An Idea Became a Vision
John Pyle, founder of Dads for Boys, spent most of his life chasing money in the fast lane, having little time for family relationships. His marriages ended in divorce. A picture of success on the outside, he felt empty inside. In 1985, he took an airplane flight that changed his life. He sat next to Harold Bredesen who saw through the pretense and challenged John to deal with his relationship with God and his life in general.
John’s life and focus changed and he began spending quality time with his children. On weekends with his youngest son, he realized that most of Jay’s friends were from single-mom homes, craving for positive male attention and direction. A vision began stirring within him of recruiting men to become positive male role models in the lives of these boys. Men who would take the boys camping, boating and fishing. They would provide leadership, spiritual guidance and friendship.
In 1989 he formed Dads for Boys and purchased 240 acres of lakefront land in Umatilla, Florida. This was a perfect wildlife atmosphere for outdoor activities. His vision became a reality. In 1994 he developed the Latin American divisions including Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina and Columbia.
Statistics
- 24 million children in America live father-absent homes (U.S. Census Bureau)
- 2/3 of children of divorce haven’t seen their fathers in the past year
- Appoximatley 1/2 of all children go home to a single parent. In the inner city, 4 out of 5 !
- 71 % of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes (National Principals Assoc)
- 85% of all children with behavior disorders come from fatherless homes (Center for Disease Control)
- 80% of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes (Criminal Justice & Behavior)
- 90% of homeless and runaway children come from fatherless homes (Bureau of the Census)
- 85% of youths in prisons come from fatherless homes (TX Dept. of Corrections)
- 75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes
- 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services)
- 37% of new births in America are from young girls and if they get married will probably get divorced.
Our Goal
Our passion is to reach even more fatherless boys as this epidemic has increased over the years. It now includes the added problems of addictions to social media, cell phones, internet pornography, and online gaming. All of which can isolate youth event more from inter-personal relationships and guidance. Mentors are needed more than ever before! Connecting fatherless youth-at-risk with mentors, both of whom will discover passion and purpose being connected to each other. Please consider leaving a legacy of changing a boy’s life. Your own will be changed too.
Be sure to click on the video “Boys 2 Men 4 Christ”.
In addition we are working on developing an online video series to reach out to gamers. We will update you on that when it comes together.
We are available to speak to churches and organizations with our story and sharing from our experiences of 32 years now, and how you can also start reaching out to boys without dads. We’d be happy to keep in touch with you and help and guide you as you develop your own local fatherless boys mentoring outreach.
Note: John also speaks Spanish for those who are more comfortable with that.
