Revolutionary Leadership & UN-cool Parents
In Almost Famous, rock journalist Lester Bangs snuck a profound, easily missed confession to his young protégé: "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Parenting inevitably reveals how the older we get, the less cool we become (#facts). But, what could be more unnerving - like realizing a mirror works even when our eyes are closed – is that kids have a front-row seat to our harried moments of long days and late nights of our flawed humanity.
Bottom-Up > Top-Down.
We often think we teach through words, but children learn what we value through observation. They absorb our priorities, expectations, and character simply by watching us live. That reality is both humbling and potentially freeing. Rather than a chain-of-command, Jesus leads with a chain-of-care. Rather than demand obedience, Jesus flattens the hierarchy that requires obedience to build rapport through desire-shaping influence. Like a parent, Jesus felt the weight of responsibility. But the process of raising disciples was as much about God shaping Him shaping them. The sinless nature of Christ wasn’t a given. It was tested at every turn on his way to Calvary. Drawing our kids into life with God invites every parent to grow spiritually IN Christ while leading their children TOWARD Christ.
A Fail-a-bration of Grace.
Failure is notably an event, never a person. Imagine the freedom of sharing your most un-Instagrammable moments with your family. Stubborn Optimist & Creative Genius, Brad Montague champions this through his "Fail-a-bration" movement. He invites kids and former kids to celebrate our stumbles: the election we lost, the team we didn't make, the part we didn’t get, the rejection we faced, the embarrassing moments we survived.
As cultural architects of home, parents can design space for honest storytelling and humble confessions. In disarming ways, you can start a fail-a-bration journal, establish a family dinner tradition around "epic fails," and host a small group gathering where families share stories of resilience through failure. These moments—when we reveal how we overcame setbacks, learned from mistakes, and made amends—show our children that imperfection isn't weakness. It's the soil where grace grows.
That's the paradox of Christian parenting: power is made perfect in weakness. The currency of spiritual leadership isn’t having the all right answers or living flawless lives but in how we own our mistakes, confess impatience, apologize, and ask forgiveness that instills God’s heart in our kids. In Christ, we uncover vulnerability as a pathway to flourishing, the Word becoming flesh and (in)dwelling among us. #thenewcool #makeawkwardlookawesome.
