married and being a father
is actually just an extension of what it means to
be a man.
S1 (19:09):
Well, I'm so glad you brought it up. Just for
those who would love to pick up that book, can
you just again give us a name and the author?
S2 (19:17):
Yeah, that particular book, is it titled Man Up? Uh,
the title, the author is Jeffrey Hemmer. You can get
that book on Amazon. It's really cheap, really, really easy
to use. And just by way of another plug, I've
used that book for many, many years and father groups,
and this is what I would recommend fathers to do
with that book, is to read that book with your son,
(19:41):
because that book is going to force you to have
conversations that you probably wouldn't have on your own. And
you can use the book as a way to introduce
those topics and sort of get rid of all the
awkwardness of having to talk about some things. You can
kind of blame it on the book. I've had I've
had a father's son do this, and they both wrote
me both the teenage son and the dad wrote me
(20:01):
one about how it changed their theology, but secondly, how
it changed their relationship because they would meet, they would
go out to lunch and discuss the book.
S1 (20:11):
Uh, we got a number of, of women who are
calling the program, and I am really grateful for you
ladies who are calling. And I do want to get
to your cause. Please know we're going to prioritize, for
obvious reasons, the dads who are calling in. Uh, but
we promise we'll get to as many calls as we can.
Doctor Bradley, um, one of the things that you have
done is thought about this, uh, in, in two lanes primarily.
(20:35):
And I want to just talk about one, and then
I'll get to the other. Let's talk about public policy.
When you think about public policy, there is in this
current culture of mom, it's such an obsession with, uh,
with the politics of our day. I don't want to
present politics as, uh, to deify it as an idol.
I don't think it's a, uh, a complete solve and
(20:59):
a resolution to the crises that we're currently facing, but
certainly it plays a component. So what do you feel
like those who are serving in the area of public
policy and the civic area need to understand?
S2 (21:15):
That's a great question. I think I think from a very, very, very,
very clear policy perspective is that we need to think
about the institutions that can both strengthen and support the
role of fathers, particularly in context of of divorce and
single fatherhood, that that from a policy perspective, we don't
need to penalize men who were seeking to follow their kids.
(21:39):
And unfortunately, the court system in many states, uh, favors
the mother. It makes it difficult, often, unfortunately, for fathers
to have that level of of connection. Now, this is
very controversial, but the data does support it that children
are actually better off long term with the single father
versus the single mother. Now, that is a very, very
controversial statement, but the data tends to support it very quickly. Why?
(22:04):
You know, so many of these moms have so many
pressures on them to do so many things, and they
often don't take jobs that have nearly the amount of
financial status of dads. And the pressure, just the pressure
alone and a lack of support that women have can
can really put them in positions where they struggle more
(22:25):
with being a single parent than a father does. But
it is really, really important for us from a policy
perspective to think about what are the barriers that we
currently have that that make it difficult for fathers to engage,
especially in contexts where marriages have dissolved or a single
(22:45):
dad's one very, very quick example. Uh, I worked for
a number of years in Harlem and right in the
heart of Harlem, sort of two blocks away from the
Apollo Theater. And I was sort of, uh, mentoring a
couple there. They lived together. They live in low income housing.
And the way the system set up is that if
(23:07):
they get married, they lose their benefits. If they get married,
they lose their housing. Yeah. And to me, that's completely backwards.
We want men to be in the same home with
their children, and we want to make it easy for
them to do that. So we need to remove the
barrier to marriage. But we also need to encourage men
(23:28):
to use whatever supplemental things they're getting from, from the
government to kind of get them off their feet to
be present and engaged. And that's just a really quick
policy thing that I think we can do to make
it easier for dads.
S1 (23:39):
Yeah. So politicians, those who are public servants among us.
Thank you for what you do. But I think both parties,
all the the political spectrum, if we are serious about
making impact and transforming communities, what I hear Doctor Bradley
saying is that we have to be serious about fatherhood.
(24:01):
We have to be serious about the crises of men
that are happening in our society, the boy crises that's
happening in our society. We have to identify what are
the barriers to marriage. Now, all of these things are
only occupy one aspect of this conversation. And I think
those of you who know my heart know where I'm
(24:23):
going to go next and where I'm going to go
next is the church. And I do that because Doctor Bradley,
one of the most beautiful things about the founding documents
of our nation is this principle that was codified in
the founding documents known as limited government. And I love
the fact that we live in a nation that recognizes
(24:45):
from the very outset that government, uh, has limits. It
cannot solve all problems, nor should we look to it.
You know that most of my ministry over the past
30 years has been done in a great, wonderful city
of Detroit. And I've often lamented to my wife that
so many of the governmental programs that are in place
(25:08):
are simply trying to make up for weak families, that
if we're going to have a strong society, we need
strong families. But I think the church is absolutely foundational
to that. So when we come back from this break,
we're going to engage Doctor Bradley around the area that
I'm most passionate about and that is the local church.
(25:30):
For those of you who are on on hold, thank
you for your calls. Stay connected. We're going to get
to as many calls as we can. I absolutely promise
these breaks give you an opportunity to learn more about
our guest and their resources. Please go to our website.
You can find out more about Doctor Anthony Bradley there
(25:53):
at Radio.com. Whatever you do, don't go anywhere. Much more
to come. Next up on Chris Brooks. Welcome back to
(26:16):
equipped with Chris Brooks. Doctor Anthony Bradley is my guest today.
He argues that fatherhood is is a fundamental pillar to
human dignity and societal order. Uh, supported by research, biblical
and theological studies. Doctor Bradley has spent the last 25
years unpacking the importance of the role of fathers. Today
(26:37):
we're taking your call. Calls at 8775675. That's 877548 3675.
Let me just say, I recognize that one of the
things that Satan loves to do is to divide the church.
He'll do it along any lines that he can racial lines,
ethnic lines, geographical lines, and yes, even gender lines is
(27:00):
doctor Bradley presents what the data clearly shows. It's not
to at all diminish the value of women. And I
recognize in this societal moment, at times it seems that
any elevation of the importance of the role of fathers
can seem like an insult to women. We recognize the importance.
We also recognize that just because a man is present
(27:24):
doesn't guarantee that everything's going to go well. There are
other factors as well. Uh, but I pray that the
women among us that are listening to this conversation would
join us in praying, Rain for the men in our
culture and society. Because I am convinced that when you
bless a man, you do bless everyone connected to that
man the women, the children, the neighborhood, the community, and yes,
(27:47):
the church. So that's why this this conversation is so
important to all of us, to the entire body of
believers and family of faith. Doctor Bradley, I'm going to
go back to the phone lines, if you don't mind.
I want to take Raphael's call. Raphael is listening in Sarasota, Florida. Raphael.
Thanks for calling, brother. How can we pray for you today?
S5 (28:09):
Absolutely. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you for
answering my call. And thank you for your amazing show. Um,
my prayer today. My prayer request today is, um, to
pray that my son and I can build a relationship
with God first and foremost. So that way he and
I can have a better one. Um, so real quick,
what I want to say, um, alcohol and drugs conquered
(28:29):
most of my life. Um, 40. I'm 47 now. I've
been sober for about over six years.
S1 (28:36):
Praise God.
S5 (28:37):
Um. But. Yes. Amen. And my relationship that I had
with my son growing up, he didn't have a mother.
His mother passed away when he was two. But, you know,
I tried to be the best that I could. Unfortunately,
I failed many times. He's 26 now. He just continues
to act out. Alcohol is the factor. I'm aware of that. Um,
(29:00):
he's been arrested a few times. You know, I mean,
I just want to know where I can pick up
all the broken pieces and move forward.
S1 (29:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, first off, I'm grateful for your call.
I'm going to let before I pray, doctor Bradley, just
share some wisdom, and then we'll pray for you. Raphael. Uh,
doctor Bradley.
S2 (29:22):
Yeah. Thank you so much, Raphael, for for calling in
and sharing your story. The good news is, and I
want all deaths to recognize this, it is never too late.
It is never, ever too late to rebuild a relationship
with your children just as the father with us. It's
also never too late, right? And it's really, really quite
remarkable how something like affection alone can open up a
(29:48):
young man's heart and a young woman's heart. And I
would just say to you simply, Raphael, that if you
and we have data that shows this, if you hug
him for 20s every time you see him, just don't
let him go. Hug him for at least 20s. And
and and say things like this to him. This is
something that that all boys need to hear. They need
(30:10):
to hear you say I love you and tell them
why they need to hear you say, I'm proud of you,
and tell them why they need to say they need
to hear you say, I'm here for you, and explain
why you need to tell them they're doing a great
job and, and, and point to something that they're doing great.
And lastly, you should just tell them, thank you for
being such a blessing in your life if you hug
(30:32):
them for 20 minutes a day. Say one of those
five things. Over time, your relationship will change. What dads
need to to exercise is a sense of warmth and
trust and vulnerability. And that in and of itself provides
a lot of healing. And I know a father, for example,
quick story here. I know a dad who realized, you know,
(30:54):
he was in his 60s. He realized he didn't spend
much time with his sons. He simply did this. He
took his 20 something year old sons, and he just
started playing catch with them because he didn't do that
when they were little. He started playing catch with his
20 something year old sons, and it completely changed the relationship.
They just needed to spend time with him having a really,
(31:16):
really good time. One of the the synonyms for fathers
is joy, but I want churches to think about and
if fathers are a source of joy, then your children
will come to you in any age in order to
experience that. So affection and words of of love and
validation are the secret sauce in establishing, reestablishing that relationship.
S1 (31:37):
Yeah, that's so good. You think about what's the power
of 20s? And man, what a revolutionary way to think
about that. That in a 22nd hug, you can, uh,
win your your, your son's heart and change his, his
trajectory and future. And you add those words of affirmation.
(31:58):
I just want to add one additional thing to what
Doctor Bradley said is, uh, a lot of times, as
Christian dads in particular, we're so focused on teaching our
sons what to do the right way to to live
for the Lord, how to walk worthy using biblical language.
And I think that's great that we often don't don't
(32:19):
teach them, um, how to recover after a fall, how to, um,
how to repent, how to get back up after you
have blown it. And we will. We all will. And
and I think it's it's it's a powerful thing. Additionally
to model repentance humility before your children as well. And so, um,
(32:41):
in addition to that 22nd hug and those words of affirmation,
I don't think it's anything wrong. Rafael, what you're saying
to your son. Hey, uh, and you probably have done this.
Nothing wrong with doing it again, but being able to say, hey,
I just want you to know, I recognize that in
so many ways, I fell short. And I wish I
could hit the rewind button. I can't do that. But
(33:03):
I do want you to know I'm going to try
my best with the days that we have ahead of
us to be the father that I wanted to be
to you, but I wasn't able to be. And that
just is powerful in healing as well. Let's pray together. Uh, friends,
let's pray for Rafael. Father, we just pray as a
community of faith for our dear brother. We ask that
(33:24):
you would comfort him. We ask, Lord that you would
heal his son. That you would bless their relationship to
be one that flourishes first in you and then with
one another. Lord, yesterday is gone, so may they not
live with their eyes in their rear view mirror. May
(33:45):
they live looking forward. But the lessons of yesterday will
remind them and us of how important it is that
we put our faith in you, the author, and the
finisher of our faith. And so, Lord, I pray that
Raphael would be able to find a great community of faith,
a brotherhood, encouraging him as he pursues you. And I
(34:07):
pray for healing for His Son. And I ask, Lord,
for the the brokenness to be turned into a testimony
of faith and flourishing in Jesus name. Amen and amen.
Going to take more calls in just a moment, Doctor Bradley,
if you had a room full of 100 pastors. Let's
just say you had a captive audience. I locked the door.
(34:30):
They could not get out of the room. What would
you want them to know?
S2 (34:35):
I would tell a room full of pastors that your
first ministry in your church needs to be to support
men and to support fathers. As you said earlier, when
you support fathers, you help. I mean, everybody benefits, the
women benefit, the children benefit, the community benefits. And at
(34:56):
most churches you're there. Men's ministries are just simply pathetic. Uh,
they'll have a 630 men's Bible study for an hour,
and that's it. In fact, I'll go to some church websites. I'll.
I'll click the Ministry dropdown menu. There'll be 4 or
5 different opportunities for women, and then they'll just be
one for men. And what pastors need to recognize is
(35:18):
that you need to program and structure an entire support
network of men of all ages and fathers of all
ages and fathers of all roles, whether they're biological or not.
To support them, equip them, educate them to be good
husbands and to be good dads, and to create a context.
And this is right out of Timothy and Titus, right
(35:39):
where the the older fathers are coaching the younger ones.
And you have to create a space for that to happen.
S1 (35:46):
You know, I, I would and I'm not going to
do this to you. I would set you loose to
talk about youth ministry. I'm not going to do that
to you. But I will say this, that since the
80s in particular, it feels like the church, the evangelical church,
has been trying to build the better youth ministry as
(36:06):
a solve for reaching the next generation. And I just
want to say, and I know Doctor Bradley's research will
will prove this out, and that is that will never
solve the problem that we have in our culture society.
Nor is that the best, best way of reaching the
(36:29):
next generation. Fathers are. Fathers are. So when Doctor Bradley says,
restructure your ministry, reorient your ministry around fatherhood. Be clear
in what he's saying and that will cost you some things.
And maybe what it costs you is the admission that
(36:49):
we've been doing ministry the wrong way. And that's a
humbling thing. But just like it's powerful for dads to repent,
it's powerful for pastors to repent as well. And to say,
we've been building a ministry based off of maybe hype,
maybe trying to build the best youth ministry we can.
And we have overlooked the simple key ingredient to this
(37:10):
whole thing. And that's dads doctor Bradley.
S2 (37:14):
Absolutely. I think you know that that that youth ministry
model that most churches use today come out of the
1950s 50s, and there was a real need for that.
Like I said, part of the industrial revolution. Dads were gone.
Gone all day. It was a different era where a
lot of the institutions in the in the community also
supported the same value system that the fathers would have.
(37:36):
And so having them participate in youth things was not
that big of a deal. But today, in 2025, all
of that cultural capital is gone. And so what's happened
is it's put much more responsibility, onus on that formation
for spiritual development to happen in the home. It sort
of takes us back to Deuteronomy in the in the Shema.
(37:59):
And youth ministry in most churches has become a wedge
between the children and their parents, and both for girls
and boys, that role of the father is paramount in
doing that. And so I would say it this way
what youth ministry should do is to bind the hearts
(38:22):
of children to their parents and parents to their children.
That you don't have to get rid of your youth ministry,
but it needs to be structured in a way that
it's about connecting children with adults, not children with their peers.
And having a 25 year old cool guy in that
role is not what kids in 2025 need. They need
to be very, very connected to their parents and very,
(38:44):
very connected to other adults in the context of a
local church.
S1 (38:49):
Doctor Riley, I can't tell you how powerful, how good,
how healing. This conversation is. The gift of you. Setting
aside this time is very, very special. And I think
the impact of this is going to be very profound. Man,
what can 20s a day do? Well, it can heal
a generation. It can transform the hearts of your sons
(39:12):
and daughters. Listen to be a source of joy, to
be a place of affection to share words of affirmation.
These are a type of dads that will win the
hearts of the next generation. We're going to take more
of your calls on the other side of this break.
I would love for you to learn more about Doctor
(39:34):
Anthony Bradley, his writings, and the profound work he is doing.
Go to our website, Radio.com. Stick and stay. We'll be
right back right after this. In today's rapidly changing culture,
Christians need solid biblical guidance more than ever. That's our
mission here at Equip to provide biblical wisdom for life's
(39:58):
toughest questions. When you step in as an equipper, you're
not just giving your monthly support helps to offer clarity
and hope to a confused and anxious culture, and you'll
get exclusive resources and updates from us all year long.
Join our team of monthly supporters today! Call 88. Six. 44. 41.
(40:18):
44 or visit. Org. Welcome back to equipped with Chris Brooks.
We're going to go right to the phone lines. Appreciate
Doctor Bradley being with us today. I want to take
your calls. Tara who's listening in Florida. Thank you so
(40:41):
much Tara, for your patience. How can we pray for
you today?
S6 (40:46):
Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Um, I'm a
single mom, and I was raised by a single mom.
So everything you're saying is I've lived it, and I
can tell you a dad makes a big difference. And, um,
right now, I just would like prayer for my son's dad. Um,
he's looking at possibly 15 years in prison, and we're
(41:07):
just not sure of the future with that. But I
just know that God's heart is to draw our hearts
to his first. And that is what I'm believing, that
God would draw his dad's heart to the Lord and then, um,
be the dad that my son needs and that my
son would be the man that God created him to be.
S1 (41:29):
First off, I want to say thank you for calling. Uh, and, uh,
even more profound is your commitment in light of everything
that's going on to your, uh, your son having a
relationship with with his dad. And I think that that
is awesome. Don't lose sight of that. I do want
to just mention, and our producer can give you more information.
(41:51):
One of our regular guest on this program has been
Jennifer Barnes Maggio. She runs a great ministry called, uh,
the life of a single mom, single mom university where she,
I think, in a very healthy way, encourages and ministers
to single moms who are facing some of the realities
that you are as well. So I'd love for you
(42:13):
to look her up online, get connected to that ministry.
They have a lot of support for single moms. Doctor Bradley,
what would you say to the single moms who are listening?
S2 (42:23):
Yeah, you know that that situation, unfortunately, is pretty, pretty common.
What the research shows is that there's a lot of
hope and it simply works like this. One of the
things that that will positively impact the children is actually
visiting the father while he's incarcerated. It does two things. One,
(42:45):
it it continues to build the bond that they have.
But then secondly, it also impacts the father. So when
fathers have regular visits with their children, they get oxytocin
release and dopamine, which completely changes the way and changes the, the,
the motivations I have to get out. And so those
regular visits do a phenomenal job. There is a ministry
(43:07):
in Florida that I can't remember the name of. That
puts kids in a van and takes them to some
of the local prisons across the state in order to
maintain those relationships. And so for single moms in general,
I think this is why the church is absolutely vital
that local churches need to get the men involved in
the lives of of single moms and their kids. Uh,
(43:30):
when we talk about fatherhood, I mean, there is a
biological component, but there's also just a role. And so
other men in the church can father your children, and
getting them connected is really vital.
S1 (43:41):
Father, we pray for Tara. We pray not only for her,
but we pray for all of the single moms who
are listening to us right now, trying their best to
do their best, trying to maintain their faith in you,
navigating the difficulties, the disappointments of, uh, the situation they
find themselves in. Lord, I pray that your grace will prevail.
(44:02):
I pray, Lord, that you would, uh, somehow intervene. I
pray for the church that we as men in church
would help to bridge the gap. I pray for uncles
and grandfathers to play their role, and I do pray
for men who may be absent from the lives of
their children, that they would have relationships that are healed,
(44:26):
that you would turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
In Jesus name, Amen and amen. Tara, stay on the line.
We can get you the information for the single Moms
ministry as well. Doctor Bradley, there are a lot of
women who are calling in saying, hey, I got a husband.
I got a there's a man who's in the house,
(44:47):
but he's not engaged, at least on not on the
faith level. What do you say for those moms on
how to navigate that difficulty?
S2 (44:57):
That's a really fantastic question. I think unfortunately, in a
lot of church communities, men are are often motivated by
shame and failure, right? Men get it together. Men stop
being bad. And what men respond to is encouragement. And
I think so many dads have no idea how important
(45:19):
they are. But if we can draw out of them. Listen,
I believe you matter. I believe you're important. I believe
you have impact. And it's not that I need you to,
you know, quote unquote step up, but I. I need
you to realize how important you are. You are absolutely
vital to this family, to this children, to to these kids.
And I want to support you in being a good dad.
(45:42):
And that might raise a question asking the father, what
can I do? What do I need to do to help?
Help support you to be a fantastic husband and a
fantastic dad, not just for yourself, but also for the
family friends.
S1 (45:58):
I would love for you to share this conversation. You
can do so through social media. You can find us
on our social media platforms, Facebook, on Twitter. You can
go there. Equip radio. Equip radio. Just hit the share button.
Doctor Bradley, the book that's coming up. When is it
going to be published? What's the name again?
S2 (46:18):
It is titled Dad Deprived. It is Baker Books. It
will be released in November of 2026.
S1 (46:25):
All right. So that's a long way off. Until then,
I do want you to follow Doctor Bradley on social media. Uh,
also Patreon also, uh, his writings. You can find out
more at our website. Just click on today's guest info
and it will lead you to all things pertaining Doctor Bradley.
(46:46):
Thank you, brother, for being with us today. You're off
to hot seat. I appreciate you more than words can
say until we're together again next time. Friends. Remember, equipped
with Chris Brooks is a production of Moody Radio on
Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Well. Hey there friends, welcome to another exciting edition of
equip with Chris Brooks! I'm so thrilled that you've joined
us today. Do me a favor, strap on your seatbelt.
We're going to navigate through the contours of culture, as always,
with the lens of the biblical worldview on. But before
we do that, let me remind you, this is the
day that the Lord has made. He has given it
as a gift so that you and I can rejoice
(00:42):
and be glad in it. So let's do just that.
Let's follow the words of the Apostle Paul. Let's rejoice
in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Well,
today I want to talk to you about fatherhood. It's
been called one of the most important ingredients to a
flourishing society and church. And I don't think that's an overstatement,
(01:04):
but it's also equally true that we are in a
fatherhood crisis. You see it all around us. You see
it portrayed in the cultural messages that are given to
us through the media, through, uh, so many of the
social and programmatic and academic studies that, uh, have produced
a culture that diminishes fathers and their role in the
(01:29):
hearts and minds of many. Uh, but yet there is
a quiet revolution, I think, that's beginning to happen that
is pushing back on those false cultural narratives. And one
of the leading voices for that in, uh, in the
Christian faith has been Doctor Anthony Bradley. It's been my
long desire to have him on to talk about this topic.
(01:53):
He's a scholar and a distinguished research fellow at the
Acton Institute. He also is a research professor of interdisciplinary
and theological studies at Kuyper College. And, uh, someone who
has in many ways, at times had to, uh, stand
on an island alone. I'm sure at least it felt
(02:14):
that way, calling the church to reconsider its biblical understanding
of the roles of fathers and the commitment that we
need to have to fathers if we're going to successfully
disciple and reach the next generation. Doctor Bradley has written
Voluminously on this and has spoken on this, and today
(02:38):
he's my guest now, for he joins us. I do
want to say that what makes this program special is
your interaction. We are live today and that means something
because that means we can take your calls. And I
don't want to just talk about fatherhood in the philosophical sense.
There are men who are listening to us right now
(02:58):
who are saying, I'm a new father, pray for me.
There are men who are listening right now that say, um,
I'm fathering from a distance and I don't know how
to do that. Well, and I'm facing challenges. There are
men who are listening right now who say, I feel
like I've blown it and I don't know how to
make things right again. Wherever you are on the spectrum
(03:21):
of fatherhood, I want you to know today is your
day and we want to pray for you. I would
love nothing more than to be a prayer partner with
you today, to come alongside brother to brother, man to man,
to just encourage you, to pray for you and to
with Doctor Bradley, share whatever wisdom and encouragement we can.
(03:42):
Here's the phone number. Man 8775675. That's 877548 3675. This
is not this is not an environment to bash men
to heap on you condemnation. That's not what this is about.
This is wall to wall encouragement. Uh, we got to
(04:04):
talk honestly, but we're going to do so with a
redemptive voice. The phone number Five. Four. Eight. 36. 75.
Not a coincidence. You're listening today. If you're a man
out there and you say, hey, I could use some encouragement.
Pray for me. Pray for my marriage, pray for my kids.
I want you to call right now. 8775675. Doctor Anthony
(04:27):
Bradley is my guest today. How are you, sir?
S2 (04:30):
I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
S1 (04:32):
It is so good to, uh, to have you on. Obviously,
you've written about a lot of things, uh, from economics
to issues of theology and faith. How did you stumble
upon this? And how did this emerge as one of
the great focuses for you? The crises and promise of fatherhood?
S2 (04:53):
That's a that's a fantastic question. So, so for me,
this journey began. I've been working on this project really
for about 25 years. I have a book coming out
in the fall of 26 called Dad Deprived with Baker Books. Wow.
And this project has really developed over about 25 years
of both doing youth ministry, college ministry, teaching at a
(05:16):
Christian school, teaching seminary students, teaching college students. And I
just noticed that on the one hand and the girls
are doing great in the boys weren't. And about 20
years ago or so, I started to ask these questions.
I got a group of guys at a Christian school
in Philadelphia, and I just started asking them questions about
(05:37):
why they were struggling. And consistently again and again and again.
When it came down to the difference between those who
were doing great and those who weren't, the variable was
the dad. And that was a key sort of aha moment.
The other thing that got me into this was the
research that I did years ago on the juvenile justice system,
(06:00):
and what the research shows is about close to probably 80, 80%
or so, uh, depending on the year that they study,
between 70 and 80% of all. All of the kids
in the juvenile system come from father absent homes. Wow.
And what the data shows is that, and this was
(06:21):
a big aha moment for me, that in the juvenile system,
we don't have bad kids. We have hurt kids. And
when boys experience neglect, when they experience abuse, they act
out and they tend to hurt other people. So we're
thinking about violent crime and property crime. When girls experience
(06:43):
that deprivation, they tend to hurt themselves. And so girls
will cut themselves. Uh, they'll be more likely to commit suicide.
They'll be more likely to be sexually promiscuous and things
like that. So as I begin to see these trends,
both in the Christian community and in the juvenile system,
I begin to ask these sort of questions. And it
(07:03):
landed very squarely the data as well. On the role
of the father.
S1 (07:07):
It's interesting because it was Professor Paul Vitz who wrote
the book, uh, I believe it was, uh, back in, um,
maybe late 90s. He wrote the book called the Faith
of the fatherless. No, actually, 2013, the book came out and, uh, he,
he tracked this data that connected, um, many atheists to
(07:28):
fatherless homes. And, uh, and it was the first time
that I began to really think about the connection of
faith and fatherhood as well. Talk about what you've discovered there,
because I do think there is a lot of data
out there to talk about social outcomes, uh, that just
about every social outcome improves when the fathers present. It
(07:50):
is severely, uh, devastating when the fathers are absent. But
that doesn't stop at social outcomes, does it?
S2 (07:59):
It most certainly does not. We have about three decades
worth of research that demonstrates Streets that the greatest predictor
of faith persistence from childhood to adulthood is the sense
of closeness and intimacy that kids have with their fathers,
and even press the point more, more directly. One of
(08:21):
the the key variables, even within the relationship with the father,
is if the children watch their father sing during worship.
So when children are watching their dad sing openly, sing
during worship, they are much more likely to persist in
their faith. You can think about it this way kids
(08:41):
get excited about whatever their dads get excited about. And
in the context of sports, I mean, think about how
many children are fans of sports teams that their fathers
are fans of. I'll be in a city somewhere. I'll
be in Detroit, and I'll ask, you know, who's your
favorite baseball team? And they'll say, oh, I'm a Cubs fan.
And I'm like, why are you a Cubs fan? You've
(09:02):
never been to Chicago ever in your whole life? You
ever been to game like, oh, no. I grew up
in a family. My dad was a Cubs fan. My
grandfather was a Cubs fan. Well, that works on lots
of different variables, uh, both in terms of faith, persistence.
So if dad's excited about Jesus, the kids will be
excited about Jesus. If dad is excited about the Detroit Lions,
the kids will be excited about the Detroit Lions. So
(09:24):
fathers really do have such a massive, massive impact. And
so the one controversial statement that I make is that
fathers are the most important men in any community, anywhere, ever. Period.
Yeah they are. They are more leveraged and more important
than pastors, politicians, policemen, youth pastors, uh, Christian school teachers.
(09:46):
And we've again, we've have the data to show this. Yeah.
That the greatest, the greatest.
S1 (09:52):
Let me just jump in there because you have said
some so many profound things. I don't want to miss it.
And I also want to get to the phone lines.
But I just want to say this, that, um, if. What?
Doctor Bradley just said that fathers are the most important
men in, in our society, in our children's lives, of
any person, anywhere. Um, then that has profound implications about
(10:16):
the way we should approach ministry. And I want to
unpack that, because I think this is one of the
great eyesores for the church today. And I'm a pastor. And, uh,
and so I own some of this, but I also
want to see us, uh, take the right steps going forward.
So that's why I'm glad that Doctor Bradley's here. Doctor Bradley,
you could not have used, uh, a more apropos example
(10:40):
as you did with the Chicago Cubs. I'll never forget
the Cubs last won the World Series 2016 on my Chicago.
Listeners will remember that. And I remember being on the
air the day after, and I watched it with my
then five year old son. We were watching the Cubs
win the World Series, and I told him, this is history,
so you got to stay up and watch it as
he was trying to fall asleep. But the next day
(11:02):
I was surprised because when I took calls, I thought
it was going to be calls about sports. But man
after man called me with tears in their voice, saying,
my father, who isn't here right now, would have loved
to have seen this moment. And I didn't realize how profoundly, uh,
(11:23):
moment of father and son bonding this was, you know.
And so you're exactly right. How the loves and the
affections of the father do profoundly impact the son and
daughters as well. I want to go to the phone lines.
Jennifer is listening in Chicago. Hey, Jennifer, thank you so
(11:43):
much for listening to equip. What's your comment today?
S3 (11:51):
And, um, I see so many of these kids that
I have to deal with that are having problems that
are starting to enter into the system is because of
the lack of fathers in their lives. And, um, I
think your guest said it perfectly when he said about
fathers are just so vital to these kids, and they
make such a profound difference, because I rarely do I
(12:15):
encounter a child who has a father in a law
enforcement setting.
S1 (12:21):
So are you were a little bit broken up at
the beginning of your comments, but it sounded like you
said you work in law enforcement. Is that right?
S3 (12:30):
That's correct. Yes.
S4 (12:31):
I'm a police officer.
S1 (12:32):
Yeah, yeah. First off, thank you for doing that. Secondly,
thanks for calling in and adding your voice, uh, to this. Uh,
it's an important work you do, but obviously a lot
of the reason why you got to do the work
you do is because of the very issue that we're
talking about today. God bless you, Jennifer. Thank you for calling. So,
Doctor Bradley, here you go. First call, uh, police officer
(12:55):
saying that, um, very rarely does she see someone in
the system. And, uh, there's a father that's active and
present in their life.
S2 (13:05):
That that makes complete sense. They're sort of two two
things to think about here. Number one is that boys
learn impulse control from their dads. Uh, they also learn
delayed gratification from their dads. They learn how to control
their aggression from their father. And. And this isn't, of course,
to denigrate the role of mothers at all. But the
(13:28):
data is really clear on that. The second thing is
that the juvenile system was created in the late 19th
century because for the first time in human history, fathers
were absent from the home, uh, during the Industrial Revolution
because they were at work first time ever. So if
you look at from the Book of Genesis to about
the 1840s and 50s between Genesis, think about this, between
(13:51):
the book of Genesis all the way to around the
1830s and 40s. Boys were adjacent to their fathers all
day long. And when what the Industrial Revolution did, it
took dads from the home. So they were away. And
it created two things. One was this thing called adolescence,
which was a late 19th century invention, but it also
(14:13):
created the juvenile justice system. Now, the first juvenile court
was was instituted in Chicago. And the Latin phrase that
was used was in loco parentis, which means in the
place of the father.
S1 (14:27):
Wow. Wow. You know, as we unpack this, the data,
if you're being exposed to it for the first time,
can feel somewhat overwhelming. I don't want hopelessness to settle in.
We do have to unpack the reality of where we
are as a culture and society, and understand how we
(14:48):
got here. But friends, I tell you, there is tremendous
hope in my heart. And that's why I'm so grateful.
Doctor Anthony Bradley is with us today. We're going to
take your calls at 8775, six, seven five. On the
other side of this break, find out more at Equip Radio.
We'll be right back right after this. Do you wrestle
(15:13):
with sexual shame or unmet longings? Do you wonder if
God cares about your wounds and desires? Would you love
a more intimate, honest relationship with him? Then you need
to read Surrender Sexuality by Doctor Julie Slattery. She'll help
you take your deepest needs to a loving Savior who
meets you without shame or condemnation. Ask for your copy
(15:37):
of Surrender Sexuality when you support equip this month. Simply
call 888644 4144 or visit Equip Radio. Rebuilding the role
(15:58):
of fathers in the family is not simply a social
policy concern, it is a moral imperative. Those are the
words of Doctor Anthony Bradley. Today we're talking about fatherhood,
why it's so important, how we've overlooked it as a
society and as a church, and how we can help
to re-engage dads for the future of the faith. Doctor
(16:22):
Anthony Bradley is my guest. Today we're taking your calls,
and I'm in particular encouraging fathers to call if you're
a new father. We would love to hear from you
at 8775675. How can we pray for you? Uh, maybe
questions that you might have on the front end of
the journey. Uh, but if you're a dad, that's somewhere
(16:43):
in in the journey and you say, uh, please pray
for my children. Pray for our relationship. Pray for me. Uh,
We'd love to do that as well. We'd love to
be your prayer partner today at (877)Â 548-3675. Doctor Bradley, uh,
we've gotten a number of calls to today already. Uh,
(17:05):
we're not able to get to all of them, but
Abraham from Tampa called, and he said, it seems to
me that before we can talk about fatherhood, we need
to talk about manhood. Can you, uh, make a connection there?
S2 (17:22):
Absolutely. I think that when we when we talk about manhood,
I mean, one of the the best definitions that I
use is from a book by Chris Hemmer. He's a
pastor in Illinois. It's called Man Up. It's it's, in
my opinion, the best book on this topic. And he
basically describes what it means to be a man this way,
that you use your power and your presence and your
(17:43):
strength and your creativity, all the things that God has
given you for the benefit of others. And if you
think about that theologically, that's what the father does for us.
He uses all of his resources, including his own son,
for the benefit of his people. And so what makes
a man a man is that he is raised in
a way, uh, to see himself as caring for other people.
(18:05):
And he's equipped by his community and given a rite
of passage into seeing his role that way. And so
when we talk about fathers, we talk about masculinity. These
things are actually correlated with the same principle that you're
using your power, your presence, and your and your your strength,
your creativity, etc., for the benefit of other people. And
(18:28):
I think one of the reasons that sort of marriage
has imploded, fatherhood has also imploded, is that we don't
think about manhood that way. I think in American culture,
we think primarily about manhood as a self-centered activity where
I'm forming myself for my own sort of clout and
my own self advancement, my own power. And the biblical
(18:48):
model of what it means to be a father is
is the the sort of service of others. And and
we have to we absolutely have to form men in
terms of their identity of of seeing themselves first and
foremost as that and being married and being a father
is actually just an extension of what it means to
be a man.
S1 (19:09):
Well, I'm so glad you brought it up. Just for
those who would love to pick up that book, can
you just again give us a name and the author?
S2 (19:17):
Yeah, that particular book, is it titled Man Up? Uh,
the title, the author is Jeffrey Hemmer. You can get
that book on Amazon. It's really cheap, really, really easy
to use. And just by way of another plug, I've
used that book for many, many years and father groups,
and this is what I would recommend fathers to do
with that book, is to read that book with your son,
(19:41):
because that book is going to force you to have
conversations that you probably wouldn't have on your own. And
you can use the book as a way to introduce
those topics and sort of get rid of all the
awkwardness of having to talk about some things. You can
kind of blame it on the book. I've had I've
had a father's son do this, and they both wrote
me both the teenage son and the dad wrote me
(20:01):
one about how it changed their theology, but secondly, how
it changed their relationship because they would meet, they would
go out to lunch and discuss the book.
S1 (20:11):
Uh, we got a number of, of women who are
calling the program, and I am really grateful for you
ladies who are calling. And I do want to get
to your cause. Please know we're going to prioritize, for
obvious reasons, the dads who are calling in. Uh, but
we promise we'll get to as many calls as we can.
Doctor Bradley, um, one of the things that you have
done is thought about this, uh, in, in two lanes primarily.
(20:35):
And I want to just talk about one, and then
I'll get to the other. Let's talk about public policy.
When you think about public policy, there is in this
current culture of mom, it's such an obsession with, uh,
with the politics of our day. I don't want to
present politics as, uh, to deify it as an idol.
I don't think it's a, uh, a complete solve and
(20:59):
a resolution to the crises that we're currently facing, but
certainly it plays a component. So what do you feel
like those who are serving in the area of public
policy and the civic area need to understand?
S2 (21:15):
That's a great question. I think I think from a very, very, very,
very clear policy perspective is that we need to think
about the institutions that can both strengthen and support the
role of fathers, particularly in context of of divorce and
single fatherhood, that that from a policy perspective, we don't
need to penalize men who were seeking to follow their kids.
(21:39):
And unfortunately, the court system in many states, uh, favors
the mother. It makes it difficult, often, unfortunately, for fathers
to have that level of of connection. Now, this is
very controversial, but the data does support it that children
are actually better off long term with the single father
versus the single mother. Now, that is a very, very
controversial statement, but the data tends to support it very quickly. Why?
(22:04):
You know, so many of these moms have so many
pressures on them to do so many things, and they
often don't take jobs that have nearly the amount of
financial status of dads. And the pressure, just the pressure
alone and a lack of support that women have can
can really put them in positions where they struggle more
(22:25):
with being a single parent than a father does. But
it is really, really important for us from a policy
perspective to think about what are the barriers that we
currently have that that make it difficult for fathers to engage,
especially in contexts where marriages have dissolved or a single
(22:45):
dad's one very, very quick example. Uh, I worked for
a number of years in Harlem and right in the
heart of Harlem, sort of two blocks away from the
Apollo Theater. And I was sort of, uh, mentoring a
couple there. They lived together. They live in low income housing.
And the way the system set up is that if
(23:07):
they get married, they lose their benefits. If they get married,
they lose their housing. Yeah. And to me, that's completely backwards.
We want men to be in the same home with
their children, and we want to make it easy for
them to do that. So we need to remove the
barrier to marriage. But we also need to encourage men
(23:28):
to use whatever supplemental things they're getting from, from the
government to kind of get them off their feet to
be present and engaged. And that's just a really quick
policy thing that I think we can do to make
it easier for dads.
S1 (23:39):
Yeah. So politicians, those who are public servants among us.
Thank you for what you do. But I think both parties,
all the the political spectrum, if we are serious about
making impact and transforming communities, what I hear Doctor Bradley
saying is that we have to be serious about fatherhood.
(24:01):
We have to be serious about the crises of men
that are happening in our society, the boy crises that's
happening in our society. We have to identify what are
the barriers to marriage. Now, all of these things are
only occupy one aspect of this conversation. And I think
those of you who know my heart know where I'm
(24:23):
going to go next and where I'm going to go
next is the church. And I do that because Doctor Bradley,
one of the most beautiful things about the founding documents
of our nation is this principle that was codified in
the founding documents known as limited government. And I love
the fact that we live in a nation that recognizes
(24:45):
from the very outset that government, uh, has limits. It
cannot solve all problems, nor should we look to it.
You know that most of my ministry over the past
30 years has been done in a great, wonderful city
of Detroit. And I've often lamented to my wife that
so many of the governmental programs that are in place
(25:08):
are simply trying to make up for weak families, that
if we're going to have a strong society, we need
strong families. But I think the church is absolutely foundational
to that. So when we come back from this break,
we're going to engage Doctor Bradley around the area that
I'm most passionate about and that is the local church.
(25:30):
For those of you who are on on hold, thank
you for your calls. Stay connected. We're going to get
to as many calls as we can. I absolutely promise
these breaks give you an opportunity to learn more about
our guest and their resources. Please go to our website.
You can find out more about Doctor Anthony Bradley there
(25:53):
at Radio.com. Whatever you do, don't go anywhere. Much more
to come. Next up on Chris Brooks. Welcome back to
(26:16):
equipped with Chris Brooks. Doctor Anthony Bradley is my guest today.
He argues that fatherhood is is a fundamental pillar to
human dignity and societal order. Uh, supported by research, biblical
and theological studies. Doctor Bradley has spent the last 25
years unpacking the importance of the role of fathers. Today
(26:37):
we're taking your call. Calls at 8775675. That's 877548 3675.
Let me just say, I recognize that one of the
things that Satan loves to do is to divide the church.
He'll do it along any lines that he can racial lines,
ethnic lines, geographical lines, and yes, even gender lines is
(27:00):
doctor Bradley presents what the data clearly shows. It's not
to at all diminish the value of women. And I
recognize in this societal moment, at times it seems that
any elevation of the importance of the role of fathers
can seem like an insult to women. We recognize the importance.
We also recognize that just because a man is present
(27:24):
doesn't guarantee that everything's going to go well. There are
other factors as well. Uh, but I pray that the
women among us that are listening to this conversation would
join us in praying, Rain for the men in our
culture and society. Because I am convinced that when you
bless a man, you do bless everyone connected to that
man the women, the children, the neighborhood, the community, and yes,
(27:47):
the church. So that's why this this conversation is so
important to all of us, to the entire body of
believers and family of faith. Doctor Bradley, I'm going to
go back to the phone lines, if you don't mind.
I want to take Raphael's call. Raphael is listening in Sarasota, Florida. Raphael.
Thanks for calling, brother. How can we pray for you today?
S5 (28:09):
Absolutely. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you for
answering my call. And thank you for your amazing show. Um,
my prayer today. My prayer request today is, um, to
pray that my son and I can build a relationship
with God first and foremost. So that way he and
I can have a better one. Um, so real quick,
what I want to say, um, alcohol and drugs conquered
(28:29):
most of my life. Um, 40. I'm 47 now. I've
been sober for about over six years.
S1 (28:36):
Praise God.
S5 (28:37):
Um. But. Yes. Amen. And my relationship that I had
with my son growing up, he didn't have a mother.
His mother passed away when he was two. But, you know,
I tried to be the best that I could. Unfortunately,
I failed many times. He's 26 now. He just continues
to act out. Alcohol is the factor. I'm aware of that. Um,
(29:00):
he's been arrested a few times. You know, I mean,
I just want to know where I can pick up
all the broken pieces and move forward.
S1 (29:09):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, first off, I'm grateful for your call.
I'm going to let before I pray, doctor Bradley, just
share some wisdom, and then we'll pray for you. Raphael. Uh,
doctor Bradley.
S2 (29:22):
Yeah. Thank you so much, Raphael, for for calling in
and sharing your story. The good news is, and I
want all deaths to recognize this, it is never too late.
It is never, ever too late to rebuild a relationship
with your children just as the father with us. It's
also never too late, right? And it's really, really quite
remarkable how something like affection alone can open up a
(29:48):
young man's heart and a young woman's heart. And I
would just say to you simply, Raphael, that if you
and we have data that shows this, if you hug
him for 20s every time you see him, just don't
let him go. Hug him for at least 20s. And
and and say things like this to him. This is
something that that all boys need to hear. They need
(30:10):
to hear you say I love you and tell them
why they need to hear you say, I'm proud of you,
and tell them why they need to say they need
to hear you say, I'm here for you, and explain
why you need to tell them they're doing a great
job and, and, and point to something that they're doing great.
And lastly, you should just tell them, thank you for
being such a blessing in your life if you hug
(30:32):
them for 20 minutes a day. Say one of those
five things. Over time, your relationship will change. What dads
need to to exercise is a sense of warmth and
trust and vulnerability. And that in and of itself provides
a lot of healing. And I know a father, for example,
quick story here. I know a dad who realized, you know,
(30:54):
he was in his 60s. He realized he didn't spend
much time with his sons. He simply did this. He
took his 20 something year old sons, and he just
started playing catch with them because he didn't do that
when they were little. He started playing catch with his
20 something year old sons, and it completely changed the relationship.
They just needed to spend time with him having a really,
(31:16):
really good time. One of the the synonyms for fathers
is joy, but I want churches to think about and
if fathers are a source of joy, then your children
will come to you in any age in order to
experience that. So affection and words of of love and
validation are the secret sauce in establishing, reestablishing that relationship.
S1 (31:37):
Yeah, that's so good. You think about what's the power
of 20s? And man, what a revolutionary way to think
about that. That in a 22nd hug, you can, uh,
win your your, your son's heart and change his, his
trajectory and future. And you add those words of affirmation.
(31:58):
I just want to add one additional thing to what
Doctor Bradley said is, uh, a lot of times, as
Christian dads in particular, we're so focused on teaching our
sons what to do the right way to to live
for the Lord, how to walk worthy using biblical language.
And I think that's great that we often don't don't
(32:19):
teach them, um, how to recover after a fall, how to, um,
how to repent, how to get back up after you
have blown it. And we will. We all will. And
and I think it's it's it's a powerful thing. Additionally
to model repentance humility before your children as well. And so, um,
(32:41):
in addition to that 22nd hug and those words of affirmation,
I don't think it's anything wrong. Rafael, what you're saying
to your son. Hey, uh, and you probably have done this.
Nothing wrong with doing it again, but being able to say, hey,
I just want you to know, I recognize that in
so many ways, I fell short. And I wish I
could hit the rewind button. I can't do that. But
(33:03):
I do want you to know I'm going to try
my best with the days that we have ahead of
us to be the father that I wanted to be
to you, but I wasn't able to be. And that
just is powerful in healing as well. Let's pray together. Uh, friends,
let's pray for Rafael. Father, we just pray as a
community of faith for our dear brother. We ask that
(33:24):
you would comfort him. We ask, Lord that you would
heal his son. That you would bless their relationship to
be one that flourishes first in you and then with
one another. Lord, yesterday is gone, so may they not
live with their eyes in their rear view mirror. May
(33:45):
they live looking forward. But the lessons of yesterday will
remind them and us of how important it is that
we put our faith in you, the author, and the
finisher of our faith. And so, Lord, I pray that
Raphael would be able to find a great community of faith,
a brotherhood, encouraging him as he pursues you. And I
(34:07):
pray for healing for His Son. And I ask, Lord,
for the the brokenness to be turned into a testimony
of faith and flourishing in Jesus name. Amen and amen.
Going to take more calls in just a moment, Doctor Bradley,
if you had a room full of 100 pastors. Let's
just say you had a captive audience. I locked the door.
(34:30):
They could not get out of the room. What would
you want them to know?
S2 (34:35):
I would tell a room full of pastors that your
first ministry in your church needs to be to support
men and to support fathers. As you said earlier, when
you support fathers, you help. I mean, everybody benefits, the
women benefit, the children benefit, the community benefits. And at
(34:56):
most churches you're there. Men's ministries are just simply pathetic. Uh,
they'll have a 630 men's Bible study for an hour,
and that's it. In fact, I'll go to some church websites. I'll.
I'll click the Ministry dropdown menu. There'll be 4 or
5 different opportunities for women, and then they'll just be
one for men. And what pastors need to recognize is
(35:18):
that you need to program and structure an entire support
network of men of all ages and fathers of all
ages and fathers of all roles, whether they're biological or not.
To support them, equip them, educate them to be good
husbands and to be good dads, and to create a context.
And this is right out of Timothy and Titus, right
(35:39):
where the the older fathers are coaching the younger ones.
And you have to create a space for that to happen.
S1 (35:46):
You know, I, I would and I'm not going to
do this to you. I would set you loose to
talk about youth ministry. I'm not going to do that
to you. But I will say this, that since the
80s in particular, it feels like the church, the evangelical church,
has been trying to build the better youth ministry as
(36:06):
a solve for reaching the next generation. And I just
want to say, and I know Doctor Bradley's research will
will prove this out, and that is that will never
solve the problem that we have in our culture society.
Nor is that the best, best way of reaching the
(36:29):
next generation. Fathers are. Fathers are. So when Doctor Bradley says,
restructure your ministry, reorient your ministry around fatherhood. Be clear
in what he's saying and that will cost you some things.
And maybe what it costs you is the admission that
(36:49):
we've been doing ministry the wrong way. And that's a
humbling thing. But just like it's powerful for dads to repent,
it's powerful for pastors to repent as well. And to say,
we've been building a ministry based off of maybe hype,
maybe trying to build the best youth ministry we can.
And we have overlooked the simple key ingredient to this
(37:10):
whole thing. And that's dads doctor Bradley.
S2 (37:14):
Absolutely. I think you know that that that youth ministry
model that most churches use today come out of the
1950s 50s, and there was a real need for that.
Like I said, part of the industrial revolution. Dads were gone.
Gone all day. It was a different era where a
lot of the institutions in the in the community also
supported the same value system that the fathers would have.
(37:36):
And so having them participate in youth things was not
that big of a deal. But today, in 2025, all
of that cultural capital is gone. And so what's happened
is it's put much more responsibility, onus on that formation
for spiritual development to happen in the home. It sort
of takes us back to Deuteronomy in the in the Shema.
(37:59):
And youth ministry in most churches has become a wedge
between the children and their parents, and both for girls
and boys, that role of the father is paramount in
doing that. And so I would say it this way
what youth ministry should do is to bind the hearts
(38:22):
of children to their parents and parents to their children.
That you don't have to get rid of your youth ministry,
but it needs to be structured in a way that
it's about connecting children with adults, not children with their peers.
And having a 25 year old cool guy in that
role is not what kids in 2025 need. They need
to be very, very connected to their parents and very,
(38:44):
very connected to other adults in the context of a
local church.
S1 (38:49):
Doctor Riley, I can't tell you how powerful, how good,
how healing. This conversation is. The gift of you. Setting
aside this time is very, very special. And I think
the impact of this is going to be very profound. Man,
what can 20s a day do? Well, it can heal
a generation. It can transform the hearts of your sons
(39:12):
and daughters. Listen to be a source of joy, to
be a place of affection to share words of affirmation.
These are a type of dads that will win the
hearts of the next generation. We're going to take more
of your calls on the other side of this break.
I would love for you to learn more about Doctor
(39:34):
Anthony Bradley, his writings, and the profound work he is doing.
Go to our website, Radio.com. Stick and stay. We'll be
right back right after this. In today's rapidly changing culture,
Christians need solid biblical guidance more than ever. That's our
mission here at Equip to provide biblical wisdom for life's
(39:58):
toughest questions. When you step in as an equipper, you're
not just giving your monthly support helps to offer clarity
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Join our team of monthly supporters today! Call 88. Six. 44. 41.
(40:18):
44 or visit. Org. Welcome back to equipped with Chris Brooks.
We're going to go right to the phone lines. Appreciate
Doctor Bradley being with us today. I want to take
your calls. Tara who's listening in Florida. Thank you so
(40:41):
much Tara, for your patience. How can we pray for
you today?
S6 (40:46):
Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Um, I'm a
single mom, and I was raised by a single mom.
So everything you're saying is I've lived it, and I
can tell you a dad makes a big difference. And, um,
right now, I just would like prayer for my son's dad. Um,
he's looking at possibly 15 years in prison, and we're
(41:07):
just not sure of the future with that. But I
just know that God's heart is to draw our hearts
to his first. And that is what I'm believing, that
God would draw his dad's heart to the Lord and then, um,
be the dad that my son needs and that my
son would be the man that God created him to be.
S1 (41:29):
First off, I want to say thank you for calling. Uh, and, uh,
even more profound is your commitment in light of everything
that's going on to your, uh, your son having a
relationship with with his dad. And I think that that
is awesome. Don't lose sight of that. I do want
to just mention, and our producer can give you more information.
(41:51):
One of our regular guest on this program has been
Jennifer Barnes Maggio. She runs a great ministry called, uh,
the life of a single mom, single mom university where she,
I think, in a very healthy way, encourages and ministers
to single moms who are facing some of the realities
that you are as well. So I'd love for you
(42:13):
to look her up online, get connected to that ministry.
They have a lot of support for single moms. Doctor Bradley,
what would you say to the single moms who are listening?
S2 (42:23):
Yeah, you know that that situation, unfortunately, is pretty, pretty common.
What the research shows is that there's a lot of
hope and it simply works like this. One of the
things that that will positively impact the children is actually
visiting the father while he's incarcerated. It does two things. One,
(42:45):
it it continues to build the bond that they have.
But then secondly, it also impacts the father. So when
fathers have regular visits with their children, they get oxytocin
release and dopamine, which completely changes the way and changes the, the,
the motivations I have to get out. And so those
regular visits do a phenomenal job. There is a ministry
(43:07):
in Florida that I can't remember the name of. That
puts kids in a van and takes them to some
of the local prisons across the state in order to
maintain those relationships. And so for single moms in general,
I think this is why the church is absolutely vital
that local churches need to get the men involved in
the lives of of single moms and their kids. Uh,
(43:30):
when we talk about fatherhood, I mean, there is a
biological component, but there's also just a role. And so
other men in the church can father your children, and
getting them connected is really vital.
S1 (43:41):
Father, we pray for Tara. We pray not only for her,
but we pray for all of the single moms who
are listening to us right now, trying their best to
do their best, trying to maintain their faith in you,
navigating the difficulties, the disappointments of, uh, the situation they
find themselves in. Lord, I pray that your grace will prevail.
(44:02):
I pray, Lord, that you would, uh, somehow intervene. I
pray for the church that we as men in church
would help to bridge the gap. I pray for uncles
and grandfathers to play their role, and I do pray
for men who may be absent from the lives of
their children, that they would have relationships that are healed,
(44:26):
that you would turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
In Jesus name, Amen and amen. Tara, stay on the line.
We can get you the information for the single Moms
ministry as well. Doctor Bradley, there are a lot of
women who are calling in saying, hey, I got a husband.
I got a there's a man who's in the house,
(44:47):
but he's not engaged, at least on not on the
faith level. What do you say for those moms on
how to navigate that difficulty?
S2 (44:57):
That's a really fantastic question. I think unfortunately, in a
lot of church communities, men are are often motivated by
shame and failure, right? Men get it together. Men stop
being bad. And what men respond to is encouragement. And
I think so many dads have no idea how important
(45:19):
they are. But if we can draw out of them. Listen,
I believe you matter. I believe you're important. I believe
you have impact. And it's not that I need you to,
you know, quote unquote step up, but I. I need
you to realize how important you are. You are absolutely
vital to this family, to this children, to to these kids.
And I want to support you in being a good dad.
(45:42):
And that might raise a question asking the father, what
can I do? What do I need to do to help?
Help support you to be a fantastic husband and a
fantastic dad, not just for yourself, but also for the
family friends.
S1 (45:58):
I would love for you to share this conversation. You
can do so through social media. You can find us
on our social media platforms, Facebook, on Twitter. You can
go there. Equip radio. Equip radio. Just hit the share button.
Doctor Bradley, the book that's coming up. When is it
going to be published? What's the name again?
S2 (46:18):
It is titled Dad Deprived. It is Baker Books. It
will be released in November of 2026.
S1 (46:25):
All right. So that's a long way off. Until then,
I do want you to follow Doctor Bradley on social media. Uh,
also Patreon also, uh, his writings. You can find out
more at our website. Just click on today's guest info
and it will lead you to all things pertaining Doctor Bradley.
(46:46):
Thank you, brother, for being with us today. You're off
to hot seat. I appreciate you more than words can
say until we're together again next time. Friends. Remember, equipped
with Chris Brooks is a production of Moody Radio on
Ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
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Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!