38 million
children under age18
(54% of all children in America) suffer daily from either physical father absence or emotional-spiritual father absence.

"He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children"
- Malachi 4:6
God’s vision for Fathers
-and Great Dad’s Vision

 

 THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY
I want to share with you a story - a story of an
incredible journey that God has taken me, and every person who is part of the Great Dads Team, on over the past five years. I (Bob Hamrinj will narrate the journey because I am the only one who has been along for its full 1,460 days and thus can best capture the excitement, the images, and the drama of the journey. Actually the journey goes back much longer than that for Great Dads was first born in my heart on June 19, 1977 - that extraordinary Fathers Day when I brought my first child, my son Eric, home from the hospital. Great Dads was born in my mind on March 6, 1994 when the name Great Dads first came to me as I wrote in my journal, "So why not focus on dads through
a Great Dads enterprise." And it was born into the world on December 4, 1996 when it was incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In these first five years, many things have happened that were part of our initial vision document and many things have happened as a delightful surprise from God. But there has been one constant throughout: God's faithfulness! I know this ministry is on His heart because He has made it clear in His word, in the final verse of the
Old Testament: "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children". That is Gods vision for fathers and it is the vision of Great Dads. So please understand this: in everything that Is shared in this story of Great Dads' incredible journey we give God all the praise, honor and glory for He has been our faithful guide throughout.

Transformed Lives of Dads and Children

The Great Dads story is one of powerful images of the transformed lives of fathers and children forever etched into my mind.

- The image of a father of three children telling me that he didn't want to come to the seminar, he planned to leave after 30 minutes unless he heard something that really moved him, and that now, after completing the seminar, he KNOWS for the first time since his father’s suicide many years before that he will not commit suicide as he always thought he would
- The image of two grown married daughters “crying like babies” when they received the commitment Pledge from their dad and telling him, “Dad, this is the best thing you’ve ever given me.”
These images convey the heartbeat of the changes occurring in individual lives because of this ministry. Remember these “heartbeats” as we look together as the “big picture” of what God has accomplished in this, His ministry, in the first five years:
- 5500 fathers have been trained in The 6 Basics of Being a Great Dad
- Nearly 14,000 children have received from their father a lifelong Commitment Pledge to be Great Dad - a tangible symbol of the father’s heart being turned to his child.
- Our associates team has grown from 0 on January 1, 1998 to 112.
- Our staff has grown from 1 in the 2 ½ years to 5
- We have presented 150 seminars in churches of all major denominations and most major Army bases and to dads of all ethnic groups, rich or poor, inner city, suburb, or small town
- We have gone from a one person operation with a tiny budget in the first year to being today one of the top five ministries to men in America (in terms of number of men trained) and one of the top two national organizations providing grassroots training to fathers.

To God be all the praise, the honor, and the glory.

THOSE WE SERVE

The Children

The story of this incredible journey rightfully begins with the focus on the children and the dads, for these are the people that Great Dads was created to serve. The vision for Great Dads, cited above, is to see the hearts of fathers turned to their children. This is a HUGE challenge for Father Absence is rampant in America: 38 million children under the age of 18(54 percent of all children) suffer daily from either physical father absence or emotional-spiritual father absence. Each of these children has their very own personal heart cry – often borne silently – for the heart of their father.

It is for all children – and in particular these children of absent fathers that Great Dads exists and is committed to serving. One of our greatest thrills is when we see a dad give to his child the gift so many children desire – the heart of their father toward them in the form of a lifelong Commitment Pledge to be a Great Dad he presents to his child.

The Dads

Who are the dads we serve? They are dads of every walk of life – dads who are 16 and dads who are in their sixties; rich suburban dads and poor inner city dads; dads in prisons and dads in the military; dads of 13 children and many men who aren’t even dads yet; married dads, divorced dads, and step dads; Caucasian, African-American, Latino, and Asian dads; dads who are quite confident and dads who are scared to death. In short, the dads we serve are any and all dads who desire to be a better dad – whom we hope to inspire to be a Great Dad.