An Army of Normal Folks - Never Underestimate The Power of Encouragement

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

For our "Shop Talk" series, Coach Bill tells the story of a prison football team and their surprising fans.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oh, I love it. It's to Alex. Thank you for running the only enterprise on this planet that is equal parts badass and caring. Is that actually what you wrote? Yeah, I'm reading it. Badass. I've learned from the best professionals from different continents all my life, but I've never learned as much in as little time as from Coach Bill. I have received the simplest most direct and yet most profound lessons just listening to your podcast. Thank you for helping me hone my grit. Caring. You all put your whole heart and soul into every person that you come across even little old me. My students and their parents can tell you that I often quote coaches don't win games dot dot dot. Anywho with love much love Vita P.S. I didn't

expect the bell to be so loud but I'm glad it is. So Vita Scott finally sent us, or no, Vita Scott was kind enough because Alex didn't take care of our Shop Talk Bell. I finally brought it into the office. Well, I guess that's true. And look, it says an army of normal folks on it. So Vita, every Shop Talk, we will ring this thing to tell everybody shop talk's coming. She said it's super loud. It's pretty loud.

Yeah. Alright, Vita, this is the official Army of Normal Folks shop talk bell to be used every time and it's staying here where we record because Alex will forget it. Thank you. Thank you very much and thanks for the kind words. That's insanely kind. Thank you. Thank you very much. And thanks for the kind words. That's insanely kind. Thank you. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question.

This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also gonna have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about?

Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. This is the chance to nominate your podcast for the industry's biggest award. Submit your podcast for nomination now

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What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with the black powder, you with explosive warhead. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Bulls. We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal Folks and today is Shop Talk number 29.

Are you ready? There it is, Shop Talk number 29. Thank you, Vita. So in an upcoming episode, you guys are going to meet Larry Reed, who I'm not going to screw his story up by telling you about him at all. But when interviewing him, he mentioned a story that I'd actually heard, thought of a lot and forgotten and went back to read it again and then found that he had actually written about it. And it's really about the power of encouragement.

So first, we want to give Larry a shout out for planting the idea for a shop talk and give him the correct footnote that in terms of the power of encouragement as it relates to this story it really came from Larry's idea and I want to expand upon it a little bit so shop talk number 29 never underestimate the power of encouragement footnoted by our buddy Larry Reed who is an Army of Normal Folks guest and we'll dive into that right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey everybody, Bill Courtney, Shop Talk number 29. I love it. Do you like that? I love it too. We're gonna do it throughout the whole thing. We're gonna, that thing the whole thing. We're gonna that things the

clappers are gonna wear down. Never underestimate the power of encouragement. So tell you about a story. And this happened years ago, like in, I think it was 2008. Yes, it was 2008. There was a high school football game. Faith Christian High School in Grapevine, Texas good football team getting ready for the playoffs had a game late in the season and They were playing the Gainesville State School tornadoes Now the faith Christian players had everything in their favor. They were headed down to the playoffs. They were good, getting ready to go.

The Gainesville State School tornadoes, y'all, were teenage prisoners in a maximum security correctional facility for teenagers. They'd never won a game. And this particular particular season they'd only scored two touchdowns. They were losers in football but also in life and you know a maximum security prison for teenagers. So they boarded their bus for a one-hour drive up to Grapevine with not much of any expectations except to maybe get out of the compound for a little while. The game is supposed to be nothing. So, what happened is when they showed up, they found out that the Grapevine, excuse me, the Lions of Faith

Christian High School had a coach who was a little different. His name was Chris Hogan. He saw an opportunity to make a statement. So under his guidance, the school treated the visiting team like it was the home team. As the kids from the correctional facility, Gainesville, as they entered the field, the Faith parents and students waved tornado banners to welcome them. Then, incredulously, about half of the Faith fans and cheerleaders moved to the visitor side of the stadium and cheered on the

Gainesville players throughout their game. Parents of the faith team were encouraging kids they didn't know to tackle their own sons. The prison team didn't win the game but they scored two touchdowns and it was the best game of their season. And I'm going to read a quote about what happened next. After the game, the teams met at midfield for prayer, with faith vans standing all around. Mark Williams, Tornado's coach, asked if his quarterback could pray. In a simple manner, but with heartfelt depth. The player thanked God for the things easily taken for granted like the sun coming up that morning and the opportunity to

play football. There was one thing however for which he said he did not know how to express thanks because he never knew that there were people in the world that could care for him and his teammates because of where they came from. that could care for him and his teammates because of where they came from. Tears flowed after that prayer and minds changed. The power of encouragement is phenomenal. A team that never won a game and it only scored two touchdowns all season played their best game against one of the best teams they'd ever lined up again simply because they had people on their sideline encouraging them and we're not talking about run-of-the-mill kids we're talking about

kids that were from a maximum security prison that all the sudden because of a little bit of encouragement found the ability to do something a little better and different than they'd ever done. I also read something that Larry Reid wrote that I think is really interesting on a macro economic scale. Think about countries that have systems that encourage investment and risk and entrepreneurism purchase countries that don't. The United States, Canada, most of Western and Eastern Europe, whether they have taxes and tariffs and all that stuff and different models, they in general encourage people to take risks, be entrepreneurial and build things. And as a result, their societies are better from it. Take by contrast Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, some other economies that don't do things to encourage

individualism and thought and creativity and entrepreneurship and look how they suffer and look how the people there suffer and look how the countries falter. Think of children that grow up in families where their parents teach them and show them that they can be a doctor or a dentist or a president. They can be an attorney. They can be whatever they want to be and they provide the tools necessary and encourage them. They certainly hold them accountable but the power of that encouragement to help them to believe in themselves and their dreams propels them to chase those dreams. Conversely think about the kid who doesn't even have a,

who's never been saying a lullaby, has never been read a bedtime story, who is in a project somewhere where the most encouraging thing they can do is escape the streets and get to and from school every day safely and then hole up in a apartment somewhere with a flan that clicks the power of encouragement is phenomenal it can take kids from a maximum security prison and have them tear up just for being cheered for and cared about. It's the difference in nation building and nation destruction. It's the difference in

kids reaching dreams and even having dreams and others just trying to survive. It also works for an army of normal folks. For a year and a half now, we've been telling stories every single week of amazing people you've probably never heard of who were just normal and they saw an opportunity and they used their passion and their discipline and intersected that passage of passion and discipline with opportunity and made something amazing happen for the betterment of people that weren't as blessed as them. We tell these stories every single Tuesday, every week a new story and they're different. Some are about adoption,

some are about foster care, some are about substance abuse, some are about tattoos, some are about running with the homeless, some are about helping quadriplegics, some are about serving people who are victims of hurricanes or tornadoes, they're all different. But they all have the one thing in common is that they're just normal people who use their passion and discipline, their passion and their talents at a place of opportunity and amazing things happen. Why do we tell these stories? Certainly we tell them to be interesting and entertaining and hopefully you laugh and you cry and you find interest in them and maybe you Google afterwards and everything else

but here's why we really tell them to encourage you to offer the power of encouragement to you to get off the sidelines. If you're doing something do more if you're not doing anything find a way. We're giving you a blueprint. A blueprint. Each story is a blueprint of different things you can do. And I'm not saying that you can do all of them. Your interests are varied because you're a varied audience. But eventually, if you listen long enough,

there's gonna be a story you hear that aligns with your passion and your talents. And don't tell me there's not opportunity everywhere surrounding you. So the whole idea behind an Army of Normal folks is that it is the power of encouragement to encourage you to get involved, to encourage you to stay steadfast, to understand when you dive into places where there are problems, it is not going to be a cakewalk, but it's worth the time, it's worth the investment, it's worth the consistency. We want to encourage you to employ your passion and your abilities at areas in need and help change your corner of the community just like every single person on Tuesday has done. And what if we could encourage a million of you? What if, what if we had a million people, an army of normal folks, with the power of the encouragement

of the stories you hear every Tuesday, getting out there and changing our community? The power of encouragement can help kids in maximum security prisons just understand that love and care is real and that can change the trajectory of their lives. The power of encouragement changes nations. The power of encouragement changes families. And the power of encouragement can change our country. Join the Army normal folks. Get off the sidelines.

If you're on the field, play harder. If you're on the sidelines, get on the field. Let's take back our country. Let's take back the narrative. Let's quit with the division and let's serve and in doing so lead. I encourage you on a weekly basis to do that and we have stories that should encourage and inspire that every single week. Please listen, please share them, please encourage your neighbor and I encourage you. The power of encouragement can change

lives and it can change this country. I'm Bill Courtney, that's Shop Talk number 29 and I want to say this to you, if any of our guests have inspired you in general, or better yet, to do something, please let me know. I want to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normal folks dot us and I promise you I will respond. And guys, if you have an idea for shop talk send it to me if you have any idea about a current event or a tenant or a fundamental or something going on in your life if I'm not going to respond to all of them because I don't have all the answers but if it's something I feel like I've heard something or been taught something or have an idea that might help it

we will do a we will do a shop talk on it and we will ring the bell for you if you enjoyed this episode share it with friends and on social subscribe to our podcast rate and review it join the army at normal folks dot us consider becoming a premium member do anything we can to help grow this army of normal folks because the more people we have the more impact That we can exact on our country. I Encourage you to get involved. Thanks to our producer iron light labs. I'm bill Courtney. I'll see you next week Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric.

Well, the election is in the home stretch right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're gonna take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about?

Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2025 iHeart Podcast Awards are coming. This is the chance to nominate your podcast wherever you get your podcasts. you've been doing all that talking, it's time to get rewarded for it. Submit your podcast today at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped me.

Season two shares stories about community and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. We get paid to serve you, we're made out of the same things. It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the testament.

Listen to When You're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.