Deborah McNinch joins T.S. Wright on the Kingdom Crossroads podcast to discuss the profound journey of parenting a prodigal child and the power of prayer as a unifying force for parents facing similar struggles. At the heart of their conversation is the genesis of her initiative, Battle Cry, a prayer movement designed to rally parents in their quest to bring their children back to faith. Deborah shares her heart-wrenching experience of receiving the life-altering news that her child identifies as transgender, prompting her to reevaluate her faith and the foundation upon which she had built her family. With a fierce commitment to prayer and community support, she emphasizes the motto “no one fights alone,” inviting parents to join a network of solidarity and hope. As they delve into the complexities of faith, parenting, and the role of the church in these challenging times, listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own spiritual journeys and the importance of standing firm in love and truth.
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A profound exploration of faith and the complexities of parenthood unfolds as Deborah McNinch shares her transformative journey in the Kingdom Crossroads podcast. Following a seismic shift in her life when her child came out as transgender, Deborah reflects on how her idyllic vision of motherhood crumbled, akin to a Malibu Barbie dream house swept away by a tumultuous tsunami. Faced with the stark reality of her child's identity, she grappled with foundational questions of faith, ultimately reaffirming her belief in a God who performs miracles and walks alongside her through life's most challenging storms. As she established the Battle Cry Moms movement, Deborah invites fellow parents to unite in prayer, emphasizing that 'no one fights alone.' Her candid storytelling resonates with those who feel isolated in their struggles, fostering a sense of community among parents navigating similar paths.
The podcast delves into the pivotal role of prayer and the necessity of a supportive network for mothers of prodigal children. Deborah recounts her quest for community, which led her to create a space where parents can share their experiences, seek encouragement, and pray for their children. She discusses the importance of maintaining a focus on eternal truths amidst life's trials, reminding listeners that the only dinner she longs for is the ultimate reunion at the marriage supper of the Lamb. This emphasis on spiritual warfare, grounded in biblical faith, serves as a rallying cry for parents feeling the weight of their children’s struggles, urging them to reclaim hope and stand firm in prayer.
As the episode unfolds, the conversation shifts to the church's response to contemporary issues facing families today. Deborah candidly critiques the church's often fragmented approach to supporting parents of prodigal children, revealing a marked lack of understanding and pastoral care. She advocates for a movement that transcends institutional constraints, encouraging churches to embrace vulnerability and provide a refuge for hurting families. By fostering open dialogue about difficult topics, Deborah envisions a church that stands as a beacon of hope and healing, rather than a judgmental institution. In this poignant discussion, she challenges listeners to rethink their roles as parents and church members, emphasizing that the time is now to engage in spiritual battle and pray for the next generation's return to faith.
Takeaways:
Welcome to the show that combines biblical truth with the purpose of sparking revival.
Speaker A:Committed to spreading the gospel.
Speaker A:This is your Kingdom Crossroads podcast.
Speaker A:And now your host, T.S.
Speaker A:wright.
Speaker A:Welcome, everyone, to the Kingdom Crossroads.
Speaker A:I'm your host, T.S.
Speaker A:wright, and I'm so glad you could join us today.
Speaker A:Before we dive into today's episode, if you haven't already, just please take a moment and follow or subscribe and give us a like.
Speaker A:You can also go to our website@www.godcenteredconcept.com.
Speaker A:and we thank you for being a part of the Kingdom Crossroads community.
Speaker A:Joining us today is Deborah McNich.
Speaker A:Now, she is a devoted wife, mother, first time author, and I'm going to say this right here with passion.
Speaker A:She is a prayer warrior, okay?
Speaker A:She draws the sword of the spirit when she prays.
Speaker A:And so she has founded Battle Cry, which is a prayer movement dedicated to bringing our prodigals home through the power of prayer.
Speaker A:Her motto is, no one fights alone.
Speaker A:And it is a cry for parents to unite in the fight for our children.
Speaker A:And I just want to say this.
Speaker A:I've gotten to know her.
Speaker A:You better be prepared for Prayer Warrior, because it's coming.
Speaker A:It is coming today.
Speaker A:So, Deborah, with that introduction, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Hello.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker B:I'm excited today.
Speaker B:Let's just dig into this.
Speaker B:This is going to be so good.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:Yeah, this is going to be awesome.
Speaker A:So, Deborah, just to start us off, just tell our listeners a little bit about your journey.
Speaker A:You know, kind of give them an idea of your story here, if you will, and what the battle Cry Moms is all about, like how it began and what that looks like right now.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:So about eight years ago, I am probably, I was just like a lot of your listeners.
Speaker B:I was a mom and we had raised three kids and they were kind of all out in the world doing their own things as adults.
Speaker B:And I thought we were rock stars.
Speaker B:I always like to joke that I had kind of built this Malibu Barbie dream house.
Speaker B:And I was just sitting on the front porch watching the waves, waiting for the next thing to roll in.
Speaker B:The grandkids, the trips around the world, whatever was next.
Speaker B:I had already done my job.
Speaker B:I like to say it, job as a mom.
Speaker B:And I was just sitting back and just ready to see what was next.
Speaker B:And out of the blue, I got a phone call from my oldest child.
Speaker B:And he simply just said, mom, I'm transgender.
Speaker B:And what that did in that moment was that dream house.
Speaker B:It was like a tsunami wave came in and knocked it off its foundation.
Speaker B:And I had nothing left.
Speaker B:Nothing that resembled anything of a normal life was left.
Speaker B:And what I was just standing on then was my foundation.
Speaker B:And I had to decide, is my foundation on the rock of Jesus Christ or is it on shifting sand?
Speaker B:And that was the moment that I had to just.
Speaker B:It wasn't like I had a year to decide.
Speaker B:I didn't have a month to decide.
Speaker B:I had to decide right then and there that, that the Lord is good and that he was with me and that nothing was going to be too hard for him.
Speaker B:And so I promised myself a few things at the beginning of this journey.
Speaker B:I promised that I would never forget that he's the God of miracles, that, you know, I would recount all the miracles in the Bible, everything that he did, he had parted the sea, you know, he.
Speaker B:He deaf ears and open blind eyes.
Speaker B:Nothing was too hard for him and that anything was possible.
Speaker B:And I promised myself that I had felt so alone that I knew that I was going to need a support.
Speaker B:And if I needed support, I knew there were other moms and dads out there that needed a support group also.
Speaker B:And so I promised myself I would somehow start a support group for parents that had prodigal children.
Speaker B:And then I promised myself that I would talk about this at the very beginning.
Speaker B:Satan was so powerful to whisper in my ear that I needed to keep this silent.
Speaker B:I couldn't tell anybody.
Speaker B:People would judge me, I would be full of shame.
Speaker B:My story would be ugly, it would be awful, and I should keep it quiet.
Speaker B:But you know, it says in Revelation that we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.
Speaker B:And I had to decide that I was going to speak about this and I was going to speak with clarity and I was going to speak with conviction and I was going to spread the hope and the joy that I have in Jesus Christ and that what he was going to do in this story.
Speaker B:And those were the things at the beginning of my journey that I promised.
Speaker B:And that is how the battle cry prayer movement got started was from those promises.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:You know, when you were talking to me off air about just the.
Speaker A:Your prayer group that you guys have built, you know, talk a little bit about that right now and then we'll get into a couple other things here in just a few minutes.
Speaker A:But I really want this prayer group that you have intrigues me more than any other piece of this.
Speaker B:So again, I knew I needed community.
Speaker B:And at the very beginning, I went searching on social media sites for groups for parents of prodigals.
Speaker B:And I found a couple of really big ones.
Speaker B:But what I realized at the very, like, five minutes into it was that those were groups that were affirming and that were coming from a whole different place than I was coming from.
Speaker B:And I knew that those groups were not going to be for me.
Speaker B:That was not.
Speaker B:I needed people to stand with me, that were going to pray with me and believe with me.
Speaker B:I call my mat carriers, my prayer warrior friends.
Speaker B:And I needed people that were going to tear the roof off and help me lower my child before the Lord.
Speaker B:And so I knew that I had to start and I started investigating different options.
Speaker B:I knew that the Lord spoke very clearly to me that it was not a group for Facebook.
Speaker B:This was not a group for any social media network.
Speaker B:And I was going to need to build something on my own, which is kind of funny in itself, because I, you know, I have problems sending emails.
Speaker B:I'm not very technical.
Speaker B:So when the Lord calls you to do something, you know, you're like, how in the world am I ever gonna do this?
Speaker B:But I found I ended up starting my own network, and it's called Battle Cry Moms.
Speaker B:And it started with just a couple of friends.
Speaker B:Four years ago in May, we had our anniversary.
Speaker B: rown to today is about almost: Speaker B:There's some from other countries.
Speaker B:We have every denomination in our group.
Speaker B:We agree on the things that we are there for, and that is to pray our children home.
Speaker B:We do not argue politics.
Speaker B:We do not talk about vaccines.
Speaker B:We don't care who the president is.
Speaker B:We don't care about current events.
Speaker B:What we care about is finding ways to encourage each other and to pray our families home.
Speaker B:And that's what we stay rooted on in our group, and that's why it's such a beautiful place.
Speaker B:And within the main group, we have a main page, and people post songs and sermons and verses and things the Lord is saying to them.
Speaker B:But the beauty of the whole network is we have subgroups.
Speaker B:I call them tribes, and those are people that are going through the exact same thing you are.
Speaker B:And so, like me as a mom of a transgender child, there's a group for moms that have children that are transgender.
Speaker B:We have groups for moms that have LGBTQ kids.
Speaker B:We have groups for moms that have kids addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Speaker B:And we have groups simply for people that have kids that don't believe.
Speaker B:We have a lot of just atheists moms that have children that just simply don't believe.
Speaker B:Estrangement, that's a big thing right now.
Speaker B:We have a group for people that have children that are estranged from them.
Speaker B:And so we have all these subgroups.
Speaker B:And what that allows us to do is to just bounce ideas off each other and to stand together and pray and believe for your families.
Speaker B:These women are going through the same thing I'm going through.
Speaker B:So I know they understand.
Speaker B:I know they understand the bathroom saga in the world, and I know they understand, understand, you know, the clothes and the pronouns and all of the things.
Speaker B:And so these are my people, and these are the people God has brought to me to do life with.
Speaker B:But we don't just pray in our group.
Speaker B:The beauty of it is we pray, but we believe.
Speaker B:We believe that God hears our prayers and that he's answering them and that our children are coming home.
Speaker A:Well, I'm going to let you speak on their behalf in this question then, because this is really where the rubber meets the road for you.
Speaker A:And you gave us kind of the beginning of this.
Speaker A:But you're a Christian, okay?
Speaker A:And it's not just a Christian.
Speaker A:It's really.
Speaker A:You're a Christ follower, Christ centered follower, and you want to live a Christ centered lifestyle, and yet you get this message that your child is transgender.
Speaker A:So tell us what that's like with your faith and being the mother of someone who claims to be transgender.
Speaker B:Yes, that was.
Speaker B:That is one piece of the puzzle that is very complicated to live out.
Speaker B:And at the beginning, I turned to my faith and I turned to the word of God, trying to find answers.
Speaker B:And if I was to be really honest, I wanted to find a loophole at the beginning.
Speaker B:I kept looking for some kind of loophole to make this okay.
Speaker B:You know, as a parent, you can't.
Speaker B:It's hard to just think about turning your child out.
Speaker B:And when I turned to the church, and I'm going to talk about just the capital C church as a big unit, I found that there were just two doors that I could go through.
Speaker B:And over here, door number A, door number one, I could walk through.
Speaker B:And it said that my child was making a mistake, that this was not God's will for him, and I should turn them out.
Speaker B:They were going to hell.
Speaker B:We should leave them alone, just let them be.
Speaker B:And then over here was this other door, door B, that said, oh, no, come in.
Speaker B:We affirm this.
Speaker B:God loves everybody.
Speaker B:This isn't sin.
Speaker B:This is okay.
Speaker B:It's just fine what they're doing.
Speaker B:And I found myself just applying God's Word to both camps and just trying to figure out where my theology and my understanding of God and His Word came into play.
Speaker B:And what I came up with was that there was no way that I could hate my child enough to get him to heaven.
Speaker B:But at the same time, I refuse to love him straight to hell.
Speaker B:And I was going to have to learn how to love him in the truth.
Speaker B:Never compromising my values and making it very clear from the beginning that I was never going to compromise my values, but at the same time affirming my child as a child of mine and as a child of God's and loving him right where he was at and not giving up on him until he came back into the relationship with the Lord.
Speaker B:And I. I just realized early on that if I didn't love my child enough to drop everything else on my plate and be on my hands and my face before the Lord every day for him, then who was going to do that?
Speaker B:It was me in it, and it's the parents and my husband as well, as he prays for my child.
Speaker B:But it's, you know, the mom.
Speaker B:We have this role.
Speaker B:And I just had decided, you know, it says in Psalms, there's several places it says, when David's crying out to the Lord and giving him all his woes and all his things, and he says this little phrase a couple of times that says, because I serve you as my mother did.
Speaker B:And that is something that has always stuck in my mind, that one day I know that my child's gonna come back and he's gonna serve the Lord.
Speaker B:And one day when he's praying, he's gonna call out that prayer in Psalm 86, that, Lord, fix these things, do all of this, because I serve you as my mother did.
Speaker B:And so I knew that faith was what is going to turn the tide on this.
Speaker B:And I was never going to stray from it.
Speaker B:I was never going to waver.
Speaker B:There might be rocky times that I would question the Lord and I might say, are you kidding me?
Speaker B:What are you doing?
Speaker B:Are you sure?
Speaker B:Are you sure this is what you want to do?
Speaker B:Because I emailed you exactly the plan I thought I wanted for you, but I just knew right away.
Speaker B:He never answers like that.
Speaker B:I knew right away that God was in control.
Speaker A:You mean this isn't Bruce Almighty in Heaven Almighty?
Speaker B:Right, Right, I know.
Speaker B:Like, what?
Speaker B:What are you talking about?
Speaker B:You're not listening to me.
Speaker B:But he reminds me all the time that he collects my tears in his bottle.
Speaker B:And so it's okay to have those days of sadness.
Speaker B:And I do.
Speaker B:I have days that I still.
Speaker B:It's hard to get out of bed sometimes.
Speaker B:I don't want to face the things I'm facing.
Speaker B:You know, we used to have a very close knit family, as I'm sure many of your listeners did as well.
Speaker B:And when, when sin enters in and when something like this, this big enters in and your house is knocked off its foundation, you know, you learn that, you know, your family's not close anymore.
Speaker B:And so the things that you cherished and you looked forward to, those are not things on your radar.
Speaker B:Christmas dinner is not on my radar.
Speaker B:Mother's Day celebrations are not on my radar.
Speaker B:Fourth of July picnics are not happening in my house.
Speaker B:These things that other people take for granted and just love to have.
Speaker B:You know, we, we stress our moms and our group when a holiday comes because we know it's going to be one of pain and remembering what we don't have.
Speaker B:But we have a little thing we say in our group and I like to remind everybody that Christmas and Easter and all of these things are man made holidays that we celebrate.
Speaker B:And if it means that to keep my eyes on the Lord and to know that one day that my child's coming back, that if I have to forego Christmas dinner, I'm going to do that.
Speaker B:Because the only dinner I want my child around is the marriage supper of the lamb.
Speaker B:And that's where we keep our focus is on eternity.
Speaker B:We keep it on what God is doing and how he's going to redeem our stories.
Speaker B:And we don't get caught up in the day to day and the Christmas dinners and the Easter dinners and the new year celebrations.
Speaker B:We try not to get caught up in that.
Speaker B:We get caught up in how good God is and how he's a generational God and how he is redeeming our stories and how he is going to restore the years that the locusts have eaten.
Speaker B:And those are the things that we focus on.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:Hey, just read Philippians 3.
Speaker A:Philippians chapter 3 talks all about what she's saying here.
Speaker A:Remember that.
Speaker A:And our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there.
Speaker A:That's where the focus is.
Speaker A:Are you focused on the eternal?
Speaker A:Are you focused on the temporary?
Speaker A:And I just say amen to you guys for putting that as a priority in your life and in your thinking to create that mindset of walking with Christ.
Speaker A:So that's, that's just awesome.
Speaker A:So here's another question that I've that you and I spoke real briefly off air about.
Speaker A:And that is about the church.
Speaker A:So because the church is in a precarious situation with some of these issues that are these hotbed political issues and pastors, it puts them in some awkward positions.
Speaker A:But talk both sides of this, how the church has helped you, and then some challenges that you've seen with the church in your processing all this.
Speaker B:You know, I really feel like, like you said, the church honestly just doesn't know what to do.
Speaker B:And I do understand that we have baby dedications.
Speaker B: ate them and we pray Jeremiah: Speaker B:And we think that somehow has their life like set out before them.
Speaker B: ts in that Moment is Jeremiah: Speaker B:Yes, they have a hope and a future and God loves them and knows the end from the beginning.
Speaker B:But there was some years of captivity in there that they had to go through before they got that hope in a future.
Speaker B:And we kind of fail to mention that sometimes to new parents.
Speaker B:And I like to interject one thought into that.
Speaker A: Jeremiah: Speaker A:I also want to say this.
Speaker A:If you read the whole passage, which is what I always encourage people to do, right?
Speaker A:You quote a verse, read the whole passage.
Speaker A:You need context and you need understanding.
Speaker A:That passage is an if then scenario.
Speaker A:I call these if then scenarios.
Speaker A:What is that?
Speaker A:It is if you follow the Lord, if you submit to him, then he has that plan for you in your process of submission.
Speaker A:But that, that, it's like the path is there, the plan is laid out, all the pieces are, but you have to choose to walk it.
Speaker A:And that is also something that we don't tell people.
Speaker A:We get into this quoting verses and don't read the whole passage.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:To understand the full context.
Speaker A:So I'm glad you said that because, yes, that.
Speaker A:And that just.
Speaker A:That always hits that gear in me when I'm leading my discipleship groups and we're talking about these if then scenarios.
Speaker A:Prophecy is if then you have to remember that.
Speaker A:So go on.
Speaker A:I didn't mean to cut you off.
Speaker A:I just wanted to interject that thought.
Speaker B:Completely agree.
Speaker B:And I probably before this happened, I would have been guilty of maybe picking and cherry choosing the verses.
Speaker B:That sounded really super fun for my family.
Speaker B:And I have learned, you know, we do need context.
Speaker B:And read the verse before and the verse after.
Speaker B:If you can't read the whole chapter, at least figure out what's going on.
Speaker B:And it's kind of like the verse of Proverbs that train up a child.
Speaker B:We like to Quote that verse, you know, in the way they will go, and when they're old, they won't depart from it.
Speaker B:And we just.
Speaker B:We call that, like, oh, well, right there.
Speaker B:It's a promise.
Speaker B:No, that's a principle.
Speaker B:It's a biblical principle.
Speaker B:It's not a biblical promise.
Speaker B:And so we have to start tearing scripture apart and seeing how it really relates to our families.
Speaker B:And I wish somebody would have told me when my kids were younger that, hey, do you know there's an enemy after your kids?
Speaker B:Because I don't think I really realized to what extent there was an enemy after my family.
Speaker B:And I wish I could go back.
Speaker B:The things I would do different.
Speaker B:I always joke and say I wouldn't take my kids to church.
Speaker B:And what I mean by that is I would obviously still take them to church.
Speaker B:But we did church.
Speaker B:We went Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesdays and Christian school, and we prayed and we did all the things.
Speaker B:I did a lot of things.
Speaker B:I introduced a lot of religion and a lot of, like, you know, processes.
Speaker B:But I don't think I did a great job of introducing my children to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus as a relationship.
Speaker B:And if I could go back again, I. I wouldn't put all of my hope in a system of sending my kids to Sunday school and youth group.
Speaker B:Then they were gonna come out okay.
Speaker B:I would have done differently.
Speaker B:I would have maybe skipped church on a Sunday morning and took them out into nature and talked about what God made and maybe did some different things than I did.
Speaker B:But we can't go back.
Speaker B:But what we can do is I can help the next generation of mom.
Speaker B:And I can say, hey, there is an enemy after your family, and we're going to give you tools and we're going learn to pray and fight a spiritual battle that is happening right now in the heavenlies for your family.
Speaker B:And we're gonna help you because we don't want your child to ever go astray.
Speaker B:Like the things that we are all facing right now, it's like we, you know, I like to say it's like we put quarters on a slot machine.
Speaker B:You know, that's how the church kind of teaches us.
Speaker B:Well, go to church, put a quarter in, go to youth group, do this, go to youth camp, go to, you know, and I know we talked off camera about disciples.
Speaker B:You know, we are really bad about.
Speaker B:Want to make converts in the church, like, just have them say a prayer.
Speaker B:But we don't do great about making disciples.
Speaker B:And so we need to get back to disciple Making and just leading people on how to walk daily with the Lord.
Speaker B:Because when you do pull that lever down, the jackpot may not come up.
Speaker B:You may get a phone call like I got or something else, and then you're left saying, how am I going to deal with this?
Speaker B:Where is God?
Speaker B:Is he good?
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker B:And I had to go through things like, if God is still good, does he love me?
Speaker B:Is he gonna hate me if I love my child?
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker B:And these are the hard things that the church is not preaching on and talking about, and we have to do better about.
Speaker B:Standing with parents.
Speaker B:And I had never been to.
Speaker B:I've lived in nine states.
Speaker B:I have never been to a church.
Speaker B:I've been to a lot of churches that have ever had a service on a Sunday morning dedicated just to pray for the prodigals and say from the pulpit, I want you to stand up if you have a prodigal child and ask people to be brave and vulnerable and stand up and say, I need help.
Speaker B:But instead, it's hidden.
Speaker B:It's hidden.
Speaker B:And it's like, if you have a prodigal, don't tell me.
Speaker B:Don't come.
Speaker B:I like to remind myself of when this first happened.
Speaker B:I went to a women's conference, and at the end, they had a little altar call, and you could go up and get some prayer.
Speaker B:And I was very new into this, and so I went up to have someone pray with me.
Speaker B:And when the lady said, what would you like prayer for?
Speaker B:I said, I have this situation going on.
Speaker B:And the lady, the look on her face, and she went, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:She didn't even know how to pray.
Speaker B:She didn't even.
Speaker B:An altar worker at a conference was so taken back by the surprise of my prayer need that she didn't even know how to stand with me in prayer.
Speaker B:And we have to change that.
Speaker B:We have to educate people, and we have to make it okay to be broken on the back row.
Speaker B:We have to make it okay to not be perfect sitting in the pew on Sunday morning.
Speaker B:We have to make it okay to say, I have a problem.
Speaker B:The church was always supposed to be for the sick and the hurting.
Speaker B:It was never supposed to be the country club that we've made it.
Speaker B:And so we have got to find ways to let parents share in their.
Speaker B:In their hurts and their frustrations.
Speaker B:And we have to find ways that the church can stand beside us and pray and believe with us.
Speaker B:We need altar services where we're on our faces praying and believing for a generation to come home.
Speaker B:We have to have that back to those doors that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker B:If we believe that these kids are going to hell, then how come we're not not praying them out of hell, back into heaven?
Speaker B:How come we're not.
Speaker B:We're not doing these things?
Speaker B:And over here, if, if we believe that nothing is sin, then I'm not sure why we needed Jesus if he didn't come to die for our sins.
Speaker B:And so the capital C church has a lot of work to do.
Speaker B:We are in the end times, whether that's today or 100 years from now.
Speaker B:The time is short and we have to get busy with praying for our families.
Speaker B:The Lord showed me one time a puzzle.
Speaker B:And the puzzle was all done except for one piece.
Speaker B:And that one piece.
Speaker B:You know, we like to do puzzles at our house.
Speaker B:And so if you've ever done a puzzle, you know what happens?
Speaker B:You get to the end and there's one piece missing.
Speaker B:What do you do?
Speaker B:You're on the floor, you're crawling around, you're under the cushions on the couch, you're trying to find that piece because you're not going to go to until that puzzle is done and it's complete and that piece is back.
Speaker B:And that piece that's missing right now is our children.
Speaker B:Our children are not back into the relationship with the Lord and he is ready to come back.
Speaker B:But we have to get our kids back.
Speaker B:That is the missing piece.
Speaker B:I believe in this puzzle the prodigals that are out there.
Speaker B:And so we have a job to do and we have to get busy doing it.
Speaker A:So one of the things that I want to.
Speaker A:To just put out there and just to remind you, if you're leading a church, if you're a pastor, is reminding this concept church is not an institution.
Speaker A:It's not supposed to just be this process of systems.
Speaker A:It is a movement.
Speaker A:And what we have to do is we have to get to the point where we break down what is going on inside our church communities.
Speaker A:And we need to do the okay, what are the characteristics of an institution?
Speaker A:What are the characteristics of a movement?
Speaker A:Which one are we fitting more into?
Speaker A:Are we a movement or are we institution?
Speaker A:Jesus did not come come to set up an institution.
Speaker A:There were plenty of institutions already.
Speaker A:I mean, the whole process of the way that everything worked with the religious piece of Judaism at that time was nothing more than an institution.
Speaker A:Rome was an institution.
Speaker A:Every piece of this was institution.
Speaker A:Jesus said, we're going to change this.
Speaker A:It's not going to be an institution.
Speaker A:It is going to be a movement, it has to be a movement, and we need to remember that.
Speaker A:And I'm glad you.
Speaker A:You touched on that, because this is just a symptom of when it becomes an institution and not a movement.
Speaker A:Revival happens as a result of thinking with the characteristics and doing the things with the characteristics of a movement.
Speaker A:So that's good.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I think that's important, and I want to bring that out here in the.
Speaker A:In the show.
Speaker A:So here's.
Speaker A:Here's something else.
Speaker A:Just give me.
Speaker A:And of course, we're about to wrap up here, so we're.
Speaker A:I mean, we could speak for hours on this.
Speaker A:And, Deborah, we're going to have you back on the show because.
Speaker A:Yes, I got some other questions I want to ask, and I just don't have time to ask them right now.
Speaker A:But if somebody wanted to connect with you and connect into your groups, how could they do that?
Speaker A:I'd like you to talk us through that, because, guys, if you're ha.
Speaker A:And I'm saying this, if you're having issues like this and you need a community, join this community.
Speaker A:And it's not just about if you have a transgender child or not.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:This could be a child.
Speaker A:You have a child that's just, like you said, estranged.
Speaker A:It may be a situation where there are drugs and alcohol involved and.
Speaker A:Or they're just starting to go on the wrong road.
Speaker A:There is a community here that you can connect to, to help.
Speaker A:So, Deborah, I'm going to let you take it away and explain how you can get connected and all your.
Speaker A:All the good things that you have going on here.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And so we would love for you to join us.
Speaker B:Our motto is no one fights alone.
Speaker B:And we are simply.
Speaker B:It's battlecrymoms.com and battlecrydads.com now.
Speaker B:I will say that Battle Cry Dads is very small because dads are not joiners.
Speaker B:But we're gonna get there.
Speaker B:We're gonna get there one of these days.
Speaker B:But Battle Cry Moms, like I said earlier, was.
Speaker B: Is almost: Speaker B:And it's just a grassroots movement.
Speaker B:We just.
Speaker B:We grow because somebody knows somebody that has a prodigal.
Speaker B:And when you get to Battle Cry Moms, there's a splash screen, and it's gonna say, like, click to join or something like that.
Speaker B:And there's gonna be five questions that you answer to get in.
Speaker B:And so I just want to remind everybody, this is a private community.
Speaker B:We only allow people in if they have prodigal children.
Speaker B:And you have to answer these five questions to Be able to have access to the community.
Speaker B:And we do that because it's a very private, very emotional group.
Speaker B:And we want to maintain just the integrity of the group and the privacy.
Speaker B:And we don't want just anybody in.
Speaker B:And that's why we do it that way.
Speaker B:There's no charge.
Speaker B:This is all free.
Speaker B:There's no charge to be in.
Speaker B:And when you get in, some of the things that you're going to get are supposed to.
Speaker B:We have a battle plan, I call it.
Speaker B:And it's just five steps.
Speaker B:And we go through that in our group.
Speaker B:I have written a book and you can get that.
Speaker B:All the places you get books.
Speaker B:It's called Battle Love Goes to War.
Speaker B:And it has the battle plan in that as well.
Speaker B:And it also just talks about what I've went through in the last eight years and what the Lord has taught me in this story.
Speaker B:And it's just, I think it has something for everybody in it because everyone has gotten some sort of a phone call or a loss of a job or loss of a dream.
Speaker B:And everybody has that place to meet with the Lord and say, I believe you and I believe your word.
Speaker B:And that's what I'm gonna focus on.
Speaker B:And that's what Battle Cry is about.
Speaker B:And so we would love to connect.
Speaker B:You can just connect on my website, Debra McNinch.com and then you can I link all of those things on there.
Speaker B:And so please join us, call me, email me.
Speaker B:I would love to just visit with you on the phone if you just need a prayer partner.
Speaker B:So please reach out.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:Amen.
Speaker A:Well, I'm going to just say this.
Speaker A:This has been both.
Speaker A:It has a little bit of a sobering to it, but it also has an awakening and just the direction the Lord has taken.
Speaker A:This is amazing.
Speaker A:I mean, yes, you talk about having a support system in these type of situations because the support isn't just about the person who is impacted by the situation, but it's about the parents and the family and all the subsidiaries that are being impacted.
Speaker A:And so you have given a support system for that.
Speaker A:And I think that is so important that somebody has stepped up and done this and had the impact that you have.
Speaker A:God has obviously put this on your life and has blessed us beyond blessings.
Speaker A:So I just want to say kudos to you and.
Speaker A:And I'm going to be praying just for your group to continue to grow and to be able to reach more people who are struggling with this.
Speaker A:So we're going to include all this information in our show notes and we'll get all this put together.
Speaker A:But I do want to say this.
Speaker A:Deborah's going to be back on the show.
Speaker A:So she's coming back on.
Speaker A:She just doesn't know it yet.
Speaker A:I'll hey, I say this when I was teaching in classroom.
Speaker A:When I teach in classrooms, if I have a kid that's struggling, I will pull them across the line, kicking and screaming if necessary.
Speaker B:We'll get them there, but we're going.
Speaker A:To get them across.
Speaker A:That's what we're going to do it.
Speaker A:And she kind of has that same attitude about praying those prodigals home, baby.
Speaker A:I mean, they're coming one way or the other.
Speaker B:Don't stop.
Speaker A:Yes, I like that level of commitment and devotion.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But anyway, I have to close here.
Speaker A:Thank you guys for tuning into today's episode.
Speaker A:This has been just a great episode.
Speaker A:I am so glad that you guys are a part of this Kingdom Crossroads community and certainly those of you that are part of Deborah's community.
Speaker A:We want you to listen to the show and enjoy the show, but also make it a place where you are inspired to continue in your walk with Christ and give us a like follow us.
Speaker A:Hit that subscribe button and remember this when you support us, that gives us the ability to continue to produce this great content and sharing these experiences with you guys.
Speaker A:You can also visit our website at www.godcenteredconcept.com to learn more about our ministry.
Speaker A:And I'm going to say this, and you'll start hearing me say this now.
Speaker A:The aim of our ministry at this point is to get the discipleship plans published and put as an online course.
Speaker A:And we need support to do that, financial support.
Speaker A:So we are are asking for people to go there and please consider that helping us out.
Speaker A:On behalf of myself and Deborah, this is T.S.
Speaker A:wright and until next time, go forth in total surrender to the One who owns and reigns over all creation.
Speaker A:Let the great harvest begin.