The Sower · The Ciceronian Society

EPISODE 53 - Kevin Lewis Jr. and TakeCharge

·46 min·2 clips

Kevin Lewis Jr. describes Take Charge as a response to the George Floyd riots built around "faith, family, and education."

Josh Bowman opens the program with a brief prayer before introducing Kevin Lewis Jr. He names Kevin as a professional chemical engineer, the Michigan State Director of Take Charge, and a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Lake Crest Baptist Church in Waterford, Michigan, so the conversation starts with a clear overlap between work, ministry, and public-facing community service. That framing stays in place as the discussion moves ahead. Kevin begins outlining the kind of work Take Charge is doing on the ground, especially events and connections with local churches. A major focus is the fatherhood impact award. Each Father’s Day, the organization recruits several churches, as many as it can get in the community, and asks pastors and elders to select three to five fathers in their congregations who would be worthy of recognition. The standard is simple: they are described as biblical men who take care of their families, handle their responsibilities, and show up as good fathers, and the episode treats that recognition as encouragement rather than ceremony for ceremony’s sake. The reward is tangible. Those fathers receive a certificate, a cash prize, and an effort is made to get their names into the newspaper so the recognition can reach beyond the church walls. The scale is already wide. Kevin notes that more than eighty fathers were celebrated this past Father’s Day across ten different states, giving the program a regional reach without losing its local shape. The network is still growing. He names Minnesota, Tennessee, Nebraska, Mississippi, and Michigan as the five core states for the year and says the hope is to reach ten to fifteen states next year. The host then presses on the deeper logic of the work. He asks whether the point is to avoid the familiar pattern of outsiders arriving to explain what people should do and instead let change rise from within the community itself. That question sharpens the episode. Kevin’s answer keeps circling back to churches, leadership, and shared responsibility, reinforcing the idea that durable renewal has to be inhabited, not imposed. The closing stretch points listeners toward the organization’s values and its Declaration of Revival and Redemption. The episode ends by folding the conversation back into the Ciceronian Society’s invitation to sign up for its newsletter, join a future event, and watch for the 2026 conference at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, March 12th through the 14th.

As heard by us

A steady take on fatherhood, church networks, and community-led renewal.

Kevin Lewis, Jr. comes across as a grounded voice on fatherhood, church life, and the way local congregations can support both. The strongest part is the fatherhood impact award: each Father's Day, churches ask pastors and elders to nominate three to five fathers who are already…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a church-led fatherhood initiative explained with care and specifics.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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