Dad Tired

Want to be a Dad Tired Parnter? Click HERE

You can love your wife, love your kids, and still be afraid to admit the question underneath it all: Is this it?

This week, Jerrad sits down with author Jared C. Wilson for an honest conversation about midlife, unrealized dreams, and the fear that your best years might already be behind you. Jerrad shares the restlessness he's feeling as he approaches 40—including the struggle to connect with his wife beyond conversations about the kids.

Together, they talk about why achievement can't carry the weight of your identity, how men can become driven at work and passive at home, and why meaningful friendships are worth pursuing even when life feels impossibly full. They also discuss aging parents, the deeper pain beneath destructive habits, and the grief of losing a close friend.

Through it all, Jared keeps returning to the good news: your acceptance in Christ doesn't rise and fall with your accomplishments. You can face the next season with courage because Jesus is with you.

If you've struggled to put words to what you're feeling lately, this conversation may help you start.

In this episode:

• The fear that you haven't accomplished what you thought you would
• When dreaming about the future becomes a source of identity
• Reorienting ambition toward relationships and eternal significance
• Knowing your wife beyond your roles as parents
• Why men can be engaged at work and checked out at home
• Finding brothers, facing loss, and taking the next step with Christ

Resources:

• Preorder Good News for Midlife by Jared C. Wilson: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/815986/good-news-for-midlife-by-jared-c-wilson/
• Explore Jared's books: https://www.jaredcwilson.com/books

This week's challenge: Make space for one conversation you've been avoiding—with your wife, a trusted friend, or the Lord. Start by saying what you've actually been feeling.

Do other people get a better version of you than your wife and kids get?

Recorded outdoors in Guatemala during the first Dad Tired Family Missions Trip, Jerrad sits down with a group of dads for an honest conversation about the gap between the fathers they hoped to be and the men their families experience.

They talk about replaying parenting mistakes at bedtime, struggling with emotional consistency, watching their own anger show up in their children, and giving so much to others that their families get what’s left.

Then Jerrad asks one final question: What kind of dad does your family get because you’ve encountered Jesus?

There’s rain, laughter, vulnerability, and hope for every man who loves his family deeply and still knows he needs grace.

Special thanks to Adventures in Missions for hosting our families in Guatemala.

Important Links:
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

You want to be a present dad, an intentional husband, a healthy man, and a faithful follower of Jesus. But does your calendar make room for the things you say matter most?

Recording from Antigua, Guatemala, Jerrad Lopes shares an honest look at the gap between his priorities and his schedule—and the simple exercise he’s using to bring them together. Instead of trying to do everything every day, he’s identifying what belongs in a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly rhythm.

From intentional time with each child to marriage, Scripture, and friendships where you can be fully known, this episode offers a practical place to start. Jerrad also reflects on why achievement can’t satisfy a soul that needs Jesus and shares the heart behind the first Dad Tired family mission trip.

This week’s challenge: write down the kind of man you want to become. Then put one practical step on your calendar.

Strong families begin with healed men.

Are You Sure You're Saved? Ask Yourself This.

If you died tonight, how confident are you that you'd spend eternity with Jesus? A five? A seven? A ten?

For many Christian men, that question brings up more anxiety than confidence. We believe in Jesus, but we still struggle with doubt, repeat the same sins, and wonder whether we're doing enough to be saved.

In this episode of Dad Tired, guest host Pastor Chris Hilken of College Ave Church in San Diego tackles one of the most important questions of the Christian faith: How can I know if I'm really saved?

Drawing from 1 John, Romans, and the Gospels, Chris challenges the questions we often ask ourselves about salvation and points us back to the finished work of Jesus.

You'll hear why:

• Having doubts doesn't automatically mean you lack genuine faith.
• Your salvation isn't earned by being a good enough Christian.
• Confession, repentance, and a growing desire to obey God matter.
• Your calendar, priorities, and relationships can reveal what you truly love.
• Confidence in salvation comes from trusting Jesus, not trusting yourself.

Whether you've followed Jesus for decades or you're quietly wrestling with where you stand with God, this conversation is an invitation to examine your heart without losing sight of God's grace.

You don't have to put your confidence in your performance when you can put your confidence in Christ.

What do you do when you want to lead your family toward Jesus, but your own failures make you feel like a hypocrite?

Jerrad sits down with pastor, author, and Family Discipleship Podcast host Adam Griffin to talk about fatherhood, spiritual leadership, and learning to start again.

They discuss the dad who loses his temper in the morning and feels unqualified to pray with his kids at night, why repentance belongs in family discipleship, and how to keep showing up when growth feels painfully slow.

There’s also plenty of laughter, a last-minute father-daughter concert, and a reminder that God’s goodness doesn’t change with the way he answers our prayers.

If you’ve wondered whether you’re doing enough—or whether you’ve messed up too much to lead—this conversation offers encouragement and a next step.

Resources:
Adam’s books and Family Discipleship resources
Our Family Devotional

Share this episode with a dad who needs encouragement to start again.

Important Links:
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

You want your wife and kids to grow closer to Jesus. But what happens when you don’t feel close to him yourself?

With a cup of coffee on the back patio, Jerrad wrestles with a question that came up twice at men’s events this week—and one he’s faced in his own life. He shares how shame, exhaustion, and the quiet belief that we can handle life without God can leave us feeling spiritually distant.

Through a story about hiking with his kids, Jerrad offers a picture of spiritual leadership that makes room for a dad who’s still figuring things out: a guide who helps his family notice what God is already doing.

If you’re carrying the weight of everyone’s faith while struggling with your own, this conversation offers encouragement and one simple step you can take with your kids today.

Important Links:
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

You love your kids. But when they’re struggling, it’s hard to know what to do. Come down harder? Give them space? Make another rule?

In this honest ramble, Jerrad shares what he’s learning while navigating a challenging season of parenting four kids. From praying with his wife to laughing over Mario Kart, he explores what it looks like to move toward your kids relationally while still addressing the things that need correction.

We talk about:
• Why feeling out of control can lead to heavy-handed parenting
• Paying attention to what each child needs
• Making prayer your first response
• How your phone can pull you away from the family you want to be present with
• Receiving God’s love and forgiveness as you learn to reflect his heart to your kids

If you’ve ever sat in the driveway wondering whether you have anything left to give, this conversation is for you.

This week’s invitation: Choose one child and take one small, intentional step toward connection.

Important Links:
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Learn more about Adventures in Missions
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

Does your family know what to expect when you walk through the door—or do they have to figure out which version of you showed up?

After a stomach bug leaves Jerrad and his son stranded at a Mississippi airport, an unexpected road trip sparks a conversation about protecting your family, showing up with intention, and becoming a consistent man.

In this honest, back-to-the-basics episode, Jerrad shares what he’s learning about the pressure to look impressive, resting in being known and loved by God, and processing big emotions without taking your wife and kids on a roller coaster. Plus, a look ahead at the upcoming Dad Tired family mission trip to Guatemala.

An encouragement for the dad who’s still stumbling toward Jesus—and wants to help his family do the same.

Important Links:
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

What are you carrying that you’ve quietly decided to take to the grave?

Maybe it’s sin. Maybe it’s shame, pain, resentment, addiction, or something that happened to you. You’ve convinced yourself that keeping it hidden protects the people you love—but hidden pain never stays contained. Eventually, it leaks into your marriage, your parenting, and the way you see yourself.

In this deeply personal episode, Jerrad shares stories of men who risked being fully known, his own experience of God redeeming an old wound, and why the Lord lovingly reaches into every hidden nook and cranny of our lives.

This isn’t a call to recklessly confess everything without wisdom. It’s an invitation to stop carrying it alone. Find a trusted counselor, pastor, or mature brother in Christ who can walk with you toward healing.

You are already fully known by God—and fully loved.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

Jonathan Almonte grew up in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic, without a father in the home and believing that joining a gang might be his best path to a better life.

But God began changing his story through a local church, a childhood friend, and a Compassion International sponsor who faithfully wrote him letters from Michigan. Years later, when Jonathan’s father told him he was a mistake, those relationships helped him understand that his identity was not defined by rejection, poverty, or his past.

In this episode, Jerrad and Jonathan talk about father wounds, growing up fatherless, forgiveness, poverty, faith, spiritual darkness, Christian fatherhood, and the way God can redeem the most painful parts of our story.

Today, Jonathan is a husband, father, and serves tens of thousands of children in the Dominican Republic through Compassion International.

If you’ve struggled with rejection, an absent father, forgiveness, or questions about your identity in Christ, this conversation is for you.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear
Donate to Dad Tired.

When was the last time you felt genuinely excited about your future?

For a lot of men, life slowly becomes survival mode—work, bills, marriage, kids, responsibilities, repeat. Somewhere along the way, we stop dreaming.

In this off-the-cuff episode, Jerrad shares three dreams that have been stirring in his heart for the future of Dad Tired, including serving military families, creating deeper healing experiences for men, and making space for more meaningful conversations.

But underneath all of it is a bigger realization: sometimes you have to heal before you can dream again.

Jerrad reflects on the last few years of confronting sin, pain, brokenness, and unhealthy patterns—and how God has used that healing to give him the capacity to look forward with hope again.

If you’ve felt stuck, exhausted, or like you’re simply trying to make it through the week, this episode is an invitation to lift your head, let God deal with what’s underneath the surface, and begin asking what He might still want to do with your life.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

Sin rarely destroys a man’s life all at once. More often, it slowly kills his joy, peace, intimacy, trust, focus, and spiritual health—and eventually, he gets used to living around the damage.

In this episode, Jerrad asks a difficult question: What has died in your life as a result of sin? Through an honest personal confession, the story of a refrigerator filled with spoiled milk, and the hope of the gospel, he challenges men to stop minimizing the “small” compromises they’ve grown comfortable with.

You don’t have to keep living surrounded by dead things. Jesus is not intimidated by the broken, hidden, or lifeless places in your story. Bring them into the light, confess them, and trust the God who makes dead things alive again.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

What if sleep isn’t wasted time, weakness, or something to squeeze in after everything else is done? What if it is actually one of God’s most practical invitations to trust Him?

In this episode, Jerrad sits down with Brett McCracken, senior editor and director of communications at The Gospel Coalition and author of The Wisdom of Sleep: How Rest Reveals God’s Truth and Revives Weary Souls.

Together, they explore why God designed us to spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, how sleep reminds us that we are the creation—not the Creator—and why closing our eyes each night can become an act of surrender.

A Prayer Before Sleep

Father,

As I close my eyes tonight, I remember that I am not God.

I have limits.
You have none.

I need rest.
You neither slumber nor sleep.

There are things I did not finish, problems I could not solve, and people I cannot protect on my own. I release them all into Your hands.

Forgive me for believing that everything depends on me.

Thank You for the gift of sleep; a grace I receive, not something I earn. As I lie down, remind me that Christ has finished the work I could never finish.

Protect my home.
Watch over my family.
Quiet my mind.
Restore my body and soul.

As sleep resembles death, remind me that I have died with Christ. And if You wake me in the morning, let the rising sun remind me that I have also been raised with Him into new life.

Tonight, I surrender control.

You are awake, so I can sleep.
You are sovereign, so I can rest.
You are faithful, so I do not have to be afraid.

Into Your hands I place this night.

Amen.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

What is really happening when anger, discouragement, anxiety, or apathy suddenly takes over?

In this raw solo episode, Jerrad processes his own battle with comparison and insecurity after watching other successful men in ministry. What initially felt like simple discouragement revealed something much deeper: an old wound had been touched, and the enemy was using it to whisper familiar lies.

Jerrad also shares a surprising example from UFC fighters Sean Strickland and Dustin Poirier that demonstrates what can happen when a man has the courage to stop numbing and ask, “Why am I actually feeling this?”

Whether your emotions come out through anger and impatience or disappear inward through silence, withdrawal, and apathy, they may be pointing toward a wound that needs attention.

You’ll learn how to:

• Recognize emotions as warning lights on the dashboard of your soul
• Identify the wound underneath your reaction
• Notice the lies being whispered in moments of pain
• Stop using anger, alcohol, pornography, entertainment, work, or your phone to numb
• Slow down and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal what is really happening
• Replace the enemy’s lies with the truth of God’s Word

Before you react, withdraw, or numb yourself, pause and ask:

Where is the wound?
What is the lie I’m believing?
God, what truth do You want to speak over me?

Mature men are not men who never experience strong emotions. They are men who learn to recognize what they are feeling, bring it honestly before God, and allow His truth to lead them.

Scriptures Mentioned

John 8:44
Psalm 139:23–24
Matthew 6:25–34
Romans 8:28

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear
__

In this deeply moving episode of Dad Tired, Jerrad sits down with former country music star Granger Smith for a raw and hope-filled conversation about grief, faith, and true conversion.

Granger opens up about the tragic loss of his three-year-old son, River, the darkness that followed, and the moment on a tour bus when he cried out for Jesus to save him. He shares how that moment began to unravel everything he thought he knew about himself, his identity, and even his faith.

Together, Jerrad and Granger talk about what it means to move from simply knowing Christian language to truly tasting the goodness of God, why “I’ve always been a Christian” may be a warning sign, and how God sometimes strips away the very things we use to feel secure so that we can finally see Him clearly.

Granger also shares why he eventually walked away from country music, what it looks like to serve in ministry now, and the heart behind his book Poison in the Well, written for those stuck in nominal Christianity.

CONTENT NOTE
This episode includes discussion of child loss, drowning, grief, suicidal thoughts, and spiritual darkness. Please listen with care, especially if children are present.

IN THIS EPISODE
• Granger’s life as a husband, father, former country artist, and pastor
• The loss of his son River and the grief that followed
• The tour bus moment when Granger cried out to Jesus
• Why grief, shame, and despair exposed the emptiness of surface-level faith
• The difference between knowing about God and truly knowing God
• Why Scripture became food instead of a religious obligation
• What led Granger to walk away from country music
• The warning signs of nominal Christianity
• Why every man should examine whether he has truly been born again

RESOURCES
Pre-Order Granger Smith’s book: Poison in the Well
Dad Tired Retreat: dadtired.com

Former Green Beret John Arroyo survived the 2014 Fort Hood mass shooting after being shot through the throat. But in this powerful conversation, John shares why the deepest wound of his life wasn’t the bullet — it was growing up without a father.

John and Jerrad talk about father wounds, gangs, addiction, becoming a teenage dad, military life, trauma, and the healing power of realizing that God had been with him all along.

This is one of the most moving conversations we’ve ever had on Dad Tired.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear

In this episode of Dad Tired, Jerrad sits down with Kaleb and Chris for an honest conversation about one of the most common tensions Christian parents face: What do I do when my kid doesn’t want to go to church anymore?

Together, they talk through the difference between forcing empty religion and faithfully leading your home, why Sunday worship is about more than personal preference, and how our kids are formed by seeing real stories of redemption inside the body of Christ. This conversation is a call for dads to lead with conviction, compassion, and consistency as they disciple their families toward Jesus.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear
______

What does real friendship actually look like for men?

In this episode of Dad Tired, Jerrad is joined by Kaleb Allen and Chris Hilken for an honest conversation about brotherhood, grief, betrayal, loneliness, and the kind of friendship that goes far deeper than networking, convenience, or shared success.

Together, they talk about why so many men struggle to build meaningful friendships, how pain often becomes the soil where real brotherhood grows, and why true friends are the ones who stay when your life is messy, costly, or inconvenient.

This conversation is a reminder that men were not made to follow Jesus alone. We need brothers who know us, love us, challenge us, and are willing to “waste time” with us for the sake of something eternal.

Important Links:
Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear
Sponsor: VARA Safes. Promo code: DADTIRED20
In this episode of Dad Tired, Jerrad sits down with Dr. Kathy Koch, founder of Celebrate Kids, to talk about raising kids who feel fully known, deeply loved, and prepared for life.

Dr. Kathy shares practical wisdom for Christian dads on speaking identity over their children, understanding different learning styles, building emotional intelligence, avoiding over-parenting, and helping kids grow into confident, faithful adults.

They also discuss why a father’s words carry so much weight, how dads can affirm more than performance or appearance, why reading to your kids matters, and how to parent children who think, learn, and process differently.

This conversation will encourage any dad who wants to lead his family spiritually, connect more deeply with his kids, and raise children who know who they are in Christ.

In this episode:

• Why dads need to speak identity over their kids
• How children become who we tell them they are
• Understanding your child’s unique learning style
• The danger of over-parenting
• How to prepare kids for adulthood
• The difference between correction and criticism
• Helping your kids feel known and loved at home

Key reminder: If your kids don’t feel known at home, they’ll look somewhere else to be known.

Dad Tired Annual Retreat
Host A Dad Tired Conference at your church
Join the FREE Family Leadership Program
Shop the Dad Tired store for best-selling gear
Sponsor: VARA Safes. Promo code: DADTIRED20

Want to stay up to date? Make sure you're subscribed to the email newsletter.
__

Hey guys, quick update from Jerrad.

As you’re listening to this, I’m currently in Alaska with my son and a group of Dad Tired dads and sons for a father-son rite of passage trip.

This season is packed with Dad Tired events, including the Alaska trip, Family Camp, our family mission trip to Guatemala, the annual Dad Tired retreat, and upcoming one-day conferences. Because of that, the podcast schedule may look a little different over the next few weeks.

If an episode drops on a different day than usual — or if there isn’t a new episode when you expected one — thanks for giving us some grace as we move through a full season of ministry.

The best way to stay up to date on upcoming trips, retreats, conferences, and schedule updates is to join the Dad Tired email list using the link in the episode description.

We love you guys, and we’ll be back to our normal rhythm soon.

- Jerrad

Click HERE to subscribe and never miss a thing.