APOSTOLIC FOOT NOTES- WEEK TWELVE

from Dr. Bill Faught, Jr.

A brief explanation: we will call these interactions “Foot Notes”, which is based on Romans 10:5:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Receive our love and prayers as you enjoy
these weekly chats!

Brother Bill

From Sons to Brothers (part 3)

Interpreting the Purpose of Relationship

Like a three-legged stool, each component of relationship cannot survive without the others. As
stated last week, the purpose of relationship is for fathers to focus on supplemental and complimentary
aspects that lead to a developmental atmosphere.
Enjoying the process is important, but fathers should take care not to get so buried in the process
that they forget the purpose of relationship. Developing his children should be the greatest pleasure of a
father – they should want sons to stand upon their shoulders: to climb higher, to see farther, to see
above the storms of life and ministry. In turn, neither should fathers be jealous if their sons have more
success.
Themes are used to set directional goals. For 2021, Legacy of Worship, Int’l has chosen: eyes and
wings. In other words: eyes to see it, and wings to attain it. In essence, this describes one of several
purposes for the father/son relationship.
An Old Testament prophet declared, “Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall
see visions.” The verb “shall” means obligated, compelled and determined (Webster’s Dictionary); the
verb “shall” is much more emphatic than “will”. There is a driving-zeal that a good father experiences
as his dreams are shared with his sons. But fathers must also take care to develop an adequate root
system in their sons to support the future fruit.
The declaration of the prophet may make even more sense when reworded in the following way:
“...the vision of young men is to fulfill the dreams of their fathers.” Fathers must take things from the
dream-stage to the vision-stage. But this is seldom the case when they do not understand their role and
purpose in the relationship. Fathers, let us not frustrate our sons.
Today, there is much dialog about spiritual fathers raising up sons and daughters in the Church. Too
often, though, fathers will mistake the zeal of their sons to leave the nest as rebellion – they will
misinterpret the actions of their sons. Again, at times, this can certainly be the case. In my estimation,
though, I believe this is a much lesser percentage than fathers suspect.
If the issue is not rebellion and dishonor, what would cause the sudden loosening of glue in the
relationship? In my estimation, the answer is: fathers do not make a place for their sons. Whenever this
is the case, the sons will leave the nest, one-by-one, and begin another church without their spiritual
father. Pardon a horrible use of the word but, in this case, fathers are creating bastard children and then
blaming them for it. In this case, though, the sons had a spiritual father but he misinterpreted his role
and purpose in the relationship initiated by God.
Some spiritual fathers expect their sons to “pay the same price as they did” in the early days of their
ministry – secretly, they expect their sons to dig out their own ministry from the ground-up; and, this is
partly communicated to the sons. How quickly fathers forget the days when they had no one to spend
time to help prepare them for success. How quickly fathers forget about the loneliness experienced in
the beginning days of ministry.
 Of course, there is some wisdom in requiring sons to find their own intimate relationship with God;
this is a non-negotiable. But the last paragraphs describe a spiritual father who has misinterpreted the
purpose of his own success.
In the bonds of a biblical family, a father’s success belongs to the family, as well. To communicate
“I did this for me, not for you” is utterly narcissistic. This would be disappointing, to say the least.
Fathers hard work should benefit the family, more than himself. Let us choose wisely to communicate
correctly as we interpret our roles as spiritual fathers and sons – as mentors and proteges. Our future
will rest upon those same choices. We will finish this series next week.

Receive hugs from Lynda and I. We take time to wait on the Lord and pray for you...to love you in the
way you are most worthy of. Please contact us if you need advise or prayer anytime. My WhatsApp #
817-360-6751. God’s best to you, as always!

Dr. Bill Faught, Jr.

a.k.a. “Brother Bill”