Do you ever feel completely unqualified to talk to your kids about sexuality?

On this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with John Fort, Director of Training for Be Broken Ministries, to dive into the tough—but vital—conversations around Christian parenting, raising Christian kids, and guiding family life through today’s culture. John shares wisdom on how faith at home, spiritual growth, and discipleship can be woven into tricky topics like sexuality, gender, and emotions, giving parents practical inspiration to lead with openness, calm, and biblical truth.

• [00:07:59] Why talking about sexuality is stressful for parents
• [00:10:03] The crucial role of discussing emotions with your kids as the groundwork
• [00:14:10] Navigating early exposure to inappropriate content
• [00:19:02] Biblical versus cultural perspectives on gender

Resources:

• John’s book: Don't Stress Talking Sex (published through Tyndale and Focus on the Family)
• Upcoming middle grade fiction series: Elias Turner series, The Realms of Valdar
• bebroken.org
• Conversation card game: Honest Talk (a card game to help parents and kids discuss feelings, awkward situations, and sexuality)
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

Clip Finder:

Viral Topic: Redeeming Failure: So everything I write, all my music, all everything is all about redeeming failure.

— John Fort [00:07:20 → 00:07:24]

Why Kids Don’t Talk to Parents About Sex: "And all those kids only gave 2 answers. And that was, I'll get in trouble for what I say or even what I ask."

— John Fort [00:08:30 → 00:08:37]

Why Teens Don't Open Up to Parents: "The parent doesn't want their kids to know the mistakes they've made. Mm-hmm. The kid thinks, I can't tell you what I'm going through because you won't understand. If the parent would share appropriately what they've struggled with, The kid would then understand, oh, you do understand how I feel. And then that opens the conversation."

— John Fort [00:08:45 → 00:09:04]

Why We Should Talk About Emotions Before Sex Ed: "Because the biggest reason that by the time they get to be teenagers that they get like I was ensnared or enslaved by certain things is because they never learned how to deal with their feelings."

— John Fort [00:10:10 → 00:10:21]

Parenting Advice: "Because talking about sex is scary. Talking about feelings is scary, but not as scary."

— John Fort [00:11:20 → 00:11:25]

Helping Kids Process Difficult Topics: "Because when kids are exposed to this, they virtually always have new questions. And they may not tell you today, but maybe 2 or 3 days later, they'll say, you said you wanted to know if I had questions. Well, I have this question now."

— John Fort [00:13:20 → 00:13:31]

Viral Topic: Couples Rarely Discuss Early Exposure to Sensitive Topics: "You have a couple, a married couple, that have been married for however long, and they don't know, they've never talked about that."

— John Fort [00:17:59 → 00:18:04]

Rethinking Gender Roles in the Bible: "the Bible says there's certain things it says that seem very, you know, kind of like, okay, you know, men are the head of the household and blah, blah, blah, that kind of stuff. Yeah, it does say that. But then that's brief compared to who are the biblical women that the Bible points out, the heroes, and what are they like? And what are the men who are biblical heroes like? And then in Proverbs, when it talks about a godly woman, a godly man, what does it say?"

— John Fort [00:19:22 → 00:19:46]

Childhood Independence in the Wilderness: "It was a kind of a moment like, I have to grow up now."

— John Fort [00:25:09 → 00:25:12]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

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Can laughter and storytelling unlock extraordinary spiritual growth for your family right where you are?

In this episode of the Collide Kids Podcast, host Christen Clark sits down with Grammy-nominated comedian, musician, and master storyteller Tim Lovelace. Together, they dive into how comedy, faith, and life’s surprising moments can shape Christian parenting, inspire Faith at home, and help families discover God’s purpose and joy—even in the most ordinary days.

• 03:09 Tim’s unique journey from shy, stuttering child to professional entertainer
• 09:08 Tim realized that laughter could be ministry
• 17:33 The story behind Tim’s book "Green Rain"

Resources:

• "Green Rain" (book by Tim Lovelace)
• Moments That Motivate (2-minute motivational story series)
• Tim’s website: timlovelace.com
• Youtube: @timlovelacecomedy
• Website: collidekidspodcast.com
• Instagram: @collidekidspod

Clip Finder

Viral Comedy Moment: "It's not what you think. It's the upper corner of lower Alabama. That's where I was educated."

— Tim Lovelace [00:03:34 → 00:03:39]

How Labels Shape Us: "people kind of start putting people in boxes. It's human nature. So you have They'll go, oh, that person is good at singing, and that person is good at drawing, and that person is good at making people laugh. So you become the class clown."

— Tim Lovelace [00:09:31 → 00:09:46]

Nervous Moments on Stage: "So finally the dreaded day came and they had those maroon curtains and I'm standing behind it and the teacher put the little needle on the record and no one knows what that is like, a big CD, you know?"

— Tim Lovelace [00:12:34 → 00:12:48]

Viral Topic: From Radio to Book Deal: "But people would come out and say, well, when are you going to put the stories in a book? So that's how we ended up with Green Rain."

— Tim Lovelace [00:18:22 → 00:18:28]

Every Moment Matters: "I always say they're not really small moments in life, they're actually big. They're all big moments, right?"

— Tim Lovelace [00:19:19 → 00:19:26]

Breaking Musical Rules: "Why does theory tell me I can only do this? I can put this chord with this chord, and I can arrange this, and I can put these diminished chords over a flat 9, over a 13. And, and my entire life I've loved chords and music. Why can't you mix a little Chet Atkins with a little bit of fingerstyle, with a little bit of Spanish, or what music? Or—"

— Tim Lovelace [00:21:54 → 00:22:17]

Finding Beauty in the Unexpected: "So I want them to know that in the good times, in the small moments, God is in the middle of them. In the moments that seem like they hurt, and maybe they do hurt, and maybe it didn't turn out the way we want it, and maybe we lost a friend, but maybe God is working out something beautiful, and we learn something. It ends up being one of the biggest blessings in our life. So God is in all of the moments."

— Tim Lovelace [00:23:09 → 00:23:34]

The Power of Storytelling in Connection: "some of the greatest talkers I've ever known, some of the greatest pastors I've met over the years would say, I was bashful at one time. But when you find stories, when friends find out, when you just ask little simple things like, what's something you learned lately that's really been interesting? And then you learn from it."

— Tim Lovelace [00:25:36 → 00:25:56]

The Power of Storytelling and Connection: "I encourage everyone to have a little journal just to write down some of your favorite stories and ask your mom and dad, tell me about when you first rode a bicycle. Who taught you how? And sometimes we're all so busy, we forget to do those things. And when we connect with those stories, go, I didn't know that about Grandma."

— Tim Lovelace [00:26:39 → 00:26:59]

Nostalgic Southern Traditions: "But it— but putting peanuts in a Coke bottle was so good."

— Tim Lovelace [00:29:59 → 00:30:03]

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

Support the show