Reimagining Family Ministry: Mike Glenn & Linc Taylor on Engaging Parents and Transforming Churches
Join Mike Glenn, President of the Engage Church Network, and Linc Taylor, Next Gen and Family Minister at Brentwood Baptist Church, as they dive into a transformative discussion on family ministry.
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Mike Glenn: Hi, I'm Mike Glenn, and I am the president of the Engaged Church Network, and we are glad to welcome you to today's podcast. With me today is my friend Link Taylor. Link and I served at Brentwood Baptist Church on their staff together for, mm, 18, 19, 20- I
Linc Taylor: was there 18-plus years, yeah.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Linc Taylor: Or I have- still there.
Mike Glenn: Yes, you're still there. You're still there. I, on the other hand, have moved on to the Engaged Church Network. Uh, Link was a student minister and now is the, uh, uh, what's your official title? Family minister? Next gen and family minister. Gen X, next gen. Yeah. Uh, they keep kinda- All things
Linc Taylor: family.
Mike Glenn: Yeah ... yeah, we kinda keep promoting him depending on the needs and, uh, and, uh, the opportunities that we have there.
But he is-- We have found, uh, that, uh, y- when you're trying to reach youth or children, it, that you are kinda defeating yourself if you don't have the emphasis to reach the family. That's right. Now, I'm older than you [00:01:00] are, and I can remember when the, the conventional wisdom was if you reach the student, then you can reach the family.
Linc Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: And so you had elaborate, uh, youth ministries. Um, you know, mission tours, choir tours, trips to the beach and all that to get the kid to come so hopefully the parents would come along. Uh, same thing with the children. If you have the children want to come- Mm-hmm ... to church, then mom and dad will show up.
That was, um, uh, just let me say limited success. I won't say a total failure- Yeah ... or unsuccessful. Yeah. But it had a limit- There were some wins in
Linc Taylor: that,
Mike Glenn: but yeah. Yeah.
Linc Taylor: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: But not enough to justify the huge cost of personnel and expense- Mm-hmm ... that churches went through to try to have those kind of, of youth ministries.
Now, you have been one of the leaders of this thought transition in churches about how we reach the whole family- Mm-hmm ... and how we focus on the whole family.
Linc Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: And how even [00:02:00] as student ministers, we have a obligation to disciple the parents as well as the, the, the students, and you were on the fronting, front edge of that, uh, for a long time.
So tell me about how, how all that changed for you and what you learned.
Linc Taylor: Yeah. So I was in student ministry for about 20 years and, um- And so I've kinda been through a couple of eras in a sense of the philosophy of student ministry. Mm-hmm. And, um, always knew the parents were an important part of that. But when I started, it was, I, I mean, I was one of the ones who kinda just moved on and just ministered to students.
Right. I, I thought of the parents. I would send a, a parent email every so often or, not an email back then, more of- ... a letter. Um, and but would, you know, communicate with them somewhat. But it was just, you know, student ministry was to minister to the students. And so this movement was, um, was slow, but there were moments when I began to realize, no, we, we have got [00:03:00] to, to impact and to encourage-
inspire, equip, you know, parents to engage with their kids. Mm-hmm. And the uniqueness of the church, the reality of the church, and the purpose of the church, but also the uniqueness and purpose of family and God's design of both. So it was a long process, but it was around 2010, I'd probably been on Brentwood staff for about three years, maybe 2009, um, that I really in earnest began to, um, to begin to think through, okay, how do we best equip and engage?
You know, there was a mindset and a heart change to do it. It was not the easy, there were very little-
Mike Glenn: Well, it was a whole paradigm shift.
Linc Taylor: Well, a complete-
Mike Glenn: Uh, the systems had to be torn down
Linc Taylor: and rebuilt ... complete paradigm shift. Yeah. Right. So you still ministered to the children and, and, and students, but how do you best truly equip parents?
What does that even mean?
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: And so, you know, do we just have You know, do we do more elaborate, you know, [00:04:00] parent emails or parent, you know, newsletters? Or like what, what does that even mean? Mm-hmm. And so as we began and more and more of the, the discussion began to happen is began to see some things kinda begin to play out.
And, and how do we best, uh, yes, inspire, but also recognize the barriers, especially for me, began to recognize all these barriers that I was being confronted with. Not only, you know, just with, with workers and just how we do programming- Mm-hmm ... because workers have always done the same thing.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: But how do you now engage parents who grew up in a church where it was disconnected, you know?
Mike Glenn: I bring, I bring my kid to church for their religious training. Drop
Linc Taylor: them off, right. Yeah, drop them off, and then, then we all get back in the car and we go on, and we kinda left God at the church. We've done our sacred thing, and now we get back into the secular, and then we'll pick it up back next week.
And so that began, and, and, and a lot [00:05:00] of us, and that was not just me, and there were a lot of people that began to think through how do we, how do we truly move forward with that? Right. Instead of just a want to and just a, you know, a this, this hope that we would, that we would do it, but how do we best do that?
Mike Glenn: Yeah. Okay, now this brings up an interesting question about leadership- Yeah ... that, that transcends just one aspect of church like s- like student work. You're having to, uh, to look at a system that f- however you judge it or, or whatever its failures were, at one time was considered successful.
Linc Taylor: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Now it has run out of gas or no longer meets the needs, so now you have to, you have to scrape it down to the foundation.
Why do we do what we do?
Linc Taylor: Right.
Mike Glenn: What motivates us? So, so talk about some of that transition, 'cause this is, this is, no matter what you're facing in your local church, this is some of the kind of- Well- ... work you have to do ...
Linc Taylor: and, and that's, that's the hard work. When you ask the question, you [00:06:00] come to a point if you...
You can ask the question internally, but are you able to ask the question with some other staff and leadership is why do we do what we do? Mm-hmm. And what is the, what are the markers of success? Like, are we getting the markers of success from culture? Are we getting it from scripture? Like, where are we gaining if we're being successful?
How do we best do that? And so, I mean, literally what we began to do at Brentwood, uh, 15, 15, 16 year- you know, 15 years ago is we literally in a sense pushed everything off that we do in student ministry, and now nothing exists, so now let's build back to something that really meets the needs of kids and is biblical and is bringing parents and leaders into the equation.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: So how do we best do that? And so that was a, a unique Simple question, but began to really be powerful. And that's really for any ministry in the church. Right. Why do we do what we do when it comes to groups, worship, [00:07:00] guest services, decor, choir, robes? Yeah. I mean, you just go down the list, why do we do what we do?
And what we began to realize is there, yeah, there were some good enough things, but as we know, you know, good enough sometimes is the biggest threat to greatness- Mm-hmm ... or, or really being who we need to be. And so we began to realize, you know, there's tradition that has spoken into it over the past, and I think a lot of our churches and a lot of our pastors listening, or leadership, you know, if you really look at, we do things because we've always done it And, and if we adjust, we just keep piling on the things that we've always done, and we just keep tacking on new elements of that instead of just truly reformatting- Right
a programming or any type of thing that, that would make up the church. And so-
Mike Glenn: Now, some, some of the opposition is, is honest in that this moment had significance for me when I was a student. Yes. And I want my child- Absolutely ... to have that same signi-
Linc Taylor: It's known [00:08:00] and familiar. Yeah. Yes. I have memories tied to that.
Mm-hmm. And this, if it worked for me-
Mike Glenn: It oughta work for them ...
Linc Taylor: I actually heard those phrases. I heard those phrases. I've heard some s- previous churches, "Linc, we can't do that. We're a small church." Mm-hmm. Even early on when I tried to do kinda different stuff, or, uh, you know, "Why do we need to do that? We've always done it this way."
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: Now, I don't know how many times I heard that. Did not hear that at Brentwood- Yeah ... because of our thinking. I think your leadership too is we really, how do we do things differently? How do we become truly innovative to really- Mm-hmm ... move forward? And so, but that, that was big when we looked at really what is tradition speaking into it.
Not, it's not all bad.
Mike Glenn: No, no, not
Linc Taylor: at all. In fact, there's some really good things we need to kinda continue doing that. But if you're, what we're really talking about is methodologies. Mm-hmm. Like, what is our methodology? When you, when you, when you think of the church, you're thinking of programming, you're thinking of those things outside of just the biblical truths we wanna share.
That's not what we're talking about more or less. We're [00:09:00] talking about the methodology, the tactics that we do. Mm-hmm. But also theology speaks into it. You know, do we know the roots of why we do groups or why we do evangelism- Mm-hmm ... why we do missions, why we do, why we gather, why we... And then, then because of theology, we began to realize Deuteronomy 6:4-7 was truly about we need parents are the- Right
are the, are the ones that need to be impressing truths upon their kids. Mm-hmm. 'Cause we, we can't- So if they are, then what do we do about that? And
Mike Glenn: well- Yeah ... in the church, we can't undo in a couple hours a week what parents do 24/7. Yeah, absolu-
Linc Taylor: yeah. Absolutely. And, and that right there to the point is I began to realize in a whole new and fresh way, I've always been aware of that, but all of a sudden, just the light bulb began to come on.
But also the wrestling of that began to come on. Mm-hmm. 'Cause it's the harder thing to do. Yeah. It's easier just to continue doing what we're doing, and I hope every- everybody listening understands that. One of, some of the biggest barriers is, is the cost of [00:10:00] turning the table and bringing in a new paradigm when it comes to, especially we are gonna now equip parents who have, have truly advocated kind of their role because they let the church train You know, spiritually, they let the ball, you know, the coaches do sports- Well, well, well everybody
Mike Glenn: has professionals
Linc Taylor: now
school does, right. And they've all- Mike, the school
Mike Glenn: teachers are professional-
Linc Taylor: Yep ...
Mike Glenn: ball coach is a
Linc Taylor: professional Everything's
Mike Glenn: been
Linc Taylor: given up.
Mike Glenn: The guys at church- Right ... are the religious professional.
Linc Taylor: So how do we, not only those families that are midstream- Right ... who have kids that are middle school, high school, but now in my, in my role now as I begin to look back all the way when families truly all of a sudden have that first child.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: How do you now create the new trajectory, this new day- Mm-hmm ... of the truly the design of family? And all the messiness of the world, and all of a sudden, and still understanding the importance of church, we're still gonna have age-graded programming. 'Cause there are some movements that have kinda moved away from gener- uh, you know, age-graded ministries.
Right. Well, we still go strong with [00:11:00] that. Mm-hmm. But at the same time, we're bringing parents into the equation. We're letting them understand, you know, uh, their role. Like, if, if we have a camp, we're letting parents know what we talked about and how to have conversations with them about what we talked about at camp.
Right. Or a mission trip, or how to, how to have a debrief when they get back from a mission trip, because that, sometimes that's the biggest collisions I begin to see in the student ministry. A student goes away on a mission trip and gets close to God and is powerful. The parent says they're staying home working.
Mike Glenn: Right. Right. All
Linc Taylor: of a sudden they get- Well- ... off the bus and there's this collision, but how do you help that, that
Mike Glenn: tension? You know, Jesus told the parable about throwing the seeds, and some seeds grow up among weeds.
Linc Taylor: Right.
Mike Glenn: And, and a lot of times you can do some great discipleship work, transformative work in the life of a student, but they go to the same home-
Linc Taylor: Mm-hmm
Mike Glenn: where, where, where that transformation in Christ is not being reinforced-
Linc Taylor: Right ...
Mike Glenn: not being encouraged, and in some ways actively hindered Uh, because the [00:12:00] family doesn't support- Mm-hmm ... uh, the, the journey of this child.
Linc Taylor: And I think that's the importance of leaders, uh, volunteer leaders-
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm ...
Linc Taylor: that can help out with that.
But it's also, we've gotta be careful that student ministries, children's ministries, any, any of those aren't separate entities. They're a part of church. Mm-hmm. At Brentwood Baptist Church, the kids ministry, student ministry, they're just, they're a part of the church. Right. They're not a separate entity that's circling around the church, and I think there's a lot of churches that it does that.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: And here, here's a key, a key moment we, we begin to have, is we begin to look at wants and needs of kids, wants and needs of families. And if you look at wants, wants would be those things that are desires that are near the surface, that are always on the mind of a, of a student or a parent, whatever it be.
Mm-hmm. It'd be, you know, food, entertainment, and especially, uh, when it
Mike Glenn: comes- Ivy League education. I want my kid to-
Linc Taylor: Education, which leads to career- Or to- ... which leads to lifestyle ... or to get a
Mike Glenn: scholarship or, or, yeah.
Linc Taylor: Right. A sport, yeah. And so the trajectory is, is that, and those are wants. [00:13:00] Needs are the deeper longings of the soul and of the heart.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: The need to be loved, the need to be known, the need for significance, the need for purpose, need for salvation. Yeah. You know, need to be
Mike Glenn: a part of something that's- To have somebody give you the blessing.
Linc Taylor: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: This is who you are and this
Linc Taylor: is- Exactly ... what we see. Identity. Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: All those. Mm-hmm.
Now, some of those can be the same when you talk about a kid wants a relationship. Well, a long, you know, belonging is, is a need, so there's some similarities. But if you look at an iceberg, w- that's been, you know- Yeah ... used so many times, but iceberg, what you see above is your wants. What's below the water is your needs.
Mm-hmm. And they're kinda out of sight.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: They're just as real But they're, but they're not seen. And I think a lot of times churches approach methods because of they always hear the wants from people because th- they're, they're right there.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: And so we, we, we key in on that, and I think that's been very evident in student ministry, children's ministries.
It's not bad if we just do it every so often for some fun and that, and that kind of thing, but the purpose is to go deeper with the needs 'cause [00:14:00] that's where greater change, that's where greater, uh- And more sustained
Mike Glenn: change ...
Linc Taylor: work, that's where work happens- Yeah. Right. Yeah ... is the deeper things- Mm-hmm ... of, of a child and of a family.
And so, you know, parents, if they do truly don't understand the design of family, they're just constantly trying to meet the wants, and they're trying to survive, and they're also trying to build a lifestyle and career. And so they're kinda off, off kilter, and then they come to church. They do the church thing, if, if you wanna call it that.
They check the box- Right ... and then they, and then they get back into Monday, and then here we go.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. You know, the, the w- conversation that I was always having was, you know, I'm, I, I'm, I'm working 50 hours a week. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. I've got all of this, and now you're telling me I have to be the religious teacher- Right
of my children.
Linc Taylor: I don't have time.
Mike Glenn: I don't have time. I'm not trained.
Linc Taylor: I'm not spiritual like those people- Yeah, yeah ... whoever they are. I mean, those are the barriers. Mm-hmm. I, I feel inadequate. But I'm not gonna tell you I feel [00:15:00] inadequate because we got some dads that are CEOs and are-
Mike Glenn: Right ...
Linc Taylor: run businesses.
But to tell me, I, I, you know, for me to tell you I feel inadequate, I'm not gonna do it.
Mike Glenn: No.
Linc Taylor: And so those are huge barriers that they are probably not gonna tell us, but we've got to know they're, that they're there, or they feel unqualified. Right. Maybe they've messed up. They come from broken family.
Whatever it is, is these barriers that are obstacles to why they do what they, you know, of what they need to be about. And so I think we as a church need to understand the reality of that.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: Encourage. We're there with you. We wanna resource you. Uh, but perfection, no. No. We, we wanna be, uh, grace, mercy, and understand when we do mess up, what an opportunity for forgiveness and restoration to be on display.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: And so it's, everything's a teachable moment.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: And, um, yeah,
Mike Glenn: so. You know, when, uh, when we first started talking about this a long, long, long time [00:16:00] ago- Yeah Uh, we found out that the church, our church in particular, was one of the most anti-family organizations in town. Yeah. And when we looked at it, and we looked at our calendar-
Linc Taylor: Before I got there.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. Well, this is ... Well, we had, we had parents here one night.
Linc Taylor: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: We had children here another night. We had students here another night. Oh, yeah. So when, when did you want your parents to be at home with their- Exactly ... children doing this? Because you're always- Mm.
Linc Taylor: Mm-hmm ...
Mike Glenn: expecting them to, to, to- Oh, yeah
come to church, and that's where the religious instruction happened.
Linc Taylor: Yeah.
Mike Glenn: Uh, you know, what I used to remind people of is, is, and, and especially parents, is you are the spiritual leader of your children whether you want it or not.
Linc Taylor: Right. Exactly.
Mike Glenn: You know, you don't have, you
Linc Taylor: don't- You're leading them in something
Mike Glenn: you don't get that choice.
Linc Taylor: No.
Mike Glenn: You, you,
Linc Taylor: yeah. Yeah. Your influence, you're influencing in something. Mm-hmm. You can't escape that.
Mike Glenn: That's right.
Linc Taylor: Nor do you want to. Now, it ki- it may terrify us a little bit 'cause we realize- Mm-hmm ... when, when we have these wake-up [00:17:00] calls, we understand parents are feeling shame, feeling guilty, I've missed it, or whatever it is.
Right. But you sh- you start where you are. Mm-hmm. You, let's, let's go. But yeah, exactly. That's, um- Yeah, that, th- that, that's a big point. But yeah, this, this, the, the tension of, of over-programming and doing the basics, but providing experiences for families. So what we're trying to do now at Brentwood is do more family experiences.
Mike Glenn: Yeah, the, the family mission trips.
Linc Taylor: Because adventure and experiences are enormous. When people wanna be a part of that- Mm-hmm ... they don't know how to do it. But how do we best do that? And then from that family mission trip, being, you know, parents and kids serving together, having this s- experience together- And the shared stories
building- The shared
Mike Glenn: stories ... oh,
Linc Taylor: the shared stories and shared experiences are enormous. Mm-hmm. And to be, to be a part of something that's significant.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Linc Taylor: And to do something that when they come back, it's building a new framework of family identity.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: And that, that's enormous. It's not something you can [00:18:00] teach on a Wednesday night class.
Mike Glenn: Mm-mm.
Linc Taylor: Let's live it- Well, you know- ... and learn that and
Mike Glenn: teach them how to have- You know, I know any, any time. There's something about going on a mission trip that gives you freedom to, to, to get out of patterns and to break rules. Yeah. So the kids- Yes ... get to see their dad in a different role.
Linc Taylor: Mm-hmm.
Mike Glenn: The, the child, the student, gets to step- Right
into a moment of leadership- Yep ... or something that nobody thought they had in them because of the circumstances.
Linc Taylor: Well, it's a, it's a shared calling, it's a shared experience, and it's shared risk. So I think a lotta time, parents only wanna do things, they lead their kids in what they are confident in. Yeah.
When you put them together on a mission trip, everybody's- Oh, a mess ... in an arena.
Mike Glenn: Yeah.
Linc Taylor: Exactly, and they're just trying to figure it out, but that's, that's the beauty of it- Right ... is, is we're, we're, we try to be risk managers as parents l- to protect our kids from not seeing us as- Mm-hmm ... weak or whatever, or not knowing everything, and what a beautiful, yeah, beauty to put them out there and you sh- have these shared, a shared risk- Mm-hmm
is what it is. And [00:19:00] then you have conversations about that as a family, um, which we hope continues on In these extraordinary moments, back in the ordinary moments of, of- Right. In the
Mike Glenn: car ride, sitting around the
Linc Taylor: dinner table- Of just life ... and
Mike Glenn: that kind, yeah. Yeah
Linc Taylor: And those are those beautiful things is, is exactly, it's that.
It's, it's out of the, it's out of the, you know, out of the blue-type conversations that may happen-
Mike Glenn: Okay ...
Linc Taylor: that there's influence happening.
Mike Glenn: Yeah. All right, let me give you a chance here to prove to everybody how smart you are, 'cause you've been , you've been doing this a long time. I mean, when you came to Brent with my kids, we're still involved.
Well, they had just
Linc Taylor: gotten out.
Mike Glenn: Yeah, just, just- They had just
Linc Taylor: gotten out, yeah,
Mike Glenn: yeah. And now they're 40. So, uh, and, and you're now, uh, a, a grandparent of, of, of three beautiful grand babies, and, uh- That's right. Yeah. And nothing better. Just nothing better than being a grand- Ah ... just better. Changes
Linc Taylor: everything, doesn't it, Mark?
Mike Glenn: Okay, what, what's changed, uh, in, in the generations? I mean, you know, we throw around X, Y, and Z, double A, alpha- Yeah ... [00:20:00] whatever. What, what ha- w- and is that change real? When, wants, needs?
Linc Taylor: Okay, those are g- that's a great question because what I, I've keyed on is the, is the millennial, which is '81 to 97 or 96, something like that.
So they're, they're, they're the parents right now. They're the age 27 to 43 roughly, something like the 26 to 43. That's what I'm keyed on, is, it's like what are the, what are the passions of, of, if there is a generation? Now, I'll get to that in just a minute, but I think the markers for that is they want, they want, uh, they're passionate about their values, and they're gonna shout it from the mountaintop, and they're gonna be involved in, in advocacy for that.
They want connectivity. It may not be this, but it's gonna be online, and they're kind of the first generation to begin to, to be in conversations online, not face-to-face. Um, there's, uh, I think a big one is, is the, um, is the, and we talked about that, the experience and [00:21:00] adventure. They wanna be a, they wanna be a part of something.
Mm. Whether it's just a product that they could wear or they could buy, it's a part of something bigger, and so they, they like that. So if you look at those things, and wants and needs when it comes to generations, if, if that truly is these long, these deeper longings of, of these millennials, if those, so those are some of the ones that are bubbling up- There are always deeper needs that are common to every person.
Right. Wants are always gonna change. They're always the newest thing, whatever my friends have or whatever the neighbor has or whatever those ... Let's, let's say those are wants. The deeper needs are never gonna change. Like, when you ... Joel, my wife and I, Joellen, have been, have traveled several countries and have done marriage enrichment and done things, and there are common, the, the needs I, like I talked about earlier, are common to every person no matter where they are in the world.
They're just common. They're-
Mike Glenn: Yeah. They're core things that makes us human.
Linc Taylor: Exactly. Yeah. And so that's where we [00:22:00] gotta be focused. Now, when it comes to generations, let's be aware of that because I think that's some things that we could, uh, we can be aware of that we can address at first, but it's always not the last need to be met.
The, the, the needs are those deeper needs that we talked about. That's where we gotta focus on. Right. I think the, the generational, uh, qualities or characteristic, yeah, let's, let's be absolutely be familiar with those. A lot of those are probably, uh, more technology- Yeah ... maybe driven through the years.
Mike Glenn: Style, style things.
Linc Taylor: Yeah. Exactly.
Mike Glenn: Not, not substantial things.
Linc Taylor: Right. Yeah. And I think, yes, let's be aware of it, but I think if we're not careful, we can't spend way too much time on that. Let's be aware of it- Mm-hmm ... but let's always focus on the needs, and I think that's what we as a church need to always be driven back to, the need for salvation, 'cause everything cascades off our relationship with the Lord.
Mike Glenn: Right.
Linc Taylor: But how do you tap in if, if a millennial is, wants something, they have a, a true value? And what I have learned, we don't just do what we believe, we do what [00:23:00] we value.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: We can believe a lot of things, but we don't do it.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: If we do something, it's a val- We, we value it. So let's tap into those, to this, to this generation of parents of what, what are their, you know, what are they valuing?
They're, they're valuing, they value kindness. They value respect. Whether it's right or wrong or not- Mm-hmm ... are you being kind with it?
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: You know, and I think we're wrestling with some issues right now as a church about we've gotta come as, uh, uh, we need to make s- biblical stances, but we also need to be kind.
Let's ha- let's have that our pri- let's have compassion as our first response- Right ... undergirded by scripture. Sure. And so I think that's what we need. Let, that, that's one indicator of that, so
Mike Glenn: yeah. Yeah. Now, uh, again, let's, uh, give you a chance to prove how smart you are. You've just, uh, written your first book.
Linc Taylor: Just finished it about six weeks ago. And it's a book I've had- And the title of that
Mike Glenn: book is?
Linc Taylor: It's [00:24:00] called The Mystery of the Ordinary: Eight Statements Your Kids Need to Hear and Why. And so my heart is to write ... I'm trying to reach dads. I think 95% of all Christian living books are-
Mike Glenn: Right ...
Linc Taylor: bought by moms- Oh, yeah
and wives. So I know they're gonna read it. I hope they read it, but I want the dads, I want the dads, I want the fathers- Yeah ... to, to see it. And so it speaks, it, what I wanna do is, is, is inspire them to understand the ordinary moments of home. Mm-hmm. Which is relationships, the power of relationships. The power of words spoken, but the, it's undergirded by a strong relationship.
Right. It's undergirded by, let's say, a dad speaking powerful words, understanding the needs and the power of those words that address that need, but it's, but it's the backdrop of a healthy relationship is the game changer.
Mike Glenn: Right. I
Linc Taylor: mean, through the years, I've had parents come up to me and say, "I'm having issues with my child-" Mm-hmm
"or kid." And the first thing, first thing, second question I ask them, first [00:25:00] one is tell me about the relationship with the Lord. The second question is tell me about your relationship, because that's, that's where I take the- Mm-hmm ... conversation after that.
Mike Glenn: Mm-hmm.
Linc Taylor: So in the book, I, I spend a lot of time talking about the depth of the relationship, the importance of the relationship.
I talk about wants and needs, and then I talk about the, the, uh, I talk about barriers a lot. Some of the things I've, I've talked about here today is let's talk about the barriers that are stopping you, and then let's talk about the deeper needs and then the power of our words that speak into that. I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can, but also understanding the power, the power of the ordinary days.
There's a lot of great stuff written for devotions, for milestones- Mm-hmm ... for family worship. I mean, you just go down with it. But I think that probably makes up about- Yeah ... 7 to 8% of all that family life is. Well,
Mike Glenn: yeah,
Linc Taylor: listen- So what are you gonna do about the other 90%?
Mike Glenn: I learned- Yeah ... I learned to love scripture From watching my dad study [00:26:00] for his Sunday school lesson
Linc Taylor: Yeah, yeah
Mike Glenn: And that happened every week
Linc Taylor: Absolutely
Mike Glenn: Without fail And you just happened
Linc Taylor: to see it-
Mike Glenn: And I happened to see it
kinda
Linc Taylor: in the margins. Right Yeah, exactly
Mike Glenn: And I wasn't s- it, it wasn't something he was doing for me to watch
Linc Taylor: Yeah
Mike Glenn: It was something he did that I got to see
Linc Taylor: Absolutely, and so- And
Mike Glenn: that's where I learned to love scripture And
Linc Taylor: so that's where it's, it's your dad was influencing you in a way he probably wasn't even aware of Mm-hmm He may have been, but not the full weight of it Right And so, and that, that's what I want families to understand is, is, is living in the ordinary.
How do we gr- how do we not just script out? You, you can't script out for 100%- Yeah ... a family life, but you can give some big themes to it, and so that's my hope in the book. And then also to understand the power of eight words. Not, I mean, eight, eight statements. You can't just sit down and s- say the eight statements on a Monday night and then, "Okay, everybody good?"
And then leave. But how do you weave that into the fabric of the home and of the [00:27:00] relationship?
Mike Glenn: And, and of the values that your family has
Linc Taylor: Absolutely. And so that's-
Mike Glenn: As, as, as you said, you do what you value, right?
Linc Taylor: That's the book. That's it. That's exactly it,
Mike Glenn: yeah. That's good. He's Link Taylor. He serves on the staff of Brentwood Baptist Church as the Gen X minister, and he's also written a new book called The Mystery of
Linc Taylor: the Ordinary The
Mike Glenn: Mystery
Linc Taylor: of the Ordinary: Eight Statements Your Kids Need to Hear and Why
Mike Glenn: It'll be available soon.
Linc Taylor: Yep.
Mike Glenn: We're glad you have joined us here today. I'm Mike Glenn, and this is the podcast for the Engage Church Network.
