Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s December 22, 1776. I’m in Braintree, Maine, at John and Abigail Adams’ house. We’re having dinner and the family is going around the table giving Christmas thanks.
JG: “Nabby?”
NA: “Thank you, God, for Baby Jesus.”
JG: “John Q.?”
JQA: “Thank you, Lord, for my mother and my father and their faithfulness to you.”
JG: “Abigail?”
AA: “Oh, Lord, may you continue to bless America and protect our boys on the battlefield.”
JG: “John?”
JA: “God, give us wisdom and be our sword and shield in the battlefield.”
The John Adams family had a reputation for praying together. Their courage and integrity helped establish the spirit of Christmas and freedom throughout America.
Read the full text of Abigail Adams’ letter to her son, John Quincy, where she wrote the following on parenting, “What is it that affectionate parents require of their children, for all their care, anxiety, and toil on their account? Only that they would be wise and virtuous, benevolent and kind.”
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.
