A Church "Dads Team" testimony about their Dads Seminar experience
TRANSFORMING INCARCERATED DADS classes/seminar
Our "ROAD TEAM" presenting the DADS SEMINAR at the Pontiac MSU, July, 2011.
These classes have been often called "Malachi Dads." Just to be transparent: This program is NOT "Malachi Dads." We just call them DADS CLASSES or DADS SEMINAR.
"Malachi Dads" is a year-long program run by AWANA Lifeline, which started in Angola Prison in Louisiana. It has spread to a few other facilities, but to the best of my knowledge, is not always the same curriculum. At Angola, they use four workbooks over 12 months: Experiencing God, InsideOut Dads (from the National Fatherhood Initiative), Lead Like Jesus, & one other.
Because we work in so many County Jails, and a year-long program is not as work-able in a County Jail setting, we developed (working with AWANA Lifeline & the Nat'l. Fatherhood Initiative) our own 9-week "version," and it's called "Transforming Incarcerated Dads," or DADS CLASSES.
Even though it was originally formatted as weekly classes, the IL Dept. of Corrections asked us to develop an additional 2-day seminar format, to present in all their male prisons. This we do, (DADS SEMINAR) and promote AWANA Lifeline's "Malachi Dads" as a GREAT follow-up. This has not happened yet in the IL Prisons, although they're working on it.
A general outline of the TRANSFORMING INCARCERATED DADS classes is:
CLASS 1 - DEFINING THE
PROBLEM
An Historical Perspective
God’s Solution
Pride, Humility & Grace
Re-building Trust
CLASS 2 - GETTING STARTED
Learning from Our past
What Is a Real Man
Self-worth
Setting Goals
CLASS 3 - SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality, Religion & Christianity
Christianity & Change
Spiritual Feeding
Spiritual Work-out
How to Read the Bible
CLASS 4 - ANGER MANAGEMENT, DRUGS &
ALCOHOL
Conflict Resolution
Self-control
Handling Stress
CLASS 5 - DISTANT DAD
Be a Specialist on Your Kid(s)
Empathy
Providing Treasure
More Distant Dad Activities
CLASS 6 - RELATIONSHIPS
Sex, Marriage
Love, Lust
Pornography & Masturbation
Chastity
CLASS 7 - FATHERING
The Perfect Father
Learning to Be a Dad
Being a Good Example
Security
CLASS 8 - LEADERSHIP
& DISCIPLINE
Dad Is Leader
Dad Is a Servant-leader
Discipline
We wrap up the 2-day seminar with showing "Courageous" the movie. We then award Certificates of Completion.