About This Episode - 

Kevin Goodnight had a beautiful family and a successful career... but alcohol was like an anchor holding him back and holding him down. In an unexpected moment, Kevin got a calling from God to write a book and become a leader of dads. As Kevin discovered, he could not pursue his new mission until he was ready to leave alcohol behind. In this episode of the Linking Shields Podcast, Warren Mainard talks to Kevin about the struggle of navigating the challenges and changes of life without alcohol and what it takes to become a Dadvoted man.

Warren Mainard is the National Director of IMPACT Players, an author, speaker, and connector. He has 30 years of ministry experience as a pastor, nonprofit leader, and church planter. You can connect with Warren on Facebook, Instagram, and X. Warren is also available to speak on your podcast or event! Email him at [email protected].

In 2020, Kevin's journaling turned into a calling to write, which morphed into a focus and passion for challenging Dads. The brand LLC DADVOTED was created in 2022. Kevin, his wife, and two sons reside in Houston. Learn more about Kevin and his organization at - www.dadvoted.com.

To find out more about IMPACT Players, visit www.impactplayers.org.

Additional Resources Mentioned:

• Dadvoted: Dads Devoted to Discovering their Duty, Direction, and Destiny by Kevin Goodnight

Listen: Apple | Spotify

Transcript -

Warren Mainard: Hey guys, welcome back to another edition of the IMPACT Players Linking Shields podcast. The Linking Shields podcast is all about connecting with other men who are fighting the good fight to try to inspire others to be good husbands, fathers, and leaders by equipping them to thrive in the relationships that matter most. If that's something that you're passionate about or interested in, you've come to the right place. We've got an amazing guest today, a new friend of mine, Kevin Goodnight, who is the author and founder of the book and the ministry Dadvoted, which is all about developing devoted dads. Kevin is a husband, he's a father, he's a leader. He's a great speaker and author, and he's got amazing story to share with us. And Kevin, I looked on your website and I saw that the mission of Dadvoted is developing devoted dads for multi-generational impact. So we definitely are sharing in a very similar mission and have a very similar heart. So I'd love for you just to take a little moment to introduce yourself and then we're gonna ask you to share your story with the guys in a few minutes.

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah, man. Man, I'll tell you what, I'm sitting here pumping my fist on that intro, so come on.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: Look, I close so many of my either long form posts or videos with all about impact and influence, and I, and I'm as you can tell, I, alliteration just kind of spews. It's, I don't know. I'm a keep it simple kind of guy but, man I'm honored today to be on the show and just to, I think a long overdue connection with me and you. We had a great chat, what last week and I'm also coming off quite a mountaintop high. I was with 15 other dudes this weekend in North Carolina and the mountains. I'm a Texas guy, but I went up to the hills of Carolina and man, even today my dentist said, she said, "Your blood pressure is so low, you're so calm." I said, "Yeah, I've just had a beautiful weekend with no cell phone service." So, man, yeah, thank you for having me. Glad to be here. Excited to, man. I hope we impact and challenge a million men today, but even if it's one, we're doing God's work and glorifying him man, so.

Warren Mainard: Absolutely. Well, I had such a pleasure getting to hear some of your story when we spoke on the phone last week. And, you know, there's a lot of different directions we could go in with this conversation today. Your life, your story, your testimony has a lot of breadth and width to it. But I wanna narrow in on a certain component of your story that I think really resonates with a lot of men. I have these conversations with men all the time, both online and in person. And so, as we kind of spent time hearing each other's stories the other day, one of the themes that came out of that was your journey of leaving alcohol in order to pursue mission. And I'd love for you to maybe just to kind of pull back a little bit and share a little bit of your story and maybe how that particular theme has brought you to the place where you are now, where you're investing in men and inspiring dads to be great fathers who can pass on a legacy to their sons.

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. It's, man, there's a lot to unpack. And I really think, you know, we're all about men. We talk about your purpose, we talk about your calling, and then as you become, and especially in the believer segment, we talk about identity. So there's, there's this whole thing in manhood that's like, what's my purpose? What's my calling? What's my platform? What's my identity? And I believe all of us do have that, that life assignment. And for me, I was a corporate guy running teams. And even through that, as we learned more through this session about how Dadvoted came to be, I was, I believe that my corporate job was my platform and part of my purpose for the Kingdom. And it was, and it held that for many, many years. But unfortunately, a lot of that was me building my own kingdom. So it was this, it was two fingers pointing about me, bigger, faster, stronger, grow, grow, grow. I love the Lord. I mean, I've had a relationship with the Lord for years and decades, but I always had that one foot in the world kind of following what we're supposed to do - control, comfort, the paycheck. Not a bad dude, but just kind of wayward at times with very, very self-centered focus. But, and then throughout all of that, anytime there was either condemnation or even convicting, I was convicted at church, or anytime there was a corporate fast, it was always that what do I, what's holding me back? And it was alcohol. It was a strong hold of 20 years. Some seasons of up ups and downs. It really, the last eight to 10 years, it was, it took over. And I look at how men are and how men, we we're in our twenties and just trying to establish ourselves. And we get to our thirties and these kids come and it's like, holy smokes. I'm just blinders on. And you do this thing called fatherhood, and then all of a sudden the job gets a little easier. The promotions come, the money comes, and then you just keep on, those strongholds continue to come because maybe money wasn't that big of a deal. And that was kind of my story served in ministry, did a lot of things, but there was always that crutch of alcohol abuse that came in. And it was, it ran in my family. And so when I kind of bring this full circle, 'cause I know you have a lot of questions around it, but I knew I would never, ever walk in my God-given calling and my purpose if I didn't get rid of the stronghold of alcohol abuse. And then through that, God uncovered who I am, gave me a new identity. We're all a child, I'm a child of God, but there's also a specific identity that God wants to, who he wants to call you. And he calls me a leader of dads. Now look, I know we are just, we're four minutes into this conversation and guys are like, who is this guy calling himself a leader of dads? But the journey to get from where I was, to where I am, and I ask God, "Who do you call me?" And he says, "You're a leader of dads." So I think that's the biggest thing about men being on mission, is knowing who you are and knowing what you've been called to do. And that's kind of the very, very big, broad picture of, kind of my ministry and mission.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. No, and I mean, I think a lot of times when we think about the role of alcohol in people's lives, you know, especially like at a young age, alcohol kind of is a part of living this over the top, boisterous life, partying, showing up with a large group of people and you know, being the center of the party and kinda letting off steam and all that kind of things. And then, for a lot of men, they kind of move out of that party phase but, alcohol kind of transitions into more of a coping type of a mechanism. Like, I need this to, you know, in order to kind of settle down at the end of the day, or to calm my nerves or to kind of numb myself from some of the things that I'm feeling anxious or upset about. So, as you made that journey in, from your twenties there into your thirties, how did that mindset around alcohol maybe kind of shift as well?

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. It was, I was taught, you know, you, you drink, you have fun, you work hard, you play hard, right? That was kind of the mentality. I had mentors. That was the, I mean, one of my mentors, I remember being in my mid twenties, first job outta college, so I'm probably 23. I get a call from a boss who I adore as a person, as a really good boss. But this, after I tell this story, people may think differently, but I, this is what we did. He called me, I was in Arizona one day, and he said, you meet me at the bar at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas tonight at nine o'clock, or I'm firing you. And I'm like, well, I'm in Tucson, I have nothing. He's like, get to the nearest airport, jump on a Southwest flight. Don't bring anything. If you don't, if you're not here by nine o'clock tonight, I'm firing you. And I got there nine o'clock, and we played hard. And so it was just kind of that, and he was my mentor, right? I mean that was, it was a work hard, play hard mentality. And then that starts to creep up as you get into your, now I get into my thirties, I'm 32, 33, and I get called to run a business, and now I'm the man. And it starts to shift. At first it's like entertaining customers, but then it becomes more of that coping that there was always a day to celebrate. There was always a day to drown your sorrows, two hours a day, commuting, 55, 60 hours a week, high pressure corporate mentality of winning, all things that we think we live for. And yeah, I was, it was self-medicating, and it was a way to disappear, escape. And again, love my family, love the Lord. But it was just one of those that I just kept coming back to. And I had this crazy calling where I told my wife, I think the Lord's gonna show up big. Add during the pandemic and then I tell her, I think I could write a book to, and she's like, well, I think you need to press into that. Six months later, I go to a wedding after, and I pressed in, I fasted from alcohol, 21 days prior to that wedding. I walk into that wedding, and a lady I've never met before says, you're gonna write a book one day and it's gonna impact the Kingdom. And so you kinda have this full circle moment of, okay, I've got this calling. I'm gonna write this book. I'm not an author. Who writes books even? I'm a business guru, and now God gives you a task. And then I went on 10 months of just complete disobedience. And it was one of those things like, when do you write a book? I told you, big business, running the largest division of a company in their, and I commute two hours. So you either ride it at night or you ride in the morning, well, you're drinking at night, you're foggy in the morning. I could never walk in my calling. I could never walk in my purpose. Flip side to that, I have a buddy who's been walking, I walk, been walking with him on his sobriety journey. And he called me and said, hey, I stopped drinking four weeks ago. The Lord told me where I'm taking you, you can't be addicted. Six months later, he's in front of a new employer, and the employer said, hey, I just want to tell you, my vision for my executive team is that whoever walks with me can't be addicted. And he tells him his story. I'm six months sober, and this is where I'm at. And it was a faith-based owner of this company. He hands him an offer letter, and it was, doubled his salary. And again, this is not a prosperity message...

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: ...so don't take, you may have lost a couple more people on here. But it was just, again, it was God saying, where I'm taking you, you can't be addicted. And then that was confirmed six months later. And that was for me, this mission, this ministry, Dadvoted developing devoted dads, this would've never happened if I hadn't uncovered the stronghold, release the stronghold, and walked in freedom from the stronghold.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. So, you know, you've shared a little bit of maybe how that role of alcohol was kind of hindering you from fulfilling the calling. You, it sounds like all along you've been going to church, you've been trying to follow the Lord, you know, you've been trying to be a husband and a dad as well. So was there any moment in this journey where, you know, you kind of were experiencing any sense of guilt or shame about the role of alcohol as it related to not being the man or the dad, the husband that you wanted to be?

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. Every morning. Every morning, 'cause I'd still have quiet time. I was still getting up and having my quiet time. And there was daily just pleading with the Lord, like, Lord, make this taste like bile. That was one of my prayers. Like, and then, every two or three months, my wife in tears going, Kevin, you have so much, you have a calling and you, you're majorly influential in people's lives. You're a huge encourager. Why do you continue to let this? And then it stemmed to her saying, this will be passed on to our kids, potentially. It was generational in my family. And we don't need to get too deep into that. But even in my journey of that, uncovering this, one of my final divine, I mean, I had like three or four divine appointments, so good. But one of 'em was a buddy telling me just that my wife was praying, "God give Kevin a man to speak and to his life." And Antoine, an a guy who worked for me came into our office and said, "Man, I gotta talk to you. You have this calling on your life. You know how many believers will walk the face to this earth, men who love God and never know their calling? you know yours. What's holding you back?" I said, "Man, I'm drinking six, seven nights a week." He said, "You have to stop or this will be carried. This will carry to your boys." I then go get in my car, turn on my podcast. It says, tomorrow's podcast attacking the curses of generational sin. I mean, so it was just, the Lord was just, I mean, hitting me in the face with this thing time after time. And, and it took me, I mean, I look back now, years and years of just holding on. Two years with having my calling before I finally admitted that I had a stronghold and got help, and I did. I checked into a faith-based recovery program. And I, I'm sitting at, last month, I'm, was two years, man, I'm coming up on 25 months of not even, I mean, the desire gone. And the Lord removed it. On day one of sobriety, he told me to wait. I said, "Okay, I can wait." I haven't waited ever,, right? It's all about me. It's about here. It's here. On day 40, I hear the word, 'Dadvoted.' I'm praying, what do you wanna call this? I got this book. It's like 10% of a manuscript. It's not about raising boys like I thought it's about how to be a better dude. What do you wanna call this? And I heard the word 'Dadvoted.' I'm like, well, what does that mean? Devoted dads, okay, developing devoted dads. And I love the alliteration.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: I was scared to death. I Googled it, domain popped up, never bought a domain in my life, buy the domain. A week later, I'm meeting with a trademark lawyer. Five months, four months later, I have a full manuscript to the publisher. And five months after that, I've got the book, Dadvoted: Dad's Devoted to Discovering Their Duty, Direction, and Destiny. And here's the thing. Cute title, all the Ds, everything like that. I just asked the Lord for the name of a book, and he said, I'm gonna do a little bit more. I'm gonna give you the name of a mission, and a movement, and a ministry for dads. And, and that was, I was 40 years old. And on day 40 of sobriety, he gave me that. So it's just cool. Everybody knows the number 40, and I'm not comparing myself to Moses or Christ, but God still uses the number 40. I got chills. I've told this story, Warren, I mean, 200 times in the last year. And it's, it is still gets me that emotional and choked up that that's the God of our universe. The God of our universe who's spoken in creation with his words and a peon like me that is struggling with alcohol. He says, I got something for you, man. And buckle up and gear up and get ready. And dude, it's to the degree where I walked away from corporate six months ago. All the big boy money, control, comfort, the title, all the things. And I literally said, God, I don't know where I'm going, but I know I need to, I know I need to leave.

Warren Mainard: Wow.

Kevin Goodnight: And that's kind of my heart. My, again, my mission is not to tell men to walk away from corporate. We need men in the trenches in corporate America, but I knew I had to leave. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm going full throttle, one, you know, completely outta the boat. Lord, lead me, guide me and help me along the way. And the adventure's been so rich, met so many cool people, including you and the men I was with this weekend. And there's a lot of bright spots ahead,

Warren Mainard: Man, that is amazing. And, you know, before we get any further in this, I just need to say something for our guys that are listening, because you know, Kevin, obviously what you're doing is amazing. And you, you're all in, you're sold out. You know, you pushed all the chips into the center of the table, and we'll talk about that a little bit in a minute. But I think sometimes guys think, oh, well, if I'm gonna have an impact, then, you know, I need to do something like what Kevin's doing. And yet I'm thinking about that guy, Antoine, that walked into your office and said, bro, you gotta get this area in your life taken care of. And to me, that's just as much of an IMPACT Player as the guy that's doing a ministry full-time. And I think that's something that a lot of our men need to hear is that maybe it is God's calling for you to do something grand like, you know, writing a book or starting a ministry or something like that. But what if you are the guy that inspires the guy that writes the book? And I think that's just a great testimony that, you know, whether you're listening to this episode or not, and you're thinking about the role of alcohol in your life, and we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. But it could be that you're also thinking about the role of alcohol in another man's life.

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: And what God is saying to you right now is you've gotta be that Antoine to walk into an office and say, brother, I need to talk to you about this issue in your life. And that's what, you know, iron sharpening iron is really all about. And so, let's talk about kind of your message to men who feel like alcohol has gained too much influence in their lives. You shared in your story about how, I don't know, for years, you were waking up in the morning and you were praying this prayer and asking God to change you, and yet it wasn't, nothing was changing. So, you know, maybe there's guys out there right now that are listening and they're kind of in that same boat where they're like, yeah, I know there's something that needs to change and I want it to change, but yet it's not changing.

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's both science and spiritual there. It is kind of both and. I, I'm maybe losing all kinds of people today, but...

Warren Mainard: No, not at all.

Kevin Goodnight: It, it's both, man. It's one of those things, you have to picture yourself in five, it's five years, 10 years from now. Like, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want your kids to remember you for? What is, what are, I mean, we think about this retirement mindset. It's like, no, it's a multi-generational legacy mindset. We're thinking 5, 6, 7 generations down the road, and we have the ability to rewrite our genealogy. And I look at that as one of the coolest things. In so many areas of my life, I'm generation one. And I've got a great family. I love my family, love my father, a great dad. But in some areas, I'm gen one. I'm gen one in setting mission, vision, and values. I'm gen one in attacking alcohol abuse. So I just, I really try to get men to kind of capture their head around the why, looking out big picture. And then I do, I look at what has God called you to do? And I'm talking to a gentleman the other day. I said, it's even almost if if money was no option, but even just in general, what do you think God's called you to do? He's like, well, I used to be a teacher and I want to go back into youth group ministry, but I know I can never do youth group ministry if I have this stronghold. And another guy I'm working with, I said, what, what do you want to do? He said, I wanna speak to young athletes so that they never go through what I went through all the pain of womanizing and almost losing it all and all this. And he goes, but God won't take me there until I'm, I get rid of this stronghold. And that is where I start. What has God called you? I don't know. Okay, well, what are you good at, right? God's not gonna, he might call you to something crazy, but he still gonna use you within the parameters of your context. And what, and your just internal wiring. If you're good with IT, there's something you can do to serve the Kingdom. If you're good with kids, there's something for you to serve the Kingdom. I have a guy who he, he said he compares himself to...and the wars in like Africa, I think way back when. Like they would bring elephants and lions in to clear the path, and then the king or whoever would come in behind, he goes, that's who I am. I come in and I pave ways. So guys like me, guys like you can speak on stages, can do things. And that fits who he is. So that's really what I start with with men is, is do you want to quit? Right? Do you wanna change? And then the science ties it to that. I mean, there's so much about the brain and the, and how it works. And alcohol is literal poison. And I know we'll talk more about biblical alcohol, one of the questions you sent me. But it is literally processing in your body and turning into poison. Then your tolerance gets up, and then your money may not be an option for you, and it just becomes part of your life. I mean, think about it, it's margarita Monday. It's tequila Tuesday. it's wine down, whiskey Wednesday. It's thirsty Thursday. I mean, there's a shirts and drinking for every, Sunday fun day. I mean, there's Saturday, I don't know, there's Fridays, all the, you name it.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: There's, alcohol's become just the norm. It's what you do.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: And we look at how do you make a stand of where you, you know you need to change. You know this is no longer fun. You look at yourself and 80, 90% of the time it's you doing it by yourself. And that was also my deal. And there's kind of two types of people, those who drink and kind of just get tired. And those who drink and amp up and those who drink and amp up are more likely to just continue down that path of alcohol abuse disorder amongst all the other neuroscience, all those. I'm, I got a good degree, but I'm not very smart when it comes to all that stuff. But yeah, that's kind of my journey, how I talk and walk with guys that are just on the fence. Sober curious is a lot, I get a lot of guys that are sober curious...

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: ...is the term.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. That's good. And you definitely have a life degree. So you've got a lot to offer on this conversation For sure. And, you know, again, for us and our men, IMPACT Players is all about inspiring men to be great husbands, fathers, and leaders by equipping them to thrive in the relationships that matter most. And I think any man that wants to win as a husband, father, and leader who wants to win at home, as well as win at work, you know, you've always gotta look at, like, if you're thinking like from a sports perspective, you've always gotta look at, okay, what are those things that might be hindering me from running as fast as I can? Executing at the best level that I can? Thinking clearly when the game is on the line? And obviously, you know, alcohol can have an impact on your ability to be able to execute on your mission and your purpose as a husband, father, and leader. So now you've been sober for two years. Where are you seeing maybe new levels of excellence in your marriage, in your family as a husband, father? Where are you seeing yourself, you know, growing in ways that you thought, man, like, okay, I thought I was doing pretty good, but now I'm seeing a new level that I didn't even know was there?

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. It's even on my website, I have a 52 benefits of stopping alcohol. And it's, and I haven't broken it out. It's literally just a Spirit led, I wrote it down in 20 minutes. So there, there's probably a formula to it all. But the mental health, the body, the physical health, the spiritual health, all the, financial health, I spent six to eight grand a year drinking, dude.

Warren Mainard: Wow.

Kevin Goodnight: Like from restaurants to all the things, vacations, and all the, you start looking at what I could have done with 10 years of eight grand just invested properly or bought land or just whatever. But biggest thing is my marriage is strong. There are no lies in my family, my relationships with my kids. My kids know my struggle. They've seen the Lord show up. So now they have that piece. So when they are challenged on their faith, not if, when they can say, I saw the Lord show up in my dad's life, he was here, then God, now he's here.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: And I hope, God, and my prayer is that God does that in their own lives as well, so that when their faith is challenged, 70% of kids walk away from their faith their freshman year. I think me and you both have been intermixingly using that stat in our social media. And so that's the richest part. I feel better, I sleep better. I'm more intimate with my wife. I mean, all the things that just like, it's a plus, plus plus, plus plus. It's like, why would.... anxiety gone, you know? I mean, it's just all these things. I hear from the Lord more. I don't stress over stupid stuff. So I mean, there's 50, there's after I, there's probably what, 38 more benefits. I just rattled off like 12.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: But that's really the kicker. And I just go, why would you go back? And look, I'd love to admit, I'd love to cook a big fat steak with a beautiful glass of cab. I just know I can't and I know that it will. And I see more men who try to quit for a couple months and then have that one glass and they go right back down, downhill because they like that feeling, that dopamine, serotonin, all the things that come invading in. And then the enemies at work. And before you know it, they're back. They're back struggling. And that's what we don't want men, we want men to walk in freedom. The Lord wants men to live in freedom. And it, what is it? It is for freedom that Christ has set us freedom.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Kevin Goodnight: And so that, that's the mission of anybody that wants men, if it's IMPACT ministries, if it's Dadvoted, if it's BetterMan, all these, our goal is just that how do we get men free so they can hear from the Lord thrive in their marriage and lead where they're gonna lead. The secondary part is when I got clear-minded, my business skyrocketed. It went better because I was leading better. I was delegating better. I was hiring better. Fridays, I used to just get in that office and be dead tired. I was more energized. I was like, I don't even know what day of the week is. I just know I celebrate Sabbath one day a week. Other than that, every day is a day to impact, my friend.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: No pun intended.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, that's amazing. And I know, like, you know, you mentioned you're living in Texas. I currently live in Seattle making a transition to South Carolina. But in different parts of the country, there are definitely different attitudes and perspectives about alcohol. I remember when I first started out in ministry in my late teens, early twenties, you know, it was just not something that you would ever see or expect ministers to drink alcohol, especially in certain denominations. And yet now, I've, I've literally had pastors who have told me, hey, if you really want to make an impact in the lives of men, you've gotta start drinking. And so here's the point that I'm kind of getting to and I want to get your insight on, is that everywhere you go, when you meet with other men and even women social settings, there are gonna be people who have a different position or comfort level when it comes to alcohol. There are those that, you know, are like, hey, I can drink responsibly. It's no big deal. There are those that are like, hey, I'm kind of sober curious. There are those that are like, you know, tea tollers, like they don't want anything to do with alcohol at all. So walk, knowing your story, how do you kinda walk through those social environments in a way where you're staying close to your convictions, and yet at the same time, not coming off as judgmental...

Kevin Goodnight: Right.

Warren Mainard: ...or harsh towards people that may not be in the same place that you're in?

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. Man, that's a great, and I think a lot of people get too hung up on the all that, legalism and this and that, and don't do this, and don't do that. And look I don't believe alcohol overall, I don't think it's awful. I just think it's the abuse of it that's awful. Just like anything money, right? It's not the root of all evil. It's the love of money that's the root of all evil. And so I just look, I mean, look, if we, for the believer, we look at it from a scripture standpoint, okay, what's the law of the land, all right? The law of the land says you have to be 21. Okay? The law of land says you can't drink and drive. The law of the land says that you shouldn't give it to minor. So that's the law of the land. And then you look at God's law about, you know about not drinking and being drunk. And so you start looking at all of what does God say a about it as well. And so I think we can take scripture literally physically, we can maneuver, you know, manipulate scripture. The biggest thing and the hardest scripture to unpack is don't do anything to cause your brother to stumble. So you don't know what the guy going through across the way. You lead a ministry of that's reaching thousands of men, that one beer for you is, doesn't harm you, but that one beer may have a guy that's on the fence. He comes to meet Warren for the first time and all he is like, oh, well I, now I have a hall pass. And now that guy struggles. And you had one, it might even be a non-alcoholic beer, which I drink those. I, I've had those over the last two years. But again, as that in leadership, it's what is what could cause that brother to stumble? For me, that doesn't cause me to stumble if I'm around somebody. But that is the telltale that I always tell people. And even this weekend, they had a no alcohol policy at this men's retreat. We had richer conversation. There was no, I mean, I think there probably could have been some guys that had a bourbon around the fire, and they would've been fine. We would've had any drama. But why even risk it? Because there was a couple guys that were really still actively struggling with alcohol abuse around sitting around that campfire. So that's gotta be the biggest thing. It's not behavior modification, it's not legalism, it's not judgmental spirit. It's the law of the land, the law of the Lord. And then, but it's how do you, are you doing anything that could cause your brother to stumble?

Warren Mainard: Yeah, man, it's so good. Well, hey, tell the guys a little bit about Dadvoted: the book, the ministry, what you're doing, and just how guys can kind of follow you and in your journey over the years ahead.

Kevin Goodnight: Yeah. Dadvoted: Developing Devoted Dads, doing a lot of things. Writing, I've got the book. So the book's on Amazon, easy to get. And I'm doing a lot more writing. I'm writing, I'm close to launching a devotional. We're gonna call it a Dadvotional. So we're sticking along that Dadvoted theme.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Kevin Goodnight: So I'm getting really close to having that. It's buttoned up on my side. I've got a lot of eyes looking at it. That's gonna be focused around 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control." So the devotional, Dadvotional number one, is gonna be about power. I'm also doing a lot of speaking, speaking at churches, speaking at men's events, doing lots of that. And then I have kind of the online portion I offer online courses. One's called Becoming Dadvoted. So it's just that the practical, tangible, repeatable steps to becoming a devoted dad. I'm gonna be launching a sobriety course as well. I think there's power in that. Dadvoted would not have happened if there wasn't a sobriety journey. I think the, one of the biggest problems I can help men solve is becoming unstuck. So I'm launching a course and coaching around that ministry. And then, I'm kind of, my ministry will be shifting a little bit to the next generation. I have a 13-year-old. I also spent a lot of time with some 20-year-old, 22-year-old dudes this weekend. And I'm seeing that I wanna reach dads, but I wanna reach dudes before they become dads, right. That's, if we can get 'em before that. So we'll see some more things come out in the future, maybe of how to help more men. Very active on LinkedIn, under my name and all the other social media. It's a, I don't know, it's hard to reach, but yeah, dadvoted.com is kind of where it all starts. And yeah, man, excited for the journey of... man, completely stepping out of the boat. I don't know where my next paycheck's coming. And I'd love to sit here and say, I just skipped through the day. Some days I freak out a little bit. You've told me your ministry stories. I just got a $2,500 car bill. And I said, well, what's our option? He says, 2,500 or get rid of the car. And my wife and I prayed and we were like, Lord, what can we do here? And, went to pick my car up today. He said, it's gonna be a thousand bucks. He said, I was able to get in there and fix some things. And so even though it's a thousand bucks, the Lord provided a $1,500 reprieve. And I see his hand in so many things, ministries that said, hey, I can't pay you to speak. And then they pay me very well when I walk out the door. And so there's a lot of things going on with that. I'm excited to see this thing in six months and a year from now. I don't know what it looks like. I'm partnering with another ministry about family mission, vision, and values, called Legacy Stone. So there's some really cool partnerships. I don't think there's one ministry that's gonna change the world. I think there's 50 to a hundred of 'em right now that need to link arms and really go to battle together, and we'll see what happens and what God will, will do and use with that kind of a mindset.

Warren Mainard: Absolutely. I mean, that's what Linking Shields is all about, is just to say, hey, let's do this together. We're much more effective, we're much more powerful, when we've got each other's backs, and we're working side by side. So, man, Kevin, let's do this. As we wrap this up, I want you to speak directly to, one of the men that are, that's listening to this show and just whatever is on your heart today in 60 seconds, speak to the man who's listening to this show.

Kevin Goodnight: Man, that's so good. Here it is. It's, we, the world calls addiction a stronghold. In scripture David called the Lord his stronghold. And so there's a shift that we, you and I need to have where we shift from alcohol as a stronghold, pornography as a stronghold, or overspending as a stronghold, or overeating as a stronghold, or not being the leader you were called to be, to the Lord is our stronghold. And within that stronghold, that means that he's, it's fortified. And fortified is building walls that protect from attacks, come around from the enemy. So how do we become fortified men? Going through a process of fortification so that we can walk in freedom and be called and walk as the husband, man, father and leader that we've been called. It is doable. It is available. You just gotta do the one thing, and you have to physically walk from darkness into light. You have to make a move. Otherwise you'll stay stuck. So that is my challenge and my charge for any men today struggling with who they are.

Warren Mainard: Wow. Kevin, thank you so much. Guys, thank you so much for being a part of the IMPACT Players Linking Shields podcast. Don't do this thing alone, guys. Find your band of brothers. Link shields with other men who are fighting the good fight, pursuing the same goals that you're pursuing, and know that you are not alone. Whatever your struggle is, there is great power in bringing it out of the darkness and into the light with the fellowship of other men who love you, care about you, and want to see you thrive and succeed. So guys, thank you again for being a part of this. Kevin, thanks for joining us. We look forward to seeing more from you and hope to have you back on the show in the future. But for everybody else out there, God bless and we'll catch you guys next time.