Blaze Your Own Trail - From Pro Soccer Player to Preacher with Jesse Bradley

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

About Jesse: Jesse is a former professional soccer player, speaker, leader, author, pastor, and former syndicated radio host.  After graduating from an Ivy League college, Dartmouth, Jesse played professional Soccer overseas including in Zimbabwe.  In Africa, a prescribed medication to prevent malaria built up toxic levels in his system. He was fighting for his life for one year, and it took 10 years to fully recover. The pain forged and formed a new passion and purpose.  Jesse now spreads a message of hope and hope habits to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Jesse and his Wife Laurie live in Seattle with their four children, patient dog and noisy hamster. In this episode we discuss: Jesse's upbringing His love for Soccer Where he went to College Traveling overseas Some lessons from sports A near fatal experience  And much more! Connect with Jesse: https://jessebradley.org/ Thanks for listening! Connect with Jordan: https://www.blazeyourowntrailconsulting.com Installing strategic sales systems & processes will stop the constant revenue rollercoaster you might be facing which is attainable through our 6 Week Blazing Business Revenue Coaching ProgramBook a discovery call with Jordan now to learn more! Are you an entrepreneur?Join my FREE Group Coaching Community where we have live calls, Q&A and more! Our Trailblazer Ecosystem also enables you to network with other entrepreneurs and creator hub eliminates multiple subscriptions and logins creating a one stop shop to take action!Use code: FOUNDING100 for 12 months access FREE and Founding pricing for life! (While Supplies Last)Join now! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I had a total 11 jobs between the age of 11 and 17, just trying to help and support my mom. When I gave away my ATS resume template, I used to church $3,000 for it. If I were someone that wanted to work with you, I think the thing that would resonate with me the most is the fact that you have been as far as they will fall. I gave her all my videos, and today she's sent me a message saying I got my first client, and it could not be happier for her. On my show, one thing I love to do is really get context into people's journey. eggs and I sold vegetables door to door. I saw newspapers. I do it because I truly care to help. Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza. Hello everyone and welcome to the Blaze Your Own Trail podcast. I'm your host, Jordan Mendoza.

And I've got a very special guest today. His name is Jesse Bradley. And I'm going to have him tell you a little bit about who he is and what he does today. Jordan, thanks for having me on the show. you're doing, love your story, blazing trails, that's close to my heart. I grew up in Minnesota, so I was in the frozen tundra. I know from your story, I was, you know, three city buses to make it to school and a lot colder than where you were in Portland. I'll tell you, sports was a passion early in life. It was my dream at age two to play professional sports, told my parents that we lived at the University of Minnesota in the football stadium parking lot. That's where our apartment was. So everything golden gophers, but I play professional soccer. Currently, I'm also an author, speaker, leader,

pastor, and I get to do what I love. I'm energized every day. It's not what I thought I'd be doing, but my career ended tragically. We can talk about that as I was playing overseas in Africa as a goalkeeper. And now I'm in Seattle. So shout out to the Pacific Northwest. I know you're from Portland. And it's great to be together with you. Awesome, man. Well, hey, appreciate that that brief intro. I'm definitely excited to dive in. And Jesse, my favorite part, of the show is not what you just said, but it's the rewind. It's taking that journey back. Finding that about little Jesse. So let's actually dive in. Let's go back to memory lane. And I'm talking, you know, adolescent years, elementary, middle, and high school years.

So tell us a little bit about you. What kind of kid were you? What kind of things did you get into hobbies? It sounds like sports. We're probably going to hear a little bit about that. But I'm just excited to share the audience with the audience a little more context into who you are. Right on. You know, growing up, my parents got divorced when I I was seven. That was probably the first thing that shaped my life in a major way because it felt out of control and my family was no longer intact. And I did love sports before that. I was an only kid. So I would throw the football to myself, catch it in the snow, quarterback and the wide receiver. I mean, I had a whole league going through Nerf basketball alone in my bedroom.

When you have a passion, right, you're going to find all these creative ways to express it. And then when my parents got divorced, I would say sports even became a bigger part of my life because it was that joy. It was that one escape. It was that one thing that was going so well, and I had more control over it. In addition to that, I also worked really hard academically and then had a lot of friends. And I figured if those three things are going well, if I'm doing well in school, and then sports were winning, championships, and then also I've got friends and my social life is thriving. Like, that's about as good as it can get. And that really continued through high school. And I thought, you know, just take the next step.

I went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. And I figured, you know, now I'm in Navy League school. We're winning championships as a soccer goalkeeper, friends everywhere. And my approach to life at that point surprised me because I thought everything I wanted, I'm checking the boxes, but on the inside, something's still missing. And we have two stories in our lives, the outside story and the inside story. And the outside story looks so successful. And yet in the inside story, I had no idea what it was or what it wasn't, but something was missing.

And I couldn't ignore it any longer. And I think a lot of people can relate to that. You can play the game on the outside. You can go through the motions. I mean, Jordan, even for you, it's like you're in one job and there's a lot of benefits. There's things going well, but you know there's something more. And that's my position in college going in. And what I ended up doing to make a long story short, I took an introduction of religion class and I wasn't looking for God.

Our family is kind of like Baskin Robbins, 31 Flavis. spiritually. We have a rabbi in California, atheist, ex-Catholic, some Catholic, like, we have a wide, wide range. And in the middle of that, I didn't make any choices. I just didn't think God existed. And in a class, I was assigned to read the Bible. It was the gospel of John. The professor wasn't a Christian, but it was the first time I learned about Jesus. And I was blown away. I didn't believe, but I was blown away because I just hadn't heard the wisdom and the teaching. And throughout that year, I asked questions, dozens of questions. And I encourage anyone. I mean, we are intellectual, we're physical, we're relational, we're emotional. I also think

we're spiritual beings. And I just started to have a lot of conversations with the wide range of people, trying to process this, do I want it? Does it fit me? Is it real? And I knew that I needed answers intellectually, and then my heart too. There was, I would say relationally, that was a peace with God that I never saw coming. So checked out all the facts and then eventually got to that point where I made that decision. And that became obviously a big part of my life. And I had this joy in song that I never had before. So that's my journey on the faith side. Soccer continued. We won the I League title twice, NCAA Division I. Elite eight. We had a great team, family environment. It was amazing. And because of the development and all those areas, college still, as I look back, those four

years were extremely special for me. Awesome, man. Appreciate you sharing that. And there's definitely a lot to unpackage and uncover from your journey. So looking back to the earlier year of sports, are there some notable people, maybe coaches, you know, leaders, mentors that instilled something in you to keep you wanting to play sports? Because I think it's important to reflect on, but also acknowledge the people that have fed into us. So as you think back to childhood, maybe it was that, you know, early days.

Maybe it was a high school coach or a college coach. Is there someone that you had in your corner that really helped guide you along the way? Yeah, Buzz Lagos is a legend in Minnesota, and he was my first coach, trained me in goalkeeping. He had a passion for the game that was infectious. And he loved soccer and new soccer on a whole different level. And I remember him just shouting like, yes, you know, getting so excited in practices, when someone would learn something new or when the team would figure out how to do it together. And sometimes there'd be some spit flying.

He just lived, eat and breathe in soccer. And it was like, there's more of this game than I thought there was. And we won the title twice for Minnesota, played in the Metro Dome. It was like 6,000 people at the game. I remember the first championship game I was so scared. I almost didn't want the ball to come to me. We still won three to one. But the second time we played, we wanted to shootout.

And it was a different attitude. And I was ready for that to come back. I wasn't going to be scared. Like we were going to go for it even if we lost, we lost. And that internal shift was. something that, you know, it opened the door for college soccer because I had the best game of my high school career. And then also, I would say for me, it was a reminder of the difference between walking in scared or timid or walking in hungry and walking in fearless. And that difference

between those two games in the metronom, that stuck with me the rest of my life because I knew which path I didn't want to go down and I knew which path was available. And, you know, as I grew older, you know, prayer came part of that too because God doesn't give the spirit of timidity, but power and love, and we don't have to fear. And perfect love drives out fear. And so whatever realm it is, whether it's, you know, marriage, a hard conversation at work, whether it's a new career, we don't have to walk in fear and timid and silent. And we don't need to live that way. Like, that's not where we're going to see the fruit. That's not where we're going to see the change lives. And that's something I learned through high school sports and Buzz Lagos.

I've got to give a shout out to my college coach, Bobby Clark, who is like a father to me. He was a legend in Scotland, played in different countries, coached in different countries, and could have played for the top clubs. He's friends with Alex Ferguson. Again, he could have been leading a team like Manu. Instead, he chose to come to America to build in to college students because he saw soccer as a platform for life and you can learn about life from that game. He would say things like, ah, do the we things.

And that means the small things in Scotland. The way you do one thing is the way you do everything. So you do the little things right. If you do all the little things right, the big results are going to come. And he instilled that with us. And it went way beyond the pitch. It went way beyond the field. And out of that, there's life lessons.

And I think coaches are some of the most influential people, teachers in schools. When you start to train people and you have people learning under you, entrepreneurs who have made it and then go back and raise up a whole bunch of other people, man, that's where it's golden. And I think Bobby Clark knew that. We still all keep in touch. great friends. It really is like a family that continued long after college. I love it, love it. Love you sharing that context. And giving the shout out as well, definitely it's so

important to make sure that people know how much they have impacted us, you know, because I know for me, same as you, without people like that in my life, I can only imagine where I would be, you know, people feeding into me, people telling me when I'm being a knucklehead, people, you know, It's clearing me down the past, even when maybe I didn't feel like it, right? Maybe I didn't have the confidence to do it for me. Sometimes we need that person. You know, when there's two people in a room together, there's some powerful things that can take place. Absolutely.

And going with that collaboration, what I found, the longer I've been living, is that to reach the goals we really want to reach, it's going to be mandatory that we know how to collaborate and we know how to form partnerships. know how to bring out the best in each other. And that was on the soccer field. Everyone knew the role. We've got to have a clear goal. We've got to have clear roles. And then you have to know the different personalities, too. There would be some defenders. They needed me to hold them accountable and lean into them and, you know, call them out when they're out of position. And that was a love language. I mean, that's what fired them up. There's other ones that they needed me to be more encouraging and a little more tender and build them up and kind of boost their confidence. And so

knowing the different guys and the different temperaments, knowing the people you're working with, always learning from people, always having a mentor, lifelong learners, right? And in lots of settings, it's important to not be the most important person, you know, or see yourself as the most important person, but see yourself as one who's going to serve. Also, don't be the smartest in the room. Like surround yourself with people that you're constantly learning from. So how can I serve these people? What am I learning from these people?

That's the environment where teams thrive. It's we more than me. And it's hard. Sometimes when you're an entrepreneur and you're blazing your own trail, you can fall into a trap of self-sufficiency. Or you can overvalue independence. Or you might think that, you know, it's just you getting up to the top of the mountain. But the real success is when you take a bunch of people with you or you show other people how to do it. And then when you do it together, man, the collaboration we've seen the last couple of years and spreading hope around the world, we couldn't do it without, you know, world vision, global media outreach.

There's just a long list, King Television. And the partnerships I never saw coming, but find people who share the same passion and commitment as you, and then lock arms and figure out how you can serve and compliment each other. And I just think that's when life truly becomes life. And that's when, again, that unity that you celebrate. We're in a church right now. It's multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational.

I feel like it's a picture of heaven. It's a picture of our neighborhood. before I got here, our church was mainly all white. And it's like, no, there's so much more. And when you taste that diversity, again, it feels like heaven. It feels like this is right. This is what it's all about. And so in so many different contexts, that collaboration, mentorship, mentoring other people, that's the key.

And if you can do that, it'll transfer in so many different fields, ages, a stages of life, that right there. man, don't underestimate the value of quality collaboration. Yeah, 100%. You know, finding a group of people to mastermind with or to connect with, you know, where we are, it's connect groups. It might be something different for you. But I know for me, when we moved back to Atlanta five years ago, we moved back to any area after time. And some of the people are still there. Some of the people aren't, right?

So you're kind of plugging yourself back in. And with the family, you know, we've got five kids. And so we want to make sure we're plugged in. We want to make sure we're connected. And the best thing that I could have done was I joined a business group. And this is a group that met evenings during the week. And I didn't even have a business at the time. But what happens when you insert yourself around people that are in places that you want to be,

that have got the knowledge, they've got the experience that have failed, have succeeded, man, those guys encouraged me to step out of my own when I did. Those guys were there behind me when I wanted to go, but they told me I wasn't ready. the first time. Yeah. And then when I was ready to go. And so then when I launched, they're there to support me. And how powerful is it?

Like you said, Jesse, when you can have other people allies in your corner. It's a lot easier to realize success. But it's also a lot easier to fumble through failure when you've got a shoulder to lean on, you know, when you've got someone there that says, hey, me too. Like I've been through it too. I've been exactly where you are. And, man, it's just so powerful to be able to have people that. that you can connect with on that level.

Yeah, I love what you shared because you took a risk. And relationships are a risk. It's a risk to trust or to be vulnerable or to try something or be in a group where you don't have it figured out. And you entered into that. And because of that, I mean, you've got people cheering you on. You learn so much. And I think it's important, too, that we're all held accountable.

And we have people around us who don't just say, oh, yes, another great idea. That'll work too. You know, especially people like you, Jordan and myself, like we have so many ideas and not all them are good, not all them are going to work. I like to say in church, not all of them are from God. And we need to be able to have people who tell us, like, actually, you're getting off track there. And that doesn't always feel good or, you know, when you first hear it.

It's like, ouch, that helps. Accountability is something that if you don't have it in place, you're going to walk through some unnecessary headaches and heartaches. But when it's there, and sometimes it's iron sharpening iron. And you think about that image, I've heard it say sparks fly when iron sharpens iron. It's not always like kumbaya on a hug. Instead, like we're wrestling through it. We're working through it.

And if you can be humble and honest in that combination right there, that's where the most fruit's going to come. And that's in your marriage. That's in, you know, your team, humble and honest. If you're not honest, the relationship's going to be shallow. You're not going to really grow. If you're not humble, the conflict's going to blow out of control. So be humble, be honest. and there's going to be a lot of fruit that comes from it walking in that.

And just enjoy the people around you, too. Build them up. Your words of encouragement, affirmation for them are massive. And then they're going to share it too. I believe we can be culture changers. We don't just step into environments. And well, it's always been that way. It's a status quo.

I've been on soccer teams where I've stepped in intentionally known. The culture has to change for us to win. And then what am I going to do in the locker room? What I'm going to do off the field? What I'm going to do on the field to change the culture? And I think all of us are culture changers is just a matter of living that out. Yeah, 100%. And listen, there's going to be times, and I know from personal experience,

when your intentions are to shift and change the culture, but the culture is not ready, you know, the culture is not prepared or the culture is not willing. But that doesn't mean you should give up because that just means you might not be in the right place. You know, you might be the right season for that shift, you know, because I know personally I've experienced that before, especially in corporate America where, you know, they're, they've got a lot of tunnel vision, you know, they don't really want to peek outside of the lines. If it's not part of the quarterly goals or the KPIs, then they don't want any part of it. And so, you know, for anyone that's

dealing with that now, that might be watching or listening, that you might be literally the person that's dealing with this. Just, just be encouraged and don't, do not, not share your voice. You know, make sure that your voice is heard if you have the opportunity. Because the worst thing that you can do is hold it in, right, and have it turn into something called resentment, which is never, that's never a good thing to do. That's right. And build on those islands of strength. Sometimes you find a couple people and then you build on that.

And then ultimately, sometimes you do need to change the environment, but don't give up, like you said, that call in your life, that you are a culture changer. And if you can't change that microculture, don't underestimate what you can change in the big picture, too. And we need culture changers today. We really do. some changes, need some healing in America. And it's got to start lead by example.

So I love what you said. Don't fall into the trap of resentment and passivity. Keep moving forward. Yeah. And this will really lead into a question I've got for you. And I'll just kind of share my thoughts on it as well. But self-awareness is an ingredient that's missing in the recipe of humanity. I don't know what your thoughts are on that statement.

But my thoughts are is that if more people could become more self-aware, And again, this comes with effort. It comes from research. It comes from picking up a book. There's lots of them out there. But it comes from action. You have to be willing to dive in to figure out who you are. And some resources I would love to share.

And then I want to get your take on this, Jesse, and have you share. So I actually used, and I taught a six-month leadership program. It rotated from Atlanta to D.C. each year, had 20 people in each cohort. Amazing program. And a couple of the resources that we have, the participants, that truly had people's lives transform at the end of six months were strengths finders. You know, it's also known as Clifton strengths, right? This is a assessment that will populate your top five strengths.

And once you can understand your strengths and take action on them, those strengths can increase. So that's one resource I would highly recommend for listeners to check out. The other one is there's a book called Emotional Intelligence 2.0. And this book, you take the assessment. Make sure you're in a clear, neutral headspace. make sure you're in a quiet environment when you're taking it. You know, you want to make sure your answers are going to be the most truthful answers. But this is going to actually tell you what four buckets, where you are from an EQ perspective.

And EQ is more important, in my opinion, than IQ because EQ is one of those things that can actually be strengthened over time. So you may actually score lower in self-awareness, but if you do X, Y, and Z, you can actually increase the self-awareness. You may be low in self-management. Maybe you can't manage your emotions well. But if you learn how to take a walk, if you learn how to take a deep breath, then you can actually increase that area. So I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback. What are some other tools, whether that might be disk or MBT or personality assessments that you maybe use or that you'd recommend for the audience as well? Yeah, absolutely.

That's a great starting point, some of those tools. I mean, when I went through Myers-Briggs and realized I'm an ENTJ, that unpacks so much for. me, disc test, right? I'm a D and I. Okay, that's good to know. What is that going to, how's that going to play out, you know, on a team? And what do I need to be aware of? What are the pitfalls of that wiring? And one thing we do is evaluations here at my workplace. And I have a group that I report to that I'm accountable to. And they give really honest evaluations every year. So having a group of people around you who can be truthful and be, you know, have candor and just bring it. And that helps so much. And then be teachable. I would say receive that too. We all have blind spots. Our whole

life, we're going to be working through blind spots. And you've got to be able to listen and value those other people's perspectives. Even your worst critics, there might be some truth there that could help you and gain from that. And maybe it's perception, but there's some things you can change. I think experience is the best. And I've learned the most about myself in the lowest points in my life and in the valleys. I would also say video. taping, like if you're a speaker, watch yourself. It's really hard to do it, but watch yourself. When I played soccer, watching the game footage, because I might feel like I'm in the right position, but then the footage reveals I'm not. Or I might think I'm moving quicker, but it shows

that I actually delayed too long in my decision, and I didn't anticipate well. So the videotape doesn't lie, and that can be helpful too. Those low points and that self-awareness, what I realized is that, you know, sometimes I have to get rid of some of the old negative tapes in my head. And also what I noticed is that I have patterns in my life. And some of them, the way I'm personally bent, some of them, what I just inherited through my family, I had a way of coping with hard challenges in life, of just perseverance, white knuckle, try harder and do better. And that has some merit.

That has some value. But then when I had my tragic illness in Africa and I was fighting for my life for a year and it took 10 years to recover, this wasn't going to be something I could just, you know, do a little better in school or do a little better on the athletic field. Like those contexts were gone. And now I had to learn a few different ways to cope. And I had to learn how to let people into my pain. I had to learn how to pray and give God burdens.

I had to learn how to give thanks and a gritty gratitude every day. Like I needed some new skills and some new learning. So I would say it's really important to be honest. It's really important to be accurate. And it's really important to listen to other people and be teachable. And start with those tools that, Jordan, you mentioned some great ones. And then experience is going to teach you so much. Listen to the feedback of other people.

and then also notice where there's fruit and there's going to be a confirmation. Notice where you're energized and what you just can't wait to do when you wake up in the morning. Notice what you're thinking about in a good way at night before you go to bed. Like notice those passions and your gifts. There's also in the spiritual place there are spiritual gifts tests that you can take. And it was important for me in ministry to know that, okay, I'm a preacher, I'm a leader, and I do outreach. And that's what I focus on. So when I start to drift into counseling, even though psychology was my major at Dartmouth,

when I drift into too much counseling, too much administration, when I'm doing things that aren't my gift, I'm dying. I'm dying inside. And there might be some people who are in jobs right now that are dying on the inside because you don't know yourself and you don't know what your greatest gifts are and you haven't had the courage to really use them in the right context. And so that's a huge step, but self-awareness kind of drives all that. So, yeah, great topic.

Awesome, man. Yeah. And so definitely, you know, check out some of the tools that you've heard us speak about. They are all great. But, but they're, again, they're tools, guys. So what happens to tools if you don't use them? They get rusty. So, you know, it's great that we can talk about tools.

But if you don't actually leverage them and then actually take what you've learned and put it into action, right? That's where the experience comes from, Jesse, is taking learning and then putting into action, learning and then putting into action. That's what's essentially going to move the needle. And I love what you said about adversity, because I'm a big. believer that it truly gives us strength. And I want to hear a little bit more about your accident. You know, I was someone that at 19 shouldn't have walked away from an accident that were we rolled a truck north of 70 miles an hour several times. I didn't have a seatbelt on. And I survived, had 52 staples between two legs, laser surgery, was told I wouldn't walk again

and made a six-month recovery. And so, you know, that is we had, there was five off-duty EMTs that just happened to be coming from a conference. that called it in and got my buddy life flighted to Casper, Wyoming. I got, you know, driven out to the hospital in Rollins. And so God was watching over us that day. And, you know, when we experience things like that, we always go to the deepest, darkest place. I know for me, as I sat in that hospital bed, like, all drugged up on morphine and hallucinating that nurses were trying to attack me.

I mean, it was not a fun experience. And then, like, what if I can't walk? Like, my background before that, I was a break dancer. I was a break dancer for 10 years. And now they're telling me I can't walk. So you better believe when I had that stupid walker in the shower, I was doing those exercises and I was pushing. And I was like,

I'm not going to be a wheel. Do you know what I'm saying? And so sometimes when we're in the deepest, darkest despair, as we're climbing back out, we muster up strength that we never had. Because we're seeing through eyes that we've never seen through before. And so I'd love for you to kind of,

share your story. It sounds like it might have been, you know, a similar experience just with the mindset stuff and the shifts that you have to make. And you have to pull it from nowhere, essentially. So I'd love to give some context on your story. I'd love for you to share. Right on. And both of us face that closeness to mortality at a young age. I mean, for you was 19. For me, it was in my 20s. And you realize life is a gift. And every day is a gift. You know, I took a prescribed medication to prevent malaria when I went to Africa and played pro-socker in Zimbabwe. And after many months, it built up toxic levels on my system. The doctors didn't know that that was the cause, and there was no warning that that could happen.

But my health deteriorated rapidly. To give you a picture, I mean, I couldn't control my body temperature with sweats and chills. I had migraine headaches where I couldn't handle any light or noise, and I never have headaches. And I couldn't regulate my heart rate. It would be 160 beats a minute sitting still. Atrial flutter, skip beats, heart murmur. It's like my complete system, my body was out of control, and that's as a pro athlete. And then also all the psychological effects, waves of depression and panic attacks. And you're talking about hallucination. And I just think through like the dreams I would have or what would run through my mind.

And it was like a massive drug overdose. But I made it back to the States, saw a physician at Stanford paid out a pocket. He said it could be the medication. He listed 10 other possibilities. And I knew it was the drug. All the doctors told me to keep taking it because malaria, can be latent. You have to keep taking it for a month. And I prayed. I listened to God. And I heard clearly, don't keep taking the drug. And we had my blood sent to the center of disease control and they found

toxic levels in my system. And if I would have kept taking it for another month, I wouldn't be here today. And I'm not saying doctors are wrong all the time, but there are times when you need to hear that voice and you need to hear that still small voice, that wise voice. And I listen to God. And I'm thankful that God is alive and communicates, and he does help us at our lowest points. Some shifts for me that happened because the recovery was long. And like you said, you're motivated with walking. I made a chart, and I would on my wall, write down how many minutes I could walk. If you ever have a long-term condition and it's chronic, you don't feel like you're

progressing or healing or moving forward. But I could look at my wall and say, all right, I can walk now 15 minutes. And five months ago, I could only walk 10 minutes before my heart would over-accelerate. And I had to celebrate that. It's important to celebrate the progress. It's important to acknowledge, you know, steps forward. Even if you're not where you want to be right now, keep celebrating each step going forward. And a massive shift, you know, the trials in life, C.S. Lewis says pain is like a megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

And I didn't even realize in the layers of my life that my identity was based on performance. And I tell you what you do is not who you are. it's a performance trap. And I put so much pressure myself as a goalkeeper. You know, you get inflated, you get deflated. You get full of yourself. You get really down on yourself. And it's a roller coaster ride because my performance defined me.

And that was a trap. I didn't even realize existed until soccer was gone. You know, school was gone. And I had to search deep and realize that if it can be taken away, whether it's my career or health, my, you know, soccer abilities, if it can be taken away, it's not where I want my identity. And that's where I made the shift to God's presence and God's love. And I don't think that would have happened if I didn't go through the trial I went through. And I ended up being a pastor, and I didn't see that coming. But because I turned to God and met him there and experienced his

healing in such a deep way, I think that was part of the journey towards becoming a pastor as well. But I always wanted to play sports my whole life. So I was a goalkeeper. I played until I was 40. And trials, they change us internally, which then changes. the direction of our life and what we want to bring. And because I know what it's like to feel hopeless in that situation I went through, the passion of my life became bringing hope to other people. And I believe pain fuels and forges a passion in our life. You know, I mentioned my parents divorce. That's why I create content to help marriages. We adopted a boy. My heart just goes out to kids who don't have parents there or missing one or two parents. You know, the pain, it can be redemptive.

can come out of it, but it's a brutal journey. It tests you to the core. And there were a lot of things that needed to shift in my life and without pain, I don't think those shifts would have happened. And I'm grateful looking back for the shifts. But man, when 19 in your 20s, when you realize you're not going to live forever and each day is a gift, it really does change your perspective. 100%. Yeah, I definitely can agree with that. It's, it is perspective shifting for the rest of your days for sure. Thank you for sharing that context. I know a lot of people are going to be inspired that we're even talking to you, right? I mean, just imagine if you would have just went with what the doctor said and kept taking the drugs. Again, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

So appreciate you sharing that. I think that's going to help a lot of people that are going through a similar situation. And every part of your journey is your journey, right? Everyone has a different path and a different story and a different journey. But I firmly believe that we all have a story. We all have our gifts. And sometimes, you know, our mess can, in fact, be our message. And you and I are walking testaments of that, right? We can kind of take something we've been through and then share that hope with other people and say, if we can do it, you can do it. If we can be sitting here having a conversation, so can you. Absolutely. You know, there's information and there's inspiration. We need both, but not all

information leads to transformation. And there's a lot of stuff available, content available, and how much value does it add, you know, that development is so important, you know, skills, spiritually, relationally. And I think the trials that we see other people go through inspire us. And I'm sure so many people listen. I mean, the guests you've had on this podcast, I mean, Jordan, your own journey, just in the last two years, what you've done in some courageous steps and how alive and free you are and spreading your wings.

I mean, there's a lot of things in life that are contagious. I think they are taught, but then they're also caught. when you get around people that are overcoming and you get around people that are alive and are going for it, like we talked about culture changing before, but it's both on the outside and the inside. And there's an authenticity that comes from trials. It's easy to fall into traps or play games or just, you know, entertain, have a front. But when you bend through the fire, life gets more real. And it's really defining.

And when you figure out your purpose and when you figure out your gifts and why you're here on earth and how you can make it a better place, Then, I mean, that fire right there, that's a flame that doesn't go out. And when you can live in that, that's the zone to stay in. And all of us have that. And it isn't for me a self-help thing. I'm fully alive. But for me, it's, again, relationship because a quality of life comes down, the quality of relationship with friends, family, and ultimately with God.

And I couldn't do it alone. I don't have a self-help formula. But instead, I believe that when you are loved by your creator. Let's say this. If you have an appliance in your house and it's not working, what do you do? You find out who made it, GE. They know everything about the appliance. You're going to ask them the questions. They wrote it in the booklet. And you're going to know what that appliance is designed to do. And I think the closer you get to your creator, the closer you get to your purpose and know why you're created. And then like I say, there is a love and a fire in your soul that just is going to take over. And that's okay. You don't have to have everything in

control. You don't have to know all the answers what's coming. But what you're going. But what you you know is that in this moment, like you're abiding, you're walking, you're trusting, and then out of that empowerment, you're going to step into situations. Doors are going to open that you never saw coming. And I mean, that's what I think Jordan's happened for you the last two years. That's what happened for me the last two years as well. And it's an exciting time to be alive. I know in many ways it's the most difficult time to be alive. Just a couple of statistics, you know, half America feels hopeless during the pandemic, Census Bureau. Center of Disease Control, never more drug overdoses than there are right now. American Psychological Association, we've never been more

stressed than we are now. I'm not in denial of those things, but I am saying in the middle of those, there is a hope and an opportunity right now. There's a platform right now, things like this podcast, and it's ripe for entrepreneurs. It's ripe right now for people with a vision, say apostleship, people that are willing to take some risks and blaze new trails. Like, you couldn't be living in a better time. It's a time where there's a lot of, you should feel empowered right now because there's more available to you, I think, than ever before. Yeah, you know, very well said and completely true, you know, and like you said earlier, when you can understand your gifts, the things that actually give you energy, it makes your

day is a lot better, you know, because the worst place you can be, and I'll raise my hand, because I know this from experience, is working for a micromanaging boss that is on your case all day and wondering what you're doing. and you're like, how the heck are you working? You're so worried about me. How are you getting your job done? That's probably the worst place that you can be. And so when you can understand yourself, that self-awareness piece,

when you can know what gives you the energy, and when you can understand how you're wired, man, those are three ingredients that will help you. It doesn't mean there aren't going to be troubles. Because believe me, they're going to come at you probably even harder when you're living in your strengths than they would be if you were just mundanely, you know, meagerly going. through life. So expect hardships, expect the unexpected to happen. But at the end of the day,

it's not about how many times you fall. It's about how many times you get back up. And so, you know, when we, when we experience these, these adversities and you hear stories of the things that are happening in the media and the news, we understand that they're happening, but we get the choice of how we're going to react and respond. We get the choice of how we're going to let it impact us. Were we going to be a victor or a victim? And so that's my encouragement for everyone that's going to see this episode is, as, you know, Jesse had a choice in Africa. He could have just said, you know what? I'm going to stay there and ride this thing out.

It doesn't look good. Or let me come back home and let me actually dive into some further research. Let me actually see if there is something that's going to be possible. And when you start actually asking yourself questions like he did to try to see, you know, is there another way? you might actually find yourself getting answers. So this has been great having you on the show. I want you to share the best place for people to find you. Of course, we're going to plug all your social links.

I know you're active on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, and you're creating content everywhere, putting out positivity. But just share maybe the one place you want people to reach you, and then we'll do some parting words here as well. Right on. Thanks, Jordan. And I appreciate to what you just said, because if someone's in a low ceiling right now, it starts with the power of the second thought.

The first thought might be limiting or destroy. destructive, selfish, but the second thought, you can intentionally choose it, replace it, and then walk in it. And the cost might be high, but when you believe in something, it's okay. And I'll tell you, when you're alive and you believe in what you're doing, even if the cost is high, you're going to keep going. And my website that we just made is jessiebradley.org. And on there, there's a lot of free content. There's a lot of different series, video series. You can check out. The theme is hope and a lot of different contexts. And so I appreciate. anyone reaching out and let's do it together.

Awesome, my friend. Well, you are definitely a trailblazer. You know, you've blazed a trail. And really, you're just getting started, I believe. You know, you had a previous life, you're doing the thing as an athlete. But what's really cool is you're able to bring, you know, that champion level experience and now use it in a different context, which actually has more meaning than it did prior to some of the glitz and glamour and in the accolades and achievements. Now you're actually helping people get from point A to point B, which as you know in life, that's what everyone's goal is.

Like, how do I become a better version of me? And that's what you're helping people do. So I appreciate the work that you're doing. Thanks so much for hanging with the audience. Any final words for the audience? You know, I didn't just say this, clarity and courage, clarity for where you're going and then courage to move forward. A key decision for me during the pandemic. I found myself really in Christian circles, which is great.

I mean, as a pastor, I'm there naturally, frequently, but I realized to connect with people who are in different spaces, I was going to need to learn a lot. I was going to need to learn. And it's been a journey the last couple of years from podcast to radio, television, Good Morning America, just a lot of different things that I didn't see coming, international TV networks, and it's been so much fun.

It's been so energizing. And what I would say to people listening is having that clarity and courage, to not just stay in what's familiar and comfortable just because it seems easy, or the bills are technically getting paid, or, well, yeah, you do have a job that's pretty respectable. Instead, it might start as a side hustle or an interest, but I like to say there's no limits to what God can do. And clarity and courage, just keep moving forward. And it's hard to, you know, steer a parked car. So take the next step. Even if it's a small one, take the next step. And you got guys like Jordan Jordan, cheering you on, feeding you great content. And Jordan, we appreciate you. Thanks for all you bring and the passion, the way you through this podcast too, are just reaching people around the world. Keep up the good work.

Appreciate that, my friend. And one thing I've learned in my journey is instability, create stability, not the other way around. So you're going to have to get a little bit uncomfortable folks. You're going to have to get a little unfamiliar if you truly want to grow. If you don't want to and then stay where you are, that's the easy path. But if you want to grow, you're going to have to take action. like Jesse said. Jesse, thanks so much for coming on the show. You are a true trailblazer. And we were going to close you out with some clapping. It's been amazing having you come on, feeding into the audience. So thank you so much, my friend. Appreciate you, Jordan. Take care. Thanks.