Purpose Over Perfection
In the first episode of Purposeful Family, hosts Linc and Elizabeth sit down to ask a question most of us don’t stop long enough to answer: what are we actually aiming for as a family? Linc has spent over three decades in full-time ministry and 36 years married to JoEllen, raising three daughters. Elizabeth has been married to Seth for 16 years, is a foster and adoptive mom, and has spent over a decade working in child development. Together, they want this podcast to be honest, meeting families wherever they are, whether things feel like they’re going well, quietly falling short, or completely off track.
Linc and Elizabeth turn to Deuteronomy 6:4–7 and Psalm 78:1–7 to lay out what they believe is the purpose of family: carrying God’s story forward to the next generation, not through one perfect devotion or a single Sunday, but through the ordinary moments of everyday life. It’s a design that’s less about getting everything right and more about staying faithful in the small, repeated moments where the gospel gets echoed.
They’re also honest about what gets in the way: taking the path of least resistance, repeating what was modeled in our own upbringing, protecting a happy home instead of doing the harder work, comparing our families to everyone else’s, and feeling inadequate to lead spiritually. Instead of asking listeners to fix everything at once, Link and Elizabeth end with one simple challenge: name one thing you’ve made necessary that’s actually optional, and one thing you’ve made optional that’s actually necessary. As they put it, we’re not pursuing perfection, we’re pursuing purpose.
Share this podcast with someone who feels like their family isn’t measuring up, is quietly dissatisfied, or feels disqualified by their story, and needs to hear that God has a purpose for their family, too.