Every guide in this network is a man Teko knows personally — men who've done the hard work themselves and are ready to walk it with you.
Filmmaker & Missionary
Kona, Hawaii
Joel Rogers knows what it means to walk through fire and come out still standing. A filmmaker, missionary, and creative studio leader based in Kona, Hawaii, Joel has spent his life in global ministry — visiting over 30 nations and leading InnoVision Studio under Youth With A Mission (YWAM). But his deepest formation didn't happen on a mission field. It happened in the quiet wreckage of a broken marriage, where he had to learn — slowly and painfully — what humility, stability, and restoration actually cost.
Joel guides from that place. He's not a man with a polished story. He's a man who stayed present for his kids when everything fell apart, chose to forgive when it didn't feel like anything, and rebuilt his life one honest step at a time. Today, he's remarried — a family of four kids, his two youngest born into the restoration he fought hard to build. He walks with other men through their hardest seasons not as someone who has it all figured out, but as someone who knows the way through.
Football Coach & Educator
Denmark
Martin Blaksker Strømberg grew up in Denmark chasing balls, swinging rackets, and finding himself most alive in the arena of sport. A natural athlete who excelled at badminton and eventually made his way to football coaching, Martin spent years building a reputation as someone who could develop players — not just technically, but as people. Today, he serves as a coach within the Danish Football Federation, bringing to the field what took him years of hard personal work to discover: that seeing the whole person matters more than perfecting the performance.
But his real formation happened off the field. Through his marriage to Dorothe, a challenging season as a teacher, and a faith that grew out of honest self-examination, Martin had to confront what he'd spent years running from — a tendency to talk more than listen, to mentor when he should have coached, and to lead without truly seeing the people in front of him. That reckoning changed everything. Today, Martin guides from a place of hard-won curiosity and genuine presence — the kind of man who knows that the work of becoming a better father, husband, and leader is never done, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Author · Podcaster
Men's Ministry Advocate
Troy Mangum has spent thirty years learning what it actually means to be a husband, a father, and a man of faith — not in the polished, platform version of those words, but in the real, costly, keep-showing-up version. A Jesus follower, author of Fatherhood Faceplants, podcaster, speaker, and men's advocate with over twenty years in men's ministry, Troy brings to every conversation a credibility that can't be manufactured. He's Lumbee Nation, a lifelong creator, and a man who has walked through a physically abusive childhood, a bipolar diagnosis in his late thirties, four marital separations — including a two-year stretch that was headed straight for divorce — and come out the other side with his marriage restored, his family intact, and a deep conviction that no man's story is too far gone for God to redeem.
That's who Troy is when a father sits across from him. Not a man with a flawless record, but a man who has done the hard work — with God, with a therapist, with his wife Kathy — and refused to quit. Fifteen years in the Wild at Heart community, founder of Caleb Would Go, founding board member of Ancient Path Ministries, and a career spanning tech, youth ministry, seminary, substance abuse counseling, and short-term missions. Troy has lived enough of life to meet a father right where he is — and walk with him toward somewhere better.
Educator & Life Coach
Faith · Family · Fitness · Freedom
John Grdina has spent two decades learning something most men figure out too late — that the titles husband, father, teacher, and coach don't mean much if the man underneath them hasn't done the work. A Catholic man of faith, educator, and life coach, John brings to every conversation a quiet authority that comes not from having it all together, but from knowing what it cost him when he didn't. He's walked through seasons of real tension in his marriage, moments of being physically present but emotionally somewhere else, and the slow realization that his own unresolved stuff was leaking into the relationships that mattered most. Nobody pulled him aside. Nobody told him what he was missing. He had to go looking for it himself.
That search — through faith, counsel, discomfort, and choosing growth when comfort would have been easier — is exactly what John brings to the fathers he walks with now. Through his platform built around Faith, Family, Fitness, and Financial Freedom, and through twenty years of showing up as an educator, coach, and mentor, John has sat with men who knew they were capable of more but needed someone in their corner to help them see it. That's who he is when a father sits across from him. Not a man with a clean record, but a man who went looking for the way through — and now helps other men find it.
We're looking for men who’ve done the work—and are ready to guide another father through it.
Every guide is personally vetted by Teko before being accepted. The fathers we serve deserve nothing less.
This form goes directly to Teko. Tell him your story — where you've been, what you've walked through, and why you think you're ready to guide another father through his climb.
Be honest. Be specific. The quality of your answer matters more than the length.
"I'm not looking for men who want to be guides. I'm looking for men who can't imagine not doing this — who've been through enough that they know exactly what another father needs to hear."
— Teko Bailey
He reads every submission personally. If there's alignment, he'll reach out directly. Thank you for stepping forward.
