Greetings and welcome to The Axis Project…

Many of us here today have not experienced or had an opportunity to experience a rite of passage ceremony for ourselves or someone else. Our culture has lost this ritual habit. This void is a relatively new trend from a historical perspective. The Industrial Revolution, The Reformation, The Enlightenment, World War II, and more have been cited as possible reasons for our culture’s divergence from ritual. Regardless of ‘why’, the reality is that young adults in America are suffering from confused identities and ‘boys’ who never turned into men. These effects can be seen all around us.

The Axis Project was developed to awaken and grow Christian men. This is created to be a tool in the hands of intentional fathers who want more for their sons; who want their sons to know in the depths of their soul that their earthly father and heavenly Father believes they “have what it takes”, and have welcomed them into the realm of manhood. We want to awaken destiny by empowering fathers and initiating sons through a weekend of ceremony and entering into a life of significance and consequence.

A son should leave this weekend knowing he is exactly who God made him to be, he is believed in, he has what it takes to take on this world, and that his father is his champion, ally, mentor, and friend; that the father is in his life not to be served, but to serve. Sons should leave the home someday knowing exactly who he is, where he comes from, and where he is going. The primary goal of this weekend is to lay the pavement for that journey of discovery and for him to know his father is walking it alongside him. The Axis Project is here to empower fathers to embark on that journey of baptizing their son into manhood.

The values of the Axis Project are rooted in Christian, Biblical inspiration: sonship, devotion, humility, courage, and joy. We strive to live out these principles as an organization and in our personal lives, and expect the same of fathers who embark on this journey. This experience will challenge fathers in many ways and, make no mistake, it is not designed to be easy! This weekend is all about the son. Period. We expect fathers to have a heart and head posture of humility, vulnerability, and expectation. The son will only be as vulnerable, humble, and expectant as the father is. We expect fathers to be a leader, and lead well, as a king’s power is for the good of his kingdom, not for his own self.

This will cause men to enter a realm that very few fathers ever endeavor to explore. Over our preparation sessions, they will prepare to have some of the most real conversations they could possibly ever have with their son. Fathers will be sharing about their personal relationship with God and defining Godly masculinity for their son. They will share some of their own deepest wounds and insecurities, call their son into something greater than himself, and enter into a binding and selfless covenant with him. We expect fathers to be incredibly prayerful, thoughtful, and prudent as they work through their preparation materials. Their intentionality matters, and is directly proportionate to what their son gets out of this weekend. Fathers, don’t miss this opportunity. Don’t let your son down. Be a man!

I believe this is a powerful journey that can change the lives of fathers and their sons; creating a clear event for the son that he can point to, answering a question deep within his heart, confirming that he is, indeed, a man.

Blessings,

Matt Johnson