The Challenge

The vision of Life Coaches is to break the cycle of father absence by mentoring young people in life skills, character development, and Christian faith.  Over 50% of children in the USA experience the pain of father abandonment before they reach eighteen.   In some inner city communities, it is a staggering 80%!

Father absence is the primary cause of both economic and social poverty. The majority of school drop outs, drug additions, criminal behavior and out-of-wedlock pregnancies can be traced to the absence of a healthy father in the home.  Father absence begins a cycle that leads to more father absence for future generations.  Father absence cuts across all racial and social/economic boundaries.  For some communities, the primary factor is out-of-wedlock births and in others it is divorce.  In either case, the effects can be devastating on children and often last a lifetime.  The vast majority of young people who become incarcerated for criminal activity have grown up without a father in the home. Seventy percent of kids with a parent in prison will end up incarcerated themselves.

 Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to father absence. Violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, teenage pregnancy and suicide all correlate more strongly to fatherlessness than to any other single factor. The majority of prisoners, juvenile detention inmates, high school dropouts, pregnant teenagers, adolescent murderers and rapists come from fatherless homes.

"The connection is so strong that controlling for fatherlessness erases the relationships between race and crime and between low income and crime".

William Galston, Professor, Author, former Deputy Assistant on Domestic Policy to President Clinton)

How would Jesus respond? 

James 1:27 reminds us that “Pure religion that is undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction.”  And Jesus said, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me” (Luke 9:48).

Partner with us to "visit the fatherless”,
to “receive this child in my name” in your church and in your community.

        Mentoring Makes a Difference

Scientifically controlled studies report that youth who have been mentored for one year compared to similar kids with no mentoring are:

• Less likely to skip a day of school.

• More trusting of parents or guardians.

• More motivated to go to college

• More likely to improve their grades

• Less likely to become pregnant

• Less likely to start using illegal drugs