Opposing worldviews

three things from my world..

Author

Kieran Lenahan
May 10, 2026

Hey all,

Got back a while ago from Tennessee for a Mastermind I’ve been in for a few years. Me and ~45 other fathers/entrepreneurs/followers of Jesus get together to become better fathers. Hard to be way from the fam, but always a fruitful time. Will share some takeaways in the next few emails.

Three things from my world..

1. Franklin, Tennessee: Here is one of the concepts I brought home. It was from a talk about how to prepare our kids for life (relevant for adults, too 😉).

If you can have each of the following 4 things, you will have thriving relationships in every area of life:

  1. The humility to admit when you’re wrong

  2. The humility to ask for forgiveness

  3. The grace to extend forgiveness to those who wrong you

  4. The willingness to show affection to someone who offended you

📁 Filed under: “things to model for and teach our kids”

2. Mobile app: We’re about to launch a mobile app called Within to help people memorize Scripture and learn its context. The team has been crushing it and I’m pumped to get this out into the world. We’ve been in beta testing for a few weeks and it’s genuinely going to be the best app on the market in this category (not biased at all). Much more coming on this soon!

3. On Fatherhood: Last time, I shared the question: What is the goal or purpose of fatherhood?

And I shared the answer I’m working from: To lead a multigenerational team on a mission.

Today, I wanted to share some differences between how we view children/family and how mainstream American culture generally views children/family these days.

American culture

Our perspective

The Goal: Provide safety and comfort until they leave the nest and become productive members of society

The Goal: Raise devoted followers of Jesus who are a light to the world and want to be part of our family

Kids are a burden

Kids are a blessing

Kids are expensive and drain the resources of the family

Kids are an asset and a net positive for the family

Catering to individual preferences guides all parenting decisions. The family’s world revolves around the kids.

We > Me. The world does not revolve around our children.

18 years old is the end of parenting

18 years old is the beginning of a partnership (the first 18 years are preparation)

Empty nest = cause for celebration

I want my kids to want to be nearby

Peak adulthood is a 25 year old, fit young male

Peak adulthood is 80 years old at a table surrounded by generations of family who love you

Mindset: I’m raising kids

Mindset: I’m raising future parents

Family = Nuclear family

Family = multigenerational

Having kids is the next step in fulfilling the lives of the individual parents

Having kids is the natural byproduct of a self-giving, loving relationship

It’s not hard to see why these two worldviews would lead people and families in very different directions (different family sizes, different approaches to parenting, scheduling, spending money, etc.).

Note: Many of these deserve further expansion than just the one sentence summaries. If people are interested, reply with questions or ones you want me to unpack in future emails.

Happy Spring (and Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and grandmas out there),

Kieran

P.S. Judah turned 2, so he’s officially old enough to take care of his little sister 😂 

P.P.S. Here are a few things I’m working on - let me know if I can help.