Speaker 1: Hey, everybody's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks.
Speaker 1: And we continue now a part two of our conversation
Speaker 1: with jennyman Juno in her class at Briarc Christian School
Speaker 1: right after these brief messages from our general sponsors. Bob
Speaker 1: is very easy to listen to because he's honest and
Speaker 1: speaks from the heart. He talked about his mistakes and
Speaker 1: what he's learned. He doesn't try to act like a hero. Instead,
Speaker 1: he just seems like a regular guy, army and normal
Speaker 1: folks who decided to care, which makes the podcast more
Speaker 1: powerful and relatable. This podcast taught me that one person
Speaker 1: really can make a difference. Bob didn't wait for someone
Speaker 1: else to fix things. He took action. Who's that okay?
Speaker 2: Brome Zachary Pierce Zach. So, Yeah, this podcast was really
Speaker 2: touching because he talks about how people get into, you know,
Speaker 2: bad situations because they have nothing else to fill their
Speaker 2: time with. So that's why he created the rec Baseball
Speaker 2: League in Chicago, in the inner city of Chicago, and
Speaker 2: so it's just it's shocking to see, you know, how
Speaker 2: just even free time can lead to these bad decisions
Speaker 2: and just a simple thing as baseball, and he also
Speaker 2: built a high school there as well. So just even
Speaker 2: something as simple as a sport can keep them out
Speaker 2: of jail.
Speaker 1: Did you find him half as funny as I did?
Speaker 1: That guy's awesome, didn't he? Yes, listen, guys, no more assignments.
Speaker 1: I know it's a podcast, but if you want to laugh,
Speaker 1: listen to that podcast because this dude is hilarious. And
Speaker 1: by the way, sitting with them, Alex, what was he he?
Speaker 1: What was a little bit of background on Bob because
Speaker 1: he's so funny.
Speaker 3: You got to keep saying these people's full names. So
Speaker 3: it's Bob Mazakowski or whatever.
Speaker 1: What did I tell you about producers correcting me being
Speaker 1: a butt head?
Speaker 3: It's pretty basic, isn't a guy?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So he was actually an addict in New York City,
Speaker 3: which is fun. So he was like playing rugby in
Speaker 3: New York City. And do you remember the story? You
Speaker 3: can feel for it to tell if you want. All right,
Speaker 3: So he literally like gets kicked out of the game
Speaker 3: and he's got a sippy cup full of cocaine that
Speaker 3: he's using. And then this pastor also gets kicked out
Speaker 3: of the game and he offers him some coke and
Speaker 3: he had no idea. The guy was pastor. What does
Speaker 3: this guy doing playing rugby as a pastor? And this
Speaker 3: guy invited him to his church in Times Square, and
Speaker 3: that really fascinating church that had you know, wealthy people
Speaker 3: in suits and homeless people going to church together, you know,
Speaker 3: and dining together after. And this guy helped make him
Speaker 3: a Christian. And Bob ended up intentionally ultimately moving into
Speaker 3: the inner city himself too. And I don't think everybody's
Speaker 3: necessarily called to do that, but he does put a
Speaker 3: good challenge of where ward Christ is where you live
Speaker 3: in these mcnanions in the suburbs, or would be living
Speaker 3: with the people.
Speaker 4: In the city.
Speaker 3: And so he's also, like Alan Barnhart, one of the
Speaker 3: most challenging and fascinating people you'll ever meet.
Speaker 1: I encourage all to listen to it. Plus he's my
Speaker 1: kind of Christian, which that means sees like me. He
Speaker 1: needs prayer and redemption every night because of the seventy
Speaker 1: thousand sins I create every day. And he's still got
Speaker 1: that New York brashness in him. You have more freedom
Speaker 1: when you manage money compared to when you don't. Money
Speaker 1: isn't money itself, isn't sinful. It's what we choose to
Speaker 1: do with our money that can be sinful. They sacrifice
Speaker 1: the luxuries of life in order to pay off their
Speaker 1: debts quicker and learned how to manage money properly. It's
Speaker 1: a challenge to keep your faith in college. There's a
Speaker 1: lack of motivation to do things like get up and
Speaker 1: go to church. We're talking about Brandy and Ashley. I
Speaker 1: think it's stathless, right, I say, Brandon and Ashley status.
Speaker 4: Who's that? That's MEI you what's your name?
Speaker 5: I'm Hannah Wigginton.
Speaker 4: Yeah, tell me about it.
Speaker 5: So I thought it was really interesting because like when
Speaker 5: they went to college, they started ministering to like freshmen
Speaker 5: in college and me going to a college next year,
Speaker 5: Like I'm going to Stanford University, so it's about Samford.
Speaker 5: Really Yeah it's Alma. Yeah, I guess a little, but yeah.
Speaker 5: I just feel like it's a good lesson for me
Speaker 5: to minister to other kids in college and like help
Speaker 5: them build their faith because I think I have a
Speaker 5: pretty good faith. I mean I but I it was
Speaker 5: very inspiring. And I also feel like it's crazy how
Speaker 5: God's timing works, because like when all these friends gathered
Speaker 5: around to give them the money. They were like they
Speaker 5: just found out that they were pregnant. I thought that
Speaker 5: was crazy, Like God's timing is so like actually insane.
Speaker 5: So I thought that was really cool.
Speaker 1: It's all, it's so cool to see that if you
Speaker 1: want exact some measure change, you don't have to start
Speaker 1: some big five oh one C three or be part
Speaker 1: of some big organization. You just help your neighbor and
Speaker 1: pass it on. Did you did you? Did you feel
Speaker 1: that as you were listening?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I also think I took away from it like you
Speaker 5: don't have to like have service to strangers. You can
Speaker 5: help people like you know, like yeah for sure, like
Speaker 5: your neighbor, like your friend, or like you don't have
Speaker 5: to just like when you serve, it doesn't have to
Speaker 5: be someone random like going on a mission trip, serving
Speaker 5: someone you don't know, but it can just be like
Speaker 5: the person that you are closest to who just needs help.
Speaker 4: Absolutely true. We talk about it all the time.
Speaker 1: You have to employ your passion and your discipline, what
Speaker 1: you care about, what you're good at at areas of need.
Speaker 1: Those areas in need may be an inner city or
Speaker 1: in prison. That area need also maybe next door. Being
Speaker 1: a part of army or normal folks is not a
Speaker 1: call to be so extraordinarily big and everything and people
Speaker 1: who do that great. But you can be part of
Speaker 1: the army of normal folks by serving simply your neighbor
Speaker 1: or your classmate or your friend. I enjoyed this podcast
Speaker 1: due to how vulnerable and open he was with the
Speaker 1: audience and how interesting his content was. I learned that
Speaker 1: our God is an amazing god that can use an
Speaker 1: ordinary guy like JT and turn him into a life changer.
Speaker 1: Jt Olsen both ends.
Speaker 6: Hi hello and Angelie Gobondo? What Angelie Gobondo?
Speaker 7: Hi?
Speaker 8: Hi?
Speaker 9: Go?
Speaker 10: Okay? So J t Olsen Those that haven't watched it.
Speaker 6: He came from a family and his parents both died
Speaker 6: in a car wreck, and his aunt and uncle took
Speaker 6: him in and he felt like he was left abandoned.
Speaker 6: And his family consisted of five kids, four kids, and
Speaker 6: they all moved in with his aunt and uncle without
Speaker 6: them really knowing that it was going to happen, just
Speaker 6: like took them in. And basically he went about and
Speaker 6: helped orphans with adoption and widows. So he would get
Speaker 6: a team of people, all volunteers and get all these
Speaker 6: like objects and supplies from people, again all just given.
Speaker 6: Nothing was bought to help these widows with their houses,
Speaker 6: whatever they needed, whether it was gardening or drywall, plumbing
Speaker 6: like anything, and all the money that they got from
Speaker 6: sponsors would go towards a family to adopt, because adoption
Speaker 6: is a lot more expensive than you'd think. It was,
Speaker 6: about much seventy thousand dollars I believe.
Speaker 1: Seventy to one hundred thousand dollars to a back, So
Speaker 1: people that want to adopt don't have the money to adopt.
Speaker 1: And instead of raising money for people to adopt, he
Speaker 1: helped widows with houses and got sponsorships and then took
Speaker 1: that money so other families could adopt. So he partnered
Speaker 1: helping poor widows with fixops with adoption.
Speaker 10: It was like a two to one situation.
Speaker 6: He got two things done at one time with the
Speaker 6: widows and with the adoptions.
Speaker 10: And yeah, I really could you learn from it.
Speaker 6: It just made me realize how like one simple action
Speaker 6: that's happened like that's happened to you can make you
Speaker 6: a really big deal to someone else's life. Like my
Speaker 6: favorite quote that he said was when he was adopting
Speaker 6: his girl grace. He said something like, why is it
Speaker 6: so wrong to use my life savings to save a life?
Speaker 6: And his wife wasn't one hundred percent ready to have
Speaker 6: another kid because they already had four of their own.
Speaker 6: And I thought it was really huge that he just
Speaker 6: knew that he needed to do it and that he
Speaker 6: prayed about it, and God was like, you need to
Speaker 6: take what you have and what I've given you to
Speaker 6: help someone else.
Speaker 10: And yeah, I just thought that was great.
Speaker 1: Sean and Inga Arvin love City. It's fascinating how the
Speaker 1: Lord works in our lives. I found their story motivating
Speaker 1: for me to reach great goals. I learned to take risks.
Speaker 1: I think they're very brave for taking the risk to
Speaker 1: help this new community.
Speaker 4: Hi, that's me lose you.
Speaker 10: I'm Katie Pearce.
Speaker 4: Hi, how are you tell me about it?
Speaker 11: So this was an interview with Sewn and Inga Arvin.
Speaker 11: And this was a couple that moved into this neighborhood
Speaker 11: that was not very.
Speaker 10: Expected.
Speaker 11: They bought this house and ended up inheriting this community
Speaker 11: center where they ended up taking care and welcoming of
Speaker 11: this huge community, and it was really unexpected of them,
Speaker 11: and it was Inga who just decided that she wanted
Speaker 11: to move into this neighborhood, and Sean was not on
Speaker 11: board with it at first because this was the neighborhood
Speaker 11: that he would used to buy drugs from, and so
Speaker 11: he was not really wanting to do this. But they
Speaker 11: ended up getting that house and then making the big
Speaker 11: risk to take in this community and.
Speaker 10: Help them a lot.
Speaker 4: What'd you learn from it?
Speaker 11: Definitely to take risks, and that like odd will like
Speaker 11: work out and you can go, will work in you
Speaker 11: in just like mysterious ways that.
Speaker 10: You don't even know.
Speaker 1: When you guys learned your elevator pitch, right, how many
Speaker 1: seconds did you have to make the pitch?
Speaker 4: Do you remember?
Speaker 8: We didn't thirty to forty that's a long elevator rod.
Speaker 1: Four a little longer thirty to forty. Y'all are doing
Speaker 1: well in your synopsis?
Speaker 12: Is?
Speaker 1: I was just wondering because you guys are you guys
Speaker 1: are boiling down hour and a half to three hour
Speaker 1: podcast and do about two minutes, so I think you're
Speaker 1: using that skill right now. That's actually really good. I
Speaker 1: want to ask you how did you how did it
Speaker 1: did you find the very fact that this guy used
Speaker 1: to buy drugs in the neighborhood that he ended up
Speaker 1: returning to to try to help heal. Did that have
Speaker 1: any effect on you understanding that heart of his story.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I can definitely understand why he wouldn't want to
Speaker 11: move there with all the bad memories from the drug
Speaker 11: dealing and all that, so I can understand why he
Speaker 11: wouldn't want to move back there. But it was really
Speaker 11: inspiring how he took the risk and how they were
Speaker 11: praying about it to.
Speaker 10: Move into this neighborhood from their past.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back. Eight.
Speaker 1: Dean Angel Studio's movie Brave the Dark about his adopter
Speaker 1: father stand Dean. The content kept me really intrigued. You
Speaker 1: could really hear how important this was to Nate and
Speaker 1: how much it affected his life. I'm very lucky that
Speaker 1: I haven't had to experience anything I had to go
Speaker 1: through I learned from this podcast asked that community and
Speaker 1: family matters, whether biological or not.
Speaker 4: Hi.
Speaker 10: Hi name, I'm joining Ezekiel.
Speaker 4: Good to see you tell me about it.
Speaker 12: So basically, when he was five, his dad shot his
Speaker 12: mom and then shot himself right after, and he watched
Speaker 12: the whole thing happen, and his grandparents took him in
Speaker 12: after like the police came and everything, but he was
Speaker 12: had like so much trauma and he like shut down
Speaker 12: that he wasn't really talking to anyone. So the grandparents
Speaker 12: actually just ended up giving him up. And so then
Speaker 12: he went from multiple different foster homes and then he
Speaker 12: got a car and so then like ran away from
Speaker 12: his foster home and just like slept in his car,
Speaker 12: and then him and his friends robbed an electronics store
Speaker 12: where they got sent to jail. And then when he
Speaker 12: was in jail, his teacher came and visited him, and
Speaker 12: his teacher got him out of jail, and Nate ended
Speaker 12: up living with him after that, and his teacher just
Speaker 12: made a huge impact on his life. And he was
Speaker 12: able to live with his teacher, and like his teacher
Speaker 12: showed him like Christmas and birthdays and gave him gifts
Speaker 12: and like spoiled him, and he just like never experienced
Speaker 12: anything like.
Speaker 4: That, and it was just and what do you do
Speaker 4: with that experience?
Speaker 10: He made a movie about his life.
Speaker 4: Yep, what'd you learn from it?
Speaker 12: Just the impact that people can have on others.
Speaker 1: Yeah, think about you just had a teacher tell you
Speaker 1: that she was told to go home on weekends and
Speaker 1: spend the night at somebody else's house because she just
Speaker 1: wasn't even welcoming her own home on the weekends because
Speaker 1: of this function.
Speaker 4: Created by her mother's lifestyle.
Speaker 1: Think about when we drive down the street and we
Speaker 1: see homes and everybody else's family, and we assume behind
Speaker 1: the closed doors everything is perfect while we all have
Speaker 1: trials and tribulations in our own lives and we think
Speaker 1: we're on an island. There's this function in trauma and
Speaker 1: difficulty in everybody's life, right, and it's how you overcome it.
Speaker 1: And you're never on an island because everybody's experiencing something.
Speaker 1: And if you're willing to be the person to step
Speaker 1: up and interject yourself in somebody's life and help out,
Speaker 1: you never know how deeply of an effect that can happen,
Speaker 1: Like a speech teacher, like a football coach.
Speaker 4: Big lessons in that story.
Speaker 1: Charity ball fraternities are usually known for loud music parties
Speaker 1: and drinking, but this frat wanted to make a lasting impact.
Speaker 1: Sigma Nu has had a lasting impact not only at
Speaker 1: Old Miss, but at other schools across the country. This
Speaker 1: podcast taught me not to judge a book about's cover
Speaker 1: and to always strive to respect and assist those in need.
Speaker 4: Who wrote that that was me? Hi you? What's your name?
Speaker 4: Garrett Rosner? What Garrett Rosner? Okay? Tell me about this?
Speaker 13: So basically, the Sigma Nu fraternity big frat at Old Miss.
Speaker 13: And in nineteen eighty nine, there's a football game going
Speaker 13: on between Ole Miss and Vanderbilt and one of the
Speaker 13: Old Miss players it was a homecoming game, so it's
Speaker 13: a big game also, and one of the Old Miss players,
Speaker 13: Chuckie Mullens, he was going for a play and then
Speaker 13: he got paralyzed.
Speaker 4: And these two.
Speaker 13: Fraternity brothers saw this and they went up to Chucky
Speaker 13: like a few days later, they're like, hey, like, is
Speaker 13: there any way like we can raise money for people
Speaker 13: that have like your condition to help them out. And
Speaker 13: they were like afraid to do this at first because
Speaker 13: they didn't like want to bother him, like annoy him,
Speaker 13: and it's like time and knee, and he was like
Speaker 13: of course. And so then they started this charity bowl
Speaker 13: where these fraternities raise money for a kid and they
Speaker 13: raise all the money up and then they give it
Speaker 13: to a certain kid who has paralysis, and they keep
Speaker 13: continuing over the years and they keep setting goals for
Speaker 13: himself so they can keep going higher. And then I
Speaker 13: think they reached their all time goal like in twenty
Speaker 13: twenty two and gave away it was like three hundred
Speaker 13: thousand dollars. It's like one kid of paralysis. And then
Speaker 13: other schools like Mississippi State also they like uh SEC
Speaker 13: schools also caught onto this and started doing their own
Speaker 13: charity balls this year.
Speaker 1: The game was just played a month ago. The guys
Speaker 1: you were listening to their game just went off a
Speaker 1: month ago and they raised three hundred and eighty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a bunch of kids like you to give away
Speaker 1: to a bunch of people like you who ended up paralyzed.
Speaker 4: What'd you learn from it? I thought it was really cool.
Speaker 13: Like fraternities always have the stigma around them, like they're like,
Speaker 13: I don't know, it's like a fraternity, like they were
Speaker 13: cool guys, like they party and all this stuff. But
Speaker 13: these kids like really wanted to make a change, and
Speaker 13: like you don't see, like you don't think of a
Speaker 13: fraternity going out to help like some kid of paralysis,
Speaker 13: Like you think they're like uptight like frat boys, you know.
Speaker 13: Uh sound, but uh, these kids like really want to
Speaker 13: make a lasting impact and change the stigma around the fraternis.
Speaker 4: I love it, Officer Tommy Norman.
Speaker 1: And by the way, this is one of the coolest
Speaker 1: guys I've ever interviewed my life. The ability of mister
Speaker 1: Courtney and Tommy. So whoever wrote this, thanks because you
Speaker 1: plugged me to connect needs no change. It's perfect and
Speaker 1: provides heartfelt and eye opening experiences for the audience. I've
Speaker 1: learned that serving your community is more than just doing
Speaker 1: helpful things. It's the work behind the scenes protecting the community.
Speaker 1: Who wrote that, Hi, my name is Date bliin I
Speaker 1: wrote that, So tell me about it.
Speaker 7: So Officer Tommy Norman, he is a cop and he
Speaker 7: lived in I think North Little Rock, Arkansas, and just
Speaker 7: a lot of the things there is that he yes,
Speaker 7: like he's an officer, but he specifically said his shift
Speaker 7: basically never ends, and he basically wanted to be a
Speaker 7: cop so he.
Speaker 9: Could get back to his community. And how he says
Speaker 9: his shift doesn't end is when he's off shift. A
Speaker 9: lot of the other cops, they put up their belt,
Speaker 9: they go home and they just sit with their families
Speaker 9: and have dinner. And all that, but he's out in
Speaker 9: his community helping widows, buying groceries, buying a kid a
Speaker 9: bicycle so he can get to school and everything. And
Speaker 9: he says, really trying to be engaged and bring community
Speaker 9: into one instead of being separated.
Speaker 1: One of the things Tommy Norman taught me is you
Speaker 1: can be part of an army and normal folks and
Speaker 1: serve just as a guy doing your job, just doing extra,
Speaker 1: just going a little above and beyond and what you
Speaker 1: do for a living. He has three goals. He wants
Speaker 1: to be invited into your yard. Then he wants to
Speaker 1: be invited onto your porch. Then he wants to be
Speaker 1: invited into your house, because once he finally is get
Speaker 1: invited to your house, he knows he's built.
Speaker 4: A relationship with you.
Speaker 1: And this is a cop who is white in an
Speaker 1: almost well at least a very predominantly African American community,
Speaker 1: running around in his police car with this police uniform on,
Speaker 1: which is typically in a community like that, the enemy
Speaker 1: or at least someone is scary, or at least someone
Speaker 1: who you're worried about, invading your personal rights, getting invited
Speaker 1: into people's yards, onto their porch, and into their house,
Speaker 1: and once he makes it in there, he builds relationships
Speaker 1: with people in that community. He's considered the Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: of community policing, and he is revered in a community
Speaker 1: that popular narrative tells us is a community that hates
Speaker 1: the police and fears them, and he has turned that
Speaker 1: all upside down by simply having conversations with people on
Speaker 1: their porch. Again, you don't have to be some WI
Speaker 1: is good to have a lasting effect on so many
Speaker 1: people and be a part of the army and normal folks.
Speaker 1: It oftentimes is as easy as having a civil, non
Speaker 1: threatening conversation. So those are the excerpts I have. I
Speaker 1: haven't gotten all of you, but that's the excerpts I have.
Speaker 1: What I'd like to know is someone who hasn't spoken yet.
Speaker 1: Did the assignment and the podcast in general give you
Speaker 1: any new thoughts or notions about volunteering, generosity or something
Speaker 1: that you might be encouraged to involve yourself in. Anybody,
Speaker 1: I know, I haven't heard from you. Hi, what's your name?
Speaker 10: I'm Chrystal Pierre Luis.
Speaker 14: So I didn't listen to an Army Folks podcast, but
Speaker 14: from all the discussion around has really interested me. I'm
Speaker 14: in Wilson's Society, the volunteer club here, community work, and
Speaker 14: recently I went Madonna, what's it?
Speaker 4: What's what Wilson?
Speaker 10: Yes, Wilson Society part of that.
Speaker 4: Yes, Okay, stop because I'm gonna let you talk about it.
Speaker 4: Don't go anywhere. Here we go.
Speaker 1: So that's a great segue. Perfect you did. Well, you're
Speaker 1: not a plant either. But there's this thing. Actually, why
Speaker 1: don't you explain what the Wilson thing is and then
Speaker 1: we'll go back to you and I want to hear
Speaker 1: about your involvement in it.
Speaker 8: And we have several in here that are in Wilson Society.
Speaker 8: So Wilson Society is a service club on our campus.
Speaker 8: There's about two hundred members and they select projects that
Speaker 8: they're going to do each semester.
Speaker 10: It varies.
Speaker 8: The officers and the students decide what they're going to do.
Speaker 8: They can write a grant up to one thousand dollars
Speaker 8: through the Kimmins Wilson Family Foundation and they will give
Speaker 8: them money to do their project. So the projects are selected.
Speaker 8: If you have something that's going to cost money, you
Speaker 8: have to make a budget, make the plan, and then
Speaker 8: Wilson Society will provide you the people you know to
Speaker 8: make it work. So student get involved. They can lead
Speaker 8: a project. We've got a few in here that have
Speaker 8: actually written the grant led a project, and then others
Speaker 8: come alongside. They can do a hands on, they can
Speaker 8: do a donation, and then we support Orange Mound through
Speaker 8: a variety of separate things that we do as well.
Speaker 4: So with that as a background, tell me about what
Speaker 4: you've done.
Speaker 14: Okay, So recently I went to the school Madonna And
Speaker 14: what is Madonna? Madonna? Yes, so Madonna is a school
Speaker 14: with kids with disabilities and things like autism and down syndrome,
Speaker 14: And a group of us went last week to spend
Speaker 14: time with them and like kind of like a summer
Speaker 14: like diving into summer type of things. So there was
Speaker 14: bouncy houses and coloring and stickers and popcorn and candy
Speaker 14: and although there was kids as young as like three
Speaker 14: or three, and there were adults. And so the first
Speaker 14: round we had adults and they were really sweet and
Speaker 14: me and my classmate we did like this ball toss
Speaker 14: and like some of them wouldn't you know, they didn't
Speaker 14: want to like play with us, but just being like, hey,
Speaker 14: how you doing, Like just like making them feel welcomed
Speaker 14: as we're they're welcoming us, serving with them and playing
Speaker 14: with them, even though you know, we don't deal with
Speaker 14: the same things that they do deal with. And again
Speaker 14: with the kids too, just being like, oh, you're your
Speaker 14: no policy looks really pretty or your hair looks really pretty,
Speaker 14: and just you know, serving with them and spending time
Speaker 14: and having fun with them was truly an experience I
Speaker 14: really loved.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Your teacher sitting on my left over here, Jenny, oh sorry,
Speaker 1: miss whatever you're supposed to be called, says I love
Speaker 1: what you're doing. She loves the podcast. Obviously she would
Speaker 1: have made you guys do this assignment if she didn't,
Speaker 1: But she said, I hope we're building an army of
Speaker 1: normal teenagers. That's what she wants to do through this class,
Speaker 1: through this process, through listening to the podcast, through all
Speaker 1: of this stuff, would anybody say they've had a changed
Speaker 1: or heightened awareness at all of the importance of community
Speaker 1: involvement service?
Speaker 4: Anybody want to talk about that?
Speaker 6: So I actually sorry, Angelae Covonde, there you go. I
Speaker 6: helped write one of the grants this year for one
Speaker 6: of the projects for Wilson Society, and it had to
Speaker 6: do with Christmas. And I just never thought about Christmas
Speaker 6: not having gifts, like obviously addition to the christ part
Speaker 6: of it, but like having gifts was just is normal
Speaker 6: to me. Like I've been very blessed. I have parents
Speaker 6: are still together, like I'm an only child, so I've been.
Speaker 10: Very very blessed.
Speaker 6: And this year, when I was doing the grant, it
Speaker 6: made me realize, like there are kids that are just
Speaker 6: walking around that don't understand the joy of Christmas or.
Speaker 10: Get gifts at all.
Speaker 6: So part of that grant was we get specified kids
Speaker 6: that ask for certain things, and we get a red
Speaker 6: tub and we fill it with all the things that
Speaker 6: they asked for that we can get with the money
Speaker 6: that we raise. And another part of it is Briarcrest
Speaker 6: donates toys and Teddy Bears.
Speaker 10: And little race cars and stuff just in general.
Speaker 6: And we have a back room that all the kids
Speaker 6: can just walk through and grab a gift. And I
Speaker 6: didn't get to go to the event. I was taking
Speaker 6: the act, but I saw pictures and like the joy
Speaker 6: that these kids get just seeing gifts that they've never
Speaker 6: seen before was something that truly changed my outlook on
Speaker 6: how blessed I really am?
Speaker 8: Or little backdrop on red tub. It's for foster children.
Speaker 8: So all eight hundred plus foster children each get a
Speaker 8: red tub the Memphis Family Connection Center, and so we
Speaker 8: sponsored four tubs through Wilson Society. And those tubs also
Speaker 8: pay for their therapeutic care for the year, so if
Speaker 8: they need psychological or anything else, that also covers it.
Speaker 4: Pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I want to leave you guys with one thought. It's
Speaker 1: time to get y'all back to class. I know y'all
Speaker 1: can't wait to get back to class and air conditioning,
Speaker 1: and in fairness, you know this is probably better and
Speaker 1: sitting class at least. But here we go. Who has
Speaker 1: heard the turkey person explanation? Okay, well, I'm going to
Speaker 1: give it to all of you.
Speaker 4: As you.
Speaker 1: Think about what you've listened to, and as you think
Speaker 1: about this discussion, and as you ponder, hopefully what can
Speaker 1: I do as richly blessed as each of you are.
Speaker 1: It's not a nice thing to do something kind of
Speaker 1: a requirement, kind of a requirement of the blessings you
Speaker 1: have to give back in some way. But fair warning,
Speaker 1: it comes with it comes with a set of rules.
Speaker 1: That will reveal themselves to you as you get involved.
Speaker 1: It is not easy, it is fraught with misunderstanding, but
Speaker 1: it's worth the effort. My first year, when I showed
Speaker 1: up at Manassas High School, there were seventeen kids on
Speaker 1: the team and they'd won four games.
Speaker 4: And ten years. Four games in ten years. That's bad.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you're not good at math, but
Speaker 1: wouldn't you say that's and that's pretty rough? Pretty bad?
Speaker 1: Seventeen kids four ninety five. So my first year I
Speaker 1: was their seven. My first year, halfway through the season
Speaker 1: were three and three. Now, I think three and three
Speaker 1: is pretty average, but when you've won four games in
Speaker 1: ten years, they think three and three. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of like a fat headed, redheaded version Elane Kiffin
Speaker 1: or somebody they were buying in.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 1: When I first got to Manassis, obviously I had to
Speaker 1: start coaching football basics, right, But as we started coaching football,
Speaker 1: I also learned we had to coach a lot of
Speaker 1: other things. Somebody opened the table of contents and the
Speaker 1: book in front of you. Somebody hand that person the microphone.
Speaker 1: Would you just read the chapters loudly?
Speaker 15: So Chapter one on the value of character Chapter two,
Speaker 15: The meaning of commitment.
Speaker 4: Chapter three.
Speaker 15: Daring to leave your comfort zone for service is not
Speaker 15: someone else's job. Five How leaders are defined. Six the
Speaker 15: search of the search for civility. Seven, the power of dreams. Eight,
Speaker 15: The relationship between fear and fortitude. Nine, perseverance never takes
Speaker 15: a break. Ten, the dignity of hard work. Eleven, standing
Speaker 15: on a firm foundation. Twelve, responsibility for the talk taking
Speaker 15: thirteen grace appears in a forgiving heart, and fourteen the
Speaker 15: gift of a legacy.
Speaker 4: We started teaching that too.
Speaker 1: We realized we had to coach the basics.
Speaker 4: So halfway through the season, we're three and three. We're
Speaker 4: coaching football.
Speaker 1: We're coaching that stuff, and half the team was buying in. Now,
Speaker 1: the whole team was buying into the football. Yes or
Speaker 1: no so are on the football field. But the minute
Speaker 1: football was over, only half the team was buying into
Speaker 1: that stuff. The other half the team, while yes or
Speaker 1: no so are on the football field, they were getting
Speaker 1: back in the streets after games and practices engage in
Speaker 1: the same behavior that got them to four wins in
Speaker 1: ninety five's metaphorically in life as well as football film.
Speaker 1: So I was frustrated. Every coach has a guy. So
Speaker 1: I went to my guy and I said, hey, man,
Speaker 1: what do I gotta do?
Speaker 4: Y'all are yes or no, sir? Everything's good on.
Speaker 1: Football, but the important stuff only half of you are
Speaker 1: buying them. What do I got to do to get
Speaker 1: the other half that team to buy into the important stuff?
Speaker 4: Like you're half the team.
Speaker 1: And this guy, who I had real conversations with, who
Speaker 1: I knew would tell me the truth, looked at me
Speaker 1: and said, all coach, just keep doing what you're doing dismissively.
Speaker 1: You know how y'all talk to your parents when they
Speaker 1: tell you something you don't want to hear. You know, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: yes ma'am, but in your mind you're thinking, nah, you
Speaker 1: know that right? That was the response, and I'm like, no, man,
Speaker 1: real talk. And he said, Coach, I don't want to
Speaker 1: hurt your feelings. I said, man, you're not going to
Speaker 1: hurt my feelings, but I need to understand and while
Speaker 1: that half the team ain't buying an important stuff like
Speaker 1: here after him, he said, all right, coach, real talk.
Speaker 4: I said, real talk.
Speaker 1: He said, Coach, they're just trying to figure out if
Speaker 1: you're a Turkey person.
Speaker 4: Or not. And I said, what are you talking about? Man?
Speaker 4: He said, Coach.
Speaker 1: Every Thanksgiving and Christmas people roll into our neighborhoods and
Speaker 1: they give us hands and turkeys and gifts, and we
Speaker 1: take them because we ain't got none. But then they
Speaker 1: leave and we never see them again. Makes you wonder
Speaker 1: if they're doing that because they really care about us,
Speaker 1: or that they're doing that to make themselves feel good.
Speaker 1: I know I'm in a Christian school, but I'm going
Speaker 1: to quote this exactly how he said it. He looked
Speaker 1: me dead and as they said, coach, really, what the
Speaker 1: hell are you doing here? I want to challenge you
Speaker 1: guys to think about something. It's not enough to show
Speaker 1: up once. Because when you show up once and leave
Speaker 1: the type of people that you're in, type of communities
Speaker 1: that you're going in to serve, that is very common.
Speaker 1: What is uncommon, what matters, what will have a lasting impact.
Speaker 1: It's consistency is going back over and over and over
Speaker 1: again and being uncommon. The other thing is this, don't
Speaker 1: allow yourself to engage because you like the way that
Speaker 1: it makes you feel. Don't allow yourself to engage because
Speaker 1: when people hear about the work you're doing, the backslaps
Speaker 1: and the congratulations, and the people in your orbit think
Speaker 1: of you in a better way because of the work
Speaker 1: you're doing. Because if you are doing it, because you
Speaker 1: are getting something out of it personally from your peer group,
Speaker 1: you are, in fact a turkey person, and a turkey
Speaker 1: person's a fraud. You don't serve so that exalts you.
Speaker 1: You serve so that it exults someone not as blessed
Speaker 1: as you, and you do it consistently.
Speaker 4: And if you do that, you are uncommon.
Speaker 1: And uncommon people are what makes the army of normal
Speaker 1: folks go. So I challenge you as you go off
Speaker 1: to college, as you go off and become adults, this
Speaker 1: weird assignment that you didn't want to do. My biggest
Speaker 1: hope for you, guys is your biggest takeaway is be uncommon,
Speaker 1: be uncommon, and grow the army in normal folks.
Speaker 4: I'm going to leave it with you at your class closes.
Speaker 8: I'm very proud of how well they did today.
Speaker 6: They did a great job.
Speaker 8: Thank you so much for sharing with them. I think
Speaker 8: it's been more enlightening than they probably thought it would be,
Speaker 8: and they've learned a lot about themselves through the podcast
Speaker 8: and what they can do in the future. So thank
Speaker 8: you for your podcast that could open the eyes of
Speaker 8: even teenagers.
Speaker 4: I hope that did.
Speaker 1: We're signing off from Briercrest High School in Memphis, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: where there's a room full of kids who, at the
Speaker 1: best of the teacher hopefully has.
Speaker 4: Grown and wants to join the ranks of the Army
Speaker 4: of Normal Folks. Kids.
Speaker 1: Thanks for being here, I appreciate it very much. Well done,
Speaker 1: and thank you for joining us this week. If Teacher
Speaker 1: Jenny has inspired you in general, or better yet, to
Speaker 1: take action by using an Army of Normal Folks with
Speaker 1: your classroom, recommending it to your school, or using it
Speaker 1: with your own kids, please let me know. I'd love
Speaker 1: to hear about it. You can write me anytime at
Speaker 1: Bill at normalfolks dot us, and I promise you I
Speaker 1: will respond. We may and do an episode with your classroom.
Speaker 1: And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with
Speaker 1: friends and on social subscribe to the podcast, rate and
Speaker 1: review it. Join the Army at normalfolks dot us, consider
Speaker 1: becoming a premium member. There any and all of these
Speaker 1: things that will help us grow an Army of normal Folks.
Speaker 4: I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can