A small group of friends with backpacks hiking together along a desert trail toward large rock formations

The app

Guided Apprenticeship

A very intentional two(ish) year journey to learn a life of apprenticeship with Jesus, with daily rhythms on your phone, at your own pace. Free for every family.

Welcome

This is the welcome I recorded for people starting Guided Apprenticeship in the app. It's also my welcome to you.

Read the transcript

Welcome to The Intentional Dad. I am so glad that you found your way here. And whatever your specific reason for finding your way to The Intentional Dad, I’m going to guess that outside of that specific reason, there’s a general reason that you came that is something that all of us in this community share. And that is that there’s just something you feel, something that we might refer to as a gap.

A gap between how you show up to your family day-to-day and how you want to show up to your family and friends and loved ones on a day-to-day basis. A gap between how you’re experiencing life today and how you would like to be experiencing life.

And Jesus kind of had different ways of talking about that. One of the ways that is most memorable is he talked about abundant life, abundant life that we find through a healing journey, a life and a journey toward wholeness and freedom.

And it is one where the good news is, there is a way through that gap. And there is something to discover that, along the way, what we are defining as that abundant life, that wholeness and healing, is a very simple idea. Simple, scandalous, and incredibly profound. It is that you are loved, you belong, you’re chosen, and you have nothing to prove.

And again, I am so excited that you are here, eager to begin the journey.

A look inside the app

  • The app's Home screen: a greeting, "Where I am right now" showing Phase 1, Part 1, Segment 1, the focus for the phase, part and segment (Awakening Desire), and a button to start the morning rhythm.

    HomeSee where you are on the journey and start today's rhythm.

  • The afternoon prayer rhythm: a short invitation to take one minute to slow down and pray, a box to write in, and the button "I have spent time with this".

    A daily rhythmOne quiet minute of prayer in the middle of the day.

  • A reflection reading from the segment The Father Wound and The Sacred Gap, beginning "For most, our relationships with our dads are a mix."

    A readingShort readings to slow down with, reflect on and name things.

  • Evening prayer, "A simple conversation with Jesus", with a space to write. What you write is kept in My Prayer Journal.

    Your prayer journalWrite to Jesus, and come back to your conversations with God in My Prayer Journal.

Is this for me?

  • For individuals and couples.
  • For men and women in any season, parents or not, and for anyone who longs to be fathered by God.
  • For adults (18 and over). Your children aren't in the app, but they'll feel the difference in you. "The more healing we have, the more we have to offer our kids."

The difference between knowing and living.

Ian once knew everything about the roller coasters at Cedar Point from watching videos, but hadn't ridden the big ones. The year he finally rode, everything changed: as Aric put it, "you went from knowing about to something you knew." Guided Apprenticeship is the ride, not the video.

"Initiation is the bridge between something that you know and something that you live."

Aric, Episode 27
Aric and his son Ian at Cedar Point, with a roller coaster tower behind them.

How the journey works

Scripture: Matthew 7:13–14

Phase 1: Getting What You Never Got.

Awakening · Equipping · Equipping · Anointing.

"Phase 1 is designed to be intentional preparation for a life of apprenticeship with Jesus."

Phase 2: Giving What You Never Had.

Invitations · Practice · Practice · Purpose.

"The goal is not to meet a deadline but to be fathered into proficiency and partnership with Jesus and the work of his Kingdom."

See all 24 segments

Phase 1: Getting What You Never Got.

Part 1: Awakening

  1. Awakening Desire
  2. The Father Wound and The Sacred Gap
  3. Invitation and Initiation

Part 2: Equipping

  1. Orienting to The Story (War)
  2. Preparing for Battle
  3. Practicing Warfare (Identifying Agreements)

Part 3: Equipping

  1. Practicing Warfare (Sin, Confession, Repentance and Breaking Free From 'The Illusion')
  2. Practicing Warfare (Claiming What You're Freed For)
  3. Identity

Part 4: Anointing

  1. Vision
  2. Purpose
  3. Celebration

Phase 2: Giving What You Never Had.

Part 1: Invitations

  1. Confronting fear, receiving truth
  2. Vulnerability, grieving
  3. Forgiveness

Part 2: Practice

  1. Guided by Wisdom
  2. Uncompromising in Loyalty
  3. Inspired by Freedom

Part 3: Practice

  1. Motivated by Oneness
  2. Firm in Character
  3. Driven by Love

Part 4: Purpose

  1. Bestowing (Living Kingdom Values)
  2. Ruling (Seeing, Hearing, Knowing, Understanding)
  3. Dreaming and Celebration

Steady practices:

  • Slowing
  • Study
  • Reflection
  • Prayer
"Guided Apprenticeship is not designed around the value of completion, achievement, or accumulation of knowledge… The value we pursue is lived experience and the cultivation of intimate abiding with Jesus."

Is it really free?

Yes. Guided Apprenticeship is free for every family. Every segment, every practice, everything in the app. Nothing is held back.

When you finish Awakening Desire, the first segment, you'll be invited to become an Apprentice. That's a commitment, not a payment. It's simply saying you want to keep walking this journey.

On that same screen, you'll be asked whether you'd also become a Supporter. The Intentional Dad is a family ministry sustained by people who give. If you're able, please prayerfully consider a monthly gift through Zeffy, $15 a month for an individual or $30 a month for a family, or choose your own amount.

If you can't right now, tap "I can't become a supporter right now." That is completely okay. Supporters and Apprentices walk exactly the same journey. Your gift doesn't change what you receive.

About becoming a Supporter →

You won't walk alone

Apprenticeship is meant to be shared. Invite one person to walk it with you, maybe your spouse or a trusted friend. And when the journey takes you somewhere that needs more than a friend, coaching and pastoral counseling are here.

Explore coaching →

Questions people ask

How long does it take?

It's designed in two phases, and each could take about a year, so conceivably two(ish) years. But measuring the journey in time risks missing what matters most. We are being initiated into sonship and daughterhood: what is lived, not just known; who we are becoming, not what we accomplish. This is a journey into your story, into healing, and into loving more and more fearlessly. Apprenticing to Jesus means letting go of external measures of growth, so it takes as long as it needs to take. The goal isn't to finish a program. The goal is to be Fathered sons and daughters.

Can my spouse and I do it together?

Definitely, and we can't recommend it enough. The app and everything in it is free, so each of you creates your own account and has your own experience as you go through Guided Apprenticeship. But this journey isn't meant to be taken alone. As Jesus shepherds you both, share it along the way: talk, listen, encourage, and grow together.

Are my reflections private?

Yes. Your reflections, journal and prayers are private. No one in the community, including ambassadors, can see them. Technically, the app's administrator (Aric) could open them through the database. However, privacy is a non-negotiable value here, and that simply will not happen without your express knowledge and consent, unless the law requires it. Your genogram is fully encrypted on your phone, so no one can read it but you. If you turn on Locked reflections, your reflections are encrypted on your phone with your own passphrase, so no one, including Aric, can read them.

iPhone or Android?

Yes. Guided Apprenticeship is coming to both the App Store and Google Play. Tap the button for your phone to get it.

Is this counseling or therapy?

No, it's an apprenticeship journey. If the journey takes you into deep places, coaching and pastoral counseling with Aric are available. What Aric offers is pastoral counseling, not clinical counseling. In a crisis, please call or text 988.

Get the app: coming soon

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