Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Kid Pastor Luke On Talking To God, Tyler Perry's Influence, New Book + More

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INTERVIEW: Kid Pastor Luke On Talking To God, Tyler Perry's Influence, New Book + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. You all finished or y'all done? Morning, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club. We got a special guest, some special
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: guests in the.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Building with us today. That's right. That's right.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: We have the young man, the little brother, Luke Tillman.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Pastor Luke Tillman. Don't play with him. Pastor Luke Tillman.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: You respect that man's credentials. Kid Pastor Luke.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: That's what we call him.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Kid Pastor Luke. That's right.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Welcome.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And his mother, Katrina.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: And his mom, Katrina.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: What up, though?
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: We from Detroit.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: What up, though? What up, though? You know, Luke, he
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: got a new book, Finding God, every day.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: And, you know, we saw him on Jennifer Hudson's show
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: this week, getting surprised by Tyler Perry. But, you know,
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: y'all actually called up here just to shout this book out.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, man, pull up.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, man, we are just so honored and blessed to
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: be here. Luke is so excited.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: We caught, listen, we know the breakfast club is where
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: it's at.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Yes, ma'am.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: And this is where our community is at. This is
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: where our people is at. And so, um, at the
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: time when I called, uh, Luke book was getting ready
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: to launch. It's available now, but, um, he is trying
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: to be on a New York times bestsellers list. And
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: when we had our meetings at the, you know, developing
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: a book and Luke was very involved in this project, um,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: He they asked him, you know, some of the upper
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: people asked him, you know, what is some of your
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: goals with the book? And he told him, he said, Mommy,
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: what do people with books get? I know music people
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: get the Grammys. What is the award for books? And
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: I said, well, I don't know if they got awards.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: I know they got this list called the New York Times.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: But he said, well, I want to be on that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: That's right. I said, well, OK.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Well, when they heard it, they said that he was
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: being too. And they said, don't you think that's a
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: little ambitious? And me being, we're, we're, I'm a mom
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: of four boys. We have four boys. Um, the mama
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: bear came out of me and I said, um, it's
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: okay that he's being ambitious. We serve an ambitious God.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: And if that's the goal that he has for himself,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: then we going to do everything we can to make
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: that goal a reality. And so my husband, he's a pastor.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: He's been in touch with a lot of his pastors
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: across the country. Um, different organizations and groups like Lockerry
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: National Baptist Convention. They've been allowing us to go before
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: these massive groups to put the call out regarding this book.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: And so I said, you know what? On the way
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: to school, we be listening sometimes because everything ain't for
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: the baby ears on the breakfast club. But I said,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: we gonna call. And I called. And the honest truth is,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: and Eddie, I think his name is Eddie. He can
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: tell you, I called and the call dropped.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I called again, kept calling, kept calling, kept calling, like
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: 30 minutes straight. Kept calling and got through. I said,
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: this is nothing but God. Because y'all lines be busy.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: So we got through, told y'all about the book, and
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: now we here in person. What up, though?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: It's incredible.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: I didn't know his dad was a pastor, but how
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: do you distinguish between nurturing his gift and putting adult
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: expectations on it?
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: We are very intentional about making sure Luke has a childhood.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: He has three older brothers, and so they keep him
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: very humble and very grounded. But Luke, the word says,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: and a child shall lead them. We are here because
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: we listen to our children. And anytime I get asked
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: about being his mom, that's one thing I always tell parents.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: God has given you this gift in a child. Our
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: job is to study it. cultivate it, develop it, and
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: protect it. And that's what me and my husband have
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: been doing with all four of our boys. And so
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: with Luke, he was sent here like this. He has
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: an anointing on him that has reached the masses far
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: beyond anything we could think of. He went viral for
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: baptizing his Paw Patrol stuff down there.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: And that was just me just putting it out there.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I didn't tag anybody. That was the Lord just breathing
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: on it. And then next thing you know, producer from
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Jennifer Hudson, we were very involved. My husband was very
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: involved in the Flint water crisis. Crazy story about that.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: She interviewed us six years prior before Luke wasn't even
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: here in the video where he get where he's baptizing
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: his Paw Patrol stuff. Then when you don't see me,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: you only hear my voice. She remembered interviewing me from
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: six years prior to that because of my voice and said,
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: I see this little boy going viral. Is this your son?
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: I'm a new producer on the Jennifer Hudson show. I
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: would love for Luke to be my first talent.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: And since then, he's been on there now six times.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: He premiered on the show this week with Tyler Perry.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: So everything that has happened has been very organic. Like
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: me calling in here and now we here. Everything has
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: been organic and Luke has just ushered us to what
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: it is.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question, Luke. When you talk
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: to God, what do you actually say?
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: Well, when I talk to God, I ask him to
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: open up my ears so that I can hear what
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: he's telling me.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: And when he tells me to do something, I first
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: tell my parents and then they can tell me if
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: it's God or not.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Because.
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: One day my mom was watching this video, and it
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: was about this pastor, and he thought that God told
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: him to open up this church, but it was actually
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: the devil. And what touched me about that video was
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: that he said that sometimes something can be good, but
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: it's not always God.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: Yes, so first I go to my parents, I go
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: to my dad because, you know, he's the pastor, he's
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: the leader of the house, so. That's how it all happens.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Let me ask you, Katrina, you said you have four boys, right?
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And there's so many kids that are sons and daughters
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: of pastors and preachers, but none are like this. What
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: did you see on him early on that you knew
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: he was going to take this lane and this role?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, so I had an experience when I was pregnant
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: with Luke. I haven't even shared this with him yet.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: I told him when he gets a little older. We'll
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: go into more depth. But I had an experience when
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: I was pregnant with him where I knew that something
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: was different. So when he was born, you know, my
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: relationship with Christ has been very personal. So when we
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: started having children, you know, I said, Lord, my goal
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: is that by the age of two, that all of
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: our boys would know the model prayer. So every night
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I would say the model prayer with them. So that
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: was as far as it went. I wasn't getting too,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: you know, technical with them because they young, you know. Luke,
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: he's a dreamer. And so he would say things that
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: his father hadn't taught him, that I hadn't taught him,
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: that was biblically sound.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: He would tell us about different visions that would meet
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: up with Scripture. And it's like, okay, wait a minute.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: We haven't read this Scripture to you. You haven't heard
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: your dad preach it. This got to be revelation that
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: you're receiving. And so we just started. He had been
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: begging his dad for about two years. Dad, baptize me.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Come on, Daddy, baptize me. And, you know, we take
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: our faith serious. You know, his thing was, I want
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: you to I will baptize, but I want you to
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: understand what you're doing. You know, I want you to
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: at least have a childlike faith and understand what it is.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: And so he would kind of push it off. And
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: Luke was just so adamant. And I was like, I
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: think I think you really need to consider this. And
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: so he prayed about it and. things kept being revealed
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: to him. And he's like, yeah, I got to take
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: this boy to the water. Because he, again, a child
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: shall lead them. It's him like that. You know, you know, sometimes,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: and I say this to parents all the time, listen
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: to your child. Because a lot of times in our culture,
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: we'll be like, oh, go sit down, shut up or
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: push them to the side. And that child is trying
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: to tell you what their gift is. That child is
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: trying to tell you, you know, if they talk a lot,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: maybe put them in some speech classes or something. They
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: may be a public speaker, you know? And so, His
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: personality is just, it matches up with who he is.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: And so we just been in prayer about, okay, Lord,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: this your child. You know, you blessed us to be
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: the parents of it. Help us nurture it and guide
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: it to where it should go. And it has been
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: far beyond anything that we can even think of.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: How does his brother receive, how does his brothers receive
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: him as the kid past the loop?
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Like I said, they keep him very humble. They keep
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: him very humble. Ezra, Micah, and Isaac, they are very
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: protective of their brother. Funny thing is when we knew
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: that he was going on the Jennifer Hudson show the
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: first time, you know, we grew up on the Cosby.
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: So we had a family meeting. We called all the
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: boys into the room, sat them down, and I just
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: knew it. I knew it. I knew that this was
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: more than just him going on the show. I knew
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: it was like this is going to be the start
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: of something. And we told him. I read the scripture
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: of Cain and Abel, and I told him we ain't
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: got no place or no room for no jealousy, that
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: God has given us this gift. And here's the thing.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: Each one of you have a light. It doesn't mean
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: that because his light is attracting this type of, notoriety
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: it doesn't diminish your light but whatever door he walked
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: through we move as a unit the Tillman family we
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: move as a unit so whatever door he walked through
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: we are walking through but if it's God leading him
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: to open a door for us to walk through it
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: then that's what it will be and your gifts and
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: your talents could be in addition to this or it
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: could be separate from it. But as a mom of
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: four boys, you know, I'm always being conscious of developing
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: and nurturing them. But they're very supportive of their brother.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: And they wanted to be here, but they in school.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: They're very supportive of him.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: Luke, do you remember the first time you felt like
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: God was actually talking back to you? Not with a voice,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: but with just something you felt inside of you.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, when I was two or three. Wow. Two or three,
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: I had a dream that God has called me to preach.
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: Like my mom said, I have a lot of visions.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: So we live in Florida, and before any of us
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: even knew that, I told them that, Mom, Mom, I
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: think we're going to.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Go to Florida. Mom, Mom, let's go to Florida. Come on,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: come on.
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: And then now we live in Florida because, you know,
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: God's grace and mercy.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he just kept on leading me and holding me.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Now, Mama, has he ever said, you know, Mom, God
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: said I want this new video game.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Has it ever gone there?
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: No, and that's the thing. It's never like in a joking...
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: It's never like in a joking... It's never like, you know, Mom,
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: God told me to get these Jordans. It's never that.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: It's always something... Like I said, he... My husband was
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: pastoring in Flint, Michigan. He wasn't even trying to relocate.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: We weren't even considering looking at anywhere else. And I
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: got the voice memos because he would wake up and
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: be like, Mom, I had a dream that Daddy told
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the church that we leaving. So I would voice memo
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: it so that I can document it. And then he
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: would say, we moving to Florida. And I said, Florida?
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: We going to Florida? No, we moving to Florida. And we,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: thanks to... The God, you know, he gave him, yeah.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Now what about kids in school? Because sometimes kids in
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: school could not be the nicest.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: How have they.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Dealt with some of the things that he's been preaching
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: and talking about?
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: I asked you that, Luke.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: How have the kids in school been treating you?
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: Have they been understanding? Well, they know because I've been
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: to that school for like four years, so they know
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: about it, but they're really used to me because when
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: I'm at school, like it might be like just at
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: recess that, you know, I put on my preaching mode, but.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: When I'm in.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Preaching on the playground.
• 12:48
  Speaker 5: When I'm in school, I just turn on my kid
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: mode because I don't want to take away my learning
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: and just put it all on God.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Hold on now.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: You're supposed to do that, but you guys understand what
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: I mean, right?
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you said kid mode. What other modes you got?
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: My kid... Why you got.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: To ask me a question like that? Might have to
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: pray for him.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: So when you go into preaching mode, that's when you're
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: in school, you go to recess and you start talking
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: about God.
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: Sometimes I just go around singing gospel songs.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I love it. Remember on that. Do the kids join
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: in with you?
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: How do they respond to that?
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: No, because they go to those mega churches. They ain't
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: like that Baptist church.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: So they don't know what songs I be singing.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: You be singing them hymns, them old school hymns.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: I hear that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: Your book is called Finding God Every Day. Where do
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: you think grown-ups stop looking for God?
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: In the club.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: What?
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: What you know about the club? I'm looking for him
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: in the club.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: Because, you know, a lot of grownups, they becoming drunk
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: because the Bible does say that don't become drunk. So
• 14:07
  Speaker 5: they just not following what God said. Yeah, that's when
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: they stop listening to God and, you know, their relationship
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: just becomes smaller and smaller.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: You got a point.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Do you tell grown-ups that when they come to church
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: and you see them disoriented and not right?
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Do you pull them to the side and like, let
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: me talk to you for a second?
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: You should. You should.
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: No, I'm not in the position for that. My dad
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: would sit me down.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: If he knew that.
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: I don't do stuff like that.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: When you're scared, what's something that you tell yourself about
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: God that actually makes you feel better?
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: I just pray them because when I get, like, nightmares,
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: I always go to my mama's room. But I'm not
• 14:46
  Speaker 5: like that anymore because, you know, like she said, she
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: teach us how to pray and all that. So, yeah,
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: I'm not really scared anymore, and I don't really have
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: any nightmares because every single night since the day that
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: my mom said that I got to pray, I got
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: to pray over all these nightmares, since that day, I
• 15:09
  Speaker 5: started asking God at nighttime before I go to sleep.
• 15:14
  Speaker 5: I always ask God to give me no nightmares that
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: I don't get nightmares. So, yes, I don't get nightmares because,
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: like I said, God's grace and mercy just keeps me.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: What made you gravitate towards Mr.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Tyler Perry? He's definitely got an anointing on him as well. Yes.
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: So.
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: Me and my family, like, we like churches and all,
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: but sometimes we go into, like, we like to have
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: movie nights because a lot of times my parents are busy,
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: so when me and my brothers get the time, we
• 15:52
  Speaker 5: just get it. So we watch movies, and it was
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: just one day my mom said, oh, let's watch Madea.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: I said, Madea?
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: Who is that?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: And then we watched it, and then it was funny.
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: Then I liked it since then, and I thought that
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: was a real lady first. But then my mom told
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: me that that was Tyler Perry. And then this one
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: day I was scrolling on TikTok, and I saw that
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: Tyler Perry, he actually got anointing. He laid hands on T.D.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Jakes.
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: So he actually got anointing. Yeah.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I thought T.D. laid hands on him, right? I think T.D., yeah.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: I think Bishop Jakes laid hands on him, but he
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: was there.
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, when I see that people have an anointing and,
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: you know, that they have a great relationship with God,
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: you know, I like to start following them and start
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: studying them. So that's why I started liking Tyler Perry.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: Trina, did you and his father ever have a serious
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: conversation about whether going viral was actually good for him?
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: No, we, we, we never really had that conversation. Like
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I say, everything has been so, um, organic, you know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: I just put it out there on my page, on
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: his page. I think it was like the second video
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: of his Instagram page and it just went viral. But, um,
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: You know, we are conscious that, you know, the society
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: that we live in and, you know, people's criticism, you know,
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: a lot of some of the things, you know, people
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: think that he's, you know, mocking his father or all
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: the things. And let me just say this because it
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: just needs to be said. You know, a lot of
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: times when we see we see a lot of bad
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: things in our community with kids doing all the negative things.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: But when you have a child whose father is a pastor,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: that is something that they should want to model. So
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: I think it's just crazy to me that some people,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: it's just crazy to me that people can sometimes have
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: that narrative. And it's like, you know, he wants to
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: be like his father. And, you know, me being a
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: praying woman that I am. I made sure the guy
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I had kids with was something that my kids could
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: look up to and model after. So, you know, I
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: think it's a beautiful adoration to have a young black
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: boy look up to his father in the way that
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: he does. But Luke got his own calling, his own
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: style of preaching, his own way of, you know, he
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: just knows that, you know, he's following in the path
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: of his father. And I think that's a beautiful thing.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Why was it important for you to write this book?
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: What is important for me to write this book is
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: because I believe that you don't have to wait until
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: you're an adult to have a relationship with God because
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: as parents would say that, like, get off your phone,
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: get off your tablet, get off your computer, you know,
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: go outside and play or something.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: All the things I've said.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Don't you side-eye your mama.
• 19:09
  Speaker 5: Okay, back to what I was saying. They'll be like,
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: go outside and all of that. So, you know, so
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: apparently I'm going to make the parents happy, then give
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: the kids some reading time, have a relationship with God because,
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: you know, kids think that church is just for grown-ups. But,
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: you know, for the kid that I am, you know,
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: I see... They just think that church is all about
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: going to church just to go on my tablet and
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: just chill out and play on games. But it's not
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: about that. It's about you giving your life to Christ. So,
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: you know, I gave them some reading time and actually
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: a quick testimony. The other day, that's what made me happy.
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: The other day, I think it was one of the
• 19:54
  Speaker 5: members of the church said that since their daughter read
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: this book, they want to give their life to Christ.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: And that's my goal.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: The book is so unique. When we started the project,
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: I asked Luke, I said, Luke, you know, what do
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: you want this book to be about? And he said,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't think you have to wait until
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: you're an adult. He said, I want kids to have
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: a relationship with God early. But then he also said,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: you know, I want to take like my everyday experiences
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: and show them that you can find God in them.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: So in the book, he talks about in each devotional,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: it's real applicable to children and finding God through their
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: childlike experience. So You know, not being invited to the
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: birthday party or first day of school or, you know,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: getting into it with your brothers. How do you find
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: God in that? So it's taking childlike experiences and being
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: able to add scripture to it. So each day has
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: a scripture. It has a devotion, a daily prayer, and
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: then the according to Luke section. And that's his own
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: personal testimony.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: It sounds like it can... help some adults as well.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: That's so funny you said that because I literally, when
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: we were in the waiting room, a lady had DM'd
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: and said, I don't have any children. Is it possible?
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I said, listen, Luke's audience is adults. So there's a
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: lot of adults that's purchasing this book for themselves and
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: getting back connected to that childlike faith.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: Has Luke ever challenged your faith? Has he ever said
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: something that you couldn't even answer?
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Like, whoa.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Um... He's very inquisitive. Usually if he asks me a
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: question that I don't know or I don't have the
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: knowledge of, I go to my husband. That's Reverend Dr.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: Ezra Tillman, First Baptist Church, Piney Grove. I'll make sure
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: y'all visit.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: You be at the church.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we at church. So I'll go to him and
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: ask him. But usually I'm equipped enough to lead and guide.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: Do you think grownups make Christianity more complicated than it
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: needs to be, Luke?
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: What do you mean by that?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Do you think they just make it more complicated?
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Like more hard?
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, more hard for kids to understand.
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, because, you know, they teach them like their generation,
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: but that's how I didn't understand because, you know, They
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: teach them, their generation, how, you know, pastor would say,
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: grab your neighbor by the hand, high five your neighbor.
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: And I'm like, what is that? So, yeah, so they
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: make it hard for kids. So that's why I wrote
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: this book. So then, like I said, so that I
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: can have a bigger relationship with God. You can relate
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: to it. Yeah, I can relate to what they're going
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: through in their life so that I can make it better.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: A question, a pass in the back, brother.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: You know, we talk about church all the time.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Pastor Ezra. Ezra L.
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Tillman, First Baptist Church, Piney Grove.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am. We talk about church sometimes, and I feel
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: like people have gotten away from church a lot because
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: they feel like church is a place of, it doesn't
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: feel like community anymore, right? It feels like people are
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: asking for things. You see these, sometimes you see these.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: These pastors asking for, I need money for my Cadillac
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: and I need money for my private jet and I
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: need money for this. But I feel like even with
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: your son being involved so much, it feels more of
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: a community where you're bringing in kids. I remember the
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: days when grandma used to have us bring, you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: y'all would sit in the back and bring us up top.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: It feels like that is even more with your son
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: coming in. Do you feel that as well?
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: I think that culture ends up. having great influence ought
• 23:32
  Speaker 6: to have in the church when the church should be
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: giving example to the culture. And so in trying to
• 23:37
  Speaker 6: market and trying to grow and trying to put, as
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: you said, butts in the pews, that whole piece was
• 23:42
  Speaker 6: kind of lost, trying to be progressive, trying to be
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: more corporate. And the actual spiritual connections and relationships that
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: came from the community has evolved with people moving out,
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: et cetera. And then people has that kind of, you
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: can have it your way model. So I'm looking for
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: something versus really coming to kind of get and receive something.
• 24:01
  Speaker 6: And so that pours out into competing, into people being disconnected,
• 24:06
  Speaker 6: people looking for good choir, good preacher, good programming, good
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: child services. All those things kind of breaks down the
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: whole culture of it's a faith growing and there's no discipleship.
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: Mm-hmm.
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: So no one's kind of going out trying to share
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: that faith saying, okay, you know, this is how you
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: make it through a hard time. This is how we've
• 24:23
  Speaker 6: made it as a people. It becomes more of, you know,
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: what works for you.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: So you take big mama out of the place.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: And you lose a model of what that direction is,
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: this is the outcome.
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: As a question, Pastor, what have you learned about God
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: from watching your son that you didn't understand before?
• 24:42
  Speaker 6: A lot of it went back to my own childhood.
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: It went back to me knowing very young that I
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: was going to be in this space. And my brother
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: kind of helped me. He was like, remember we used
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: to be in you know, our godparents back yard used
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: to be on the picnic table preaching. And I'm like, yeah,
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: I do. You know, growing up in the choir or
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: the above, you sitting there thinking like, you know, why
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: I'm so mesmerized by this particular setting or whatever. So
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: then with listening to him, it kind of took you
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: back like, that's familiar to me.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And then.
• 25:21
  Speaker 6: As profound he has been with his statements and clear
• 25:24
  Speaker 6: as he been with certain things as he envisioned whatever,
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: I knew that I had to need to actually apply
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: the concept of whosoever will or suffer the children to
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: come to say, as we want to be deep in
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: our perception of God's voice, it's really simplistic. And all
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: those patriarchs and matriarchs of the scripture, whatever, they had
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: these profound moments when it really was simple, but could
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: you hear them? So I had to kind of make
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: sure I was open to that to say, okay, let
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: me make sure I'm listening and I'm responding properly to
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: what It's happening with him.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: Man, it's amazing to watch y'all, man. We see so
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: much generational trauma pass down. To see these generational blessings
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: rain down on this young man, it is incredible to see, bro.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: It's incredible to see. Thank y'all for joining us. The
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: whole Tillman family. That's right.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: I love and appreciate it.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Tell them about your church and if they're in Florida.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: What part of Florida?
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: I'm in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. It's a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.
• 26:19
  Speaker 6: First Baptist Church, Piney Grove. Two services, 8 o'clock and
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: 11 o'clock. Doing some restructuring as it pertains to what
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: we're doing now for our youth to build that out,
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: you know, trying to make sure we challenge our concept
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: of Christian education, Sunday school. So it's one of those
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: things where, as you said, generationally, you got to look
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: at what core things work and how we can evolve
• 26:40
  Speaker 6: to this new generation to make sure it's meeting their
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: needs and encouraging.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: So.
• 26:43
  Speaker 6: We're under construction like most of our traditional churches, but
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: we are doing the work, and we have beautiful people
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: there to help us do it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: You know the craziest people in America come from the
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: Bronx and all of Florida, so how often do you
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: do exorcisms?
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Well, we're not from Florida.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: We're from Detroit. Oh, I know, but y'all in Florida.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. It's different. It's different. How many
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: exorcisms do you have to do?
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: Man, I ain't on that level, man, but I'm praying.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: And I see it. Yeah, it's there. And it's definitely warfare.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: He from Detroit, so he understand a little bit.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: He from Detroit, so he understand a little bit. He
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: from Flint. You can read the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:13
  Speaker 6: And it's that type of power you need because those
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: things exist.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: It's real.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: It's prevalent.
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: It's deep-rooted. It's in the grain. And you definitely better
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: know the Lord dealing with that kind of work.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: That's right. I love that. Now, kids, tell them how
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: they can get your book.
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: Well, you can get it basically everywhere books are sold.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: You can get it from... Amazon, Mahogany Books, Barnes and Nobles.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: Everywhere books are sold. You all support this book. Get
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: them on the New York Times bestseller.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: It's called Finding God Every Day, a 90-day devotional by
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: a kid for kids, but it can help adults too.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: Give me your Instagram and Twitter or whatever you use.
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: Well, my Instagram is.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: According.
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: According.
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: The number two.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: The number two underscore....
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Luke.
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: Luke.
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: Go run this up, man. Go support Pastor Luke Tillman. Katrina,
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Pastor Ezra, y'all doing a fantastic job.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Thank y'all for joining us this morning.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.