The emotional scars left by the trauma, shame and insecurity in the lives of many fatherless children can last a lifetime. Further, fatherless children are at much greater risk for being abused than intact families. Statistics everywhere reveal the sad and seemingly hopeless outcomes for so many fatherless children: crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, gangs, incarceration, early death. Although many emotional issues need healing, for fatherless children, anger is often the trigger which allows for making spur-of-the-moment choices in life which can have life-long negative consequences. Further, anger helps fatherless build walls to protect their wounded emotions, even against a relationship with a heavenly Father. If a child feels wronged by not having a father in his or her life, that wrong and the accompanying shame will often express itself (especially as they grow older) as anger. Mothers will often also harbor anger (understandably so) about the circumstances of being either abandoned or deprived of help in raising their children and supporting the family. Furthermore, the mothers will sometimes want the children to help carry that anger. Even though justified in many circumstances, anger-held for the long term-results in bad outcomes to the one holding onto that anger. Further, that anger poisons the atmosphere when any attempts are made by the earthly father to reach out, connect or develop a deeper relationship with his children. If the father is, himself, triggered by shame when in the presence of his children and their mother, he will inevitably decrease his attempts to intervene, convincing himself that his children are better off without his presence in their lives. We help our fatherless campers see that the negative energy required to hold on to anger surrounding their circumstances is actually energy they could free up for positive pursuits as sons and daughters of the True father. The anger they hold on to really often hurts them more than it does the one against whom they harbor the anger. We seek to help fatherless children take their emotional wounds including their anger to the cross of Jesus Christ and leave it there as a means of healing themselves and freeing them from the burden of carrying the negative, long-term anger. We seek, when possible, to share with mothers how anger held by them and their children can: •Cause them to use precious energy in negative ways to carry those wounds which Christ wants to take. •Creates an environment which lessens the future potential for reconciliation and safe relationship with the child’s father. •Provides a trigger cause for children to make seemingly justifiable choices, in their anger, which can sometimes lead to bad outcomes and life-long consequences. As part of our Mission at Psalm68five Ministries, we should not only seek to send as many fatherless children to Christian Summer Camps as possible, but also to help develop, gather, accumulate and disseminate Ministry Resources which specifically and intentionally serve fatherless children and their mothers consistent with the Pillars of: • Identity: Child of God Identity overcoming Shame-based Identity • Security: The Father’s Unconditional Love overcoming the Conditional Love in our Lives • Emotional Healing through Forgiveness: addressing Emotional Wounds and Anger and taking the first steps on the path to healing We seek to help fatherless children change, through faith in Jesus Christ, how they see themselves to how God sees them-as true sons and daughters of the King. This holistic, comprehensive, faith-anchored approach is making an impact on individual lives through summer camp ministry. Psalm68five is eager to expand the utilization of its approach, best practices, and fatherless-focused resources to Christian camps nationwide.