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Allen Jackson NOW | Allen Jackson: Coach Prays After Every Game | Allen Jackson Now | March 27, 2025
- Well.
- 00:00:17.565 --> 00:00:17.998
- Good evening.
- 00:00:17.998 --> 00:00:18.999
- I'm allen jackson, and welcome to nashville.
- 00:00:18.999 --> 00:00:20.968
- And welcome to our guest coach joe kennedy.
- 00:00:20.968 --> 00:00:23.971
- Just another regular guy who coached a high school
- 00:00:23.971 --> 00:00:26.607
- Football team.
- 00:00:26.607 --> 00:00:27.942
- Except that
- 00:00:27.942 --> 00:00:28.742
- This was the coach who had a habit
- 00:00:28.742 --> 00:00:30.077
- Of saying a prayer after every game.
- 00:00:30.077 --> 00:00:32.379
- A very brief, private moment at the 50 yard line
- 00:00:32.379 --> 00:00:36.083
- Until the authorities in his district told him to stop.
- 00:00:36.083 --> 00:00:39.720
- Well, it turns out they were messing with the wrong guy.
- 00:00:39.720 --> 00:00:42.723
- Joe kennedy was a marine and a man with a deep faith.
- 00:00:42.723 --> 00:00:46.393
- You may have listened to advice about calling a play,
- 00:00:46.393 --> 00:00:48.996
- But he was never going to listen
- 00:00:48.996 --> 00:00:50.297
- To anyone messing with his faith.
- 00:00:50.297 --> 00:00:52.633
- Welcome to nashville, coach.
- 00:00:52.633 --> 00:00:54.568
- Thank you.
- 00:00:54.568 --> 00:00:55.302
- What a journey you've had.
- 00:00:55.302 --> 00:00:57.071
- And now the full story is out in your new book, average joe.
- 00:00:57.071 --> 00:01:00.207
- Everybody needs to read this.
- 00:01:00.207 --> 00:01:01.709
- It's one man's faith in the fight to change a nation.
- 00:01:01.709 --> 00:01:04.745
- It's certainly one of
- 00:01:05.246 --> 00:01:06.380
- The more inspirational stories that i've read in years.
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- I want people to get to know your story in the time
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- We've got.
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- Before you were a high school coach
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- And before you made it to the supreme court,
- 00:01:15.623 --> 00:01:17.391
- You actually got expelled from school more than once.
- 00:01:17.391 --> 00:01:21.328
- Can we start back at the beginning
- 00:01:21.328 --> 00:01:22.663
- And tell us a little bit about that? yeah. from, unwanted,
- 00:01:22.663 --> 00:01:26.167
- Unwanted child.
- 00:01:26.534 --> 00:01:27.701
- I was put up for adoption and i was became an angry kid.
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- And yeah,
- 00:01:31.172 --> 00:01:32.406
- The first time i was kicked out, i was expelled in third grade.
- 00:01:32.406 --> 00:01:35.376
- So about age nine.
- 00:01:35.376 --> 00:01:36.810
- So i was a pretty bad kid.
- 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:39.113
- And things didn't get better until i joined the military.
- 00:01:39.113 --> 00:01:42.082
- So in and out of group homes, foster homes, boys homes,
- 00:01:42.082 --> 00:01:45.085
- I was a mess, a complete disaster.
- 00:01:45.085 --> 00:01:47.988
- Well, i'm a pastor, so i hear a lot of people's stories.
- 00:01:47.988 --> 00:01:50.024
- You were actually adopted,
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- And then your adoptive family circumstances changed and they
- 00:01:51.759 --> 00:01:55.029
- Put you back in the system? yes, sir.
- 00:01:55.029 --> 00:01:57.331
- Which fueled the rejection and the anger even more.
- 00:01:57.331 --> 00:02:00.167
- Yeah. confused. angry kid.
- 00:02:00.167 --> 00:02:01.769
- That's what i was all this time.
- 00:02:01.769 --> 00:02:04.104
- Well, let's go back to that moment
- 00:02:04.104 --> 00:02:05.639
- When you decided to kneel at the 50 yard line
- 00:02:05.639 --> 00:02:08.375
- And pray on the field.
- 00:02:08.375 --> 00:02:09.610
- What was going through your mind when you decided to do that?
- 00:02:09.610 --> 00:02:12.079
- Well, the very last time
- 00:02:12.079 --> 00:02:14.548
- You're talking about was, i didn't know what i was doing.
- 00:02:14.548 --> 00:02:18.285
- I was just believing in the lord
- 00:02:18.285 --> 00:02:20.020
- That he's called me to do this,
- 00:02:20.020 --> 00:02:21.956
- And i believed i was doing the right thing.
- 00:02:21.956 --> 00:02:24.024
- I knew that the last time i prayed on the 50 yard line,
- 00:02:24.024 --> 00:02:26.660
- It was going to cost me everything in my job
- 00:02:26.660 --> 00:02:28.963
- The first time.
- 00:02:28.963 --> 00:02:29.830
- Didn't even bat an eye
- 00:02:29.830 --> 00:02:31.065
- Because praying in public, praying and anywhere.
- 00:02:31.065 --> 00:02:34.401
- This is america, you could pray wherever you want.
- 00:02:34.401 --> 00:02:36.403
- God doesn't care.
- 00:02:36.403 --> 00:02:37.938
- But some obviously somebody did
- 00:02:37.938 --> 00:02:39.707
- And ultimately cost me everything.
- 00:02:39.707 --> 00:02:41.809
- And, i just did it because it was the right thing to do, and i
- 00:02:41.809 --> 00:02:46.413
- That was my my,
- 00:02:46.413 --> 00:02:48.415
- My thing with god is that i my covenant was to give them
- 00:02:48.415 --> 00:02:51.719
- Thanks after every game, win or lose.
- 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:54.688
- Well, it seems like to me, with 20 years
- 00:02:54.688 --> 00:02:56.223
- In the marine corps, you had invested your life
- 00:02:56.223 --> 00:02:58.259
- In fighting for the privilege of having a prayer.
- 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:00.561
- You know, the constitution really meant something to me.
- 00:03:00.561 --> 00:03:03.130
- It wasn't just something that i.
- 00:03:03.130 --> 00:03:05.866
- I read at one time.
- 00:03:05.866 --> 00:03:07.568
- And when i take the oath of enlistment,
- 00:03:07.568 --> 00:03:09.403
- It still makes the hair in the back of my head stand up,
- 00:03:09.403 --> 00:03:11.839
- To support and defend the constitution.
- 00:03:12.673 --> 00:03:14.608
- So the first amendment was very clear,
- 00:03:14.608 --> 00:03:16.477
- So simply wrote and so eloquently wrote that
- 00:03:16.477 --> 00:03:20.347
- Anybody can understand that the freedom of our religion
- 00:03:20.347 --> 00:03:23.183
- And the freedom of expression,
- 00:03:23.183 --> 00:03:24.952
- These are things that people can't take away from us.
- 00:03:24.952 --> 00:03:27.354
- And that's what they were trying to do.
- 00:03:27.354 --> 00:03:29.189
- So tell us how you got word
- 00:03:29.189 --> 00:03:30.457
- That the local authorities wanted you to stop.
- 00:03:30.457 --> 00:03:32.459
- What did they say? and what did you tell them?
- 00:03:32.459 --> 00:03:35.329
- They sat down with,
- 00:03:35.329 --> 00:03:37.431
- The whole group, the superintendent and the rest
- 00:03:37.431 --> 00:03:40.167
- Of the school board.
- 00:03:40.167 --> 00:03:41.302
- And we sat there and they said,
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- Just stop praying with the kids.
- 00:03:42.970 --> 00:03:44.471
- And i think everything will be fine.
- 00:03:44.471 --> 00:03:46.240
- And i said, well, that's unfortunate
- 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:47.975
- Because this is what what was so great about it
- 00:03:47.975 --> 00:03:50.544
- And why they learned about it in the first place.
- 00:03:50.544 --> 00:03:52.746
- They got a compliment from it.
- 00:03:52.746 --> 00:03:54.748
- So this all started from a compliment.
- 00:03:54.748 --> 00:03:57.217
- And so i stopped praying with the kids.
- 00:03:57.217 --> 00:03:59.086
- I said, i don't want to have a fight,
- 00:03:59.086 --> 00:04:00.688
- I just want to coach football. and that's what i did.
- 00:04:00.688 --> 00:04:03.390
- I ended up just telling them
- 00:04:03.390 --> 00:04:05.059
- That i've stopped praying with the kids.
- 00:04:05.059 --> 00:04:06.427
- I never prayed with another
- 00:04:06.427 --> 00:04:07.995
- One of my players again, and but that wasn't good enough.
- 00:04:07.995 --> 00:04:11.799
- They could still see me in public doing it.
- 00:04:11.799 --> 00:04:14.168
- And that's where we came to the impasse.
- 00:04:14.168 --> 00:04:17.271
- And they said,
- 00:04:17.271 --> 00:04:18.339
- You need to choose between your faith and your job.
- 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:20.174
- And that was an easy one for me.
- 00:04:20.174 --> 00:04:22.676
- So you were praying
- 00:04:22.676 --> 00:04:24.044
- On the field, but you weren't bringing the students in.
- 00:04:24.044 --> 00:04:26.080
- You were just having a prayer.
- 00:04:26.080 --> 00:04:27.181
- Yes. at the end, that's exactly what i was doing.
- 00:04:27.181 --> 00:04:29.516
- And they objected to that.
- 00:04:29.516 --> 00:04:30.718
- They objected to that
- 00:04:30.718 --> 00:04:31.852
- Because i could be seen in public at a public school.
- 00:04:31.852 --> 00:04:35.022
- Can you believe that?
- 00:04:35.022 --> 00:04:36.357
- I probably can, which is unfortunate.
- 00:04:37.157 --> 00:04:39.660
- Do you ever consider doing anything other than praying?
- 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:41.929
- I did, i, i this was a huge battle for me
- 00:04:41.929 --> 00:04:44.498
- Because nowhere in our church,
- 00:04:44.498 --> 00:04:47.835
- In the groups, bible
- 00:04:47.835 --> 00:04:49.970
- Studies that i've ever been to, did they prep me for this?
- 00:04:49.970 --> 00:04:53.107
- What do you do when you're confronted with this?
- 00:04:53.107 --> 00:04:55.342
- Do you do what do your bosses telling you, or do you do what
- 00:04:55.342 --> 00:04:59.446
- Your god's telling you?
- 00:04:59.446 --> 00:05:00.748
- And i didn't know which way to go.
- 00:05:00.748 --> 00:05:03.584
- The fighter, i mean, the american in the
- 00:05:03.584 --> 00:05:05.552
- Marine and me was like, no, this is wrong.
- 00:05:05.552 --> 00:05:07.588
- It's dead wrong.
- 00:05:07.588 --> 00:05:09.189
- The christian in me was very well,
- 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:11.425
- I didn't know what to do.
- 00:05:11.425 --> 00:05:12.659
- So i spent a lot of time praying and asking and saying, god,
- 00:05:12.659 --> 00:05:16.697
- Am i supposed to go along with this?
- 00:05:16.697 --> 00:05:18.365
- Or stand up and fight for what i believe in.
- 00:05:18.365 --> 00:05:21.502
- What the people say,
- 00:05:21.502 --> 00:05:22.403
- What the fans say when they found out
- 00:05:22.403 --> 00:05:23.637
- About the debate around you, praying.
- 00:05:23.637 --> 00:05:26.573
- That they were really great.
- 00:05:26.573 --> 00:05:27.975
- Of course, you're going to have the 1
- 00:05:27.975 --> 00:05:29.209
- Or 2%, but you should have seen it.
- 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:31.111
- We had it was incredible.
- 00:05:31.111 --> 00:05:33.814
- We had the entire stadium filled and they came
- 00:05:33.814 --> 00:05:36.850
- Running out onto the field and they all joined me.
- 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:39.520
- Imagine 5000 people praying on a football
- 00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:42.322
- Field up in this little town in washington state.
- 00:05:42.322 --> 00:05:45.025
- It was the most awesomest thing i've ever seen.
- 00:05:45.025 --> 00:05:47.194
- It just god is moving in some incredible ways.
- 00:05:47.194 --> 00:05:51.231
- And this was more than praying in public.
- 00:05:51.231 --> 00:05:53.200
- This got personal because your wife worked
- 00:05:53.200 --> 00:05:54.935
- For the school board in charge of hr.
- 00:05:54.935 --> 00:05:57.137
- She was the hr director. yeah.
- 00:05:57.137 --> 00:05:58.772
- So this was very close to home.
- 00:05:58.772 --> 00:06:00.441
- This was a
- 00:06:00.441 --> 00:06:01.375
- And we had two kids in the school. we had,
- 00:06:01.375 --> 00:06:03.510
- Two kids in the high school, one in the middle school.
- 00:06:03.510 --> 00:06:05.646
- So this was very much involved in every aspect of her life.
- 00:06:05.646 --> 00:06:09.550
- So your wife had to fire you?
- 00:06:10.184 --> 00:06:12.319
- Yeah.
- 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:13.520
- And i had to sue her and returned it.
- 00:06:14.321 --> 00:06:16.857
- Great thing is, is that
- 00:06:16.857 --> 00:06:18.525
- Her name
- 00:06:18.525 --> 00:06:19.359
- Did not have to go on to the letter,
- 00:06:19.359 --> 00:06:20.494
- But she was the one who did deliver to me.
- 00:06:20.494 --> 00:06:22.429
- That said, my my time of coaching was over.
- 00:06:22.429 --> 00:06:25.599
- So we had some intense fellowship
- 00:06:25.599 --> 00:06:27.801
- Over this entire thing.
- 00:06:27.801 --> 00:06:29.369
- Well, i think that's an important piece of the story.
- 00:06:29.369 --> 00:06:31.705
- This wasn't just something that was lived out in a courtroom.
- 00:06:31.705 --> 00:06:34.741
- This came inside the house.
- 00:06:34.741 --> 00:06:36.276
- I mean, you had to live with the pressure in the community.
- 00:06:36.276 --> 00:06:38.645
- It affected the people you all worked with in your family.
- 00:06:38.645 --> 00:06:42.449
- And it was on the news every single day.
- 00:06:42.449 --> 00:06:44.251
- We can go to the story. you can go out in public.
- 00:06:44.251 --> 00:06:46.553
- This is a small town in a military town.
- 00:06:46.553 --> 00:06:49.223
- We grew up with these people. our kids all grew up together.
- 00:06:49.223 --> 00:06:51.792
- We all go to church together and it goes to the same church.
- 00:06:51.792 --> 00:06:55.028
- So you can imagine this small community
- 00:06:55.028 --> 00:06:56.997
- Being disrupted like this.
- 00:06:56.997 --> 00:06:58.599
- It's playing on every single thing from,
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- From fox news to cnn to espn.
- 00:07:01.702 --> 00:07:05.606
- It was everywhere, and it infiltrated
- 00:07:05.606 --> 00:07:08.575
- Every aspect of our life, and it turned our life upside down.
- 00:07:08.575 --> 00:07:12.679
- My wife wasn't happy about it, and she she just wanted like me.
- 00:07:12.679 --> 00:07:17.384
- I just wanted to coach football and wanted to live my life.
- 00:07:17.384 --> 00:07:20.087
- I didn't want any of this nonsense that was going on.
- 00:07:20.087 --> 00:07:23.590
- Well, coach kennedy, we're going to take a quick timeout.
- 00:07:24.691 --> 00:07:27.127
- So please stay with us for another segment, if you will.
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- Absolutely.
- 00:07:29.630 --> 00:07:30.564
- And if you want to write an email
- 00:07:30.564 --> 00:07:31.765
- And jump in on this discussion,
- 00:07:31.765 --> 00:07:33.534
- You can send it to comments at allen jackson now.com.
- 00:07:33.534 --> 00:07:37.004
- We'll be right back.
- 00:07:37.004 --> 00:07:43.995
- We'll be right back.
- 00:07:43.995 --> 00:07:47.382
- We're back now with coach joe kennedy.
- 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:50.618
- The average joe, as he's referred to in his new book.
- 00:07:50.618 --> 00:07:53.755
- Of course, he's anything but your average joe.
- 00:07:53.755 --> 00:07:56.357
- You were a former marine.
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- No one should try to mess with the marine.
- 00:07:58.159 --> 00:08:00.728
- Tell me how you're the training that you got in the corps.
- 00:08:00.728 --> 00:08:03.531
- Prepared you for the seven year journey
- 00:08:03.531 --> 00:08:05.300
- With the school officials in the courts.
- 00:08:05.300 --> 00:08:07.235
- Well, you know,
- 00:08:07.235 --> 00:08:08.202
- I was a really bad kid, so i needed to put all
- 00:08:08.202 --> 00:08:10.972
- That anger into something.
- 00:08:10.972 --> 00:08:12.307
- And the marine corps was a perfect place.
- 00:08:12.307 --> 00:08:14.175
- I learned a lot about discipline and self-control
- 00:08:14.175 --> 00:08:16.878
- And being able to utilize these skills
- 00:08:16.878 --> 00:08:19.247
- That were bottled up inside of me for something good.
- 00:08:19.247 --> 00:08:22.517
- And the great thing was that the constitution
- 00:08:22.517 --> 00:08:25.453
- Actually came to life, and i was standing for something
- 00:08:25.453 --> 00:08:27.956
- That that meant more than myself.
- 00:08:27.956 --> 00:08:30.358
- So really, it took me right into the perfect.
- 00:08:30.358 --> 00:08:33.361
- I didn't even realize that that god's fingerprints
- 00:08:33.361 --> 00:08:35.997
- Were on this because you couldn't remember.
- 00:08:35.997 --> 00:08:37.865
- I was an atheist all throughout my time in the marine corps.
- 00:08:37.865 --> 00:08:41.469
- There was there was no god to me.
- 00:08:41.469 --> 00:08:43.638
- So when god got a hold of me, he did pick the right guy
- 00:08:43.638 --> 00:08:47.342
- Who'd love to fight and i'm a scrapper.
- 00:08:47.342 --> 00:08:50.912
- So god knew what he was doing
- 00:08:50.912 --> 00:08:52.080
- When he was designing this whole thing.
- 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.115
- Well, i was smiling as i'm reading your story
- 00:08:54.115 --> 00:08:56.084
- Because i think the school board
- 00:08:56.084 --> 00:08:57.018
- Probably thought they had somebody
- 00:08:57.018 --> 00:08:58.219
- That was kind of a quiet, reluctant christian
- 00:08:58.219 --> 00:09:00.822
- Having a little prayer, and they tapped the shoulder
- 00:09:00.822 --> 00:09:03.758
- Of a 20 year marine vet
- 00:09:03.758 --> 00:09:06.828
- That had already overcome a troubled childhood.
- 00:09:06.828 --> 00:09:09.063
- So god put you in that place for that moment?
- 00:09:09.063 --> 00:09:11.099
- Yeah,
- 00:09:11.099 --> 00:09:12.300
- I heard that a lot of what i thought you were a christian.
- 00:09:12.300 --> 00:09:14.168
- And i'm like, well, i'm sorry,
- 00:09:14.168 --> 00:09:15.436
- I'm not that kind of a christian.
- 00:09:15.436 --> 00:09:18.272
- Well share it.
- 00:09:18.606 --> 00:09:19.741
- You shared a story in the book that i want you to share
- 00:09:19.741 --> 00:09:21.242
- With the viewers,
- 00:09:21.242 --> 00:09:22.343
- Though it's the one time you did
- 00:09:22.343 --> 00:09:23.411
- Have some apprehension as a marine.
- 00:09:23.411 --> 00:09:25.246
- It was during your
- 00:09:25.246 --> 00:09:26.481
- First deployment that began with a seriously overweight jet,
- 00:09:26.481 --> 00:09:29.617
- And you ended up coaching a flight attendant
- 00:09:29.617 --> 00:09:31.452
- Who was afraid you might not even get off the ground.
- 00:09:31.452 --> 00:09:33.254
- Yeah, that was terrifying moment.
- 00:09:33.254 --> 00:09:35.089
- We were just packed up.
- 00:09:35.089 --> 00:09:36.557
- The iraq just took over in kuwait,
- 00:09:36.557 --> 00:09:40.128
- And we were out into the country and we had no military jet.
- 00:09:40.128 --> 00:09:43.765
- So we were on this jumbo 747 or whatever it was.
- 00:09:43.765 --> 00:09:47.869
- And we are fully loaded.
- 00:09:47.869 --> 00:09:49.804
- We have grenades, we have rounds in our rifles.
- 00:09:49.804 --> 00:09:52.874
- We're expecting to get off and engage the enemy.
- 00:09:52.874 --> 00:09:56.544
- And we were so heavy we started taking off
- 00:09:56.544 --> 00:09:59.313
- And the stewardess started strapping in.
- 00:09:59.313 --> 00:10:02.884
- And she's got this look and she's white
- 00:10:02.884 --> 00:10:04.585
- Knuckling it and i'm like, what's going on?
- 00:10:04.585 --> 00:10:08.389
- She says, and we never been this heavy
- 00:10:08.389 --> 00:10:10.391
- When we started taking off, they went full throttle
- 00:10:10.391 --> 00:10:12.894
- And we didn't even even start moving.
- 00:10:12.894 --> 00:10:14.495
- Usually you get pushed back in your seat.
- 00:10:14.495 --> 00:10:16.431
- We just sat there and the guy comes on
- 00:10:16.431 --> 00:10:19.200
- And says, we're going to give this a try.
- 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:20.802
- We'll see if it goes.
- 00:10:20.802 --> 00:10:22.070
- And man, we barely cleared.
- 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:24.639
- And when we came down into germany,
- 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.574
- We broke a landing gear.
- 00:10:26.574 --> 00:10:28.209
- So we were we were heavy and it was a terrifying
- 00:10:28.209 --> 00:10:31.579
- I don't like flying to begin with.
- 00:10:31.579 --> 00:10:33.114
- And here i am thinking
- 00:10:33.114 --> 00:10:34.382
- Not man, i'm not even going to get to the combat.
- 00:10:34.382 --> 00:10:36.317
- I'm going to die on the stupid plane.
- 00:10:36.317 --> 00:10:38.519
- Well, this whole event,
- 00:10:39.020 --> 00:10:40.688
- I mean, from the beginning to the end,
- 00:10:40.688 --> 00:10:42.256
- Takes more than seven years. yes.
- 00:10:42.256 --> 00:10:44.258
- So this wasn't like a microwave prayer answer
- 00:10:44.258 --> 00:10:47.295
- Where you just prayed a simple prayer
- 00:10:47.295 --> 00:10:48.863
- And you got the answer you wanted.
- 00:10:48.863 --> 00:10:51.032
- How do you walk through seven years of turmoil
- 00:10:51.032 --> 00:10:53.668
- In your family and your community?
- 00:10:53.668 --> 00:10:55.970
- That's not a simple thing. yeah.
- 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.306
- I don't know how we did it.
- 00:10:58.306 --> 00:11:00.208
- I really i look back all the time, and it took
- 00:11:00.208 --> 00:11:04.378
- Nine football seasons for me to get back onto the field
- 00:11:04.378 --> 00:11:07.415
- That in seven times we lost in court.
- 00:11:07.415 --> 00:11:10.418
- That was the longest time in my life that i just kept
- 00:11:10.418 --> 00:11:13.888
- Questioning god. is this the right thing?
- 00:11:13.888 --> 00:11:15.723
- Am i doing the right thing?
- 00:11:15.723 --> 00:11:17.191
- My family,
- 00:11:17.191 --> 00:11:18.059
- We were at such odds with each other,
- 00:11:18.059 --> 00:11:20.461
- And when you hear you
- 00:11:20.461 --> 00:11:21.562
- That no, you're wrong and that you can't have prayer
- 00:11:21.562 --> 00:11:24.866
- In the public square.
- 00:11:24.866 --> 00:11:26.234
- If you hear this enough in the separation
- 00:11:26.234 --> 00:11:28.202
- Of church and state and all this nonsense
- 00:11:28.202 --> 00:11:30.104
- That's been going on
- 00:11:30.104 --> 00:11:31.205
- For the past 50 years, you kind of it does keep ending.
- 00:11:31.205 --> 00:11:35.042
- You do think that maybe i am not doing the right thing,
- 00:11:35.042 --> 00:11:39.013
- But i just knew that god called me for a reason,
- 00:11:39.013 --> 00:11:43.217
- And i even if i was hanging on by my fingernails,
- 00:11:43.217 --> 00:11:46.154
- I was going to stay true.
- 00:11:46.154 --> 00:11:47.488
- And sometimes that's all i had was at night,
- 00:11:47.488 --> 00:11:50.224
- Just on my knees praying, going, god,
- 00:11:50.224 --> 00:11:52.326
- Just get me through one more day of this.
- 00:11:52.326 --> 00:11:54.962
- Know it strikes me as a bit odd.
- 00:11:55.596 --> 00:11:57.632
- I go to
- 00:11:57.632 --> 00:11:58.533
- High school football games in college
- 00:11:58.533 --> 00:11:59.700
- And watch some professional stuff.
- 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:01.936
- It's not unusual to hear profanity at a football game
- 00:12:01.936 --> 00:12:05.506
- And you're a marine.
- 00:12:05.973 --> 00:12:07.008
- You've probably heard one of those words.
- 00:12:07.008 --> 00:12:08.576
- I'm sure you've never used it. never known.
- 00:12:08.576 --> 00:12:11.279
- But you end up in front of the
- 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:12.814
- United states supreme court for a 15 second
- 00:12:12.814 --> 00:12:16.050
- Prayer, not profanity.
- 00:12:16.050 --> 00:12:19.053
- How have we gotten to this place in our nation.
- 00:12:19.053 --> 00:12:22.156
- That i still wonder that i take a look around our country,
- 00:12:22.156 --> 00:12:25.693
- And i guess the 20 years while i was in the marine corps,
- 00:12:25.693 --> 00:12:28.963
- I lived in a different, different society
- 00:12:28.963 --> 00:12:32.567
- Where i didn't see it all coming unglued.
- 00:12:32.567 --> 00:12:34.702
- I always assumed everybody was red blooded
- 00:12:34.702 --> 00:12:37.104
- American and were fighters and wanted to stand up for,
- 00:12:37.104 --> 00:12:40.441
- You know, uncle sam, apple pie and baseball
- 00:12:40.441 --> 00:12:43.277
- And all of those things.
- 00:12:43.277 --> 00:12:44.345
- And i was under the illusion that this is where
- 00:12:44.345 --> 00:12:46.514
- All americans were.
- 00:12:46.514 --> 00:12:47.849
- So 20 years while i was serving to protect our constitution,
- 00:12:47.849 --> 00:12:51.619
- I didn't realize how was being eroded away.
- 00:12:51.619 --> 00:12:54.755
- So when i got out,
- 00:12:54.755 --> 00:12:55.990
- It was this huge culture shock to me thinking,
- 00:12:55.990 --> 00:12:59.126
- This is not the america that i've been
- 00:12:59.126 --> 00:13:01.562
- Supporting and defending, and it's because of the apathy,
- 00:13:01.562 --> 00:13:04.465
- And we just let this little stuff creep in
- 00:13:04.465 --> 00:13:06.767
- And it slowly erodes our society.
- 00:13:06.767 --> 00:13:09.070
- It didn't happen overnight.
- 00:13:09.070 --> 00:13:10.404
- This has happened to over the past 50 years.
- 00:13:10.404 --> 00:13:12.874
- And now
- 00:13:12.874 --> 00:13:14.108
- We now we're trying to catch up and trying to come back around
- 00:13:14.108 --> 00:13:17.211
- To where we're supposed to be.
- 00:13:17.211 --> 00:13:19.580
- You know, we talked a little bit before the program and,
- 00:13:19.580 --> 00:13:22.783
- You know, you said you were better
- 00:13:22.783 --> 00:13:23.951
- At living your bible than you were quoting it.
- 00:13:23.951 --> 00:13:27.154
- And i love that image because i'm responsible
- 00:13:27.154 --> 00:13:30.224
- For a little bit of both.
- 00:13:30.224 --> 00:13:31.759
- And we all know the verse about turning the other cheek.
- 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.428
- But when you're confronted with evil,
- 00:13:34.428 --> 00:13:36.931
- It seems to me we also have a biblical assignment to stand up.
- 00:13:36.931 --> 00:13:40.434
- And somehow you grasp that and you were willing
- 00:13:40.434 --> 00:13:43.404
- To stand even in the midst of the stress it brought.
- 00:13:43.404 --> 00:13:46.607
- So there's people watching this that are trying decide
- 00:13:46.607 --> 00:13:49.310
- Whether they should capitulate to a school board
- 00:13:49.310 --> 00:13:51.112
- That wants to put smut in a library, or
- 00:13:51.112 --> 00:13:53.714
- If we should stand.
- 00:13:53.714 --> 00:13:55.216
- What's your counsel to those people that are watching?
- 00:13:55.216 --> 00:13:58.052
- It goes back to the very basics of things that we're taught
- 00:13:58.052 --> 00:14:01.555
- As human beings. god's put an imprint on our life.
- 00:14:01.555 --> 00:14:04.458
- And even if, you know, if you're not an american, which
- 00:14:04.458 --> 00:14:08.629
- There's right and
- 00:14:09.063 --> 00:14:10.331
- Wrong in the world and we all could put our finger on that.
- 00:14:10.331 --> 00:14:13.734
- It's just we have let things come and just
- 00:14:13.734 --> 00:14:17.071
- Infiltrate our life.
- 00:14:17.538 --> 00:14:18.673
- And i my my big motto is, is my bible verse
- 00:14:18.673 --> 00:14:22.310
- Second timothy four seven of fighting the good fight
- 00:14:22.310 --> 00:14:24.946
- To finish the race and remaining faithful.
- 00:14:24.946 --> 00:14:26.981
- Nowhere in there does it say we have to win,
- 00:14:26.981 --> 00:14:28.983
- But we are called to be fighters and warriors.
- 00:14:28.983 --> 00:14:32.620
- We're not called to be this loving
- 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:35.923
- Christianity softness
- 00:14:36.424 --> 00:14:38.526
- That that the church has been portraying all this time.
- 00:14:38.526 --> 00:14:41.562
- That that's not the way the world is.
- 00:14:41.562 --> 00:14:43.297
- God gave us dominion over this world
- 00:14:43.297 --> 00:14:45.700
- And we made a mess of it.
- 00:14:45.700 --> 00:14:46.968
- So we need to be the ones to clean it up.
- 00:14:46.968 --> 00:14:49.337
- And it starts with each one of us in our own homes.
- 00:14:49.337 --> 00:14:52.606
- I've got one more quick question before we go.
- 00:14:52.606 --> 00:14:54.542
- The point of coaching is the kids. yes, sir.
- 00:14:54.542 --> 00:14:56.477
- So what was the impact of all of this on your players
- 00:14:56.477 --> 00:14:58.946
- And those folks you were actually coaching?
- 00:14:58.946 --> 00:15:01.215
- I got to be the living example of what i've always
- 00:15:01.215 --> 00:15:03.951
- Preached to them.
- 00:15:03.951 --> 00:15:05.219
- I've wanted to be leadership by example,
- 00:15:05.219 --> 00:15:07.488
- And this was
- 00:15:07.488 --> 00:15:08.689
- Of the best way to show it that even they didn't understand
- 00:15:08.689 --> 00:15:11.692
- Why i was doing what i was doing.
- 00:15:11.692 --> 00:15:13.294
- But there's right and there's wrong.
- 00:15:13.294 --> 00:15:15.229
- And if you don't stand up for what is right,
- 00:15:15.229 --> 00:15:17.064
- Even if it costs you everything,
- 00:15:17.064 --> 00:15:18.866
- You're going to end up losing everything.
- 00:15:18.866 --> 00:15:21.002
- And but you got to fight for what you believe in and stand up
- 00:15:21.002 --> 00:15:24.038
- For what is right.
- 00:15:24.038 --> 00:15:25.172
- My guys, they get to see that every single day now.
- 00:15:25.172 --> 00:15:27.508
- Well, coach kennedy, thank you for your time today.
- 00:15:27.508 --> 00:15:30.077
- The book can be purchased everywhere
- 00:15:30.077 --> 00:15:32.380
- Though we like suggested
- 00:15:32.380 --> 00:15:33.581
- You try to support your local bookstore.
- 00:15:33.581 --> 00:15:35.316
- It's called average joe and it's a winner.
- 00:15:35.316 --> 00:15:38.119
- When we come back, i have some thoughts of my own
- 00:15:38.119 --> 00:15:40.221
- To share after this inspiring visit with joe kennedy.
- 00:15:40.221 --> 00:15:43.457
- And later in the show, your emails.
- 00:15:43.457 --> 00:15:45.593
- I'll be right back.
- 00:15:45.593 --> 00:15:52.990
- I'll be right back.
- 00:15:52.990 --> 00:15:55.337
- In his farewell address to the nation.
- 00:15:56.104 --> 00:15:58.040
- President ronald reagan
- 00:15:58.040 --> 00:15:59.207
- Called america the shining city on a hill.
- 00:15:59.207 --> 00:16:02.544
- Well, unfortunately,
- 00:16:02.544 --> 00:16:03.478
- Our nation has been on the wrong trajectory
- 00:16:03.478 --> 00:16:05.447
- For a long time now.
- 00:16:05.447 --> 00:16:07.115
- You know, growing up, i never imagined that
- 00:16:07.115 --> 00:16:08.850
- In this great nation of ours, there would be a day
- 00:16:08.850 --> 00:16:11.453
- When a person would be forbidden to quietly pray.
- 00:16:11.453 --> 00:16:14.790
- The churches would be
- 00:16:14.790 --> 00:16:15.957
- Told to close their doors because they were nonessential
- 00:16:15.957 --> 00:16:18.660
- And they'd cooperate,
- 00:16:18.660 --> 00:16:20.429
- Or that a college biology professor would be fired
- 00:16:20.429 --> 00:16:22.931
- For teaching basic biology, that it takes
- 00:16:22.931 --> 00:16:25.734
- The union of a male and a female to create life.
- 00:16:25.734 --> 00:16:28.837
- We live in an age of political correctness run amuck.
- 00:16:28.837 --> 00:16:31.973
- One of the tenets of political correctness
- 00:16:31.973 --> 00:16:33.909
- Is that you aren't supposed to state an opinion
- 00:16:33.909 --> 00:16:36.344
- That would make someone else
- 00:16:36.344 --> 00:16:37.379
- Feel uncomfortable about their opinion.
- 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:40.048
- We're frequently told that faith is a personal, private matter.
- 00:16:40.048 --> 00:16:42.851
- We shouldn't let our convictions about it
- 00:16:42.851 --> 00:16:44.386
- Press on anyone else's choices.
- 00:16:44.386 --> 00:16:46.521
- Well, i'm sure that the
- 00:16:47.022 --> 00:16:48.123
- Apostle paul would have found that notion laughable.
- 00:16:48.123 --> 00:16:50.725
- Listen to what he said in acts 20.
- 00:16:50.725 --> 00:16:52.928
- I consider my life worth nothing to me, only.
- 00:16:52.928 --> 00:16:55.497
- My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task.
- 00:16:55.497 --> 00:16:58.500
- The lord jesus has given me
- 00:16:58.500 --> 00:16:59.901
- The task of testifying to the good news of god's grace.
- 00:16:59.901 --> 00:17:03.805
- Paul have been called away from persecuting believers
- 00:17:03.805 --> 00:17:06.708
- And toward telling everyone he met
- 00:17:06.708 --> 00:17:08.276
- What jesus had done and how he had changed his life.
- 00:17:08.276 --> 00:17:11.580
- And it seems that literally everyone he met
- 00:17:11.580 --> 00:17:13.248
- Got to hear the story.
- 00:17:13.248 --> 00:17:14.716
- Paul went from being the persecutor of faith
- 00:17:14.716 --> 00:17:17.119
- To being persecuted for his faith.
- 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.254
- Yet his goal never changed
- 00:17:19.254 --> 00:17:20.822
- To testify to the good news of god's grace.
- 00:17:20.822 --> 00:17:23.825
- Folks, that's our assignment.
- 00:17:23.825 --> 00:17:25.327
- God's blessed us and we get to tell others about it.
- 00:17:25.327 --> 00:17:28.029
- And if they don't like it, we'll smile.
- 00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:29.698
- We'll be kind.
- 00:17:29.698 --> 00:17:30.866
- But we're going to keep telling the story.
- 00:17:30.866 --> 00:17:33.001
- We've been called to be salt and light.
- 00:17:33.001 --> 00:17:34.669
- If we'll do that, there's more reasons for hope than despair.
- 00:17:34.669 --> 00:17:38.006
- I promise we'll be right back with some of your emails.
- 00:17:38.006 --> 00:17:46.995
- I promise we'll be right back with some of your emails.
- 00:17:46.995 --> 00:17:49.885
- Thank you for taking the time
- 00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:51.853
- To send your emails, your thoughts and perspectives.
- 00:17:51.853 --> 00:17:54.890
- They're important to us.
- 00:17:54.890 --> 00:17:56.758
- Nancy commented on the steve moore
- 00:17:56.758 --> 00:17:58.960
- Youtube episode, i get angry about what is happening
- 00:17:58.960 --> 00:18:02.497
- In our nation's government.
- 00:18:02.497 --> 00:18:03.765
- I'm trying to lose that anger by praying
- 00:18:03.765 --> 00:18:05.734
- For the people who are making me angry.
- 00:18:05.734 --> 00:18:08.170
- Can anger be both good and bad or is there
- 00:18:08.170 --> 00:18:11.006
- No place in our lives as a christian for anger?
- 00:18:11.006 --> 00:18:14.976
- That's a really important question.
- 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:17.145
- You know, the bible tells us that god gets angry.
- 00:18:17.145 --> 00:18:19.648
- There were things that angered jesus.
- 00:18:19.648 --> 00:18:21.983
- So it isn't that anger is a forbidden emotion.
- 00:18:21.983 --> 00:18:25.320
- I think there are some things that we see or experience
- 00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:27.656
- That should elicit a righteous indignation.
- 00:18:27.656 --> 00:18:30.091
- That's the fancy word for getting angry.
- 00:18:30.091 --> 00:18:33.128
- It's what you do when you're angry that matters.
- 00:18:33.128 --> 00:18:35.797
- You know, we can't allow anger
- 00:18:35.797 --> 00:18:37.265
- To deteriorate into resentment and bitterness and hatred.
- 00:18:37.265 --> 00:18:40.802
- We've got to offload it.
- 00:18:41.336 --> 00:18:42.370
- Ultimately, we have to forgive.
- 00:18:42.370 --> 00:18:43.605
- But there are some things that we see
- 00:18:43.605 --> 00:18:45.440
- That elicit a response of anger, because we're called to
- 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.109
- To engage, to make a difference.
- 00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:50.312
- In coach's case, he had to stand up against an
- 00:18:50.312 --> 00:18:52.914
- Illegitimate demand that he not pray in public.
- 00:18:52.914 --> 00:18:56.685
- And i think we have been surrendering for too long.
- 00:18:56.685 --> 00:18:59.921
- It's time for us to respond with a bit of anger.
- 00:18:59.921 --> 00:19:03.058
- Not belligerence, certainly not violence.
- 00:19:03.058 --> 00:19:05.694
- We can't accept the dictates of evil to surrender our faith,
- 00:19:05.694 --> 00:19:10.165
- Or we're giving up the generations who follow us.
- 00:19:10.165 --> 00:19:12.901
- And finally, bob from tennessee wrote,
- 00:19:13.735 --> 00:19:16.137
- I think the reason that the pigs are squealing
- 00:19:16.137 --> 00:19:18.807
- So loudly is they're afraid that if dodge digs deep enough,
- 00:19:18.807 --> 00:19:23.211
- Some of the fraud will be traced back to them.
- 00:19:23.211 --> 00:19:26.815
- Well, bob, i live in tennessee and i understand the comment.
- 00:19:26.815 --> 00:19:30.218
- And you're right, the pigs are squealing.
- 00:19:30.218 --> 00:19:32.654
- I hope elon and his team keep digging.
- 00:19:32.654 --> 00:19:36.057
- Truth will set us free.
- 00:19:36.057 --> 00:19:37.926
- That's biblical.
- 00:19:37.926 --> 00:19:40.195
- If you haven't yet, take a moment
- 00:19:40.195 --> 00:19:42.030
- To send your emails to comments at allen jackson now.com.
- 00:19:42.030 --> 00:19:45.800
- Your feedback and questions.
- 00:19:45.800 --> 00:19:47.102
- I do a lot to shape our show.
- 00:19:47.102 --> 00:19:49.037
- I'm allen jackson.
- 00:19:49.037 --> 00:19:50.272
- You have a wonderful evening.
- 00:19:50.272 --> 00:19:50.272