The slow burn of fathering
Small groups for young dads who want to father well.
Slow Burn Dad is a Christian ministry to end father absence. Trained leaders walk with young dads, ages 25 to 45, over several months.
- 1Founder Rustin Carlson trains leaders
- 2Each leads a small group of men
- 3Groups multiply, toward five states
This year: scholarships for ten young fathers in Indianapolis.
Father absence
“What I’m really talking about is father absence. In America, the problem we have is fathers don’t stick around.”
Rustin Carlson, founder
Rustin finds it’s rare to meet a man who doesn’t feel his father left him short in some way. Slow Burn Dad is for young fathers, ages 25 to 45. Rustin sees them as young leaders, and his aim is to go after the wound of these young leaders’ hearts.
“They truly are bewildered because they didn’t have a dad that did it right. And they want to know how you do this really well.”
Rustin, on young dads
Fathering values, proven in one family and passed down
“My dad came into this world with nothing. He took a terrible hand and he turned it into a full house.”
Rustin, on his father
Rustin’s father built his values out of his own pain and raised five children on them. All five came to know Christ.
Three of those values
- Start each day with JesusBible and coffee every morning,
just being with Jesus.
- Count the costBefore marriage,
because you’re only going to do this one time.
- Come home and plug inAfter work, be in your kids’ lives.
At 94, Rustin’s father passed the mantle of fathering to Rustin. Ask Rustin to tell you that story.
Slow Burn Dad passes those values on again: from Rustin to the leaders he trains, and from those leaders to young dads.
Small groups of young fathers
The first group began meeting in September 2026, as a five-month trial. Rustin is writing the curriculum.
Groups follow the peer-group model Rustin used leading groups for C12, a network of Christian CEOs. Leaders use the Slow Burn Dad curriculum, group after group after group.
About Rustin
Rustin Carlson founded Slow Burn Dad. In his words, I’m a pioneer. That’s what I do.
Rustin once led Rock the Nations, a prayer movement for high school and college students. In 1998, Rustin says, the Lord asked him to lay Rock the Nations down: would you kill it and go underground, get off the platform yourself, and learn to be a father?
Rustin said yes, and his friend Lou Engle picked it up and turned it into The Call.
Years later, Lou Engle named Slow Burn Dad:
“The fast burn of revival cannot turn a nation. Only the slow burn of fathering is what can change and transform people’s lives and society.”
Lou Engle, as Rustin tells it
Back in 1998, Rustin had also heard the Lord say, I’m going to bring you back in your later years.
“It’s time for me to go do what He’s laid on my heart to go do.”
Rustin Carlson
“If you plug in what God’s doing, the impossible can happen.”
Rustin Carlson
How to help
Gifts are made to Contend Global and designated for Slow Burn Dad. Gifts are tax-deductible through Contend Global.
- ScholarshipsTen men in Indianapolis want to join a group, but they
can’t afford the $400 a month.
Five months at $400 a month is $2,000 per man, or $20,000 for all ten. - Keep Slow Burn Dad runningGeneral gifts cover the day-to-day work of training leaders and starting groups.
Give once or monthly.
To give by check, make it payable to Contend, write “Slow Burn Dad” on the memo line, and mail it to Contend, 102 S Tejon St, Ste 1100, Colorado Springs, CO 80903.