Navigating Faith and Fatherhood with Dr. David Goodman - Deeper Experiences with God - Episode 22
What if the most important thing you could do for your child has nothing to do with performance and everything to do with presence? In this episode, Dave is joined by Dr. David Goodman, OBGYN physician, surgeon, professor, and creator of Base Camp 322 — a free formation course designed to help fathers intentionally raise sons who know they are deeply loved. Drawing from his medical career, his family's experience with chronic illness, and his study of spiritual formation, David shares how he has learned to integrate faith into everyday life and what it practically looks like to raise boys in today’s current climate with a secure, beloved identity in God.
Takeaways:
- Integrating Faith and Work: David shares how he has woven simple rhythms of prayer and presence into the ordinary moments of a high-stress medical career — including a practice of riding the elevator that transforms a mundane commute into a moment of connection with God.
- Action: Try the practice of riding the elevator — going up, lift your eyes to God; going down, turn inward in self-examination. Or develop some other natural rhythm in your daily place of work where you redirect your heart toward God.
- Stalk the Beast: Before a father can lead his family well, David argues he must first honestly confront what's lurking in his own shadow side — the performance-driven identities and unexamined wounds that quietly shape how he parents. Inviting Jesus into our messiest places, rather than avoiding him there, is the only real starting point.
- Action: What is the beast you've been avoiding? Take one step (David recommends the enneagram as a tool) to bring it to God and perhaps a trusted friend, rather than managing it alone.
- Set Up Camp: From a family mission statement on the wall to the meaningful "base camp trip" he takes with each son at age eight, David invites fathers to build a similar intentional framework for their family through four Ms: mission, messages, moments, and milestones.
- Action: Take a moment to consider what is the unspoken message your kids are actually receiving at home. Not what you say, but what they observe.
- Stoke the Fire: Drawing on attachment research, David makes the case that what matters most in a child's pre-adolescent years, more than academics or athletics, is attachment. Deeply loved children are the ones with the courage to go out and live into their calling.
- Action: Find one intentional moment this week to tell your child, or a child in your life, that they are loved, that you're proud of them, and that they bring you joy. Notice what happens.
Quote of the Show:
- “ I think so many men walk around with this expectation that they must perform rather than be formed, and that it's better to be admired than it is to really be known.” - David Goodman
Links:
- Website: https://www.basecamp322.com/
- Email: david@basecamp322.com
Creators and Guests
