Erik Weir presented his testimony at the Father/Son Retreat of a selfish life transformed to a life aiming for biblical conformity.

Erik Weir began as young entrepreneur. From the lemonade stand to Wall Street, Erik pursued riches, yet God arrested his life.

Through a series of circumstances and the Bible, God transformed Erik’s heart and transferred his love from worldly gain to biblical vision. Verses that God used to alter Erik’s heart included: 1 Kings 18:21, Malachi 4:6, Psalm 16:4, Proverbs 15:27, Luke 16:13.

He created a family mission statement, and he aimed at discipling his sons. Through the influence of Kevin Swanson, Erik proposed taking his eldest son to work with him and began a season of life discipleship.

Some people struggle at how to integrate their children into their work. For Erik, he said that he didn’t give any thought to failing, “I just parachuted in, and the first day, we didn’t get anything done.” Discipling is like a marathon – very little happens by the day, but the cumulative affect is profound.

Erik takes his son to all meetings – good and bad. He teaches his son, through the reality of life, the truth of the Scriptures – especially that of the Proverbs. There are principles of debt, equal yoking in business partnerships, and living in the world of adults that is imperative to a godly life and true success.

It’s important to maintain perspective and behold the future. Erik considered that with his children – he would, in just eight generations, have 256,000 Weirs (God willing). Both the significance of your place in history and the impact of your decisions have long-lasting impact on future generations, particularly when you understand that each child will have tens of thousands of descendants, given time.

Some thoughts that Erik offered are these:

• Fight slothfulness. Work as unto the Lord.
• Set your own deadlines, many people do not appreciate the significance of timeliness.
• Allow your sons to fail. Failure is necessary to succeed. It’s hard to watch, but failure definitely shapes a person, as long as failure is viewed as a lesson and not a destination.
• Get up early. Leaders should be the first out of bed and spend time with God, reading the Bible and in prayer before anyone else in the house is up. Early AM hours set the tempo for the day.
• Create a mandate for the day. Start each day thoughtfully attacking your biggest problems after spending time in prayer.
• At the end of each day, evaluate the day. Make corrections, and move ahead boldly. Dominion is not gained from a recliner. It’s gained from a broken and contrite spirit crying out to God for help and direction.
• Fall on your face as a broken man, and cry out to God, “I need you.” Fulfilling Deuteronomy 6 as a dad (in the flesh) is impossible. With God, He can take our mistakes and make them blessings.
• If you take the easy way out or listen to the radio to check out, you can create a multi-generational mess. There are no idle thoughts, words, or deeds.
• There is no effort without error.
• Hunger and thirst for righteousness.
• Everything counts. Choose not to settle.
• Define reality by God’s Word.