Who are we?

We’re Hal and Melanie Young. We’re not just authors and speakers, but we’re the parents of six sons (in a row!) and two daughters. The experience of raising this van-full has proved two things - you need God’s wisdom to raise a family, and you need help to make it practical!

We've got a mission

That’s our goal and message—start with Biblical foundations, then share how to put principles into practice.

"Fantastic! Engaging, animated, personable speakers. Christ-centered with great ideas that were presented in a humble way."

The reality is that God gave each family a mix of parents, children, and personalities, in a particular time and circumstance. They’re all unique, so every family’s “practical” may be a little different, and still be totally Biblical. That’s why we focus on principles instead of checklists. Instead of more law, we need more grace!

How we're doing it

After God gave us four sons, one after another, people started asking us for advice about raising boys and we began speaking. After we had six sons, we wrote our first book, Raising Real Men. It was named "Book of the Year" by the Christian Small Publisher's Association. And to our surprise, we found ourselves launched into a full time ministry.

"These two are phenomenal. I wish everyone with boys could hear them! So inspirational!"

Since 2009, we have been traveling across the U.S. and Canada, speaking at churches, conferences, and other events, to encourage and equip families to live by the Word of God. We don't claim to have "One Weird Trick for Raising Perfect Kids" or "Five Steps To A Blissful Marriage." We don't deal in checklists and rule-making. Instead, we want families to embrace the freedom of living in God's grace, following His principles with joy -- always remembering that He is God, and none of us are!

"Great practical encouragement and help from experienced parents..."

And when we're not traveling, we write. Our second book, My Beloved and My Friend, was a second "Book of the Year" winner, and our third book, Love, Honor, and Virtue hit #1 on the Amazon best seller list in its category. We have several more projects underway right now, and a list of future projects waiting!

Between book releases, our main channel is our blog, Raising Real Men.com. We also host a weekly podcast, Making Biblical Family Life Practical, and a large group of friends on Facebook.

How you can help

Patreon lets you be a part of this mission. We attend a small-but-growing church which gives us enthusiastic support in the spiritual realm but doesn't have the means to provide regular financial help. We keep the lights on and the wheels turning through speaking honoraria and sales from our book table and website. It's very seasonal, though, and we find that much of our time and attention is being consumed by the day-to-day operation of the business side of our ministry.

We're not complaining! God has allowed us to touch the lives of thousands of families through books, articles, presentations, and media. We've spoken in 36 states and 3 Canadian provinces. We love what God has allowed us to do, and we are going to continue writing, teaching, and counseling as freely as we can!

But with regular support from our patrons, we hope to hire out more routine tasks, to free us up for the more creative, productive, and effective part of this outreach ... to operate more in our calling, you know. We hope to finish more projects (ouch!), repair more things at home, spend more time writing. To be more effective at the task God has given us. Patrons have made that possible for content creators throughout history. They are an essential part of the ministry.

Here are the things we could do with your patronage:

Book on Parenting Preteens - We get more questions about this age than any other and our workshops and webinars on this are among our most popular. We've started a book to help folks through this critical period, but we're so busy keeping the lights on, we can't get it finished. (No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope was released in July 2018!)
Hero Tales in the Twentieth Century - Our popular Hero Tales audiobooks with sound effects have brought history to life for thousands of children, but Theodore Roosevelt's incredible stories end before the 1900's. We want to write more stories and record them so our children can learn about the virtue and character of the great heroes of the last century, too.
Book on the Transition to Adulthood - Passing the Baton - Our culture seems to have lost its way when it comes to creating adults and the results aren't good! Employers are saying parents are showing up at interviews and parents are complaining that their adult kids have no ambition. We've got a ton of stories and ideas for this book, but who knows when we'll get to it unless we can hire out some other things?
Second Edition of Raising Real Men - It's hard to believe but it's nine years since we wrote our first book. God's truth is timeless but the needs for practical application are constantly changing with the culture, and a lot has happened since 2009.

Your help would make it possible for us to get this stuff done! You would be a part of this ministry in a very real way.

If you can't afford to help, we understand - we've been there! We hope you can find help and encouragement through the things we offer online, or in person and we hope you'll pray for us.

But if you can help, and you'd like to be part of this exciting, family-to-family mission,
here's an easy way to do it.