Parenting Seminar 2026 - "Biblical Dynamics of Family: Bubble" by Glenn Hitchcock

Genesis 2:8-9. The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden,

Genesis 2:8–9

and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out

of the ground the Lord God made every, every tree grow

that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.

The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden,

and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In this bubble, there is protection because

God guards the city.

He watches over everything.

There is security, the nurturing

haven of safety for

all members. And on this point,

when we talk about Christian family,

in a Christian home there are no broken families.

All people belong in this bowl,

because God is no respecter of persons.

When the husband should unfortunately pass away,

mom is left with the kids. Is still family, and that's

still a bowl. We miss a

family member because they've gone on, but we're

still family. I've known families

that have been wrought with family

violence— Christians— and they felt so

broken that they thought Like Mrs. Job,

God can't be watching out for my well-being.

And it's going to take a godly elder or a godly preacher, a godly sister

or a godly brother to remind that sister

that though your husband lost his wife in

an act of senseless violence,

you're still married to God's You're still married to

Christ. You're a member of the body of Christ, and you're my

sister, and I'm your brother, and we're still family,

and we look out for each other. In raising—

helping to raise your children, we're going to be there for you, and we're going

to be there with you. And when you are having trouble

with your children, we want to still be there to support you.

That's what brothers and sisters in Christ do for one

another. Even when it's not a violent

episode,

when you have new Christians who are trying to grow and trying to

crawl in the faith, and they have children

that need some attention, thank God for the bubble.

We've got brothers and sisters in Christ

Thank God for the bubble to help their children. You may say,

yeah, but you don't know my kids.

You must not know the power of the bubble. In the

bubble, there's protection. In the bubble, there's instruction.

It's a safe haven for all members. It's fortified

through spiritual and domestic growth, or fortified by spiritual

and domestic growth. 2 Peter 3:18.

2 Peter 3:18

It's a home to restoration and renewal,

because when someone is wounded or has sinned, there's a fountain

that flows through that bubble that will bring refreshing

relief and restoration due to

sins, and people are revived in that bubble.

Victory through surrender because of obedience.

When I surrender or submit to God's sacred scriptures,

I find myself dependent upon God who will bring the

victory because he cares for me. 1 Peter 5:7.

1 Peter 5:7

Let's look at the haven of safety for all members, the family composite,

a group of people who are closely related to one another. That was our definition,

by blood, marriage, Adoption of kin.

When we think of this, all lives

matter because all lives, first and foremost, as I mentioned to

you earlier, represents a soul that happens

to be in a body. And we're at different stages

in life. None of us have arrived. We all are

in the process of becoming better today than we were yesterday. Amen.

By blood, father, mother, children extend to grandparents.

The work of grandparents is invaluable today to the kingdom.

Thank God for grandparents,

their wisdom, their love, their caring,

their support— spiritual, emotional, and sometimes financial.

Amen. I tell my daughter already,

say, you know, your father's retired. I'm not gonna blow my

retirement on my daughter. You're gonna have to— you're gonna

have to do something. She said, well, Dad,

you wait till I get my kids. You— I'm going— I said, okay.

I said, if I'm around, okay. But she wants

her children, whenever she has them, to experience what

she experienced Growing up with old parents.

My daughter will tell you, she said, when I went

to Middle Georgia Christian School, I was

the only child there that knew all of the Motown songs because of my

parents. And some of the teachers

would ask her about this song or that song. She said, oh, that was

by the Temptations, that was by somebody like that. And they go, wow,

how'd you know that? She said, my parents are old.

Now, she wouldn't just say that right out in front of me or something like

that, maybe around mom. But all

members— by the way,

we adopted our daughter.

She was 21 days old, had a little thrush,

and we loved her from

the very moment we saw her. And I

forget a lot of times that— in fact, I just— I, you know,

when someone say adoption, I go, what's that?

Because it was so wonderful for Some of our friends,

Brother Garland Elkins, for example, he said, we've got a set of boys over

here in Memphis, you need to come and get them and all. And I was

about to get a plane ticket. I said, well, Brother Elkins, you know,

I want a daughter.

First and foremost, I want to have a daughter. I always wanted 5

daughters and 1 son, because I wanted to coach a girls'

basketball team. I was living in the Hampton Roads area

where Old Dominion University Women won the national championship,

and all those girls, and that gave me that idea.

I said, I want to have my own basketball team. We can win a national

championship. Give me the son, he can be the waterboy, but give

me those girls. You know, and so

a safe haven to all members by marriage— husband, wife,

children, children from previous unions and all.

Blended marriages and things like that. It's part

of the bubble. We live in a world, unfortunately, where there's a

lot of needless divorce that goes on.

Children should not be victimized because of divorce.

They deserve to be in a bubble where they're protected,

where they can grow up, and they can know mom

and dad, brothers and sisters,

sisters. May not be your dad by blood, maybe by marriage,

but you're important, they're important,

and you matter. By adoption,

parents, wife, and children. Sometimes you got

to understand children also have to adopt their parents.

You may say, I don't know how that can happen, bro. Lauren told me,

she said, Dad, you know, I adopted you too.

No, that's part of that bonding process.

Because although I can adopt my daughter,

if she doesn't adopt a bond with me, it's going to

be tough sledding.

Or by Christ, brothers and sisters in the family of God,

brother, here at Cumberland Trace, you need to know what

a difference you're making in the Brothers and sisters in

Christ, you're working together in a common cause.

You're wearing yourself out in the Lord, and that's wonderful.

You may say, well, Brother Ishak, you, you know,

you got to have track shoes around here. Well, I don't have as many track

shoes as Aaron, but I'll tell you what, we, we kind of get a little

busy too. And in that busyness We're

not being busy for busy's sake. We're family,

and the needs of family are being addressed by this

family and by churches

of Christ that constitute the family of God across the globe

today, helping folks who consider their families to be broken.

When God's people come in contact with them, they know that their families

aren't broken anymore. We learn about

submission. We learn about discipleship.

We learn about demonstrating Christ before the world,

that they can see Christ. I've been crucified,

and it's no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives— where?

In me. When folks see the

gospel in me, They see

family that's reaching out to help

in the community. The bubble, a composite

of safety and peace for all people.

And part of the good news of our family is sharing this good

news to the community. And we'll talk more about that,

Lord willing, if we get— if we get there.

In another segment.

And so there are no respected family members in the family of God when

it comes to this haven of safety known as the bubble.

The church is a bubble to the world who

is lost, misguided, and need a place to

rest to renew and to find themselves

anew. A new identity,

that they can see themselves as Christians. A new neck,

that they can turn to Christ. A new head,

that they can think like Christ. New eyes, that they can see

that the fields are white unto harvest, and that I have an opportunity

to make a difference in my life. We can say more, but let me

move on. Fortified through spiritual and domestic growth.

Family confidence— confident that God's providence

and family industry needs are met.

And growth through maturity to ensure that,

you know, if we don't labor,

brethren, we've denied the faith and we're worse than infidels.

We have to not only provide labor—

domestic,

physical, and spiritual— as

a demonstration before our wives and our children

and the community, then it

could be well said of us that that family

glorified God. Matthew 5:16-17.

Matthew 5:16–17

Children have physical needs. Children have emotional and psychological needs.

Children have growing-up needs. Amen? That's my unwrapper.

Children have spiritual needs.

As initiator of love in my family,

I'm responsible to help with

her physical needs, emotional and psychological needs,

growing up needs, and spiritual needs.

It is a home to restoration and renewal.

Dr. Paul Bennett, in his book, talks in Christian psychiatry,

pointed out 5 Greek words which will give us instruction

regarding our relationship to one another.

This word means to beseech, exhort, and encourage or comfort,

to put in mind, to warn, and to

confront, to cheer up,

to encourage, to cling

to, To hold fast,

to take an interest in, and to hold up spiritually or

emotionally, and to

be patient or to have patience. Now let's see

this in 1 Thessalonians 5:14.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

All 5 of these Greek words are represented here. And we

would urge you, brothers, To admonish the

careless, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak,

and to be very patient with them all.

Bubble belonging that through membership in Christian

community further enhances mental health and fosters

security. We have an opportunity Through

interdependence, love, and clear communication,

support one another. Just like in the body of Christ,

we have to support one another and have the same care for one

another. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26. Why?

1 Corinthians 12:25–26

We're family. We're in one body.

We're the Christian family. We're in one bubble.

We will sin at times and will require restoration and healing, but thank

God for family and understanding parents.

There are times when your kids need to forgive

you, and there are times you need to forgive your kids.

That takes place in the boat with

understanding, with care, with encouragement,

with confronting. It's not wrong to confront.

But how do you do it? You do it lovingly,

in the fear of God, in the spirit of Christ,

submitting to God's will,

wanting the same for your child, and your child

would want it for you as well. One thing

about children, and tell

me if this is true or not, true or true, Children can't

be fooled. You can't

fool your kids.

Why is that? Why is

it that we can't fool our kids? You're going to say, well, they just

know us, that's all. It's more than that.

What is it about our kids?

They know us, but what else?

They trust us. And when you break their trust,

what does that do for them?

Alarm bell goes off. Oh, you broke my trust, you broke my trust.

But do they scream it out and just tell you, you broke my trust?

No. They carry it around like a badge of silence.

They're waiting for you to come to them and say,

son, I, I really goofed up this time, and I'm sorry, I apologize.

And you know what happens when you do that? They take their badge off,

put it in a pocket, and say, yes, that's my dad!

Yes, that's my mom! That's my parent!

I respect them, I love them. Why? Yes, because they're

being honest with me. You know,

watch this, because you're looking at me funny,

like you don't know my child, right? You can't fool

your kids.

Victory through surrender and obedience. Family compliance in the

bubble. Members submit to the will of the parents. They accept

and enjoy peace because of knowledge. Their worldview

is enhanced by understanding God's view of them.

What is God's view of them? I'm acceptable.

Romans 14:1-3, Romans 15:7.

Romans 14:1–3 Romans 15:7

My kids are interested. You ever tell your kid, you're interesting?

They're gonna say, what does that mean? That's an nickname. I'm interesting?

Yeah, I'm interesting. I'm your son. What do you mean I'm interesting?

Neil, I can see you telling your boys that. Sons, you are interesting.

I'm valuable. Your kids are

indispensable, believe it or not. I know you don't believe that,

but it's true.

I'm valuable. I'm indispensable.

They feel indispensable because you make them feel indispensable.

Is that important as parents, to make your kids feel indispensable?

When my daughter left, a week of college,

just starting out,

she needed to be fortified by her parents. Honey, you can

do this. You're 100 miles away, but you can do this. You've got

this. And our nightly prayer was

always, Lord, help me to be a leader and not a loser. And I

said, Lord, help her to be a leader and not a loser. She said,

Dad, I got this. I said,

honey,

God's going to take care of you. God loves you. You're indispensable.

You're important, you're lovable. You're not

only important to us as parents, you're important in the

kingdom of God. You're important wherever

you go. You know, when they was growing up, you know, we taught them,

you know, let your little light shine, VBS and all that stuff,

and rooster rooster, booster booster, and all that stuff.

And as old as she was then, you know, just about

to go off to college, we rehearsed some of that stuff.

Not stuff, stuff is strong, but we rehearsed some of that.

Because we started in the womb ago molding

and shaping. And it starts

once they come out the womb. And then that cradle roll.

Everybody should have a cradle roll. If they got low empathy,

you need to have a cradle roll. Thank God for cradle rolls.

They learn about the what? The B-I-B-L-E and

God loves me. I love the cradle roll.

Never taught in the cradle roll. I'd probably scare them to death.

But I love those who are in the cradle roll.

We start as early as we can with these little ones.

Why? Because they're God's gift to us.

And when God gives you a gift, you have to guard it.

You ever see how they guard money? I mean, it's like

it's a precious possession. What about gold?

It's a precious possession. Something far more

precious. Our children,

molding and shaping them, that they

can learn early about surrender,

about obedience, to know that they're important

and that I'm forgivable. There's an intrinsic

value that makes you forgivable because you were made

in the image of God. I'm capable. I'm intelligent.

I can do this.

Compliance equals parental love and

knowledge of God's word. The key to our upbringing

of our children— discipleship,

demonstration of Christian principles.

Based on the scriptures and

submission to the scriptures,

and in time coming together in a word called compliance,

out of love for Christ, love for each other,

because that child is not a

trophy case kid. That child is

gifted by God.

And we learn the value of

training very, very early.

Whether you know the scriptures or not,

get with someone who does. Study to

show thyself approved unto God.

The lives of your family

members is dependent upon it, especially if

you're the head of the house. You are to initiate this action,

and the Lord's people can help you to do that. If you want

to know more about that, see the leadership here in this location.

They can help you get started. You don't have

to be alone in the bubble with your kids

as though you don't have any help or support.

Whether you have or do not have a husband,

whether you have or do not have a wife, and you've got kids,

you've got a support system here.

Let me remind you of some members who remembered the family bubble.

You remember Moses?

By faith, not fear, he chose to be among God's people.

He gave up prestige, education, and wealth voluntarily.

Why? Because of the bubble.

His family wasn't Egypt.

His family was with God and God's people, the people of God.

And when times got rough for his people, he remembered the bubble.

What about Joseph? When temptation came to

Joseph in Potiphar's house,

Joseph remained faithful to his parental training.

He remembered the bubble. That coat of many colors

represented bubble love for Joseph.

And when people wanted To extinguish

Joseph by him

doing that which was contrary to the will of God. Joseph says, how can

I do this great— this thing and sin against my God?

The bubble gives me direction.

The bubble gives me discernment.

The bubble helps me to avoid the pathway of

doom and destruction.

And you may think your kids won't see this yet,

but when the light comes on, they're going

to remember the bubble. How do you know? Here's a good example.

You remember the prodigal son?

Kind of selfish. He wanted to have his

inheritance while his father was still alive. You remember?

The Bible says, but when he came to

himself, he said— there's

a bubble. I'm going to go back to the barn.

What did he say? How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough

to spare, and I perish from hunger? I will arise and go to my father's,

and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

Thank God for the barn.

How many steps does it take to return to

God and the Father. Just one step.

The prodigal, we thought, well, he left home.

I can't do anything for him.

Father didn't chase after him. Well, occasionally he probably looked out

the window hoping to see his son. One day

he looked out and there his son was, returning home. The father

ran to him. You see,

we can lose family members, sometimes temporarily,

sometimes permanently, but the

bubble remains.

The prodigal came and returned to the bubble.

Make your home a place of

safety, security,

lasting memories where they can return to

the bubble. You uncover the puzzle and say,

remember this? We were so

proud of you then, and son, we're still proud of you now.

You're home. Man, what does that do for our kids?

But we don't have to wait for them to be a prodigal to do that.

We should be doing that every day,

finding ways and reasons to encourage.

Bubble life is about protection and love, building lasting

memories where the family altar is erected,

celebrating each other rather than tolerating each other.

That's the bubble life. Our children learn to

honor parents. Our children learn to obey parents.

What questions do you have?

Yeah, I heard about the bubble, but you just— but,

but, but. Here's your but questions. What questions do you have?

Well,

it's interesting to note that for

those of us who have been living

for a little while,

it seems as though bubble life has changed for

different generations. But let me assure you that

it has not. God is still in control.

God still is protecting. God still is calling

people under the

protective umbrella of his vote.

And we who are members of the Lord's

church have a distinct advantage

in knowing that God's

going to continue to provide for his family

if we continue to, in the spirit of Christ, submit to his will,

work with one another. Like I said,

when we first got married, my wife, who grew up

in the church— I had not grown up in the church.

I was converted from denominationalism.

I did not have a home where I'd

come to in the evening and sit down at a table when

there was a father and a mother and all the kids were there. I came—

whenever I came home, I found my food

somewhere stashed, either in the refrigerator so my oldest

brother wouldn't find it to eat it always. Well, sometimes I had to

cook my own food. My mom worked 2 jobs trying

to put food on the table for us.

My dad decided he was going to leave the mother.

He was a prodigal. When my dad left,

my oldest brother was in charge when my mother was gone.

My oldest brother was 5 years, my And

then my oldest sister was a year older than I was.

And then I'm the middle child. And then there's,

there's 3 under me. And then came

one— no, 2 under me. One of the twins died because it

was cold outside. And back then we had coal-burning

stoves. And we didn't have a lot of coal left.

So mom was kind of, you know,

rationing the coal. We'll keep them, we'll keep

it going. And sometimes if it gets too cold, we'll go across

the street to the neighbors, because that was another bubble for us.

Well, one evening, one of the twins was asleep,

well, both of them were asleep, One of them contracted pneumonia,

and eventually she died.

And it devastated all of

us. And I was about

6 years old.

No, I was 7. And I

remember how my mother kept crying. I couldn't bear— Why she keeps crying?

And then I realized she's

not working

with my sister Brenda anymore because Brenda's gone.

And maybe she misses Brenda, and I learned what loss was all about

in the bubble. I learned what sacrifice was about

in the bubble. I learned how to defend

myself from my big brother in the bubble when Mom wasn't there.

But I also learned how to make up with my big brother and my sisters

in the bubble when Mom was there, when Mom wasn't there.

Life in the bubble at times could be hard,

almost impossible for some.

But when you have signed a declaration

of dependence on Christ, there's a whole different

perspective that comes into view for you.

There's a different level of trust and understanding.

God needed an angel, so he took my sister.

But it left us with an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson,

that one day we can go where my sister has gone,

and it'll be okay. We'll be able to see her again.

That's what we were thinking.

Obeying the gospel, July 12th,

1973,

Mercedes and I set up a goal in the bubble.

We're going to submit to the will of God when we have differences

of opinion. Because she

said, because I know there's a lot that you don't know and

there's a lot that I don't know, but I know because I was trained

in the bubble where I grew up in, in the Christian home,

that God's word is right. And if we follow

it We can be a success in this marriage,

even though I violated the rule

of long courtships. I told you about that last night.

I do advocate long courtships, but sometimes there are exceptions

to the rule. Ours was an exception

to the rule. Met and married in 41 days.

Would have been 11, except I had to go back to the base for a

But we followed the scriptures,

and we made contact with our extended bubble, the Church of Christ.

Garland Alvin was just leaving the local church there, and Jack Meyer was

coming to be the minister there, but we had godly

elders there. I thank God for godly elders.

Men who love me enough to put up with my foolishness

and stuff, and to help me to learn how to grow

and mature in the faith.

And godly mothers and parents and sisters to

help my wife and me to understand that some of these things that's

going on in our bubble will pass.

They won't last. And you'll be okay,

because God is in charge.

I learned a long time ago from reading Brother

Robert Milligan. His words were,

God has not called us to go to heaven on flowery

beds of ease while others fought to win

the prize. And sail through bloody seas.

God has called us to act within

the framework of his word, within the structure of the family,

within the body of the bowl, to support

one another as we support our kids,

as we help one another to go to heaven.

Surely heaven will

be worth it all. Thank God for the bubble, and thank God

for you, and thank God for our families. Let's close

this session with a prayer.

Dear God our Father, we thank thee for the blessings of our

family, for our children,

for our mothers and fathers, for unfeigned

love of the brethren,

for the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

May we consider the things that we discussed today and

add it to our resources of experience

to be better parents,

that we can reach out and support

our network, including our children and each other.

Thank God, Father, for the church. Thank God for the Christian family.

Thank God for everyone that's here today.

In Jesus' name, amen. Just really quick before

we break up for this, uh, for our last session this morning,

um, I wanted

to ask how many of you, with a raise of hand, how many of you

are only children? Raise your hand. Only children.

Okay. All right. How many of you are oldest

children? I'm not.

Okay, oldest. How many of you are Middle children,

if there's 3? Okay, that's me.

How many of you are somewhere in the middle of more than

3 kids? Okay.

How many of you are babies?

Alright, so we've got a pretty good representation of all. Dr. Kevin Lehman

has written a book on birth order, and it really affects how the

bubble gets put together. Glenn's got some material with regard to that.

The idea is, is that we all come

to the mobile building experiment with our own unique experiences.

We talk about different family structures. There are so

many ways that our lives are impacted as we try to raise our families,

and we appreciate Glenn and his great experience

in sharing with us how to build families

as parents as we should. I did want to find out,

um, what— we had several congregations who were represented.

So I know about Crittenden Drive being here and Scottsville.

Who else are we missing? Are you guys at Crossville?

Where are you? Okay, Crossville congregation. So we're thankful a lot of our

own folks who are here. We appreciate that. I want to let you know that

during this particular break, at the end of it, we'll have our final session And

thanks to the foresight of those who are in charge of this, you'll have a

take-home lunch for both your kids and for yourself. So you want

to hang out for that. And now we'll break until about

11 o'clock for our last session.