What We Are About: Restore Your World

restoration project Vision

We envision a world where men are men as God intended – where fatherlessness ceases to exist, and the hearts of men are fully restored to God, family and community. We imagine a world where the inner wounds of men are healed, where men know God deeply and wildly, and where men move from an inner core of strength to restore God’s Kingdom to the world.

Our primary purpose is to eradicate fatherlessness – inner fatherlessness (heal), spiritual fatherlessness (know), and global fatherlessness (restore).

Restore Your World

In the end, our healing and knowing is a call to action. When men have come to the place of personal restoration, they move outward to bring life and healing to the world. In a word, God’s intention for every man is to “father” the world. This is a spiritual fathering that is restorative in every aspect of life – - family, business, church, and community.

You see, our primary purpose is to eradicate fatherlessness. It is one thing to do that for ourselves. It is another to connect to God and know the Father. But in the heart of every man is a deep longing and calling to act – to change the world, to make it better, to protect and lead. The antithesis of fatherlessness is FATHER-ING. By this we do not mean having children. Fathering has implications that extend far beyond biology into the realms of spirituality and theology, family, psychology, sociology, environment, economy, ecclesiology…

Fatherlessness is a world-wide epidemic. Our society has created a plethora of social services to serve those who live without fathers, but the reality is that these will never be enough. The only way to combat the fall-out of fatherlessness is for men – especially Christian men – to step up and fill that gap by taking action. Our hope at Restoration Project is to help men come back to a place where they can do this, effectively changing the course of history for the better. We believe that Fathering is a core element of the Kingdom of God.

Consider a few fatherlessness statistics (take from the National Fatherhood Initiative):

• A child with a nonresident father is 54 percent more likely to be poorer than his or her father.
• A study of 3,400 middle schoolers indicated that not living with both biological parents quadruples the risk of having an affective disorder.
• Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.
• A study of 13,986 women in prison showed that more than half grew up without their father. Forty-two percent grew up in a single-mother household and sixteen percent lived with neither parent.
• In a study of INTERPOL crime statistics of 39 countries, it was found that single parenthood ratios were strongly correlated with violent crimes. This was not true 18 years ago.
• Compared to living with both parents, living in a single-parent home doubles the risk that a child will suffer physical, emotional, or educational neglect.
• Students living in father-absent homes are twice as likely to repeat a grade in school; 10 percent of children living with both parents have ever repeated a grade, compared to 20 percent of children in stepfather families and 18 percent in mother-only families.
• For more startling fatherlessness statistics, visit National Fatherhood Initiative

Let me give you an example of what we mean about RESTORING the world…

This fall, I have the unique privilege of speaking at several retreats around the country. Two of them happen to be at a retreat center in Colorado called Sky Corral Lodge. In the recent fires that devastated the Front Range, Sky Corral lay directly in the path of the High Park Fire. In total, this fire burned 87,264 acres up the Rist Canyon.

High Park Fire Burn Area Map

Miraculously, Sky Corral Lodge was spared, and stands as a green oasis in the midst of the now blackened landscape of the surrounding forest.

Sky Corral Lodge – A fire oasis

This week, I met with the men’s leadership team for one of these retreats, from the Evangelical Covenant Church of Fort Collins. As you know, one key aspect of Restoration Project’s weekend experiences involves experiential spaces where we create a context for men to engage and relate around more than a talking-head speaker up front. Discussing the uniqueness of having the retreat at Sky Corral, and the possible elements of experience we wanted to incorporate, the team decided that rather than having the typical “men’s retreat” activities like fishing, basketball, etc., they wanted to “FATHER” the burn area by breaking up into restoration teams. These teams would partner with Sky Corral’s efforts to help the neighborhood recover from the overwhelming charring of the fire.

Together with this group, we will be discussing the elements of Godly “fathering,” and will put it directly into action by bringing chainsaws rather than footballs, working gloves rather than fishing poles, and work clothes rather than swimsuits.

THAT is what we mean. And while children will not be involved, these men will still be called to “father” their world through restoration, action and Godly masculinity.

Ultimately, Restoration Project’s aim is to reunite men with their God-given calling to be life-givers, chaos-reducers, blessing-offerers and future-establishers.

Heal.Know.Restore.