About This Episode - 

Scott Mawdesly is the founder of Dads on Tap, an organization which brings men together to talk about being better dads in breweries across the country. In this episode, we talk with Scott about the power of bringing men together to share life, opening up about our struggles, and the importance of men reading the Bible. Scott is the author of a brand new book series launching this December called “A Dad’s Bible Journey”.

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].

Scott exists to curate meaningful connection through caring development with a restful presence. As the founder of the non-profit Dads on Tap and the Spiritual Father Program Director for Man in the Mirror Ministries, Scott wakes up every day thinking about how to help men grow up and show up in life. He is also the host of 2 monthly podcasts, The Dads on Tap podcast and the Spiritual Fathers podcast. Scott has been married to his bride Natalie for 23 years and has a son in college and a daughter in high school. He calls Buford, GA his home (Go Wolves!) where he enjoys cooking, making leather goods, finding the perfect cup of coffee and discovering the next great book to read. Connect with Scott on Instagram, Facebook, or through Dads on Tap. You can also email him directly at [email protected].

Additional Resources Mentioned:

• A Dad's Bible Journey: The Torah by Scott Mawdesly
• Man Alive by Patrick Morely
• Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World by Josh McDowell & Sean McDowell
• The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel

Listen: Apple | Spotify

Transcript -

Warren Mainard: Hey guys, welcome back to another edition of the Linking Shields podcast. My name's Warren Mainard. I am the National Director of IMPACT Players. And with me today is Scott Mawdesly, the founder of Dads on Tap, and the author of a brand new book called A Dad's Bible Journey. We've got some great conversation for you guys today, but again, as a reminder, Linking Shields is all about finding other leaders across the country who have a passion to inspire men to be great husbands, fathers, and leaders. That's what IMPACT Players is all about by equipping men to thrive in the relationships that matter most. And I'm so excited to have Scott with us on the podcast today because that is absolutely his passion as well. You're gonna hear some amazing stories, tremendous insights about ways that he's reaching men and how other men are inspiring one another to be better dads through Dads on Tap. And so, Scott, I'm so glad to have you here today. Scott, you're the founder of Dads On Tap. You, you've worked with the organization, Man in the Mirror, who we're great friends with in the spiritual, program director role. But more importantly, you are the husband to your wife, Natalie, of 23 years. You've got a son in college, a daughter in high school.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: And over 33 years of experience in ministry leadership working with some of the biggest churches across the country, Thomas Road, Christ Fellowship, Saddleback, North Point, and 12 Stone. So Scott, thank you so much for being here. How are you doing today?

Scott Mawdesly: Warren, man, it's an honor to be with you today, and I'm doing great. I'm excited about this conversation and look forward to just sharing a little bit more about what's happening in our world here.

Warren Mainard: Now, I didn't mention that you, you currently live in, in Beaufort, Georgia, and so...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep, yep. Go Wolves. We're north of Atlanta.

Warren Mainard: We've got listeners all over the country, but IMPACT Players started in Seattle. So that's where a lot of our folks listen from.

Scott Mawdesly: That's great.

Warren Mainard: And you know, there's definitely some cultural differences between Georgia and Seattle.

Scott Mawdesly: Yes, yes. For sure.

Warren Mainard: This whole idea of Dads on Tap...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...and we'll hear more about that, but basically men gathering together in breweries.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: To talk about being better fathers. That seems like an idea better suited for Seattle than it does for the Bible Belt.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah. We need a couple chapters in Seattle, Warren.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. So, I'd love to hear some of your story of how you became a leader, a husband, a father.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: And where Dads on Tap kind of fell into this whole journey that you've been on.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely, man, well, it's a great story. And so I'll just share a little bit of my journey. So I'm a Michigan kid. I was, I grew up in Michigan, a second of four boys. My dad was an entrepreneur. My first jobs were detasseling corn and baling hay. Man, I learned hard work as a kid, and my dad had a successful business until about the age of seven when we made a move in Michigan to a new part of the state. And he tried to establish a business there, and it just never worked. And the reason why I'm sharing some of this, Warren, is that nothing really in our lives becomes meaningful until it becomes personal. And so the work that Dads on Tap and I get to do is deeply personal to me because of my story. So that's why I'm kind of starting back at the beginning. So, yeah, my dad tried to reestablish his business didn't work, and man, that just caused a lot of challenges in our family. We went through bankruptcy. My family moved in, four boys, My mom and dad moved into a campground, lived in a tent for almost a month trying to figure out how to put a roof over our head. I mean, it was that intense. And so, from the age of eight to 18, I lived in, we lived in 14 different physical houses. By four years of high school, I went to three different high schools, including a move from Michigan on the farm to Miami, Florida for my senior year. So from the farm to the 305.

Warren Mainard: Wow.

Scott Mawdesly: And it was...

Warren Mainard: Wow.

Scott Mawdesly: What a change, man. But in my faith, obviously there's just redemptive moments and that move to Miami was a redemptive moment for me. I had a sense that I wanted to invest my life in real, things that had meaning and purpose. And so man, that was a great journey. But I came home from school one day when I was a kid. And, I was probably 10 or 11 at the time. I, and my mom had left taking my two younger brothers with her and left my older brother out with my dad. And so I had a single dad for an amount of time, probably about a year and a half. I was a latchkey kid of the eighties, so I'm a good Gen Xer, 52 years old. So I came home to an empty house and kind of did my thing. And the redemptive side of my, of my parents' story is that, my parents figured it out. My mom came back, but when my mom came back, my dad pulled my older brother and I aside and said, "Listen, mom's coming home. We're not talking about it. We're moving on." So as a teenage kid, man, I did my best to try to move on. And about 20 years later, it caught up with me. And this is a big part of the journey of Dads on Tap and my passion for being a dad and for helping dads. So, man, my dad is one of my heroes. There was a lot of challenges in our home, but he was always there. He was always faithful. He did his best. There was a lot of things he didn't know to do, but man, it would've been so easy for him to have given up. But he didn't. Man, he just kept fighting and kept persevering. And one of the things, when I sit in our brewery chapters, and we've got, we've had 10 brewery chapters, now, nine here in the Atlanta region, one outta state, actually up in Rock Hill, South Carolina. When I sit in those rooms, and I do lead one of those here in my hometown, I often am sad because I wish my dad would've had a room like that of men that he could have journeyed with during that really difficult and challenging season, because I don't really remember if, my dad having many people that he could talk to.

Warren Mainard: yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And I think that he navigated a lot of that alone. And so, when I was 36 years old, we moved to Atlanta and a man came into my life named John, who was my boss, but more importantly, he'd become a man I refer to now as my spiritual father. And John was the first guy, Warren, that started to ask me these deeper interior life questions. And I'll give you a great story. So we're at John's house, it's an offsite planning meeting for our team. And we got on a topic of conversation that I got like fired up about, bro. I mean, I was, you, excuse my language. I was pissed. And the whole room knew it. And we got to the end of the break, or to a break, and he said, "Hey, come here for a second." He pulled me out onto, onto his back deck, and he looked at me, he said, "Hey, what was that?" And I looked at him, I'm kind of confused, and I was like, what was what? He said, "Listen, man." He said, "I know that issue is frustrating, and at one level I understand why you're frustrated." But he said, "Scott, your level of frustration was so much bigger than that issue. What's in the gap?"

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: And man, I'm 36 years old, been married, goodness, probably almost 10 years. At the time I had a 2-year-old son. My daughter wasn't born yet. And for the first time in my life, I had an older mentor reflect to me that I had these massive gaps that I was completely unaware of, and it was affecting everything, whether I knew it or not.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: So, it won't surprise you. I had to actually for me, go back and deal with all that childhood trauma, the abandonment issues, all of that. For me it was six years of pretty in-depth counseling. But without that investment of John, I wouldn't be where I'm at today, man. Like I lived with, I don't know that I would say full blown depression, but man, I was kind of in and outta depressive states. I lived with anxiety. I had a knot in my stomach most of the time, right? Just not living well. And that journey of healing brought me to a place where my soul is just really at rest. And so I wouldn't be where I'm at today without really good, primarily men, a few women in my life investing in me. And so when I got through this journey and I started turning around looking, I'm realizing, man, I'm interacting with a lot of men. Of course, for me, some of that was through ministry, some of that was in my neighborhood. And I just realized that, man, so many men don't have the gift of what I had.

Warren Mainard: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: I don't know if Warren, if you guys see this in the work you do, but probably about, I mean, I've been in front of, in the last year, probably over 500 men, either virtually or in person. And when I ask, "Hey, how many of you had an older guy in your life that was ahead of you that took the time to mentor you or invest in you?" And, and bro, it's at least 95% of the room keeps their hand down. Like they never had anybody.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: I just thought, man, what are we missing out on, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah. That's it.

Scott Mawdesly: So that's kind of a bit of my story. I know I've been talking a lot. I don't know if you have any questions about some of that journey before we get into how Dads on Tap started, but let me just throw it back to you for a second. Get your thoughts.

Warren Mainard: No, I mean, this is great. And I think you're absolutely right. Like, we have the same kind of conversations with men through IMPACT Players. I mean, it is kind of two questions that seem to really rattle guy's cages is number one: tell me about your dad.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: And, no matter what, there's always some sort of emotion that gets stoked in that.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: Whether it's just emotions of gratitude or emotions of pain.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: But then I think that second question that you were talking about is like, who did you have in your life? And really like, was there a man outside of your dad that had a profound influence in your life? Because I think even young men growing up in a home with a great dad still need that...

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: ...that extra masculine presence in their life.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: Whether it's a coach, a youth pastor, a teacher, one of your dad's friends that's a mentor to you, whatever those things are. And the truth is, is that there's just a, there's a vacuum for that in many men's lives. And so I think Dads on Tap, IMPACT Players, one of the things that we're trying to do is provide the tools and the resources and the community for those types of experiences to happen.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely, man. Yeah. That's so true. So let me talk about Dads on Tap. So you'll get a, you'll smile at this. I grew up man in a legalistic, Bible church that, man, alcohol, not only do you not touch it, man, but like, it's of the devil, you know? And, so I kind of grew up around that. Over time what I learned about it, was obviously in scripture that it talks, it doesn't rail against use, it rails against abuse.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And of course, we know there's a lot about alcohol that's abused. And we can talk about that later, how we kind of navigate, walk that thin line with Dads on Tap. But, so about six years ago, I'm in my neighborhood and at the time I was a local church pastor, and I'm in some conversations with some of my neighbors and just really good guys who are dads and care about being dads, but they really struggle as a dad. It always strikes me, Warren, none of us, there is not a single dad out there that becomes a dad and thinks, you know what, my goal is to be a crappy dad.

Warren Mainard: Right, yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: But how many of us become that? And it, because we don't have an example, or we don't know. There's no one pouring into us. So I'm looking around my neighbors, and I'll give you a couple of examples. I'm sitting with one at dinner one night, and he got caught in a real mess and, and got kicked out of his house. And so we're at dinner and he is like, Scott, I know I blew it, but he said, how can I help, how can I still be in relationship with my teenage kids that won't talk to me? Like, man, tough one. And then, I had a neighbor that we spent a lot of time, we did some running together, and he lost his dad when he was young. And so a lot of our conversations were just about things he never learned, or examples he never had. And I'm like, okay. So in like five years, the answer had not been, "Hey, come to a church. We got this great series for dads," right? Like, they either didn't care.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Or in some cases were openly hostile to faith 'cause they'd had a bad experience.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: But they cared about being a dad. So I went to my next door neighbor, who's a great guy, a man of faith. His kids are a little older than mine. And he's, he and his wife were empty nesters. I just said, "Hey, Mike, let's do something to help our neighbors." Maybe it's a cigar around the fire a couple times a year for some just conversation. He goes, yeah, let's do it. So two weeks later, I get a phone call and my role in the community at that time was working with a lot of nonprofits, kind of local outreach. And, and so had done a lot there. I got a phone call from some friends of mine who had just launched a brand new brewery called Slow Pour Brewery in Lawrenceville, Georgia. And they said, "Hey, can we pick your brain about how to use this great facility?" And they got this really cool, it's like an old trouser factory from the early 19 hundreds. It's got all the brick and exposed beams and all that. And so we wanna figure out how to use this, this facility to reach the community. And so I went down there, we had a great conversation, and as I left, my wheels started turning, Warren. I'm like, you know what? My neighbors, I think would come down to the brewery, have a beer, and learn something about how to become a better dad.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: So I went back to Slow Pour. I said, "Guys, listen, if you'll give me the brewery on a closed night, we'll just, let's try it, man. Let's call it Dads on Tap night for dads who care about being a dad, and let's see if my neighbors will come." And so, we did it. My neighbors came, bunch of other guys. So I said, well, I mean, I guess let's do this again. So we did it again, and it started to get some traction.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And so about a year in, we get a phone call from another brewery says, "Hey, I've been hearing about this. Could we do it here?" So I said, "Sure, let's try it." And then I got a phone call from another brewery going, "Hey, we heard about this, could we do it?" So started to have the sense, okay, there's something to this. And so put a little 501C3 nonprofit around it. And then the fourth brewery was probably the most fun and interesting conversation we've had so far. The fourth brewery is a brewery called NoFo up in Cumming, Georgia. They've got a couple of other ones now too. And in that room, there's seven things that make a Dads on Tap work. It has to be community based and led by the community. I don't scale. So if there's not a community leader and a group of guys doing it, then we don't start it.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: But we were sitting there and I met with a group and they're like, man, we love it. Let's do it. And, there was a, the founder of Nofo, who's been a great business guy, done really well, pulled me aside at the end, he goes, "Hey, Scott, I love this idea. What do you wanna do with it?" And bro, man, this been in the margins of the margins for me, man. Like, it's been awesome. But it's been frustrating because there's so much opportunity and I haven't been able to get to it. So I said, "Brian, man, I don't know. Like, I started it for my neighbors. It's getting a life of its own." And he said, "Well, two things, Scott," He said, "First of all, you need to know that, the brewery industry is competitive, but there's a ton of comradery." And he says, "As other breweries start to hear about this, there's nothing like it." He says, "I think more and more are gonna wanna do it." And then he said, "Second of all, man, like dads need this place." Dads are, men are lonely and statistics are telling us, right?

Warren Mainard: Yep.

Scott Mawdesly: There's kind of a loneliness epidemic.

Warren Mainard: Yep, absolutely.

Scott Mawdesly: And I think this space is gonna become really beneficial for our community. And so Brian was gracious, man. He helped to write a check and helped us to put our brand together, launch the podcast, and everything that we're doing there. And Warren, in the last five years, it's been a passion project in the margins. We've been in 10 breweries. We've had well over 1200 men come in person across about 50 events. We've launched a podcast and it's just been a blessing to be able to help other guys and create a space where guys can have a beer and they can learn a way to become a better dad. So I can tell you more about the specifics of that, but that's the story behind Dads on Tap.

Warren Mainard: Man, that is such a powerful story. And I think probably most guys listening to this podcast, they're already thinking like, oh, man, I could totally see myself being a part of one of these types of groups and experiences. 'Cause it's just so relevant and relatable to men. I'm sure you probably heard this a million times, but as you were kind of just describing this, there was a song that came to my mind, and it's not a song that you would sing in church, but it's from the TV show, Cheers, right?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, absolutely.

Warren Mainard: "Making your way in world..."

Scott Mawdesly: I can hear it!

Warren Mainard: "...takes everything you've got." You know?

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: I mean, and the chorus of that, "Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you gotta go where everybody knows your name."

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: And I think, man, like that is the essence of what this whole idea of men coming together that, we call it the band of brothers.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: That men are longing for. They want to be known. They want to know other men. They, you used the word 'comradery.' Men wanna be a part of a team.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: They want to be a part of a group where they can laugh together, they can give each other a hard time, but they can also open up and really share what their real struggles are. And so like, you talked about like, "Hey, these guys won't come to church on a Sunday morning." And we know there are a myriad of reasons why, but even for the guys that do come to church on Sunday morning, they're not getting the opportunity to really share and say like, okay, this is the issue that I'm dealing with. Like, I've got a daughter that's cutting, or I've got a son that's addicted to pornography, or I'm trying to figure out how to help my 7-year-old who is on the spectrum find a way to interact with other kids his own age. I mean, these are all like things that every man you talk to is dealing with.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: And even a great sermon series on Sunday morning is not going to help him feel known and heard.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: And give him the resources that he needs to really navigate his unique situation.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: So maybe just share a little bit about like, what that looks like. You know, like...

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, yeah.

Warren Mainard: We get the picture of men coming together, pouring a drink, sitting around a table.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: But like, how do they get there?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: Like, how do they get to that place where they're really sharing with one another? We call it audacious authenticity.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, I love it.

Warren Mainard: How do you find that moment in these experiences?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, Warren, it's a great question. Let me just say this too about Dads on Tap. So I call Dads on Tap as a non-profit. We are faith led, not faith based. So what I often say about Dads on Tap, and it has been this way from the beginning, is that if you know anything about me as the founder, or honestly anything about our chapter leaders at these different breweries, you would know that Jesus is central to who we are as dads. But we say, whether you share that faith have a different faith, or frankly have no faith at all, is not the point of dads on tap. If you're a dad who cares about being a dad, you're gonna come to one of our events, or you're going to listen to the podcast. And our hope is that you have at least one practical idea that you can walk away with that can help you be a better dad.

Warren Mainard: We call those 'nuggets.'

Scott Mawdesly: There you go, yeah.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: We want you to have a nugget. That's right.

Warren Mainard: In fact, with IMPACT Players, we have a bacon guarantee.

Scott Mawdesly: Okay.

Warren Mainard: If you don't walk away with at least one nugget, we will give you a year's worth of bacon for free.

Scott Mawdesly: I love it.

Warren Mainard: So, yeah. Keep going.

Scott Mawdesly: Bacon and beer. Man, that's a good combination. I like that.

Warren Mainard: There you go.

Scott Mawdesly: So here's what it really looks like structurally. When a community is interested in launching a chapter, there are seven things that make a Dads on Tap work. We have a launch guide and a lead guide kind of Dads on Tap in a box. But really it comes down to is they're a point leader and a group of men that say, "Man, we wanna reach dads and we got a brewery in the community that cares about this issue. We're gonna start one of these." And then we do a quarterly gathering. So what we've learned for us is, is that there's a rhythm. For a brewery, a quarterly gathering is really easy. And it's easy for guys to come and for the team to plan. We had a few early on that were like, let's do it monthly. And that sounds really cool, Warren, for the first six months. But you get to month seven and eight and you go, oh, geez, I gotta try to find a speaker. And I know you, I mean just... so we said we're gonna keep it to quarterly and we access community wisdom. This has been one of the most fun parts of what we've done. We've discovered that sitting right in our little hometown in any community are all kinds of voices that have something important to say to dads.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: That often don't have a platform for it.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: So we've had, like this coming January and the one that I lead in my hometown, we have our former superintendent of our school system that's gonna come and talk about how do we as dads engage in our kids' schools. We've had coaches come and talk about how to think about sports as dads, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: We've had counselors, we've had sheriffs come and talk about what they're seeing that we might not see, right? So we've been able to invite community wisdom to come and share, and not only does it deepen your connection to the community, but those people who have shared have often said, man, this is, thank you because I have this thing, I wanna share it. And I love helping dads. And so it's pretty simple. It's four times a year. We work with the breweries and our team to get word out. We ask guys to invite a couple of guys to come have a beer. We say, "Hey, just pay for their first beer."

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: I mean, even if it's a terrible night, at least they got a free beer out of it, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And let's hear some ways that we can get connected. And then, we always leave time at the end for questions, conversation. The best time of the night, Warren, is frankly, after we're done, guys will stay around for another hour just talking.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: So that's been fun. And then this past year for the first time, I was able to free up a little of my time to launch a dad mentoring group. And so I took a group of four dads on a year long journey to just take 'em deeper into, who are you, where do you come from, what's your life purpose and mission, where do you need to grow. Because at the end of the day, what we wanna expand into, I mean, you guys have seen what you do. You've got a really great mentoring model, and we wanna really get deeper with these dads and help them think more intentionally about their life.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: So the event is the front door, and we hope to feed that as they stick around.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. I love that. And I just totally subscribe to that model. I think that's just awesome. And we try to make that same experience happen with our monthly breakfasts, and then the, we call the cohorts our development engine, that's where guys really grow. And then it's that leadership development outside of that. And so I love the way that you guys have thought that through really strategically. So I wanna talk about your book.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: And the idea of dads in the Bible, but...

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: ...before I do, I wanted to ask kind of one more question or get your thoughts about this idea of drawing men together in a brewery.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: Because the reality is, is that we really don't know what every man is carrying in his life.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep, absolutely. Yep.

Warren Mainard: And especially coming out of the pandemic.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: I've just, I've talked to countless men who went through things during the pandemic, kind of fell into some isolation...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...developed some coping habits that have been very unhealthy for them.

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: And certainly, the overuse or abuse or an unhealthy dependence on alcohol...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...is a reality for many men.

Scott Mawdesly: It is.

Warren Mainard: So how do you kind of navigate that tension of creating a space using the brewery as the safe place...

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: ...for men while also maybe just being cognizant and aware of what that could mean for certain men...

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: ...in the room?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's a great question, and it's something that we have thought a lot about. First of all, one of the things you have to understand about the brewery community is, unlike when I was growing up, and it's like I'm going down to the bar to drink. Almost every brewery, if not all the breweries that we are partnering with are a space for community gathering. I mean like they've created outdoor spaces with games and families come and it, the brewery industry has expanded to the point where they really are a family, a community based business, and the goal is not going down there to drink, is to have a beer and just enjoy being in the community. And so, I think that's one thing, some of the messaging that, we often talk about that, I mean, I kind of throw it out there like, we launched our, my hometown one last Monday night. And right up front, I just kind jump in and say, "Hey guys, just a reminder, like we're not here to drown our sorrows as dads. We're here to have a beer and learn how to become a better dad."

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And so there is some of that messaging. And also the reason why the brewery is our primary partner is because the, this is what the brewery does, right? Like, they have to be cognizant of has someone come and are they overdoing it, just in the normal course of their business. And so they kind of carry that same perspective with us, is it if a guy's having a little bit too much, they know how to handle that and this is what they do. I, and I would say, I've had some guys say, "Hey, I've got some buddies of mine in recovery." I'm like, I wouldn't invite him. Like, we need to be sensitive to that. And then there's been a couple of guys that have come that had a problem. And one of the guys I know specifically about six months in, and I can't really, he and I haven't had this conversation, but I can't really say it was Dads on Tap, but we were the only place where he was really engaging in intentional conversations.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: About six months in, he went into recovery, stopped going to, drinking, stopped coming to Dads on Tap, and is doing great now, a couple years later. And so, because Warren, the purpose of why I built this and the calling I have behind it is reaching men that don't or won't go to church.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: That's the whole reason.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: And so we've had a few churches ask that question. In fact, our Rock Hill South Carolina partner that came on for about a year, and honestly, it was just too early. We didn't have enough to support 'em. And that was a church that came to us in Charlotte and said, "Hey, could we do this? We love the idea." And so here's what I had to say to 'em. I said, "Listen, I'm open to that, but your logo is a no-go," right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Like, we can't put your church logo on it, because when a guy walks in, and as soon as he sees a church logo, and I can say, this as a 30 year pastor, his immediate response is gonna be, oh, I know what you're doing.

Warren Mainard: Here we go.

Scott Mawdesly: Like, you just want to get me down the street into your seat on Sunday.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And so we've said, the brewery is our partner. If you as a church want to lead this or be a part of it, you can. And three of our best partners happen to be pastors at local churches that love this idea and know how to walk that balance.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: And they're not putting it on their church billboard, but they are inviting guys. And bro, I think that partnership between the local church and what we're doing at Dads onTtap is awesome. But it's not the point to get 'em to your local church.

Warren Mainard: Right. Yeah, no that's, that's so good. I love that. Well, let's talk about this book.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: Let's see, A Dad's Bible Journey.

Scott Mawdesly: A Dad's Bible journey. Yep.

Warren Mainard: A Dad's Bible Journey. So you, you've already shared that you worked with churches for a long time.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: So it's probably not a huge surprise that you're somebody who's a big fan of the Bible.

Scott Mawdesly: Right, yeah. A given.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. I mean, at least I'd hope so but, I think as we engage with men...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...one of the things that we're really trying to help men to see is that, that the Bible is absolutely a bedrock foundation for their lives, and particularly within our mission to be the husbands and the fathers and the leaders that they want to be.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, yeah.

Warren Mainard: And so, I love how, Pat Morley from Man in the Mirror, he talks about in his book, Man Alive that, he said, if there's one key indicator that determines whether or not a man using, the quote is a Christian man, like in terms of like, does he really, really live out what he says he believes, and Morley says that the number one factor is, does he read the Bible on a regular basis? A daily basis. There's something about building your life on...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...the scriptures that seems to set those men apart...

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: ...from the men that maybe go to church, grew up in a Christian home, subscribed to Christian values, but maybe not necessarily engaged more deeply.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: So tell us about your Bible journey.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: Any why You wrote this book.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, absolutely. And Warren, I love that, what Pat says about the Bible. And I would even broaden that a little bit to say, if you just have a guy that is certainly reading the Bible, but is also engaged in reading other resources that are filled with wisdom, like that heart to learn and grow. I mean it's, when I see the Bible, obviously there's a belief that it's more than this, but I mean, it's a historical book of wisdom.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Like I really, really believe, and I've got some mentors, I've had a lot of conversations around this, is that I don't believe that the Bible was written as like the toolbox manual for our life. It was written as a set of stories and as a wisdom resource for us to look at the lives of men and women and to learn from it. And in some ways we look at it and it's confusing because it's like, well, man, what? Those are weird cultures. Like, so a Dad's Bible journey is the first book I'm releasing, and I'm hoping it's gonna be available through Amazon at about two weeks. We're in the final, I've got my galley copy here. I've just did a final edit of graphics and content. It's starting in the Torah. So there are nine sections in the Bible. The Old Testament begins with the Torah, which is the first five books. And so, I was thinking as I entered this year about writing a book, and I had a lot of ideas that there has been no book that has impacted me as a dad more than the Bible. And so I started thinking, I wonder what the stories are of dads in the Bible. And so I did a little research. I only found one book out there, Warren, that did anything like this. And of course, it was hammering dads, it was Bad Dads of the Bible, right? Like, of course, that's what we do. We like to hammer dads.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: But I started looking through, and I'm like, man, there are some really powerful stories of both fantastic dads and terrible dads.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: And so I thought, well, let me just kind of see. And so that's where the idea developed. I'm going through each section. So the Torah, the first five books had 24 stories of a dad's direct impact or interaction with his kiddos. It's not a dad principle, it's an actual story. And so what I've done is I've read through and I've captured each story, and then I've written a dad reflection. It's a really basic book. The average guy reads one book a year, so I had to make it like super see spot run, right?

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: Like, not super involved, so.

Warern Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: So the average little chapter is like two pages, two and a half pages. It's not a lot of content. But I capture the story, and then I do a dad reflection. Not meant to be a theological primer, not to be meant to be a commentary. It's just my observation on what that story can teach us as a dad. And then it ends with two questions, two questions that help us think, what can I learn from this story about becoming a better dad?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And so we got this one. I just started on the history books, which I have a sense that I might have to do two volumes because there's a lot of books and a ton of dad stories.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: But bro, it's been so much fun, and I think oftentimes, not think - I know the Bible's a very intimidating book.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Especially you get into the theology of the New Testament, or you get into the stories of the old, and it gets, it's like, man, I'm reading some stuff, and I'm going, this is terrible, and so what I wanted to do was say, Hey, first of all, my goal is to help dads in a practical way, become a better dad. But maybe dads who have not had a lot of interaction with scripture, looking at it through the lens of being a dad...

Warern Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: ...could just read a story and then have a little thought where the Bible in, in, in some unique way could become really practical for how we become a better dad. So that's kind of the heart and the story behind it.

Warren Mainard: Wow. Wow. So, I'm assuming you probably have talked with a lot of men about the Bible. You've heard their opinions about...

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: ...whether or not it's worth reading. You've probably heard guys say like, oh, man, I know I need to read the Bible more often, but I like...

Scott Mawdesly: Right.

Warren Mainard: ...by the time I...

Scott Mawdesly: Get there.

Warren Mainard: By the time I get up and work out and get ready, the kids are getting out the door.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: So like if you were to just kind of try to convince a man about the importance of building the Bible into his life what would you say to him? And then maybe secondly, like, how would you encourage him to begin a journey of his own in, in making the Bible a regular part of his life?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah. Yeah. So Warren, you know these statistics, but the statistics tell us today that young men, millennial dads especially, if they had, if they were a part of any faith or had a faith, that they're walking away from it by the millions, at least in the practical sense, right? Like, they're no longer attending a local church, or they're just got, and I think a lot of that is because they just can't figure out how does this actually help make my life better? And you and I, I think we're similar age, we grew up around a local church that was obsessed with the question, is it true? Like, we spent so much time trying to improve our apologetic, guys like Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict.

Warren Mainard: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ. And that was a big deal for the local church that we grew up in. If you know anything about what's happening with young men honestly, "Is it true?" is really low on their priority list as far as a question. Their bigger question is, "Does it work?"

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Does it make any difference for the life I'm living today? And if I can't figure out how to make it work, or I see a bunch of guys around me that like, man, they say that they're followers of Jesus, but man, they're like a, they're a turd. It's like, why would I wanna be that, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: And so I think when it's, when they're talking about scripture, we've gotta figure out ways to make it apply to practical or felt needs for guys, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Like, if we know we need it, we'll do it. But if we can't figure out why it's important, we won't. And so my hope with this little book is, is that it's taking scripture and put it on the bottom shelf. It's like, Hey, here's a dad story. And then here's a reflection is that it can help guys, maybe some for the first time, I don't know, see scripture through a different lens to go, you know what, there's some things in there that are really helpful.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Even if, and I'll tell you man, I've been licensed, ordained minister for over 20 years, been in, around ministry for 30 years, primarily as a pastor. There is still so much in scripture that confuses me.

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Right? That, but here's what I would say. I don't read any resource, and I'll say this to maybe we got guys listening that are struggling with this. I don't read any resource, because I believe everything in it. The purpose is like, I don't pick up a book and go, I'm reading this because I have to agree with everything in it. I'm reading it because I actually wanna learn something and grow, and I want it to challenge me in some way, right? So it's, the question is almost more important than the answer. And so I would say the same thing with scripture, like don't feel like you're reading it because you have to agree with everything in it. Read it because you want to have a new level of understanding...

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: ...about how to live a better life. And I think that's the most practical way to read any resources, but especially to engage scripture. And I hope that's what A Dad's Bible Journey does.

Warren Mainard: Yeah. Well, hey, let's kind of bring it home to more of a personal level.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: For you, you've got a son who's in college. You've got a daughter in high school.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: And so you're trying to impart those pieces of wisdom. I mean, I'm assuming that probably there were some significant conversations that took place as your son took off for college.

Scott Mawdesly: No doubt.

Warren Mainard: There's probably some significant conversations that have taken place and are taking place as your daughter starts high school.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: How has the Bible kind of helped you as a dad to give wisdom and good guidance to your own kids?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah, yeah. It's a great question, Warren. And some of the first thoughts that come to mind with that question are that I've had, I go back to some of the older men in my life and the mentors that have been men of wisdom that have been in scripture and ahead of me in the process that have been able to bring some things that I didn't have. So one example, this is just super practical. I don't know if it's necessarily scripture related, but when I was, when I was 36, 37, my son was two, my daughter wasn't born yet. I asked a mentor, I said, "What do you..." he was an empty nester at the time. I said, "What do you wish you'd have known at my age about parenting that you know today?" He said, "Scott, I wish someone would've told me that I really only had my child's, my kids' full attention until they were 13." He said, "I thought I had 'em until were 18. they were underneath my roof." He said, "But what I didn't realize was that at about the age of 13 is when other voices became more powerful." Friends and coaches and social media, and fill in the blank. He said, "If I would've known that, I would've been far more present and far more intentional from zero to 13 than I was." And the gift of that for me was that I, my son was two, my daughter wasn't born yet. And so I was able to live that out. And, there is some scriptural precedence for that. The idea of rites of passage, and there's key ages at like the age of 13 is a very key age for not only brain development, but for human development. And I did rites of passages with both of my kids. And certainly some of that was informed around scripture. I got them with adults who were in scripture as a part of those rite of passage things. My son and I did a men's rite of passage adventure retreat up in North Georgia mountains last summer before he went to college that was taking him through scripture and helping him understand what it means to transition now to become a man, right?

Warren Mainard: Yeah.

Scott Mawdesly: Like new level of freedom, new level of responsibility.

Warren Mainard: Right.

Scott Mawdesly: And so much of that is in the scriptures, you know? And so, I would say just getting in it, the wisdom that sinks into you. There have been passages of scripture that I have, there's been several that are consistently, based on where each of my children struggle. There's a couple passages that I consistently will text to them and send them to remind them as kind of a battle against that struggle of fear and anxiety, for example. And so, bro, I'm not a theologian. I'm a pretty simple guy, but I think having scripture in me, and then using that scripture to help my kids think about life in a more intentional way has been the best way that I've used it in parenting.

Warren Mainard: Man, I love that. And I think that is where the rubber hits the road is like when you've got something stored up in your heart, when you've got it fresh on your mind, then you can pass that along. If like, my kids don't need me to send them something that I Googled and copied and pasted.

Scott Mawdesly: Right.

Warren Mainard: Like, they need me to be able to communicate things that I have learned, tested, applied...

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: ...processed, and then able to share with them out of the overflow of my own life. And that's where the Bible really is so powerful is that it is timeless and it's relevant and it's transferrable to every relationship that we engage. So, Scott, this has been so good. There's so many great nuggets that we've been able to uncover through this time together, thinking about the power of men coming together.

Scott Mawdesly: Yep.

Warren Mainard: Striving to be better husbands, fathers, leaders. The whole idea of getting engaged in scripture so that you can be a better dad, a more confident dad. So how can men kind of follow you?

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah.

Warren Mainard: Stay in touch with what you're doing, learn more about your book and Dads on Tap?

Scott Mawdesly: Absolutely.

Warren Mainard: So that they can really access these resources for themselves.

Scott Mawdesly: Yeah. Warren, thank you for the question. So they can follow us. Instagram is @theDadsonTap, we're also Dads on Tap - we've got a Facebook page as well that you can search there. Yeah, I would love for, if anybody has any questions about Dads on Tap and the opportunity to start a chapter in your community, Seattle, we're coming for you. So, you know, that's, I'm sure there's some great breweries out there. But [email protected] is my email direct access, [email protected], and then the book, so we're in the final edit. What a process, just trying to get all that down. Self-Publishing, partnering with a friend to self-publish through Amazon. So we're expecting, Warren, that in about two weeks, it'll be available on Amazon. As either a paperback or is a Kindle a digital version. So, keep an eye out. Maybe by the time this this podcast gets out, you can just go to Amazon, put in A Dad's Bible Journey and you can find it there. But, man, you know what, at the end of the day, the whole reason why I wrote this is I just want to help dads become better dads. And if I hadn't had people help me, I wouldn't be where I'm at. And so what's, the gift is to be able to turn around, right, Warren? And help others in the same process, what you're doing exactly to help dad. So I appreciate the question and I look forward to continue to figure out ways that we get to partner together in the future.

Warren Mainard: Absolutely. Scott, thank you so much. And you definitely are the definition of an IMPACT Player. You've gotten off of the bench into the game and you're making plays. And so we are grateful to have you on the podcast. Thank you everybody for being a part of the IMPACT Players Linking Shields podcast community. If this is your first time, please take a moment to like, subscribe, rate, review, all those fun things. Follow us at impactplayers.org/podcast and continue to reach out. If there's anything we can do to serve you in your goals, to be a better husband, father, and leader, we're here to help you do that. Thank you again, Scott. God bless you. Guys, we'll catch you next time.

Scott Mawdesly: Thank you, man.