And 11,400 of them, across 38 countries, now run his 30-Minute Father Framework inside the half-hour they actually have.
An interview with Todd Whitfield, conducted in Franklin, Tennessee.
There is a particular kind of silence that fills a church office after a teenage boy has just told you he wishes his father would come home for dinner. I heard it fourteen times in fourteen years as a youth pastor in Nashville, and by the eleventh time I had stopped offering prayer and started writing down what the boys actually wanted. They did not want a curriculum. They wanted a man who would look up from his phone, close the laptop, and be in the room for thirty unhurried minutes.
I founded Father Todd Ministries in 2003 because the gap I kept seeing was not a faith gap. It was a time gap, and a vocabulary gap, and the quiet belief, held by good men, that fathering well is something you either know how to do or you do not. That belief is wrong. Fathering is a craft. It can be taught. It can be practiced. And it can be repeated in the smallest, most ordinary half-hour a father already owns.
What began as a single workshop at a church in Brentwood has, over twenty-two years, become a 12-week method adopted by 11,400 fathers across thirty-eight countries. The framework is pastoral in tone and relentlessly practical in shape. We are not a therapy practice, and we do not promise outcomes no one can promise. We promise a clear, repeatable system, taught by a team of coaches who have spent their lives in rooms with fathers and sons, and a community of men who are quietly doing the work.
If you are reading this, you are probably the father I kept meeting in Nashville. You are not broken. You are busy. And you have thirty minutes. Let us put them to use.
— Todd Whitfield, Franklin, Tennessee
Including three licensed family therapists, a former NFL team chaplain, and a retired USMC Master Sergeant — every father in our program is guided by someone who has sat in the room he is trying to walk into.
Fourteen years as a youth pastor in Nashville, TN before founding Father Todd Ministries in 2003. Leads the flagship 12-week Method and writes the weekly pastoral letter to active members.
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with eighteen years in clinical practice. Coaches cohorts through the high-conflict early weeks and oversees the household-conflict benchmarking that 78% of members report improving.
Spent eleven years as a chaplain inside an NFL locker room before joining the Father Todd coaching team. Leads the quarterly father-and-son retreat weekends in Franklin and Austin.
Retired USMC Master Sergeant with twenty years of service. Coaches the routines and accountability frameworks that turn the 30-Minute Framework into a daily habit rather than a hopeful idea.
Licensed Professional Counselor focused on the father–son relationship through the elementary and middle-school years. Hosts the Wednesday evening office hours for the active cohort.
Former high-school debate coach and sixteen-year communication instructor. Teaches the conversation frameworks inside Module 4 of the Method and reviews the weekly father-son check-ins.
Cohort lead for the Austin and Denver regional programs. Walks each new cohort through the first thirty days, when the framework is being installed and the old patterns are still loudest.
Father Todd Ministries is a coaching and pastoral-guidance organization. We are not a licensed therapy practice, and we do not offer clinical treatment. Members who need clinical care are referred to one of our institutional partners.
Featured in Christianity Today (2023), Fatherly (2024), and The Art of Manliness podcast (episode #742). Headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, with regional cohorts in Austin, Atlanta, and Denver.
