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Speaker 1: We are like the most normal white people from Georgia

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Speaker 1: you've ever met. But we grew up only knowing people

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Speaker 1: like us. There was a little bit of diversity in

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Speaker 1: our schools, but we didn't have any friends that were

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Speaker 1: different than us. It wasn't until we were adults traveling

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Speaker 1: overseas getting exposed to people who are who are very

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Speaker 1: different than us, that we started to kind of see

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Speaker 1: a bigger picture. So we come home, we still look around,

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Speaker 1: we still got these blinders on. We're driving down the

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Speaker 1: same roads, We're going to the same restaurants. Well, there's

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Speaker 1: a mobile home park three miles from where we live

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Speaker 1: that we had both driven past for thirty years and

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Speaker 1: never knew it was there.

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Speaker 2: Like for both of us to go to the University

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Speaker 2: of Georgia from where we grew up, we had to

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Speaker 2: drive out his mobile home park, like.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I would say a thousand times, like we've

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Speaker 1: driven past it and never even knew it was there

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Speaker 1: until this one day in two thousand and eight when

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Speaker 1: we drove in.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

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Speaker 3: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,

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Speaker 3: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in

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Speaker 3: inner City Memphis, and that last part it unintentionally led

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Speaker 3: to an oscar for the film about our team. It's

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Speaker 3: called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never be

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Speaker 3: solved by a bunch of fancy people and nice suits

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Speaker 3: using big words that nobody understands on CNN and Fox,

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Speaker 3: but rather by an army of normal folks. That's us,

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Speaker 3: just you and me deciding hey, I can help. That's

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Speaker 3: what Jim and Melinda Hollinsworth, the voices we just heard,

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Speaker 3: have done when they drove into the mobile home park.

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Speaker 3: They ended up developing relationships that transformed their lives in

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Speaker 3: so many ways. Today, their nonprofit Path United operates community

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Speaker 3: centers in seven mobile home parks, and they do life

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Speaker 3: with six hundred students every single week. I cannot wait

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Speaker 3: for you to meet Jim and Melinda right after these

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Speaker 3: brief messages from our general sponsors, Jim and Melinda Hollinsworth,

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Memphis.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for having us, Bill.

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Speaker 3: Thanks. Hey, we've had some weather. It's the flight bumpy

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Speaker 3: or is it our.

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Speaker 4: It's actually good then? Hey, we had a lot of

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Speaker 4: weather the weekend too, but today was good.

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Speaker 3: Really, no problem, just to straight shot in Atlanta. I'm

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Speaker 3: sure delta.

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Speaker 4: Right alta straight shot.

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Speaker 3: I'm in a flight. Good, well, thank you for being here.

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Speaker 3: I am still a little foggy. My son was married

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Speaker 3: this weekend. Oh congratulations, thank you very much to a

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Speaker 3: beautiful young lady named Eliza Lundy who is now Eliza Qui.

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Speaker 3: So we now have five children because she is now

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Speaker 3: part of our family. And it was in Jackson, Mississippi,

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Speaker 3: and so we did that all weekend and drove back.

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Speaker 3: So if I seem groggy or say something ridiculously stupid,

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Speaker 3: I'm writing it up to a really way too big

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Speaker 3: rehearsal dinner and reception after the wedding. So I'm still

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Speaker 3: recovering it. That's okay. Yeah, so you've earned it. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: thanks very much. Let's start with you Melinda. Ladies, first,

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Speaker 3: tell me just kind of where you're from and how

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Speaker 3: you came up.

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Speaker 2: Well, I grew up not too far outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

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Speaker 3: You definitely have the southern girl accent working.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's there, it's there. There's not really anything interesting,

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Speaker 2: pretty typical growing up outside of it. Mom and dad

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Speaker 2: what they do they My mom was a teacher. My

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Speaker 2: dad worked in insurance. Yeah, so like nothing super siblings.

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Speaker 2: I have a sister, she's three years younger than me.

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Speaker 3: Got it. And where you said outside of Atlanta? Where? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Gwenette County, that's where we are. Like where are we from?

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Speaker 2: Sti's say, Snellville Gym's family.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: The closest landmark for both of us, Stone Mountain Park.

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Speaker 1: If people know where Stone Mountain, Georgia is. Yeah, for

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Speaker 1: sureast of Atlanta. We're right there. I got it.

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Speaker 3: And so you grew up there and then went to

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Speaker 3: school because you were trained as a teacher.

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Speaker 2: I was what at the University of Georgia.

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Go Bulldogs. Yeah yeah, we're going to have us

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Speaker 3: a showdown later this fall in Oxford. You know, George

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Speaker 3: is going to be rolling into Ole Miss and Ole

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Speaker 3: Miss out to be salty this year and George's Georgia.

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Speaker 3: So we'll be friends until that Saturday.

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, that sounds great.

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Speaker 3: All right. So you went to Uga Uga.

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Speaker 2: Then I moved back to Gwennette County, where I taught

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Speaker 2: elementary school with Jim's mom for three years, and we

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Speaker 2: met on a blind date. His mom set us up.

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Speaker 3: Your mom set you up. Yeah, that's uh boy, she's working,

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Speaker 3: I mean getting you married off and everything at right.

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Speaker 4: We joke she she got to pick her daughter in law.

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Speaker 3: Pretty much. So you taught school with Jim's mom.

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Speaker 2: I was a second grade teacher. She was a kindergarten teacher. Like,

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Speaker 2: we always had lunch at the same time for two years,

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Speaker 2: and then the third years she went to all of

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Speaker 2: my friends and said, I really think Melana should date

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Speaker 2: my son. And I was like, no, no, no. I

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Speaker 2: really liked his mom. So I was afraid, like, oh,

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Speaker 2: we're going to day and this stead everything's awkward. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and so I said, that's fine, I'll meet him for coffee,

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Speaker 2: but I'm not going to ride with him, and I'm

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Speaker 2: not gonna do a whole meal. So we called and

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Speaker 2: we talked on the phone for forty five minutes, and

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Speaker 2: then he picked me up and we went to dinner.

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Speaker 2: The rest is history. We were married a year later,

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Speaker 2: less than a year later, ten months later.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so four month Jim, you got game listen. I

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Speaker 4: don't know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know how well, So the whole story

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Speaker 1: is really cool. I remember my mom coming home. So

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Speaker 1: I was a senior in college. Mond is a couple

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Speaker 1: of years older. So she was teaching. I was a

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Speaker 1: senior at Georgia.

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Speaker 3: There was a great robber, that's right.

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Speaker 1: My mom says, hey, there's this girl, there's this teacher

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Speaker 1: you should meet. I'm like, you're crazy. I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to go out with the teacher that you're setting me

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Speaker 1: up with. But she showed me a picture and I

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Speaker 1: was like, okay, well that sounds.

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Speaker 3: Good for everybody listening. Melinda is beautiful.

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Speaker 4: So I called her and we went on a date.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Four months later we got engaged. Four months months yeah wow.

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Speaker 1: And five months after that we got married, it says

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Speaker 1: pretty quick.

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Speaker 3: So it was landline time. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Like he had my phone number on a piece of

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Speaker 2: paper and he called my apartment and my roommate answered.

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Speaker 2: And so when I got home. We were both pretty

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Speaker 2: cynical about blind dates.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it for good reason.

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Speaker 2: Good reason.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And so I got home and she said, I think

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Speaker 2: I just talked to your husband.

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Speaker 3: On the phone.

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Speaker 2: We've been friends since first grade. My room may I

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Speaker 2: so wow?

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Speaker 3: She liked him.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so he called before I got Did.

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Speaker 3: You always want to be a teacher? Your mom being

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Speaker 3: a teacher? Was that a thing?

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Speaker 2: If my mom was a teacher, and I was always

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Speaker 2: kind of good with working with kids. But I actually

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Speaker 2: went to Georgia originally to be a physical therapist. I

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Speaker 2: don't even know lunch as that, and then changed my

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Speaker 2: major within the first few months of into work.

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Speaker 3: Well for me, who'd you grow up? Jim?

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Speaker 4: So the cool stories.

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Speaker 1: We grew up, you know, five six miles from each other,

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Speaker 1: so in the same community, the same school. We did

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Speaker 1: not We went to neighboring high schools. So where we

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Speaker 1: were Snellville, Georgia, near Stone Mountain, Gwenette County, really big schools,

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Speaker 1: really really large population east of Atlanta, and so we

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Speaker 1: were close, but went to neighboring large high schools, and

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Speaker 1: so we never knew each other growing up by other

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Speaker 1: two high schools. I went to South Gwinnette High School.

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Speaker 1: Wellanda went to Shiloh High School.

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Speaker 3: Got it.

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Speaker 1: Neither were great athletically, you know, kind of we were

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Speaker 1: in the shadows of some other schools, but we were

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Speaker 1: probably in the same place at sporting events all that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff.

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Speaker 4: We didn't know each other.

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Speaker 3: That's crazy.

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Speaker 1: Crazy story is that once we met, when our parents met,

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Speaker 1: we realized so both of our parents went to the

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Speaker 1: went to the same high school in Snowville. Like, we

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Speaker 1: both have deep roots in the same community, so we

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Speaker 1: go back multiple generations, like our families knew each other.

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Speaker 1: We actually had a check like are we related, you know,

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Speaker 1: we had we did, we did one of those. Well,

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Speaker 1: because all these all these connections.

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Speaker 3: It is over in the mountains at the south, I

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Speaker 3: mean that's completely that's right. There's banjo music playing at

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Speaker 3: your wedding and all. So it's a cool story. But

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Speaker 3: we're from the same place. Yeah, so tell me about

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Speaker 3: your prayers you grow up.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I grew up really similar just to you know,

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Speaker 1: middle class, suburban family. My dad's family is from Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: My mom's family has deep roots in Snowville, where we're from.

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Speaker 4: And I grew up the oldest of four boys.

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Speaker 1: So lots of I mean lots of fights, lots of sports.

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Speaker 1: Uh yeah, that whole life growing up playing sports. I mean,

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Speaker 1: just just a normal kid. I wasn't great at sports,

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Speaker 1: but I love sports. Went to UGA just like Melinda. Again,

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Speaker 1: we went to the same college. Didn't know each other

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Speaker 1: until I was a senior in college. Linda was already

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Speaker 1: graduated before we even met.

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Speaker 3: So what your dad, mom did.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, my mom was a teacher as well, I mean

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Speaker 1: kindergarten teacher. My dad was in sales business, you know,

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Speaker 1: a variety of things.

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Speaker 3: And would you major in?

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Speaker 1: I majored in history at Uga. I wanted to teach history. Well, actually,

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Speaker 1: I don't know what I wanted to do. I just

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Speaker 1: liked history the best and it cmd isner. Okay, we

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Speaker 1: I'm major in this, No.

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Speaker 3: Kid, And then you are a pastor? How that? Yes?

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Speaker 3: Already because when y'all met, right, you were already out

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Speaker 3: of school teaching, so you started some kind.

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Speaker 4: Of professional I did so.

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Speaker 1: I was a senior in college, graduate with history degree,

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Speaker 1: applying to graduate school for history programs, to try to

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Speaker 1: go on and get a master's and then a PhD

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Speaker 1: and teach history in college.

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Speaker 4: That was my idea.

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Speaker 1: So we got married and moved to Charleston, South Carolina,

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Speaker 1: for me to go to grad school at College at Charleston.

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Speaker 1: So I got accepted. We moved right after we got married.

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Speaker 1: Melinda got a teaching job. I got a job caddying

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Speaker 1: the ocean course on the side.

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Speaker 2: He made more money caddying than I made.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was a golfer. Yeah, he was a golf

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Speaker 1: caddy for a year while I went to grad school.

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Speaker 1: But in grad school I quickly realized this is not

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Speaker 1: what I want to do.

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Speaker 3: So I've gotten married, I've moved to Charleston, all because

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Speaker 3: this is what I'm going to do, and you know what.

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Speaker 1: That's not what I want to do. Yep, all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden. But the cool part of the story is

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Speaker 1: we got plugged in with a church. So we both

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Speaker 1: grew up in church going to church. But I think

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Speaker 1: both of our stories, our faith stories, center around our

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Speaker 1: college years is where we really made the decision to

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Speaker 1: have a more serious faith and follow Jesus. In college, yeah,

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Speaker 1: both of us in college. Yeah yeah, kind of yeah,

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Speaker 1: for sure. So we both kind of grew up going

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Speaker 1: to church, but it wasn't a huge thing, at least

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Speaker 1: for me. You know, I was a junior in college,

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Speaker 1: got involved in a local Bible study, and then so

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Speaker 1: when we got married, we got involved in a really

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Speaker 1: great church in Charleston called Sea Coast Church. Just a

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Speaker 1: wonderful place, really formative for us. We were in a

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Speaker 1: small group with other young married couples and that was

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Speaker 1: for me a season where Okay, I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: be a history offestor. But I started feeling this call

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Speaker 1: into being a pastor. So we were there for a year.

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Speaker 1: Then we decided to move back. Some friends of mine

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Speaker 1: moved back to Atlanta, Gwenett Snellville. Some friends of mine

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Speaker 1: were starting at church and they called and said, hey,

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Speaker 1: would you be part of it? So we were just

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Speaker 1: I mean we were twenty I was twenty three. We're

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Speaker 1: like sure, but not knowing what. Yeah, sure, yeah, very

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Speaker 1: That's kind of like you'll get a theme for for

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Speaker 1: me at least? Is this when big things come up?

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Speaker 1: I'm just kind of like a gut reaction chare. So

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Speaker 1: that's we just moved back to here. We'll start.

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Speaker 4: Sure, I'll go to seminary.

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Speaker 1: I went to visit a seminary mercery University in Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: showed up just to visit. I was like, I like

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Speaker 1: this place, I'll go here. So I went to seminary

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Speaker 1: for three years. When we moved back to Atlanta, got

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Speaker 1: a master's in divinity, and we all the same time

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Speaker 1: was working at this new church plant in Atlanta and

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Speaker 1: eventually went on staff full time there as a pastor.

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Speaker 3: So you married a guy that was going to be

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Speaker 3: a history professor.

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Speaker 2: I did I did.

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Speaker 3: Would you have taken a blonde date with a pastor?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I think so? Yeah, well, yeah I would.

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Speaker 3: Have hope would have. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Our story is actually, as you're saying that about like

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Speaker 2: you're going to catch this theme, I'm like, oh, it

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Speaker 2: kind of always has been this theme in our life

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Speaker 2: of like we're like, let's just go for it. Let's

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Speaker 2: just see what happens. Like a year from our first date,

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Speaker 2: we were married, living in a different state.

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Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it's beautiful. So you're back in Atlanta,

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Speaker 3: you're a pastor, you're a failed history professor, but popular

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Speaker 3: pastor going well, you're teaching, doing your thing, and y'all

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Speaker 3: are going through life and obviously faith is a huge

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Speaker 3: part of your life. And then I think you have

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Speaker 3: a kid or something. Right, we don.

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Speaker 2: Finished grad school. We both worked full time for a year,

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Speaker 2: and then Kate was born in two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 2: Two thousand and eight. Yeah, she's about to be sixteen

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Speaker 2: next month.

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Speaker 3: So then let's be honest. A lovely story, a love

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Speaker 3: story from people who were oddly right next to each other.

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Speaker 3: But and then you're starting off a wonderful but unremarkable life,

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Speaker 3: just doing your lives. Like most of us, right, and

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Speaker 3: you got a newborn baby at home. You're a pastor

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Speaker 3: at this Graystone church I think in Logansville, right, and

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Speaker 3: everything's going good. And then I've read somewhere it was

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Speaker 3: like you kind of look at each other and say,

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Speaker 3: is this what we're doing the rest of our lives?

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Speaker 1: It's a that you're you're spot on in the sense

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Speaker 1: of things were really good. I mean, Melinda was a teacher.

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Speaker 1: I was a pastor of very stable jobs. We were

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Speaker 1: in this I mean, we grew up in this community

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Speaker 1: and now we're living in this community. We have lots

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Speaker 1: of friends. Life is very kind of simple and comfortable.

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Speaker 1: Unremarkable is a great word, like things were good, but

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Speaker 1: we both.

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Speaker 3: Mean that at all.

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Speaker 4: No, No, I know exactly what you mean.

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Speaker 3: Peaceful, unremar exactly simple, yeah, h but fulfilling life.

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Speaker 4: Yea, yeah, it was great.

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Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, we we we had good community, We

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Speaker 1: were we were doing meaningful stuff. It wasn't you know

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Speaker 1: the work of a pastor and the work of a teacher.

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Speaker 1: Would we would both say, are like two very noble callings.

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Speaker 1: And so we both felt that. But around that same time,

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Speaker 1: like two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight, we

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Speaker 1: did start to feel this, I don't know if this

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Speaker 1: is what the rest of our life.

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Speaker 4: Is, but what what is it? And we really didn't know.

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Speaker 4: We just like, how were you? I was twenty seven.

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Speaker 2: So it was almost thirty.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so there's there's three years between us almost.

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Speaker 3: That's actually very normal. Yeah. I mean you get through

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Speaker 3: college and get your degrees, now you have a kid,

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Speaker 3: now you're married, now you're living here, and then you

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Speaker 3: wake up at third in your life and you're like, hmmm,

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Speaker 3: what else? You know? I think that's a normal feeling. Yeah.

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Speaker 3: But it's not like let's destroy our lives and go

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Speaker 3: do something crazy and start a commune. It's just we're

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Speaker 3: looking for something else. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And we had been to other places. So we had

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Speaker 2: gone to the Dominican or public a lot worked with

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Speaker 2: an orphanage there.

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Speaker 3: On mission trips and trips, yeah.

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Speaker 2: As part of his job with the church. And then

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Speaker 2: we went to South Africa the year before our daughter

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Speaker 2: Kate was born, so in two thousand and seven, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: And so that kind of stirred something in it because

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Speaker 2: the story there was like a pastor that kind of

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Speaker 2: like had a life similar to ours who recognized there

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Speaker 2: were a lot of tough things happening in his community,

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Speaker 2: and so he and his wife. So I think that

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Speaker 2: kind of stirred something in us, like what are we

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Speaker 2: doing in our own community for people who are different

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Speaker 2: than us? You know, how are we branching outside of something.

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Speaker 4: Different than Yeah, we had the conversation.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, when we came home from that two thousand and

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Speaker 1: seven trip to South Africa, we actually had the conversation

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Speaker 1: should should we moved to Africa?

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Speaker 4: I mean we did. We talked about it.

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Speaker 3: I'm glad nobody asked you because you would have said, sure,

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Speaker 3: why not? It sounds like that's kind of the deal there.

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Speaker 1: Probably honestly, probably we would have been yeah, let's let's go.

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Speaker 1: But we came back and said, what does it look

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Speaker 1: like for us to love our neighbors in our community

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Speaker 1: where we are? And we had the conversation where we

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Speaker 1: live in the suburbs. So we can't do that here.

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Speaker 3: And now a few messages from our general sponsors. But first,

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Speaker 3: I hope you'll follow us on all your favorite social

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Speaker 3: media channels where we share more powerful content from the

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Speaker 3: army we're at, army of normal folks on every channel

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Speaker 3: we'll be right back. What does what does Gwinnette County?

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Speaker 3: Am I pronouncing that right? Yeah? What does Gwinnett County

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Speaker 3: look like? From a what's a demographic? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: Sure, so so a million people in in Gwenett County. Big,

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Speaker 1: it's big, it's big. It's the it's the second largest

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Speaker 1: county in Georgia. So that where close, it's it's not

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Speaker 1: it's not Buckhead, it's so we're we're just north northeast

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Speaker 1: of Buckhead up the eighty five corridor going towards South Carolina.

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Speaker 1: But right, I mean there's there's five or six counties

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Speaker 1: that make up Metro Atlanta. Gwenett's the largest school system.

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Speaker 1: So when we grew up, it was ninety middle class

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Speaker 1: white families. Now it is majority minority community of a

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Speaker 1: million people. The school system is you know, a majority

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Speaker 1: Latino student the second largest graphics African American than Asian

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Speaker 1: American than white kids. So that's all changed in the

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Speaker 1: last twenty years. I mean the county is just booming, exploding.

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Speaker 1: As Atlanta has grown, this has become it's affordable, I

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Speaker 1: mean affordable living.

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Speaker 4: It's not anything fancy. It's very middle class.

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Speaker 1: You know, in most places but we still felt this

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Speaker 1: sense of like there's just like a lot of people

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Speaker 1: like us.

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Speaker 4: This is two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 1: So when we were to South Africa, we're like, well,

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Speaker 1: we see people that are you know, or we saw

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Speaker 1: communities where people are struggling to make ends meet. Right,

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Speaker 1: we don't come back home and we didn't see that. Well,

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Speaker 1: we didn't see it because we were just a little

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Speaker 1: blind you know, like we just had had blinders on.

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Speaker 1: Not anything that we're doing intentionally, but just how we

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Speaker 1: grew up. You know, we grew up in where we

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Speaker 1: knew people that look like us.

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Speaker 3: Listen, dude, within ten miles of where you're sitting right now,

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Speaker 3: there are people on abject property. And within ten miles

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Speaker 3: of where you're sitting right now, there's million dollar homes

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Speaker 3: lined right on and neither of them see each other,

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Speaker 3: and they're separated by twenty miles, which is sick. It's

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Speaker 3: just a reality.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know where to go, like, you know

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Speaker 2: where people are who are like you, and you just

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Speaker 2: kind of drive through other places.

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Speaker 3: And we are clannish.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you just sort of choose not to notice. I

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Speaker 2: don't know somehow you just don't know us.

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Speaker 1: I mean that is the story of how how we

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Speaker 1: got into this work is. It's all connected. Melenna and

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Speaker 1: I are, our families are from the same place.

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Speaker 4: We have.

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Speaker 1: We have ancestors buried in cemeteries near where we live

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Speaker 1: the day, I mean the dates you're like eighteen twenty,

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty, like they've been there forever.

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Speaker 4: Like we are like the.

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Speaker 1: Most normal white people from Georgia you've ever met. But

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Speaker 1: we grew up only knowing people like us. There was

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Speaker 1: a little bit of diversity in our schools, but we

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Speaker 1: didn't have any friends that were different than us. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't until we were adults traveling overseas getting exposed to

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Speaker 1: people who are who are very different than us, that

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Speaker 1: we started to kind of see a bigger picture. So

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Speaker 1: we come home, we so looking around, we still got

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Speaker 1: these blinders on. We're driving down the same roads, We're

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Speaker 1: going to the same restaurants. Well, there's a mobile home

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Speaker 1: park three miles from where we live that I we

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Speaker 1: had both driven past for thirty years and never knew

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Speaker 1: it was there.

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Speaker 2: Like for both of us to go to the University

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Speaker 2: of Georgia from where we grew up, we had to

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Speaker 2: drive out this mobile home park like I.

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Speaker 1: Mean, I would say a thousand times, like we've driven

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Speaker 1: past it and never even knew it was there until

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Speaker 1: this one day in two thousand.

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Speaker 4: And eight when we drove in. Why'd you drive in?

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Speaker 4: So we were so we.

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Speaker 1: Were the typical, you know, white, middle class suburban church.

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Speaker 1: At Christmas time, everyone said, well we should do a

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Speaker 1: good deed, and so our church. My role at the

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Speaker 1: church was some community partnerships. We reached out to a

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Speaker 1: local food ministry and said, hey, how can we help

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Speaker 1: some families at Christmas? And the food ministry came to

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Speaker 1: us to said, hey, well we're doing a Christmas gift

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Speaker 1: sponsorship program for some kids in the community. And we

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Speaker 1: signed up our small group from church, some other young

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Speaker 1: families we signed up. We said, hey, well we picked

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Speaker 1: up this piece of paper, we'll sponsor this family.

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Speaker 4: Didn't know anything. We just grabbed a piece of paper.

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Speaker 1: Or our small group came to Mondon and I and

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Speaker 1: said we pulled some money together. They nominated us to

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Speaker 1: deliver the gifts. So one afternoon evening in December of

439
00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,000
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, we pulled out the sheet and

440
00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:30,359
Speaker 1: we look at the address. I don't even think that

441
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,520
Speaker 1: there was like we didn't plug in GPS, and I'm

442
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:35,159
Speaker 1: not sure. I think we just I think we just

443
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,520
Speaker 1: pulled it up on a map and said, oh, we'll drive.

444
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we'll drive, we'll deliver the gifts. So we

445
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,880
Speaker 1: left our house and drove five minutes down the road

446
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:47,680
Speaker 1: and we turned into this mobile home park and both

447
00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:52,240
Speaker 1: versus like, wow, we never knew this was here, driven

448
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,280
Speaker 1: past one thousand times. So we drive in and we

449
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: both have the feeling that we're driving into another country.

450
00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:01,160
Speaker 1: So we have been to La in America a lot,

451
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,360
Speaker 1: and it felt like we were driving into Latin America.

452
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,439
Speaker 1: So we turn on the street and they're you know,

453
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:12,440
Speaker 1: smells of you know, people grilling out music. You felt

454
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,239
Speaker 1: like we were driving into Mexico. And turns out, I mean,

455
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,359
Speaker 1: almost all of the residents in this neighborhood are first

456
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,679
Speaker 1: generation Mexican immigrants. So we drove to the address, knocked

457
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,480
Speaker 1: on the door, single wide mobile home.

458
00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:25,439
Speaker 3: We go in.

459
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 1: Parents don't speak English, kids running around they speak English.

460
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 1: So we're talking to the kids, trying to kind of

461
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: tell them what we're doing for the translating. Yeah, they're translating,

462
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: and we're feeling a little awkward. I mean, a lot awkward,

463
00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 1: probably of like, this feels a little weird. I don't

464
00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:44,160
Speaker 1: even I mean, I don't remember what we talked about

465
00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:46,400
Speaker 1: that first we had Christmas gifts and we delivered them.

466
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,960
Speaker 2: I think more than anything, we felt very awkward. It

467
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:50,959
Speaker 2: felt really awkward to show up in a space with

468
00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 2: stuff to give people, but the relationships somehow mixed, like

469
00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:00,720
Speaker 2: we mixed like it was a good connection. Yeah, it

470
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,160
Speaker 2: was a good connection with the people, like a relational connection,

471
00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 2: like we enjoyed our time. They are translating with the

472
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 2: mom and practicing our Spanish.

473
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, we knew some Spanish from some short term ships,

474
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:11,400
Speaker 1: so we have to talk a little bit.

475
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,960
Speaker 2: Yeah. So it felt weird that we were bringing gifts

476
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,199
Speaker 2: into the house, you know, with everyone there. But there

477
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,480
Speaker 2: was a relational connection, and so when we left, we

478
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 2: were like, why don't we come back and visit non

479
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 2: gift connected, like just as people having a conversation.

480
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 3: It's my contention that there are a lot of well intentioned,

481
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:33,159
Speaker 3: well meaning people in the world that would like to

482
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:40,160
Speaker 3: do something good, but that awkwardness and candidly fear of

483
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 3: going into a neighborhood like that, and fear of the unknown,

484
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:49,879
Speaker 3: fear of what you see on TV. Fear of societal

485
00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:55,760
Speaker 3: preconceived notions and then the awkwardness of language barriers or

486
00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,679
Speaker 3: the awkwardness of not understanding a culture or whatever privet

487
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 3: people from even making the trip of the first place. Well,

488
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:05,720
Speaker 3: it teach people that want to do something well, but

489
00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 3: fear and awkwardness and all of that privet them from

490
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:10,680
Speaker 3: even going.

491
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 4: Sure, you agree with that one hundred percent.

492
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,119
Speaker 1: I think we experience, we lived it, but we just

493
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: I think that some of our experience again overseas kind

494
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,879
Speaker 1: of kind of helped us push through some of that fear.

495
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 1: But when we had the conversation when we left that

496
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 1: first visit of like should should we come back?

497
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:32,439
Speaker 4: Like is should we?

498
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: This is an uncomfortable feeling, but we just decided, I

499
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:39,760
Speaker 1: don't even know what our words were to each other

500
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 1: when we left, but it was this, it was this

501
00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:46,720
Speaker 1: equally agreed upon thing that one percent we're going to

502
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 1: come back.

503
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,159
Speaker 2: It's an interesting thing to look back on the story

504
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,440
Speaker 2: now because now it's like, oh, we kind of see

505
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 2: how the path was going, But back then it was

506
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,119
Speaker 2: just like the next step, like it'd be weird if

507
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,119
Speaker 2: we didn't show back up, you know, like We've had

508
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:01,640
Speaker 2: a great time visiting with this family, Like why would

509
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,159
Speaker 2: we not come back and ever see them again? That

510
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 2: will be so weird. And so then we came back

511
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 2: and then it was maybe a couple of months later,

512
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,640
Speaker 2: several visits later that you know, we kin't of the

513
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 2: family said to us like, hey, could you help with homework?

514
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,200
Speaker 2: You know, the mom said, I really want my kids

515
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,359
Speaker 2: to do well in school, but because of the language barrier,

516
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 2: I'm struggling to help them with their homework. And then

517
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 2: on that visit, we kind of realized that a lot

518
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 2: of the older siblings had had a hard time staying

519
00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,199
Speaker 2: in school, and you know, things had been challenging, but

520
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 2: the younger kids had all these big hopes and dreams

521
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,359
Speaker 2: for their lives, like I want to be a teacher,

522
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:34,800
Speaker 2: I want to be a nurse, I want to do

523
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 2: all these things. And so you're kind of looking at

524
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 2: these two things of like this path hasn't worked out

525
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,280
Speaker 2: for your older siblings. You have these hopes and dreams.

526
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 2: And so I was like, I know how to tutor kid,

527
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,399
Speaker 2: so we can't yes yeah, like I can, I can

528
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:50,200
Speaker 2: say yesterday.

529
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 3: So you also have the GIP. Sounds good thing just

530
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 3: like Jim, Yeah, let's go back before that just a

531
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 3: little bit. I don't know where I read it or

532
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,479
Speaker 3: saw it, and I can't find out my note, So

533
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna wing it and let you tell me

534
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 3: it was. Toxic philanthropy is not the term you used.

535
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:13,600
Speaker 3: What is the term?

536
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 4: So the toxic charity?

537
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 3: Toxic charity? Sorry, yeah, tell me what you mean when

538
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,560
Speaker 3: you say toxic charity.

539
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:23,040
Speaker 4: Yeah.

540
00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: So in two thousand and eight we didn't know what

541
00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: it was. The next few years we learned this phrase.

542
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,080
Speaker 1: It's actually from a book written by a guy in

543
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 1: Atlanta named Bob Lopton wrote a book called Toxic Charity.

544
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:42,080
Speaker 1: He spent nearly forty years living in inner city Atlanta,

545
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: working alongside his neighbors, helping to, you know, just bring

546
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: about change in the community. And he learned what toxic

547
00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: charity was by experience, and then he wrote a book

548
00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,719
Speaker 1: and shared it with others and essentially was the name

549
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:03,120
Speaker 1: of the toxic charity. That's the name of the book.

550
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 1: What's the gentleman's name, Bob Lupton? Bob l U P

551
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: t O N. Lopton.

552
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 4: So, so, toxic charity.

553
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,120
Speaker 1: The idea is actually this idea of delivering Christmas presents

554
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: to kids because it makes you feel good, but it

555
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 1: is not helpful. So doing essentially toxic charity is the

556
00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: idea of doing things the person who is the the

557
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,760
Speaker 1: on the giving end, doing things that make them feel

558
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 1: good that have have no real benefit for the person

559
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,239
Speaker 1: on the receiving end. So doing things without asking what

560
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 1: do you actually need? Making assumptions of what people need. So,

561
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: you know, Christians across the world historically have done a

562
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 1: you know, done this badly, and so we're trying.

563
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 4: To be part of a This is two thousand and eight.

564
00:27:54,800 --> 00:28:01,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, so now the three of us are interconnected. When

565
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 3: I started coaching at Manassas in two thousand and seven,

566
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 3: and many of our listeners have heard the story, you

567
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,879
Speaker 3: have not, so I'm gonna go through it quickly, but

568
00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 3: I want you to know it ended up on a

569
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,320
Speaker 3: billboard in Toms Square, and I ended it up on

570
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 3: the What Was Up Girl's Name? Show? I was on

571
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:26,080
Speaker 3: the Kelly Clarkson Show about this very thing. My terminology

572
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: is different because my terminology comes straight out of the hood.

573
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 3: And it was halfway through my first season we were

574
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 3: three wins and three losses. I understand. I think that's average,

575
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 3: but the school's previous ten years record was four wins

576
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 3: in ninety five losses. They're terrible. So your first season

577
00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 3: when you're three and three, pretty good by comparison. And

578
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 3: when I first got to Manassas, I really started understanding

579
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 3: that it was time to teach a lot of stuff

580
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 3: other than football, basic and fundamentals of how to carry

581
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,160
Speaker 3: your life long after the days of the game is over.

582
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 3: And so we were teaching character, commitment, integrity, teamwork, value

583
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 3: of hard work, the dignity of being on time, these

584
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 3: type of things. And halfway through the season where three

585
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 3: and three, and while the whole football team was buying

586
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 3: in the football stuff, the minute practice or game were over,

587
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 3: they're back in the streets engaged in the same kind

588
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 3: of destructive behavior that got them metaphorically to four ninety

589
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 3: five in life, the other half the team was buying in. Well.

590
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 3: I was frustrated. So once to my guy. Every coach

591
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,920
Speaker 3: has a guy, and I said, hey, man, what I

592
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 3: got to do to get that half the team to

593
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 3: buy into the important stuff? Like you're after team, y'all

594
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:43,840
Speaker 3: are all into the football, but only half of your

595
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 3: and the important stuff. And he he was the guy

596
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 3: that had a lot of conversations with early, the real chats,

597
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,560
Speaker 3: you know that really open your mind and help you

598
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 3: understand a culture that you don't know. Kind of like

599
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 3: the mobile home park that's three minutes from your house

600
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 3: is down the road that you've never seen and even

601
00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 3: though you've passed over for twenty years, that culture that

602
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 3: I also had driven past before I started coaching in it.

603
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 3: And I said, what do I got to do to

604
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 3: get that half team to buy and important stuff like

605
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 3: her have the team? And he said, oh, coach, just

606
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 3: keep doing what you're doing dismissively. You have children, you

607
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 3: know the tone when they don't want to talk to you.

608
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, man, real talk And he said,

609
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 3: I don't want hurt your feelings and I said, real talk.

610
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 3: He said, Coach, you're trying to figure out if you're

611
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 3: a Turkey person or not. And I said what And

612
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 3: he said, Coach, every Thanksgiving him Christmas people roll into

613
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 3: our neighborhoods and they give us hands and gifts in turkeys,

614
00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 3: and we take them because we ain't got none. But

615
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 3: that they leave and we never see them again makes

616
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 3: you wonder if they're doing that because they really care

617
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,160
Speaker 3: about us, so they're doing that to make themselves feel good.

618
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 3: And he looked me dead in the eyes and he said, Coach, really, man,

619
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 3: what the hell are you doing here? It was one

620
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 3: of the more defining moments of my life. I was

621
00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 3: there every single day. I was coaching every day. I

622
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,160
Speaker 3: went back every single day. I was there taking time

623
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 3: away from Lisa, the children. I was spending my money there,

624
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 3: I was doing everything I could. And still there's a

625
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 3: segment of these kids that weren't buying into the important

626
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 3: stuff because they weren't buying into me. And it's not

627
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 3: you know, I think if you serve as soup kitchens

628
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,680
Speaker 3: or whatever, it's a beautiful thing. The story is not

629
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:35,440
Speaker 3: about giving gifts at Christmas. It's about what's your motivation?

630
00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 3: What are you motivated by? Are you motivated by the

631
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 3: simple edification of someone who's not as blessed as you?

632
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 3: Or are you motivated by making yourself feel good and

633
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 3: the way it elevates you among your own peers who

634
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 3: see you doing something nice for these poor folks down here.

635
00:31:51,560 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 3: And I really realize them. The consistency and the proper

636
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 3: motivations giving credit where credits due and not taking credit

637
00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,240
Speaker 3: for things that are going well, but giving credit to

638
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 3: the people who are doing the work to actually improve

639
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 3: their lives and all of those things was the only

640
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 3: way you were ever yearly going to make any difference

641
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 3: or change. I'll tell you this story because I never

642
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 3: knew the word toxic charity before I read this thing

643
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 3: this weekend about you guys. But when I read it,

644
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:35,680
Speaker 3: I said, that is Turkey people. That is the Turkey

645
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 3: person's story. So when did I e toxic charity and

646
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 3: Turkey person? When did that reality hit your mind and

647
00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 3: your heart when you said, oh my gosh, we're doing

648
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 3: this all wrong. I know when it hit me.

649
00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 2: I just told you, Sophia.

650
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, so yeah, and all that money.

651
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 3: By the way, is that not crazy? Not havingwo thousand

652
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 3: and seven year before you year.

653
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 4: Two thousand and seven.

654
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,280
Speaker 1: Listen, when you're sharing that story, I mean, I'm getting

655
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 1: choked up because it is almost exactly the same.

656
00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 3: We'll be right back.

657
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:24,680
Speaker 4: The Turkey people is toxic charity.

658
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: I mean that's exactly we were, Like we were our

659
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: first interaction was through this Christmas gift, and you know,

660
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: it's hard to what our motivations were at the moment,

661
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:41,280
Speaker 1: Like but recognizing that the people on the receiving end

662
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: of those turkeys or those Christmas gifts.

663
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,400
Speaker 4: Can feel it. They know exactly what it is.

664
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 1: This kid knew exactly and his words, Yeah, his words

665
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,640
Speaker 1: were prophetic, I mean the sense of like. So in

666
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,920
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the same thing happened to us.

667
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 1: I'll let Melinda share because she was the she is

668
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: the actual participant.

669
00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:06,200
Speaker 3: Sure of the billboard, all right, I want to show them, Yeah,

670
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:07,680
Speaker 3: are you tearing.

671
00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,520
Speaker 2: Up well to hear your story? Because it is so

672
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,760
Speaker 2: similar and that moment is so profound and so important,

673
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,400
Speaker 2: and it's so hard when you kind of turn a

674
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 2: mirror on the jump in your own life, you know,

675
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 2: you recognize, like, oh, man, I was doing some things

676
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,080
Speaker 2: for the wrong reason because it felt good to me,

677
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,120
Speaker 2: but not necessarily.

678
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 3: Make you feel like such a hypocride.

679
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,359
Speaker 2: It does, but then there's such beauty on. You have

680
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,040
Speaker 2: to go through that to be able to do the

681
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 2: beautiful work. But for us, we had been tear down,

682
00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 2: set up doing homework help and it was a chaotic,

683
00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 2: crazy thing.

684
00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. Let me connect you two two thousand and nine.

685
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:46,640
Speaker 3: I just chronologically so Mom says, can you help with homework?

686
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 3: You say yes, I think so for the next period

687
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 3: little period of time, you're actually going in giving your

688
00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 3: time and helping her children with homework because you see

689
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,359
Speaker 3: their bright eyes and dreams and you don't want them

690
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 3: to end up like the older kids who now dropped

691
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,200
Speaker 3: out of school and are kind of staring at life

692
00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 3: with a blank stare. So that's what you're doing.

693
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,240
Speaker 2: We're doing that. And so what's happening is their family

694
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,720
Speaker 2: gets really excited about the homework help, and so they

695
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 2: are telling other families in the neighborhood there are these

696
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 2: people who are coming to help with homework. So people

697
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,319
Speaker 2: are bringing their kids every week for homework help. I

698
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 2: had a lot of teacher friends who had just had

699
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 2: babies who were staying home. So I'm just randomly calling

700
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 2: my friends, people who are retired, anybody who will come.

701
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 2: So each week, we don't know how many volunteers are coming,

702
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 2: and we don't know how many kids are coming, because

703
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 2: there really wasn't We just jumped like we just.

704
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,480
Speaker 3: You really have an organization, people trying to help people.

705
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 2: Showing up, and so it was just incredibly chaotic. But

706
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,440
Speaker 2: we're building some really neat relationships with some families and

707
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 2: like a core group of girls who were like fifth

708
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:51,000
Speaker 2: and sixth grade and kind of gotten to know and

709
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,600
Speaker 2: so so Fia is one of those girls. And so

710
00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 2: one day we'd done homework and I was kind of

711
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 2: walking the girls home and she looks at me and

712
00:35:58,120 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 2: she said this, Melinda, when.

713
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:00,279
Speaker 3: Are you leave? Thing?

714
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,399
Speaker 2: And I'm like, like today, Like what do you mean?

715
00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:05,959
Speaker 2: And she said, no, no, No, that's what churches do. They come,

716
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 2: they stay for a little while, they leave and we

717
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 2: never see them.

718
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:13,839
Speaker 3: Oh whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Say that again. This is

719
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 3: everybody listening to USTs to hear what you just said again. Yeah,

720
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 3: it is profound.

721
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,359
Speaker 2: Sophia has proven to be such a prophetic person over

722
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:25,800
Speaker 2: the years in the work that we do like her.

723
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 2: Her view of the neighborhood is so clear and simple.

724
00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:32,280
Speaker 2: And but anyway, she said, when are you leaving?

725
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 3: When are you She looked you and said, hey, thanks

726
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,600
Speaker 3: for the homework. Out When are you out? Yeah, basically,

727
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 3: when are you going to bowl?

728
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 2: Right, because we're just doing this set up, you know,

729
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:45,240
Speaker 2: in the office of the neighborhood whatever, and so I'm

730
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 2: totally confused by the question. So she says, when are

731
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,479
Speaker 2: you leaving? That's what churches do. They come, they stay

732
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 2: for a while, they leave, we never see them.

733
00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 3: That's what churches do.

734
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 2: That's what churches do.

735
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:59,360
Speaker 1: Specifically, her life experience had shown her that white people

736
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:03,760
Speaker 1: Christian church, some churches come in and they're the Turkey people.

737
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,840
Speaker 1: So this is her way of saying, are you just

738
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,040
Speaker 1: coming to do the thing to make you feel good?

739
00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 3: Yeah? When are you leaving? Yeah? How long have you

740
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:13,480
Speaker 3: been there?

741
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,319
Speaker 2: To that point, we'd probably known her six months, Yeah,

742
00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:19,920
Speaker 2: two weeks old. Okay, it's reasonable, but we've gotten to

743
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,400
Speaker 2: know her past just a one time thing. So she

744
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,280
Speaker 2: just kind of, I guess, wanted to know how bested

745
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 2: she should be. And the question totally shocked me. I

746
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 2: was not expecting it. We put there was no strategic plan.

747
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 2: I said, I'm gonna be here till you graduate. Like

748
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:34,160
Speaker 2: that was my quick.

749
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,000
Speaker 3: Well, there's a gymnasm. Yeah, it's good, I'll be here

750
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 3: to graduate, thinking that whatever.

751
00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:44,880
Speaker 2: An important part of our life. But you know, she

752
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:48,040
Speaker 2: was fifth grade when she makes this really profound stay.

753
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 3: She was fifth grade when she said that.

754
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:51,480
Speaker 2: She that's when I think that we had a baby

755
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 2: at home. So she seemed very old, you know, like

756
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:56,440
Speaker 2: she seemed like an adult, but she was fifth sixth

757
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 2: grade saying such a.

758
00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:04,160
Speaker 3: Thing when she said, well, that's what churches do. Do

759
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,680
Speaker 3: you remember your immediate I'm talking about right then, your

760
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 3: immediate punch.

761
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,080
Speaker 2: I've never been punched, but if I had to predict

762
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 2: what it would feel like if someone punched me, that

763
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:14,800
Speaker 2: was like took the windown.

764
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 3: That's exactly how I felt. Yeah, when I heard the

765
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 3: turkey person thing, I was like, oh my gosh.

766
00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, it shifts your brain. And that same story has

767
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:26,880
Speaker 2: played out in every neighborhood where we work. At some

768
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 2: point in time, there is a kid who shows up

769
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 2: to the person in charge there and says, how long

770
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 2: is this going to last?

771
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 3: For it's because inconsistency is so common and consistency is uncommon,

772
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:46,280
Speaker 3: and obviously, until you approve your consistency, you're just more noise.

773
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,319
Speaker 3: And that is, unfortunately the reality. But that is not

774
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 3: our fault. That is the conditions created by folks who

775
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 3: live in the world we're talking about serving, and people

776
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,520
Speaker 3: have to understand that you were going to be met

777
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 3: with an error of skepticism because that's what everybody else

778
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:08,920
Speaker 3: has always shown this community, which is something we have

779
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:14,840
Speaker 3: to drop our egos, drop our sensibilities at the door,

780
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,600
Speaker 3: and look at it for what it really is and

781
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 3: understand you are up against that at the beginning. So

782
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,960
Speaker 3: for all our listeners, if you go to Army and

783
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 3: Normal Folks website, I think this picture is still on

784
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 3: the top of it. But this past Thanksgiving, this was

785
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:35,319
Speaker 3: in Times Square. Wow.

786
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 2: I love that. That is really great.

787
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:43,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, talking about your story and I didn't even know

788
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:50,200
Speaker 3: it right now, which I absolutely love for everybody listening,

789
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,240
Speaker 3: I just showed them picture of the billboard that Alex

790
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 3: had put up in Tom Square that simply says, don't

791
00:39:56,239 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 3: be a Turkey person. That was on up there this Thanksgiving.

792
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,319
Speaker 3: While we were real connected, we really are connected in

793
00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 3: terms of our belief set. So you said, well until

794
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,640
Speaker 3: your graduates, so now you're stuck. Yeah, so I go, huh.

795
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:17,719
Speaker 3: Ironically enough, I promised the kids that were coming into

796
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 3: manassas As I was trying to get them to quit

797
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,759
Speaker 3: leaving their neighborhood and go to other schools. I was

798
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,360
Speaker 3: trying to get them to come and stay at their

799
00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 3: neighborhood school, Manassas as ninth graders to build this football team.

800
00:40:27,880 --> 00:40:31,240
Speaker 3: And I promised them they came to Manasses in ninth grade.

801
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:34,280
Speaker 3: I didn't know how long i'd coach them an Assas,

802
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 3: but I swore to them I would coach them through

803
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:42,040
Speaker 3: their graduation. Oddly enough, so that was also my barometer,

804
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:49,759
Speaker 3: was their graduation, which I did. Crazy the parallels that

805
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:54,240
Speaker 3: exist here. So now you're in Yeah.

806
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:55,920
Speaker 2: And I go home that night and tell Jim, I

807
00:40:56,080 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 2: just committed us. Like this is long haul. We're here

808
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:04,800
Speaker 2: minimum until Sophia graduates, so we've got six years. We're

809
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,359
Speaker 2: okay with that. Like we never talked that how long

810
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,440
Speaker 2: we were going to stay, but it's just sort of

811
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:11,680
Speaker 2: each little step seemed to make sense.

812
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, our personalities are you know, maybe the time we

813
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,480
Speaker 1: didn't realize this, we've learned being married for twenty one years,

814
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,440
Speaker 1: our personalities are different and that's good in a lot

815
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,200
Speaker 1: of ways. And so when Melnda comes home and says

816
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,480
Speaker 1: we're I just committed us forever. I mean really, my

817
00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:31,200
Speaker 1: response is awesome, Like let's do it, you know, Like, no,

818
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: I didn't have any any big like I am this

819
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:34,840
Speaker 1: just okay.

820
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,239
Speaker 4: Got reaction. Our story over and over it goes.

821
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: Melinda's the one that gets this message, whether it be

822
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:44,840
Speaker 1: from Sophia, I mean we would, we would we believe

823
00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:47,720
Speaker 1: that it's i mean, God speaking in different ways through people.

824
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:50,839
Speaker 1: But Melinda's the one that here's this you know thing,

825
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:52,759
Speaker 1: and then she comes to me and says, should we

826
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 1: do it?

827
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:54,279
Speaker 4: And I'm always just like, yeah, let's do it.

828
00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,160
Speaker 3: So what does do it look like? Yeah?

829
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 1: So, right around that same time when when Sofia asked

830
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:07,760
Speaker 1: this profound question to Melinda, we were doing a weekly

831
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,280
Speaker 1: homework program in the community office. So it's a community

832
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,960
Speaker 1: of two hundred and twenty mobile homes, you know, a

833
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 1: couple hundred kids in the neighborhood. We were meeting with

834
00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:20,279
Speaker 1: forty or fifty a week. This is our kind of

835
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,120
Speaker 1: our good deed, we thought. Melinda talks to Sofia, we

836
00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:26,759
Speaker 1: have this profound thing. Right around the same time, a

837
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: shooting happens in one of the homes in this community

838
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,360
Speaker 1: we had just started. So the shooting happened on a

839
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:39,600
Speaker 1: Sunday Sunday night. That Sunday morning was the first time

840
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 1: I stood up in front of our church and invited

841
00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:46,560
Speaker 1: people to come with us. So I say, hey, come

842
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:50,840
Speaker 1: with us and show up, do some homework really simple.

843
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 1: That night, there's a shooting, So then it was only

844
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:57,439
Speaker 1: everybody at church that was considered is like, yeah, well yeah,

845
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm anka shot. And we have the

846
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,520
Speaker 1: same conversation. We looked at her and said, we just

847
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 1: invited people come in this neighborhood and there's a shooting.

848
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 1: And we sat with our small group from church that

849
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,279
Speaker 1: week and said, should should we even go back? It

850
00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:15,279
Speaker 1: wasn't I mean, it really wasn't a question. It was

851
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:17,799
Speaker 1: more of a rhetorical question of like, well, how do

852
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:18,399
Speaker 1: we go back?

853
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:21,400
Speaker 3: But what are we into? Right? What does happen? What

854
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:22,120
Speaker 3: we understood?

855
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,640
Speaker 4: That's right, you know, hearing our story.

856
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:27,319
Speaker 1: Neither one of us grew up in a place where

857
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:31,040
Speaker 1: shooting shootings happened. But three miles down the road is

858
00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:33,279
Speaker 1: a neighborhood where a shooting happened. It was a drug

859
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 1: deal So in the middle of the night, some drug

860
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,560
Speaker 1: dealers came in and shot up a trailer full of

861
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:41,360
Speaker 1: other drug dealers, And so we we hear.

862
00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:42,160
Speaker 4: About it on the news.

863
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:45,080
Speaker 1: We show up again for homework that week and the

864
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:47,920
Speaker 1: kids are telling us about it. Kids living next door like, hey,

865
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 1: I heard the bullets. Well, I mean, our mind is

866
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,839
Speaker 1: just kind of blown and we're scared, but we did.

867
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 2: Very unqualified, like we feel completely unqualified.

868
00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: We are we are the most I mean, you can

869
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 1: see it. We are the most like like suburban like

870
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:06,239
Speaker 1: white people you've ever met, Like.

871
00:44:06,280 --> 00:44:11,360
Speaker 3: We are you cognizant of the trauma for these coats.

872
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:12,040
Speaker 4: I think so.

873
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:15,880
Speaker 1: I think I mean to an extent that we could empathize,

874
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,520
Speaker 1: like hearing from their mouths, hey there is this there's.

875
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 3: Children are not supposed to say, hey, our bullets.

876
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:26,359
Speaker 1: They're just not And we have our own little baby

877
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 1: at home and we're like, oh my gosh, what if

878
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:32,200
Speaker 1: that was her or us or you know, friends that

879
00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:32,480
Speaker 1: we have.

880
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,319
Speaker 4: I mean, so it does you you hear it.

881
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:37,400
Speaker 2: I think the thing that struck me by when the

882
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 2: kids told the story was that they knew what to do,

883
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:41,000
Speaker 2: you know.

884
00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:44,560
Speaker 3: Like it they knew what to do when shots do when.

885
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 2: They heard the shots, they need to roll onto the floor,

886
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 2: you know. And I think that that is.

887
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 3: The thing that that's really interesting.

888
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:53,600
Speaker 2: They knew what to do.

889
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 3: Some months ago I interviewed a guy named Marshaye Cooper,

890
00:44:57,239 --> 00:45:02,359
Speaker 3: and I dropped his name a lot in conversations. When

891
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 3: these things come up. You're crying why, I think.

892
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:12,960
Speaker 2: It's interesting to always go back and think about the

893
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:16,800
Speaker 2: you know, like in the moments, we were just busy,

894
00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:21,080
Speaker 2: and I think the longer I've done this work, reflecting

895
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:23,360
Speaker 2: on it feels different now. You know, in the moment

896
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,200
Speaker 2: of doing it, you're just like, we got to show up,

897
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 2: their kids coming for homework. I think I'm thankful that

898
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 2: we didn't quit back then. I think that's a feeling

899
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:37,319
Speaker 2: that I have when I go back and remember those

900
00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:38,839
Speaker 2: hard moments, or you ask about the.

901
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,239
Speaker 1: Trauma, Well, we talked about we talked about quitting. I

902
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:44,560
Speaker 1: mean people people told us we should quit. Yeah, it's

903
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: too dangerous. What are you doing? And and frankly it

904
00:45:50,360 --> 00:45:56,680
Speaker 1: became those people. Those people to use the phrase and

905
00:45:56,719 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: you can delete this out if you want to, but

906
00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:00,840
Speaker 1: to use the phrase they these people are legal immigrants,

907
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:02,680
Speaker 1: they are they're undocumented.

908
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 4: I mean I think you would, but I mean.

909
00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,319
Speaker 1: Like if if you when we're not political, people like

910
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: but at the time, we didn't, Like there was a

911
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:15,080
Speaker 1: large group of people that were like, do not help

912
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 1: these people because they're illegal, And We're like, what in

913
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:19,359
Speaker 1: the world are.

914
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 4: You talking about.

915
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,080
Speaker 1: This is all happening at the same time shooting people,

916
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:25,520
Speaker 1: push giving us push back, these are illegal immigrants, like

917
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:28,120
Speaker 1: they shouldn't even be here, Like why should you help

918
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:31,480
Speaker 1: these kids? And and and and and Melinda's hearing from Sophia,

919
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:32,799
Speaker 1: and all these things are happening. And then we show

920
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:35,720
Speaker 1: up in the neighborhood and the and the property manager

921
00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,359
Speaker 1: the week after the shooting looks at me and says, hey,

922
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,440
Speaker 1: do you want the trailer where the shooting happened?

923
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:44,120
Speaker 4: And I just said sure.

924
00:46:46,960 --> 00:46:50,239
Speaker 3: And that concludes Part one of my conversation with Jim

925
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 3: and Melinda Hollinsworth. And guys, you don't want to miss

926
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:57,279
Speaker 3: part two that's now available to listen to, as you

927
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 3: will hear the absolutely crazy story of Jim getting the

928
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 3: trailer and so much more. Together, guys, we can change

929
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 3: the country, but it starts with you. I'll see in

930
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:10,440
Speaker 3: Part two.