Rebecca Davis
AFA Journal staff writer
Above, John Smithbaker and his field buddy
October 2015 – John Smithbaker’s father abandoned his family before John was born. His mother was pregnant, and his sister was three. For four decades, Smithbaker struggled to make sense of his father’s leaving. He sought fulfillment through a successful career and financial gain; he wanted to leave his bitterness and anger behind. Then when he was 40, he stopped chasing the temporal and embraced the eternal. Having personally experienced God’s forgiveness, he was now able to forgive and heal from the deep wounds inflicted by his father’s absence. As a result of God’s grace in his life, Smithbaker started Fathers in the Field to share God’s love with abandoned boys who are suffering as he did for so long. His conversation with AFA Journal follows.
AFA Journal: What is Fathers in the Field?
John Smithbaker: We are an equipping and mentoring ministry that goes through the local church to engage men to stand up in the lives of the fatherless in their own neighborhoods. We provide all of the tools and know how.
AFAJ: What is the foundation of the ministry?
JS: The pillars of the mentoring ministry are faith, fatherhood, and forgiveness. The heart of the ministry is to heal the deep anger and wounded soul that a fatherless boy suffers from and carries with him, and as a result, stop the cycle of destruction and abandonment. The only way to heal the wound of abandonment is through the radical, counter-cultural truth of forgiveness.
AFAJ: How can a man become a mentor father?
JS: First, a local church must enroll in the Fathers in the Field ministry and then seek out spiritually mature men in the church to become mentors. These men must be approved by the church leadership, submit an application, and pass a background check.
AFAJ: How are the boys chosen?
JS: We educate the local church on how to go into its community to reach single moms and their fatherless boys. There is an interview process, and a public commitment ceremony involving the mother, son, church, and mentor father.
A mentor father is matched with a “field buddy.” They meet four times a month, gain insight and understanding, serve others, worship, and plan a special outdoor activity. They also have an end of the year rite of passage celebration for which they prepare.
AFAJ: Is fatherlessness a growing epidemic?
JS: Fatherlessness begets more fatherlessness. Fifty percent of this country’s children – over 25 million kids under 18 – are growing up in homes without their fathers. They live in every community and within reach of every church. Fatherlessness is tearing the fabric of our society as we enter the second generation of broken marriages.
AFAJ: Talk about the responsibility and the results of caring for the fatherless.
JS: God’s Word is clear. It is the mandate of the church to defend the cause of the fatherless and widows in their distress (Isaiah 1:17; James 1:27). Fathers in the Field was established with the deep conviction to answer God’s call through the provision of godly mentoring fathers.
For a boy who has been abandoned by his earthly father, hearing the healing and encouraging words that he has a Father in Heaven who created him, loves him, and will never forsake him is a powerful and grace-filled perspective.
For the single mom to know that a godly man is helping guide her precious boy into authentic Christian manhood is an answer to grief-filled prayers.
And for the church that participates, it is fulfilling God’s call to reach out to help the fatherless and widows in its own neighborhood and community by sharing God’s truths and demonstrating God’s mercy. 
fathersinthefield.com
info@fathersinthefield.com
6796 N. Franklin Ave.
Loveland, CO 80538
844-472-4241
