Letters from Dad is a men’s ministry curriculum developed by Grace Products Corporation located in Richardson, TX.  Greg Vaughn is the President and founder.  Grace has developed Christian and educational curriculum for schools and churches for the past 32 years. 

Letters from Dad has been the primary focus of Grace Products since 2005.

Greg Vaughn lost his dad to Alzheimer’s in June of 2001.  A couple years later, Greg was cleaning out his garage and came across the only thing he had left of his dad. It was a rusty old tackle box.

“What do I need this for?” he thought.  “I don’t even really fish.”  

He was about to throw it away when he had an overwhelming desire to see what was inside. He pried it open and found nothing but a bunch of rusty fishing lures and melted rubber worms. 

He cried out to God, “Is this it?!  Is this all that is left of my dad? Does it all just boil down to rusty, old fishing tackle stuff?  Why couldn’t you have made Dad the kind of dad I needed? Why couldn’t he have said the things I needed to hear: ‘Son, I love you!’ ‘Son, I’m proud of you!’”

At that point God laid a question on his heart: “Greg, if you were to die today?  What would your wife and kids hold in their hands tomorrow that would let them know that they were the treasures of your life?”

Greg argued “God, you know I’ve done better than my dad.  I tell my kids I love them all the time.  We have tons of great memories and more home video than you could watch in a lifetime but, ‘what would they hold’? I guess nothing. Just like my dad left me…nothing.”

That evening, Greg called 12 of his closest friends.  He asked them:

1.  “Do you have an intentional letter of love, blessing, and affirmation from your dad?”  All replied “No, I don’t.”

2.  “What would it mean to you if you did have such a letter?”  They replied “More than you would ever know.”

3.  “Have you ever written such a letter to your kids?”  All replied “No, I haven’t.”  To this Greg replied “Don’t you think we should?”

They all agreed to have lunch with him so he could share what God had laid on his heart.  12 guys were invited, 14 showed up. He said to them, “I’m grieving my father right now and I’m feeling led to do something because I don’t even have his signature.  I’m not sure what it is going to look like but I think we need to write our kids.  Would you guys want to do this with me?” They said yes.

They met once a month for the next 4 months and wrote 4 types of letters.

1.  Letter to their wife because they were the ones that gave them the privilege of being called “dad”.

2.  They wrote letters of blessing to each of their children.

3.  They wrote a blessing letter to their parents (tribute letter if deceased).

4.  They wrote the final letter of their life that wasn’t to be read until their passing.

To be sure their “blessing” letters didn’t turn into lectures, they studied the book entitled “The Blessing” by Gary Smalley and John Trent and incorporated its principals of the biblical blessing.  They critiqued each others writings to make sure they contained no criticism.

The reaction they received from their wife and kids fundamentally altered the foundation of their relationships with them.  For the first time, they clearly communicated, and their families understood, that there was nothing their kids could ever say, do, or become that could ever change their love and commitment towards them.

At the end of the 4 months they told Greg this had been one of the most significant events of their lives. These letters healed many wounds and brought them closer to their families than they had ever been. They asked if Greg would host a dinner so they could bring their friends and have Greg share what they had just done.

130 men attended that first dinner.  Most of those guys signed up to do what the others had and at the end of the 4 month process they decided to have a second dinner.  250 men attended.  Then 4 months after that a third dinner was held and 700 men attended.  That was the beginning of Letters from Dad. 

Grace Products officially released Letters from Dad to local churches in 2005.  Since then, over 1200 churches in 49 states have become Letters from Dad “host” churches.   And more than 19,000 men have gone through the LFD process.

Marriages are being strengthened and restored. Relationships between children/parents/grandparents are being strengthened.  And bridges of reconciliation are being built.  Through this process, men become spiritual leaders of their households.

The theme verse of Letters from Dad is:

“He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…”  Malachi 4:6