Announcing Interaction International’s 5th President

The Board of Interaction International is pleased to announce Bret Taylor as the CEO/Executive Director. Bret has been instrumental in the revitalization of Interaction International over the past 4 years. We have full confidence in Taylor’s ability to maintain our historic roots while branching out to fill needs in global TCK care, especially in under resourced areas of the world.

Formative Experiences in Africa and Beyond

Bret Taylor has been a strong ally for MKs and TCKs for over 20 years. A graduate of Hope International University, Bret’s journey working with missionary kids (MKs) and Third Culture Kids (TCKs) began in Kenya. It was at a Rift Valley Academy senior retreat where he was introduced to David Pollock’s material on MK/TCK transition issues; he never looked back.

From 1999-2000 he served as chaplain at West Nairobi School where he developed a semester-long class for juniors and seniors to help them prepare for living in their passport countries. After returning to the States to be married to his best friend (Mindy Taylor), they joined Wycliffe Bible Translators to serve the MKs at the JAARS base in North Carolina. Bret took a program of half a dozen MKs and grew it to two MK youth groups, five bible studies, a leadership track, and founded Refuge 139, a quality TCK program for conferences.

For the past 8 years, Bret has chaired the MKCS leadership team. He is proud to be a founding member of the Shepherds Council where he is on the planning team of the International TCK Conference (scheduled for October of 2023 in Thailand). Recently he published his Adaptable TCK Model.

Tenure at Interaction

In his short tenure at Interaction, Bret took the lead in updating curriculum and publications that have been Interaction’s foundational pieces.  Under his leadership, Among Worlds was rebirthed into a digital format in order to be more accessible to TCKs everywhere. He led the team in overhauling Interactions transition seminars now called Transit Lounge and multiplied the number of programs offered. Bret and his team updated and then published Janet Blomberg’s devotional for TCK teens crossing cultures called Faith on the Move ) and its companion journal.

In response to the pandemic, Bret developed new initiatives to meet the needs of TCKs and their Caregivers. He created and launched new programs, including TCK Live (a live webcast discussing TCK issues) and TCK Connect (a weekly online hangout).

This past year, Bret led Interaction into a partnership with TCK Training to develop and launch TCK Care Accreditation. The initiative has created over 200 qualitative standards and metrics for evaluation. Sending organizations will be able to receive objective feedback on the quality of care they provide for the TCKs in their organization.

Bret has served as Acting/Interim Director of Interaction since March 2021. After initially declining the position as Interaction’s president, a year later he graciously agreed to fill the vacancy. The Board of Interaction International looks forward to his continued leadership and innovation.

Michael Pollock, the previous Executive Director, left Interaction at the end of 2021 to pursue work with his organization, Daraja, as well as other opportunities. The board is grateful for his service and wishes him well in his future endeavors.

Looking Ahead

Under Bret Taylor’s leadership, Interaction International will continue to build upon the 45 years of ground breaking work for TCKs started by David Pollock. Bret’s passion is to see better resources and networking in what he refers to as the “new frontier” of supporting TCKs; namely MKs/TCKs from the ‘global south and east” whose parents are working cross-culturally.  Interaction’s board is excited to see Interaction’s ministry continue to expand under Bret Taylor’s leadership.