Father’s Day is June 15.
“Father” is a title given to men who have been gifted with children to raise in the way God patterned for mankind to follow. Being a father should be one of the greatest privileges a man could ever receive, and William Pless — fatherhood coordinator for Wiregrass Emergency Pregnancy Service and co-pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church in Enterprise — has taken on the role of showing young men how to be that father God wants them to be for their families.
Pless has been in this position with WEPS for nearly three years and said that his job is to meet and mentor young fathers who come into the center.
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They do this, Pless noted, by going through a video-based learning curriculum with a discussion time built into the appointment. Each father is given a Bible when they start the program, he added, and after 10 lessons the father is given a “He Reads Truth” Study Bible to help them with the lesson and application.”
“I share the gospel with a Bible lesson or spiritual application based on the lesson being done with the father,” Pless said. He said they also lead the young fathers in prayer before and after each meeting and encourage them through the program.
Encouraging fathers
Pless noted the WEPS program uses Psalm 101 as a reference for young fathers they meet. He broke down the verses of the psalm in this way: “We encourage our fathers to become a Christian if they are not already one. Do everything with a clear conscience and clear heart — to not look at porn or anything that is unworthy to look at, not to engage in gossip or idle talk of other people and then to surround their family with good people that will only encourage and help, not with toxic people.
“Three years ago, I felt called to start this program,” Pless said. “The statistics from 2022 revealed a generation of lost men, many of whom were neither employed nor engaged with a church. I wanted to start something that not only would support men who needed it but also share the gospel with them.”
During this time, Pless said, he was led to Acts 13:36, which says David “after serving God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers.”
Leaning on Acts 13:36, Pless said he wanted to make sure he was doing everything in his generation for the Lord. That decision led him to leave his job as accountant at Georgia-Pacific and start this ministry at WEPS.
“We know that when the father comes to Christ, 93% of the time the family will follow and come to Christ as well. One of the goals of WEPS is to get families plugged into a local body of believers,” he said.
Making difficult decisions
Another Scripture, Pless said, the Lord used to confirm his decision to change his job was Genesis 13. It spotlights Abraham and Lot going separate ways. He noted a person often has to leave something to go to something, and that was exactly what he needed to do.
“I was blessed to be raised in the Coffee County area where I had several men have a positive influence in my life, from men in my church who worked to teach me about the Bible and show what it is to be a Christian man to teachers and coaches who worked to instill a work ethic in me that I still cherish to this day,” Pless said.
“Most importantly, my father had a great influence in my life,” he added. “He was the spiritual leader of our home, always making sure we were not only in church but engaged in our church, from the youth program to volunteering and giving back to the community with local missions work and at church workdays, which gave back to a church that was pouring into us in youth and children’s ministries.”
Pless and his wife, Bonnie, have two sons, Xander, 25 and Austin, 19, and he has worked to keep the love and guidance he received from his childhood in his own home with Bonnie.
After the fathers have completed the WEPS program, Pless noted, they will be invited to share their testimonies at their annual fundraising banquet. The men share how the program impacted their lives — and how it helps them to become better men and fathers.
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