About the YCD

Being a dad isn’t a part-time job or a hobby—it’s a life choice, and it’s time to start both expecting more from fathers and giving them resources to be better at it. I started YCD because fatherhood is really damn hard, and we don’t talk about that nearly enough, especially with fathers of faith. I fail a lot; I hope my failures and successes documented here can be a starting point for real conversation about what it means to be a dad today.

I’m a father of four kids under the age of 5, husband to my greatest blessing, and a reborn-a-couple-of-times Christian. I’m a professional editor, writer, and creative consultant in Washington. I left a good-paying office job with a respectable marketing company so I could devote myself to my family first.

Part of my story

I was a big fish in a small pond for a long time. Valedictorian, three-sport varsity athlete, president of seven different clubs, and general all-American kid in high school, but in a town of fewer than 600 people. Even in college I had an easy time distinguishing myself, and graduated at the top of my department. Same with graduate school. It wasn’t until I became a father (and then again and again and again) that I realized I was completely incapable of anything useful, of how small I am in the world.

I’m learning to embrace that smallness. I first started attending church as a teenager of my own volition, but never had a come-to-Jesus moment. Everybody else I know in the church seems to have these great stories about their faith hitting them upside the head; mine’s been a slow boil for fifteen years.

As Young Christian Mom and I have had children, I’ve had a growing sense of isolation—not just from my unmarried and/or childless friends, but from other parents too. I wanted to ground my parenthood in my faith, and I didn’t know how, and I struggled to find real, honest community. I’ve been lucky to have some mentors in my life, but it’s largely been a relationship between myself and God in the context of my family. I want other young men, young Christians, Christian dads, and young dads to know that they aren’t alone in trying to rise up against the low expectations society has put on fathers.