Magnolia and the Gospel of Inclusion

Chip and Jo's latest show forces a choice: cultural approval or child protection.

In June 2022, I visited Waco for a conference. While I was there, I made time to stop by the Silos and visit the Magnolia Empire. I wasn’t there for the candles (although I got one for my wife). I went because I genuinely admired what Chip and Joanna Gaines had built.

Our family watched Fixer Upper and I read Chip’s book in 2018. I loved his entrepreneurial grit, work ethic, public faith, and generosity. I also admired his marriage. They lived simply, stayed together, supported each other, raised kids, and built a business.

Seeing Magnolia succeed felt like a win for good Christian family values. They didn’t just build a business in Waco, they rebuilt the city’s reputation. From a town once known for a failed federal raid, Waco became a comeback symbol and tourist destination. We all cheered it on because Chip and Jo were different. They didn’t change. They didn’t sell out. But now, I find myself wondering: what changed?

Their new show, Back to the Frontier, features three families, including a same-sex couple who purchased two children and, in doing so, permanently severed those children’s connection to their biological mother. This couple stated that their goal in joining the show was to “normalize same-sex couples and same sex families.”

And when the predictable criticism came from supporters of the Gaines family…

…so did the predictable response: Christians are too judgmental. Chip took to social media to lament that “non-believers” are often met with the most hate from “modern American Christians.” He encouraged people to talk, listen, and maybe even learn. He painted the criticism not as moral concern, but as intolerance.

But here's the real issue: it’s not about hate. It’s about children.

What We’re Really Tired Of:

We are tired of being told to sit down and stay silent while children are treated like property. We are done being shamed by adults who feel judged, especially when their choices directly involve children. We’re told: “Mind your business.” But when it comes to kids, they are our business.

Whether it’s abortion, transgender “care”, or same-sex parenting, the pattern is the same: Children are sacrificed at the altar of adult desires, and we are done pretending we don’t see it.

Children are treated like products: Aborted when inconvenient. Transitioned when confused. Purchased through IVF and surrogacy, on purpose, in arrangements that deny them either a mother or a father from the very beginning. This is not about whether two women or two men can love a child. It’s about the fact that one mother and one father make a child and that child has a right to both of them.

What This Costs Kids

1. Children lose their mother or father.

Same-sex parenting that occurs through IVF or surrogacy always begins with a child who is intentionally deprived of either their mother, father, or both. That loss isn’t incidental, it is paid for and built into the arrangement from the start.

2. Parenthood is redefined.

When marriage was redefined to include two men or two women, parenthood had to change too. The law could no longer assume that children come from (and belong to) a mother and a father. So it stopped trying. Instead, parenthood became a matter of adult intent. Whoever wanted the child, paid for the child, or entered into a contract to raise the child became the legal parent, regardless of biology.

Terms like “mother” and “father” were quietly replaced with “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.” The child’s biological history, once recognized and protected by law, became legally irrelevant. What used to be a given, that children have a right to their mother and father, was rewritten to make room for adult arrangements. Now, a child's story begins not with the people who gave them life, but with the people who secured the right to raise them. The law no longer exists to guard a child’s connection to their origins; it exists to validate adult choices.

3. Children become commodities.

Now they’re designed, selected, purchased, and assigned. The adults involved are celebrated as brave while the child’s loss is ignored. And any adult who dares speak about it is canceled or shamed as judgmental.

This isn’t justice. It’s marketing. And children are paying the price.

So What Do We Do?

We tell the truth: calmly, clearly, and without apology. We affirm that every child has a natural, pre-political, God-given right to their mother and father not because of feelings, but because of biology and by design.

We reject the “love is love” idea that tries to justify denying children something no adult would ever choose to lose for themselves, their mother or their father.

We need to be loud. We need to be firm. Because the voices asking us to stay quiet aren’t the ones who will live with the loss.

The children will.