Jeremy and I chat about differences between eastern and western family cultures, choosing a family philosophy, developing family rhythms, and building multi-generational family teams.

5:03 Jeremy talks about the multi-generational business he and his wife April started, Just Sew

“It grew out of a desire to integrate the generations.”

“The biggest problem that plagues people in that stage of life, because people are living longer, is lack of purpose.”

7:35 Jeremy shares how he came to know Jesus as Lord and Savior

9:45 Jeremy talks about his time living in Jerusalem, meeting his wife April, and how their time in Jerusalem shaped their view of family.

“In the Christian world we really adopt a western idea of family and Abraham had a very different idea.  He cared so much about the descendants and where his family was going and he just seemed to see all of his life through his role as a father or patriarch of this growing family line.”

13:58 Jeremy dives deeper into how the Bible collides with the idea of the western idea of family

“God calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Why does He do that?  He seems to be really interested in this generational connection.”

“In Genesis 1 we see the reason why God created the first family, which was He wanted them to accomplish a mission: to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it and to rule. We know family has a purpose.  It is not simply to just be an environment for us to get our individual needs met.”

“What was in God’s heart when He made this thing called family?

“When you live for generations in a wealthy culture, individualism tends to trump family and then over time the family starts to break down.”

18:05 Jeremy talks about choosing a family philosophy and the family team philosophy

“It’s important to understand ideas matter. What you think a thing is matters.  You can see this with almost anything in life.  What is fatherhood? What is motherhood?  What is sonship? These are concepts that whatever you believe…deeply impact how you live, what you build, what you think about…”

“[W]e have the wrong blueprint. That’s another way to say it, in terms of our philosophy of family. We have the wrong blueprint, so we are building the wrong thing….A lot of times, the Christian response has been we need to love our kids more, we need to focus on the family, we need to think more about family, and we need to prioritize family. If you look at other cultures that do family really well (they tend to stay together and be functional), their not more loving than we are…They just have a different idea.  That is what I mean by philosophy matters, ideas matter. It’s not just, ‘Let’s try harder,’ which is what our culture wants to say about family….There is a root problem, which is we don’t know what family is. We don’t know what’s in God’s heart. If we were actually building with the blueprint God gave us…a lot of these really deep systemic foundational problems start going away.”

1 Timothy 5 : Gives direct commands to care for family

25:10 Jeremy shares a few practical ways to begin building a family team

Homeroom: Family Teams

“Part of what we have to do is fill up our toolbox. We don’t know which one of these tools the most accessible for whatever season people are in, but the three we always talk about are TEAM, TIME, TABLE….”

“Families should cause the individual too flourish, but there needs to be an understanding that part of what makes life amazing is when you are part of a team and you belong somewhere.”

33:53 Jeremy shares some of the most impactful rhythms in his family

• Weekly family meeting
• Weekly meeting with April

39:20 Jeremy speaks to the spouse who longs to build a family team culture, but their spouse is not on board

5 Minute Fatherhood Podcast

• Managing big age gaps in a family
• When to send your wife on a mom-cation
• Stop Trying to be fair to your kids

44:41 Jeremy gives some tips on crafting your own day of rest/Sabbath

“It starts with understanding that it takes work to rest. Most people think that to rest you just have to stop working….Getting a 24 hour rest day is going to be a process.”

“Your goal can not be productivity. That is the most basic difference between rest and work.”

Jeff and Alyssa Bethke

49:04 Jeremy shares about how to get involved with Homeroom and Family Teams

“We’re better together.”

“Stay on mission. You’ve inherited a great gift and it’s not just for you. We are blessed to be a blessing.”