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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

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about your story and the commitment that you

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made to say this isn't right.

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Yeah. When I, uh, 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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you know, do the coaching job and

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to give God the glory after every game.

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And that's what I did. And to answer

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your question, yeah, absolutely.

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The toughest thing in the world is I

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

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it was not.

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Mhm.

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Yeah. And it seems kind

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of 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 are 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, um.

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Uh, demonstrations of

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faith in the public square would

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get you fired.

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Well, there's that moment also when you have

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to say to yourself, either I'm going

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to obey

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what they're telling me, even though I believe this

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is wrong, or I'm going to stand up and

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say, no, you're wrong, and I need

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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. Uh, you know, I was hearing it

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from both sides of I should be doing this

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or shouldn't be doing that and, you

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know, submit to authority. And I

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just kept going back to being a

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marine. And every time I think about

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it, there's lawful orders and there's

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unlawful orders. And this

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very much seemed like an unlawful one, intended

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to go against everything I believed in as

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far as being an American and

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what the Constitution means in the First

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Amendment. And when my players

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asked me, they said, coach, can't you just give in

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and do what they say? So, you know, it'd

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be so much easier. And to say, you

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know, our coach and I knew at that second

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that, yeah, I had to fight this because

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could you imagine me being a coach and and

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telling these guys to do whatever it takes, no matter

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how rough it is, and I'm the one to give

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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 your

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story even leading up to all these

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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 and

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my love for my country and love for my God.

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And it goes back to 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 at least the

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least likely guy like myself, he can

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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, uh, 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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You. That's when you really found out that you had one,

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right?

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Yes. It was. It was quite an incredible

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experience. Uh, 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, the last court did 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

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my whole thing. I wasn't really thinking

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about winning. I was trying to think of, oh

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my gosh, if 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 went

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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 in

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the Lord. He really prepped

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me from the, you know, from when I was

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a little kid, uh, being that defiant

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kid, the fighting one. And through

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the military my whole entire life has been

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about fighting. He made me as a warrior

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kind of spirit. And I wish

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

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but I'm not. I'm more the warrior type

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guy. And fighting is 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

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plan now that you've won

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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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uh, religious liberties and finding

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out what the Constitution means to them.

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So 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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um, uh, seminary class so

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I can actually learn what the Bible says since

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I'm, I'm not really up to speed

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on what the Bible says. And

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we'll see where God takes us. We're just here to serve.

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And wherever God pulls us, we're going to do it.

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Oh, that's oh, 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 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 then 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 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 for two or more gathered,

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well, if you put two or 3 or 10 million

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people together, if 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

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endured and even won to fight

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for your especially a First Amendment right

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is taking on so many different forms

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today. And there may be someone listening who,

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let's say their employers asking them to

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do something or not do something that

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goes against their conscience. What would you

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say 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've got groups like

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First Liberty, First Liberty Institute,

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uh, ADF. I mean, there's a

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million groups out there that could

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settle these things before they even turn into

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a law battle. But I'm

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just giving up, man. I

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hate to think that any American will

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go through their life going, man, I wish I would

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have stood up for 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 them. 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, uh, 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

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their God given right here

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in our country. And your story is penned

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in your new book called Average Joe

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The Coach Joe Kennedy Story. We would

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encourage our friends to head to our web page because we've got

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a link to it and your website at Eric

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and bridget.org.

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Thank you, coach, for joining us this morning.

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Oh thank you guys God bless you. Have a great day.