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2018 was a breakthrough year for me. The preceding few years had been particularly difficult, thanks to some bad decisions on my part, both in business and in my relationships. Looking back, I had fallen into passivity and failed to see the warning signs around me. Even when I was paying attention, I was slow to take action, and came close to losing my marriage and everything I had worked for.

Thanks to a wake-up call from an old friend, joining an amazing church community, and attending the Dads4Kids Men’s Leadership Summit, everything changed for me and my family in 2018.

Healthy Masculinity

Something special happens when men join together for a great cause. The brilliant Celia Lashlie once said, ‘Men have a natural drawing towards being something bigger than themselves.’ To be sure, there is a negative, sometimes even dark, side to our nature as men, but here at Dads4Kids we are all about focusing on the positive, the life and light that healthy masculinity can bring to our families and communities.

The Rev. Al Stewart puts it beautifully:

‘Healthy masculinity is about being prepared to give your life in the service of others. In wartime, men do it in massive acts of courage, in peacetime you probably do it by dying the death of 10,000 commutes. We undervalue the day-by-day commitment to say, “I will give my life to care for people”.’

And so, on a chilly mid-August afternoon in 2018, I kissed my wife and daughters goodbye for a couple of days and drove up to the beautiful Tops Conference Centre for my first Men’s Leadership Summit. Having grown up with the Fatherhood Foundation and Dads4Kids, and having worked with my Dad (Warwick) on many Dads4Kids initiatives, I had some idea of what to expect, but I didn’t fully understand just how life-changing the weekend would be.

United in Renewal

I was overwhelmed as 100 men raised their voices together in song for the BIGFELLA, as Dads4Kids’ great friend and Men’s Leadership Summit veteran Tony Miller likes to say. I laughed, I cried. To be honest, I spent much of the weekend wiping away tears. Not because I was sad, but because the BIGFELLA was doing a work in me. In the company of great men, God was healing my heart and restoring my soul.

The Dads4Kids Men’s Leadership Summit is all about Building Men, Growing Fathers, and Changing Generations. It’s about challenging men to rise above their circumstances and go for gold in their lives and their families. It’s about men connecting with their Creator, hearing from some amazing speakers, and spurring each other on through small group sessions, which are simple yet powerful. The weekend is a type of rite of passage, but mostly it’s about being in the company of great men.

That weekend in 2018 was absolutely life-changing for me and my family, and each year since, despite the challenges that inevitably come, we have gone from strength to strength. This year, the Men’s Leadership Summit is taking place at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre from 4-6 August. I’ll be there — I’d love to see you there too!

Lovework

If you’re in need of a breakthrough, or you’re flying high and can help lift up other men, I encourage you to attend Dads4Kids’ upcoming Men’s Leadership Summit. The last-chance, special early bird price, has now been extended to this Friday 14 July – Get in quick, don’t miss out!

Yours for being in the company of Great Men,
Nathaniel Marsh

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Originally published at Dads4Kids. Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash.