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You're listening to Moody Radio 89.3.

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This is Mornings with Eric and Bridget.

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A marine turned football coach

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made a commitment to God that he would give

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thanks at the conclusion of each game

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for a player's had accomplished

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and the opportunity to be part of their lives.

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But that commitment led to

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a court battle that ended up in the Supreme

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Court, and now he's telling his story

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in a new book called Average Joe.

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We're so pleased to welcome Joe

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Kennedy. Thank you so much for joining us. Good morning.

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Hey. Good morning. Great to be here, guys.

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Yeah, I you know, first off, thank

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you for standing up. But how hard

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was it, I guess, to stand up? Tell us a little bit about

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your story and the commitment that you made

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to say this isn't right.

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Yeah. When I, when I got

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out of the Marine Corps after I retired,

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I met up with my childhood sweetheart.

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We got married, and she

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led me down the path to find the Lord

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and I. After I made

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a deal with him, I was all

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in. And then I watched the movie Facing

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the Giants. And I was

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inspired to to actually

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do the coaching job and to give

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God the glory after every game. And

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that's what I did. And to answer your

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question, yeah, absolutely.

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The toughest thing in the world. I wish

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I could say it was fun and easy, but no, it was

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not.

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Hmm.

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Yeah. And it seems kind of

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crazy that the act of praying

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at the end of a game and being

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really an example to your students would

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lead you and really end

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you up in this court battle. What was

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your first thoughts as you found out?

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First of all, you were being fired for expressing,

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you know, and exercising your freedom.

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I kept thinking that this was just a big

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misunderstanding and a mistake. How could

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something so simple as a 32nd

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prayer, praying by yourself after a

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football game lead to a termination,

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and I just could not wrap my

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brain around how the courts would start

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ruling in the favor of the

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opposition, of removing

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any kind of religious demonstration

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of faith in the public square

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would get you fired.

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Well, there's that moment also when you have to

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say to yourself, either I'm going to

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obey what they're telling me, even

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though I believe this is wrong, or

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I'm going to stand up and say, no, you're wrong, and

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I need to do what is right. And

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what was that moment like when you made the decision to say,

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I'm going to stand up for what I know is right?

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Yeah, that's that was a real tough

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one. You know, I was hearing from

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both sides of, I should be doing this or

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shouldn't be doing that and, you know,

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submit to authority. And I just kept

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going back to being a marine.

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And every time I think about it,

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there's lawful orders and there's unlawful

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orders. And this very much seemed

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like an unlawful one, intended to go against

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everything I believed in as far as

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being an American and what the Constitution

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means in the First Amendment. And

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when my players asked me, they said, coach, can't

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you just give in and do what they say? So,

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you know, it would be so much easier. And to say,

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you know, our coach and I knew at that

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second that, yeah, I had to fight this

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because could you imagine me being

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a coach and and telling these guys to do whatever

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it takes, no matter how rough it is, and I'm

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the one to give up. So this just became uncomfortable.

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Yeah. This was a no win situation. So

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I had to stand up and fight for this.

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We're speaking with Coach Joe Kennedy,

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whose new book drops today. It's called

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Average Joe. It's all about his story.

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And is it about

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your story even leading up to all

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these court cases, or is it really centered

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on what we know you for?

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Yeah. No, it's my whole entire

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life. It really shows to me.

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It's a it's a giant love story between

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my love for my wife, my

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love for my country, and love for my God.

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And it goes back from

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beginning of time, from conception all

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the way through today, and really highlights

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the things that that God could

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use anybody. If he could use a the

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least likely guy like myself, he could

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use anybody in America to do some incredible

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things.

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Well, going through the court system isn't

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the most normal thing in the world. But then

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the Supreme Court is even a little stranger,

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I would think. Thankfully, I've never had to deal with any

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of this, but June 27th

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of last year must have been pretty

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impressive for you in 2022.

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That's when you really found out that you had one, right?

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Yes it was. It was quite an incredible

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experience just learning how the court

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system worked in it, knowing that you're going

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before the largest or the

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the last court, the biggest

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in the land, and being able to have

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them actually rule on the facts

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and make ultimate decision on, you

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know, religious liberty for all Americans.

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That was a lot of weight on my shoulders and my

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whole thing. I wasn't really thinking about

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winning. I was trying to think of, oh my

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gosh, if we lose this, what

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what repercussions is that going to have

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for religious freedom in America?

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Yeah. Is that what kept you going? Because

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obviously it wasn't just a Supreme Court. You

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went through multiple, multiple, multiple

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court cases. And yeah,

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you didn't want to give up. But it's it's

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very human to say, I'm just tired of

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this. But what kept you going?

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I would say my foundation in

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the Lord. He really

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prepped me from the, you know, from

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when I was a little kid. Being

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that defiant kid, the fighting one,

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and through the military my whole entire

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life has been about fighting. He made me

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as a warrior kind of spirit, and

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I wish I could say I was one of those lovey, huggy

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Christians, but I'm not. I'm more the warrior

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type guy, and fighting is

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something that God really has designed

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me for. And it

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was an honor to be able to, you know,

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God called on me to fight this fight,

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which is really odd, and it just shows he's

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got a heck of a sense of humor.

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You know, I wanted to ask what this means to

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me or the basketball coach or something

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else, but let me ask another question first, because you

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brought up being a warrior. What

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does a warrior do in the battles over?

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Where do you go now? What's your plan

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now that you've won your case?

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Wow. Yeah, that's the million dollar

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question. Right now I'm just going around

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and helping anybody and everyone with

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religious liberties and finding out

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what the Constitution means to them. So

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that's one of the main things I'm doing.

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My wife and I are getting ready to start

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seminary class so I can actually learn

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what the Bible says. Since I'm

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not really up to speed on what the Bible

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says, and we'll see where God takes

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us. We're just here to serve. And wherever God pulls

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us, we're going to do it.

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Oh, that's well, that's exciting,

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because isn't that what he

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really what he wants from

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all of us is just that availability. And

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then he'll take it from there. And that's I think

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your story is case in point of that,

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isn't it?

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It is. And you know, this this book

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will definitely, you know, make you laugh,

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make you cry and make you angry and

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really inspire people that,

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my gosh, you know, this is

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this is what America has turned into.

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What can I do about where we

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are today and hopefully give them

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the right steps and inspired them

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to give them the the umph to

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stand up for themselves and for the Constitution.

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And as a Christian.

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What was it important? Was it important for you?

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I mean, it did take a team

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of all sorts of people to get

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you through this, and probably including

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your church family. What was it like to have just

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this group of

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people, from lawyers to

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pastors to other coaches,

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possibly helping you, kind

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of push you across the finish line?

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Oh, I sat there and thought about

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this when it first started happening, and I felt

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like I was the only guy in America

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that was going through anything, and I

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felt very lonely on it, like a

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corner of some lonely street. But

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let me tell you, once you started looking around, I

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saw millions, not just the people

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that were helping me actively in,

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in the law, you know, with the case

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and all my people that surrounded me

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immediately. But millions and millions

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of Americans across the United States

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sent us letters and inspiring

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and been praying. And I think that's the number

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one thing of why it turned out

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so big and so great is because

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America all together,

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just joined in prayer to make sure that,

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you know, God was listening to us. And when

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I think it says where two or more gathered,

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well, if you put two or 3 or 10 million

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people together, God is going to listen

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and he's going to turn things around. And it's

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amazing to see what he did with that.

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Well, this battle that you endured

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and even won to fight for your

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especially your First Amendment right is

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taking on so many different forms today.

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And there may be someone listening who, let's

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say their employers asking them to do something

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or not do something that goes against their

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conscience. What would you say

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to them today?

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Yeah, really just stand up for what they

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believe is right, because we're all born

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with that. You can hear that little, little

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voice inside that says, this is wrong. I

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can't go along with that. Well, there is

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so much power in that. And if you press

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in to God, you will definitely

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he will see you through it. And there's so many

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people in your churches and in your life

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that will help you every step of

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the way. We got groups like

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First Liberty, First Liberty Institute,

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ADF. I mean, there's a million groups

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out there that could settle

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these things before they even turn into a law

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battle. But I'm just given up,

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man, I hate to think that any

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American will go through their life going,

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man, I wish I would have stood up for

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this.

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Well, Coach Joe was your favorite part of

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facing the Giants where they blindfolded the kids

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and started yelling at him. Is that your favorite scene?

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That's mine. That's why I'm asking.

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Yeah, the.

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Death Crawl was absolutely one of the

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best. And that's one of the funny

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things, is that I took a lot

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from that movie. The Kendrick brothers were simply

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incredible and they inspired me. I

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have my own death crawl for

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for my football team, and it made

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that one look like kids play. So it

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yeah, I was inspired by those

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guys. My favorite part for sure.

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Maybe that'll be facing the Giants too.

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Oh. That'd

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be awesome.

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Well, you were inspired by

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facing the Giants, and we hope

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that your story also inspires

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so many to stand up for their

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God given right here in our country.

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And your story is penned in your new book called

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Average Joe The Coach Joe Kennedy's

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Story. We would encourage our friends to head to

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our web page because we've got a link to it and your website

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at Eric and Bridget. Org.

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Thank you, coach, for joining us this morning.

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Thank you guys. God bless you. Have a great day.