Do you strive to be the best father you can be to your children? Or, maybe you’re preparing for fatherhood in the future? Whether you have a baby on the way, or a young man or woman heading off to college, today’s podcast has practical advice and principles you can use to build a plan to lead your family in the right direction.

This month, we’ve flipped the mic around and have Rolling Hills Senior Pastor Jeff Simmons be our guest on the podcast! Jeff is a father of three girls, one middle schooler and two high schoolers. He knows how complicated and challenging parenthood can be, especially with all the other demands on our time and energy. Today, he’s sharing strategies to model and encourage Godly living and a love of Jesus in our little ones, so we can look back on our lives and know we invested in what matters most. 

As fathers, we are called to be the primary disciplers of our children – but we can’t be with them all the time. Sometimes we allow our children to go out into the world and to learn from teachers at school and coaches on the field. We let them spend their time with friends and their friends’ families, and at extracurricular activities. 

It’s okay to get a break from our kids! But, it’s important to take responsibility in planning the experiences that influence them, both while we’re in the room and while they’re on their own.

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

The instructions for parenting we find in Deuteronomy make it clear: our love of God should be woven into our homes and present in even the mundane activities of our day. Following God as a family should become a habit! Jeff’s advice points to a need to be intentional about establishing that habit from birth to young adulthood and everywhere in between. The little details and moments we are given matter, and they all are opportunities from our God we must steward to make an edifying impact in the lives of our children. 

Being the leader of a household is a calling which demands having our priorities straight. Jeff Simmons wants his legacy to be that of someone who pursued God’s purpose for his life. He wants for all of us to be people who invest our lives in what really matters. How do God, your spouse, your children, and your job rank in your life? And how should they rank, and why? If we can get that answer right and begin to live that way, we’ll all be on our way to being better fathers and followers of Christ. 

Listen into our conversation with Jeff this week as we talk about our ongoing journey to be Godly, effective fathers.