Encountering the father's love and mercy and sharing it with the world.
This site is created to support and advertise the 'Fatherhood On Tap' initiative. The main aspect of this work is a monthly gathering of men in a bar to encounter God's fatherly love and mercy together. We grab a beer, sing songs, reflect on His love for us, and share stories about our own experiences of fatherhood, as well as those of others. The ultimate goal is to build a generation of men who are an image of the father's love and mercy, for the world... but most especially for their wives and children.
Tim intends to utilize this blog to further support this work. He hopes that by sharing his personal story of encountering God's love, his journey from being a self-absorbed agnostic to a slightly less self-absorbed Christian, and his daily pursuit of the father's joy, he can inspire others to a radical embrace of God. The only place where he can truly find rest is when fully immersed in His Love.
If you have a story about God's fatherly love, please send it to Tim, and he will include it on the blog. If you know God the Father, share Him with the world.
"It's His fatherhood that needs to be on Tap here. Not mine. HIS!" - Tim
When the Olsens were first asked to 'bring Schoenstatt' to their community by Sr Marie Day in 2017, Tim's first thought was 'how do we build up fathers for the church'. But, he had no clue how to go about it or what to say to them. So, he and Molly started their Schoenstatt work with a focus on marriage instead. They dedicated several years to serving the marriages in their community, via house retreats, parish events and small groups. However, the yearning to 'serve the dads', never went away.
The idea for Fatherhood On Tap specifically came as early as 2018. It was a simple thought of, let's do something like Theology on Tap, but have it specifically for fathers. And have it focus on God's fatherhood. Sitting in Maggie Miley's (an Irish Pub in Normal IL), Kel Robson, from one of the early families to join the Olsens in their work, asked how he could help build up the movement. Tim had two ideas: a bible study and this thing called 'Fatherhood On Tap'. Kel thought about taking on the Fatherhood mission, but felt like it was a bridge to far. So, he started the bible study, and is still leading it all these years later. (Thank you, Kel)
In 2022, Tim shared the idea with Francesco Vetri, from another early family to join the Olsens in the Schoenstatt work. They brainstormed ideas for topics, but once again failed to get something into motion. And the idea continued to weigh on Tim, like the tell tale heart beating under the floor.
For many years, Tim felt like the idea for this work was a bit of a burden. He was overwhelmed by the work he thought it would entail. And he never had clarity about its core mission and purpose. So, he said, Lord, if you want me to do this, I will... but you need to give me a very clear sign in prayer. Something I can't question. And then he waited impatiently. Eventually he started shifting his focus to planning something more parish based that would present Schoenstatt topics as 'the things that helped me rekindle my childlike adoration of the father'. And finally in Sept 2023, the prompting in prayer came. It was time to 'go serve the dads'.
Tim's first steps were to contact 3 people for help. Dave Casper, who had the bar that was made for this kind of thing. Mike Long, a faithful friend who has experience playing music in front of a crowd. And Dr Francesco Vetri, who had the 'fatherly heart' that Tim thought should be central to the work in BloNo. They tried to kick off the work in Oct 2023, but couldn't quite get things together. So, they chose a date in November 2023, jumped in the deep end... and tried to figure out how to swim.
A summary of the work from there is available here.
http://www.fatherhoodontap.org/Blog/Fatherhood-On-Tap-History
Tim Olsen is a resident of East Peoria, Illinois, and was born in Normal, IL. He is a member of St. Mary of Lourdes in Germantown Hills and is a father of six. In his day job, Tim is the author of a medical informatics platform (https://xnatworks.io) and helps to care for an international community of medical imaging researchers. Tim is a convert from Secular Humanism. Alongside his wife, he is a diocesan coordinator of the Schoenstatt Movement. Tim and his wife are leaders in the Schoenstatt Family League. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Chesterton Academy of the Sacred Heart. Finally, Tim and his wife Molly, lead a business/ministry called Sacred Anchor Artisans, which brings catholic art to catholic conferences and events.
Tim graduated from Edwardsville High School in 1993. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Illinois (January 1998) and a Master's in Applied Computer Science from Illinois State University (2002), where he was baptised at the ISU Newman Center in 2002.
Tim's passions are medical imaging research (his career), playing Minecraft with his kids, eating anything his wife makes and liking it, figuring out what inspires people, Catholic evangelization, Star Trek (sorry), and a cold beer on a hot day. His greatest dream is that others would know the Father's love, which changed his life.