This is where Fathers Raise up kings

The evidence is insurmountable.  Families without Fathers falter.  The role of the intentional father in the traditional family unit is the single greatest factor in determining the fabric of culture.  This is magnified in the life of boys.   It has been our contention since the beginning of Treign Up that the lack of intentional fathers in the home is the leading contributor to the boy crisis in culture.  When I say "boy crisis", I refer to the tsunami that has hit western culture in the last fifty years leaving boys far behind in their development; development in all areas of growth.

Treign Up, our foundation for this issue, has done several things to hold back the dam that is cracking.  We discuss this extensively in our book "Boys Have a Dam Problem:  Examining the Faults that Have Put Our Boys in Crisis."  Besides our school, "Treign Up Academy",  we have three annual events that we promote to bring boys and men together in community that encourages affirmation and blessing of a boy on his journey to manhood.  One of those events is "The Tournament".   This weekend retreat format has been in held at Camp Kehukee in Petersburg, VA for the last four years.   This 223-acres facility has a lodge, a large fish pond, fully stocked, recreation area, pavilions and more.   For the last four years, we have modeled a weekend loosley based on a weekend retreat that I brought my own boys to every year when they were growing up.  Our event, "The Tournament", fosters an environment that brings dads and sons together in competitions with other family tribes.   It is a fun-filled, fully-packed schedule of fellowship, firepits, and field days that culminates in crowning a new Tournament Champion every year.  This year's champs were Ben, Koen, and Malachi Smith.

The seven competitions over the weekend consist of events that fathers and sons do together or combine their scores together for individual sports.  These events are:  Paper Football; Marbles; Fishing Derby; Frisbee Golf; Corn Hole; a Skills Challenge; and Putt-Putt.  This year's skills challenge was small, handheld tools.  The boys spent a couple hours on one day learning how to measure and mark a board;  Use a hand saw to cut a straight line on a 2x4; How to level and plumb;  How to use a hand-held drill, fit the correct bit and drill and screw into a board; How to hammer a nail into a board;  How to use a ratchet and socket set, box wrenches, and adjustable wrenches.   After some master classes on Saturday, the boys went through an obstacle course need to accomplish all six of these objectives.   The class began with a safety briefing and presentation of safety equipment for each boy to include:  mask, ear plugs, safety glasses, and work gloves.  20 men and 28 boys representing 15 families spent the weekend together as a community of men affirming and blessing these boys in their manhood, masculinity, and march to destiny.  We used a little AI to generate our theme song, "Welcome to the Tournament" and a line that I turned over and over in my mind was "This is where Father's raise up KINGS."  Truly, only a company of men can affirm boys in their masculinity and our culture has gone exceedingly soft in raising up boys.  A spirit of deception and confusion has left 'gender identity' on the table as if it was something you choose to eat off a menu.  At Treign Up, we believe your gender is determined at the moment of your conception by God and it is intricately tied into calling and destiny.   
Both Friday and Saturday night we sit around the fire sharing stories and eating smores, but this is also a strategic time for the blessing and affirmation of our boys by the men in their lives.  While every Dad has a strategic moment to bless and affirm their boys, this year for the first time, we were able to add the second of our three ceremonies to the weekend.  

The Ceremony of the Scroll is a formal moment to recognize a boy's entrance into puberty and affirm the changes ahead on his path to manhood.  It is a formal ceremony steeped in reflections of ancient cultures that observed these rites of passage and filled with biblical references to God's purpose and plan for manhood.  It is a special night that we mark this occasion and for the first time in our short history, we had three candidates for this Ceremony.  And while the boys were blessed, it is always my special honor to watch the younger boys watch these boys receive this special recognition.  I can see, in their eyes, a hopefulness that they too may get to hear their fathers speak over them the same way some day.   These are inescapable truths that have been neglected by God's people and we at Treign Up are trying to fill the gap, at least in the people around us.

For me, it is a labor of love.  At my age (68), I have had the wonderful privilege of raising my boys in such an environment.  Now, with 4 grandSONS I have the privilege of being part of this same journey with them and I will not squander it.  We must not squander the role we play as father, grandfathers, uncles, mentors, friends in speaking the necessary words into the minds of the pilgrims who journey after us.   The men who attended this weekend INVESTED their resources in this pursuit.   Their efforts were not in vain nor will their investment fail to gain interest.  We are Raising up Kings.  Who wants to wear the crown?
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