Latest / Books4Guys / The Incredible Story of Brandon Burlsworth | Jeff Kinley

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The Incredible Story of Brandon Burlsworth | Jeff Kinley · Books4Guys

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm from South Carolina and um met my wife while in college.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I was at the University of South Carolina, she's at Fayetteville.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I transferred to Arkansas and finished up there.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: So she got you to transfer all the way to Arkansas.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a transferred, transplanted hog.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Jeff, I uh as I was saying before, I pushed record.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been looking forward to this conversation.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually, so I've got your book that I first read, The Brandon Burrell's World Story, through the eyes of a champion.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't even I don't have the cover anymore.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: I've had it so long.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: I've read it so many times.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've given it to I played football in college and I gave it to several teammates who read it.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: And uh over the years, the the cover just deteriorated.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's somewhere, but I even have a message.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: My dad gave it to me, and he wrote a message in there to me.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's so cool.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it it's meant a lot to me.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: And as I was telling you, I I built out books for guys a little over three years now, and it's one of the first books I put on the website just because of the impact it had on me.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, growing up in Arkansas, some of my coaches had actually played with Brandon at Arkansas.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's cool.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: But Jeff, obviously, you know, as I was preparing for this, I really I started to learn a lot about you because obviously I I knew you through that book, but I didn't know just how much you do, how how many other books you've written, and just all the speaking engagements you do, and just through your ministry.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it to kick things off, if you could just share a little bit about your story and just how it led into your work in ministry and and just all the books you you've written, including this one, and then just just where you're at now.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up in South Carolina and um you know grew up loving athletics, played uh played baseball and basketball uh primarily, but uh was a huge, huge fan uh when I went off to college, went to the University of South Carolina.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh but before that, I I I came to a uh place of faith in Christ at age 16 after exploring the world of of hippie, hippy-dom, you basically had long hair and played in a band, the whole thing.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I'd never really read books that much growing up.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't really a reader at all.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but when I became a Christian, that all changed.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I began to read books like crazy, and so I got interested in uh just reading and learning that way.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, the University of South Carolina, I uh went on a summer trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and uh with a group of college students and there met my future wife.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: And after dating long distance for the for a year, we transferred uh or I transferred to Fayetteville, Arkansas to attend the University of Arkansas, and then we got married and moved off to Dallas to go to seminary.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so then went into youth ministry.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, one of the I guess getting into writing, one of the things I wanted to do for for young people was to give them good material, you know, in writing, good, good devotionals and that kind of thing, and couldn't really find anything that great.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I just decided, well, I'll just write my own.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And after doing that for about 10 years, I thought, well, maybe some other groups might enjoy these materials.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I was uh contacted by a couple of publishers.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And anyway, that's how my my writing career started by writing for youth.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and then we moved down to Alabama for five years.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you live in Alabama, you know there's only two kinds of news you get there.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's either Auburn or Alabama.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there's not really a universe outside of Alabama.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But we moved back to Little Rock in 2000, and when I got back, my my father-in-law said, Hey, I've got an idea for your next book.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd written, I don't know, 10 books by that time.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Yeah, this guy, Brandon Burlsworth.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh this is right after Brandon had passed away.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, I don't know anything about him, but I started doing research, read the Sports Illustrated coverage on him, uh, all the CBS and everything that they'd done about him.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So the more I read, the more I just thought, wow, this will be an incredible story.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so I approached the family, and uh we can talk more about that if you want to.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, that's kind of how I got into Brandon.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, since then, I don't know how many books I've written, 35 or so books since then, you know, 45 books.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I write on uh biographies, and I've I've written the autobiography of the man who invented the MRI, the man who was up for the Nobel Prize and did that book, and then just books on Christian life theology and uh that kind of thing.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Same busy, got three books in the works right now.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Wow having a lot of fun and traveling all over the world.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's cool because it sounds like a lot of this stuff, Jeff, just kind of morphed organically.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: You just you were doing what you were passionate about, and and doors have have opened.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure there's been some that have shut along the way in in good cases, but there's been a lot that you've just been able to jump into and just wherever God's leading you, that's that's what you do.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it seems to have led to some pretty credible things and uh has helped create some incredible books and speaking, like you said, you've been all over the world, do talking with with people everywhere.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I just I I love hearing that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: I can hear your passion behind it, and it's just uh I just love having these type of conversations.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I certainly do want to talk about the uh the book about Brandon Burlsworth because again, just it had such a positive impact on myself, as just you know, I played football, I love sports, love the hogs.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had season tickets, you know, going to all the games.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of conceptually my football knowledge really kicked off a little bit after Brandon's story, but it but but not too far after.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: But what was that like for you, Jeff, of approaching the family and and talking with them through this?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because obviously, I mean, if anyone's read the book, Brandon was a different dude in a good way.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: He was so disciplined, so determined.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: He did so many things the right way, and I'm sure he had his faults, but if you he doesn't seem to have many, but what was that process like for you and and learning about Brandon and putting the story together that really did justice for his life?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for me, it was just really an adventure.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I first just called up the family on the phone and cold call and just said, look, you know, I'm an author, I write books, and uh I think your your son or your brother's story would be an amazing book.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they had explained to me that they had been approached by a writer from CBS Sports to write a book about Brandon.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, that's fine.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just come up and share with you kind of what what my approach would be on the book.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so basically what I wanted to do was to help tell the story, but to include Brandon's faith and his family more in the story as well.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Look, this guy from CBS, he'll write a Rudy, he'll write a Remember the Titans, or it wasn't Remember the Titans at the time, it was uh Hoosiers.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: I said, he'll write a feel-good book about Brandon, but I really want people to be impacted by Brandon's character and by his faith in God.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so they came back and said, Yep, we want you to do it.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: So then I went and found us a publisher.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And uh then I I thought, okay, wait a minute, I've got to travel all over to interview people now.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: I need some money.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I had some folks invest in just kind of the travel and the writing of the book.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I went up to Favil, and I'm telling you, they Frank Broils wrote me a blank check and just said, You do anything you want to hear.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'll give you any footage, any information that you need.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Houston Nutt was still the coach at the time.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: When I was doing this interview, uh I went into his office.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: He pulled up a seat about three feet from my face and he said, I want to tell you all about Brandon Burlsworth.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it was National Signing Day, and uh his phone was ringing off the hook.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: He literally took his phone and tossed it across the room.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: He said, This is more important to me to tell you about Brandon.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then he took me out of the office and he brought with me down the equipment room and all the people there, the sports information folks, and he says, Give this guy whatever he wants.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then I met with Frank Broils, and he was could not have been more gracious to me.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I and then I went to to Harrison, Brandon's hometown, and I interviewed literally everybody from his school teachers to the guy who changes it, changed his oil on his car.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I found everybody I could.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the the narrative and the story that was told about him, and I I wrote it all down, was it was a consistent story.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I I interviewed his best friend from high school, and uh, and then I went up to Indianapolis where he'd been drafted by the Colts in the third round.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I interviewed everybody from the head coach to the to the president of the organization to the guy who is the media guy to the players.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I'm telling you, I had NFL coaches breaking down in tears and just saying, we just don't get people like this here.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is not the kind of caliber human being that you see very often.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I did, you know, spent uh six months traveling and interviewing and writing, and uh it was a grueling process.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: But when I finally wrote the book and got the book out, I had Brandon's teammates who would contact me and say, Man, I don't know how you did this, but it was like you were there in the locker room with us and you wrote it accurately just as it happened.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh yeah, so that uh that was a great experience for me, rewarding experience, uh a faith experience.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And uh when the book came out, man, it just came out and did great.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I've probably, I don't know how many dozens and dozens of football teams I've spoken to about Brandon Story, schools I've traveled to to speak to a large assemblies.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've given away hundreds and hundreds of copies of the book to football players.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been a been an inspiring story and a great uh great journey.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really cool.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I got a feeling there'll be some uh this year with our high school player of the week program we do that'll be requesting that book.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: That book's actually kind of hard to find.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was looking on Amazon and and the hardcore, I mean it's it's few and far between to find that book now.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the best place to get the book is to go to the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're the ones that are primarily selling the book right now.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: So go to the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation and you can buy as many copies as you want.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to know that.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure I'll have several that I need to get this fall, like I said.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it's just Jeff, you know, we hear about athletes all the time and stories, but there just has not been another person like Brandon Burlsworth that seems to have had the impact that he did.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, National Signing Day, Houston Nutt throwing his cell phone away to because he wanted to talk about Brandon.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: And just it's just you don't you don't see people like him.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know, again, I don't know what the reason is that that his life was was taken so early.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: I uh we'll never know.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: But the impact that he's continued to have, even all the way up, I can't believe this.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: I saw the movie in theaters, and I can't believe the movie was it came out 10 years ago.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Is that not crazy?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it is, yeah.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that and that movie was a long time in the making.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was approached about the movie rights uh probably in 2005, and the movie didn't come out to 2015.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that tells you how long it takes to to make a movie and to, you know, get funding and all this other stuff.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, was able to spend a week on the set when they were here in Little Rock uh filming at War Memorial Stadium and got to meet all the actors and the director.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was um I was with uh the director and uh the movie and uh we were there at midfield, and he just said, Man, none of this would have happened unless you had written that book, you know, talking to Neil, um uh Neil McDonough, who played uh Marty Burlsworth in the movies, famous actor.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Neil just said, Man, thank you so much for writing this book.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I normally play a bad guy, so it's great to play a good guy for a change, you know.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, what's funny to me is I will go to places like my wife and I were in Mexico down in Cabo uh a couple of years ago, and uh we're sitting at a at a really nice Mexican restaurant.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a family from LA who's there uh with their two kind of college-age uh son and daughter, and we struck up a conversation.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, we're from Arkansas, and and uh they said, Well, we're from LA, but our son here goes, he's uh lives in in Bentonville.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really, that's great.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So he's working, you know, for some Walmart deal.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, listen, if you live up that area, you've got to get this book and you've got to see this movie.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: He said, What movie?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I said, The movie Greater.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Are you kidding me?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's my favorite movie.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was like, Okay, yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh two years ago, I'm on a cruise, met another family, another college-age boy, and uh, they were uh they're actually from Arkansas, but he told me, he said, that's my favorite movie.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's crazy how you bump into people who've read the book and who've seen the movie and and really been impacted by it.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and there are things about Brandon I think were unique, uh, that certainly we can talk about.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's just wherever that story goes, it makes a difference in people's lives.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's funny.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was actually watching the UFC fights a couple weeks ago, and Neil McDonough was there, kind of behind uh Dana White, and I was like, hey, he that and I was telling my wife, I was like, that's the the actor that was in the movie, and that's you know, I'm talking to Jeff in a couple weeks.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: So she was like, Oh, that's awesome.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting here thinking too.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jeff, I just the impact it has.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I was telling you, I was sharing this book with my teammates, and and I actually went to Arkansas State, is where I played, but there were probably seven or eight of us that would say the phrase, do it the burls way after they would read it, and we would just try to be doing things the right way.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: And if someone was slacking, they'd be like, hey man, do it the burls way, do it the burls way.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just I mean, you got guys at another university saying, Do it, do it the burls way, and that's just just how big of an impact he had, and again continues to have, which is just just an incredible thing.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: But you had mentioned, and and I do want to get to some of your other work, Jeff, but you had mentioned, you know, talking about some unique things about Brandon.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: What were some things that you learned about him through your process of interviewing his family and coaches and teammates that just, I don't know, either surprised you, shocked you, or just were things that you didn't expect to know or learn.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think w one of the biggest shocks I had when in doing the research for the book is that literally every goal Brandon set, he made.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: He met that goal.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, who does that?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people have thoughts and aspirations and they want to do wishes and stuff, but Brandon set goals and he met every one of his goals.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so the question then became how do you do that?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: How can you become so successful?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've spoken, I I was at down at a corporation meeting of a national corporation of electricians and and plumbers and all, and they invited me to come speak on Brandon.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm saying, what makes a successful businessman?
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: What makes a successful person?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I use Brandon as an example for that.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that came out of Brandon's life was that Brandon was an overcomer.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you think about it.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: He he was an overweight kid from a small town in a small state with uh a broken home, the youngest of three boys, mothers struggling to put food on the table.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And here's this kid who fortunately was mentored by his older brother, Marty.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: But man, he had a lot to overcome.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And yet he didn't believe that obstacles were the things that were going to prevent him from meeting those objectives in his life.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: He just thought, I'll just run through them and I'll do whatever it takes.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what he did finally to get an earned invite to walk on in Arkansas.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And when they told him, you're just too fat, he said, Well, then let's lose weight.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so he lost 55 pounds and built it all back with muscle and all this stuff.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: He just did whatever it took.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember, you know, one story that uh that Brandon tells, or that Brandon told about how, you know, someone said that character is who you are when no one is looking.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: And his response was, Well, someone's always and he's mentioned and obviously, you know, referring to God.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so for Brandon, it was a conscience issue.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: He he wanted to do the right thing to be the best that he could be.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he knew he had to do certain things to get there, like practice his footwork as an offensive lineman.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, the story that's in the book about coach uh not coming out of the meeting at 10 o'clock at night, and he hears, you know, shuffling over in the corner in the dark and turns on the light, and there's Brandon, and he's practicing his footwork.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Brandon, what are you doing here?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, you know, they're play we're playing Alabama tomorrow, and you told me that if we all do our job, that we can win this game.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm just making sure I'm gonna do my job.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lesson there for each individual taking personal responsibility, you know, for their role on a team or on a or on a in a job or situation or a corporation, whatever.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just doing what you're supposed to do, do it the best that you can do, and make sure that you set a high standard for others to follow.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, Brandon did all those things.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I wish Brandon was around because one question I would love to ask him is just, you know, obviously his brother Marty had a big impact, his coaches had a big impact.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: But to be such a young guy and to have the way of thinking that he did, especially coming from his situation of having basically all the odds stacked against him.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: And he's one of millions of kids like that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: That, but they'll they'll never do what Brandon did for one reason or another.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I would love to ask him that question of just, you know, what mo like where did the motivation come from?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: Where did the mindset come in to do things the right way and to be so disciplined?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I'm sure he, you know, obviously give credit to some of the people that you've talked to, but I'd love that's one of the questions.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: When I get to heaven one day, I'm gonna ask him that and just be like, man, where did you get the mindset?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because you just, again, he's so different, and you don't see that with a lot of of men, and you don't see it a lot of with young men, especially.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was just one thing that just set him apart, which is such a again, a profounding part of his story.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is, and I think for Brandon, his personality kind of trended obsessive, and so he was, you know, kind of obsessive about parking in the same place, putting his pencil in the same spot.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't like anybody take his spot and stuff.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: But that obsessive, compulsive nature, if you will, really served what he needed to do in his life to get to where he needed to be.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, those of us who are not uh uh obsessive about certain things in life, we have to work a little harder for that.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do think it it speaks, I think God wired him that way so that he could be successful.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think too, I I think Brandon wanted to make God proud as well.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And not that he was trying to work his way to heaven or anything, but but I think that he really wanted God to see his hard work ethic and to applaud that.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he know and he knew from his track record that if I do work hard and do the right things, there's a great chance that I'm gonna succeed.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, Chris, I've taken that in my own life.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh here I am now an author of over 40 books, and people say, How in the world have you written 40 books?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you got to persevere, you got to do the right thing, you gotta, you know, glue your rear into a chair and not get up.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things behind the scenes, both in football, in life, in a career and writing, that you do that no one ever sees.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: The tip of the iceberg is they see you on Saturdays playing with that jersey on.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: But beneath the surface is the weight room, the two-a-days, the struggle and the perseverance, and the times you really want to quit.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And Brandon didn't have a quit button.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so just saying, I I'm I'm burning my ships behind me, I'm going forward, is kind of that attitude that Brandon had.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think it really served him to meet all those goals he had set for himself.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a good transition into some of the other questions I want to ask you, Jeff.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: But for those who haven't read the book or watched the movie, can't recommend it enough, obviously reach out to us at Books for Guys.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: We'll we'll find a way to get you a copy because it has I I can't, I can't say enough how much of an impact it's had on me.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been even more joyful to share the story with those who didn't know Brandon's story.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: And again, to have them start telling me, do it the Burl's way, and you know, take things away from it has been a really cool thing.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I always thank my dad for giving me that book, you know, to kick things off with.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: But Jeff, you kind of you were you you you led into this, you know, of of you've written over 40 books now, and and you have a lot that you're wanting to share with people and a message you're wanting to put out there, and and you have that drive as well.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're you're you're boning the burning the candle at both ends to to do the work that you need to do.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: What is it that you're so passionate about with your work?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I was looking through a lot of your other your books, and a lot of it it kind of seems to gear towards the end times and what we're preparing for there.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: But just what is what what's some of the message you're trying to share with the people you speak to and and through your work at this point in your life?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think the bottom line, the message can be summed up in one word.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's the word hope, uh, that people are looking for hope today.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh people look at their world, the instability, the uncertainty, uh the volatile nature of where we are in the world today with global unrest.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And people just want to know, is there any anchor?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything I can really, you know, drive my tent pegs down into?
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Is there any way I'm gonna keep my house from blowing away?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the hope?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was on uh Fox and Friends once uh talking about one of my books, and that's the question that they asked me, you know, is there any hope?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And my response was yes, that there's there's only one place you can find hope, and that's in Jesus Christ and in the salvation that he provides for us.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of where all of my books really end up.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: They really point people towards the hope in Christ.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I do talk about a lot about in my books uh the end times and discerning the times in which we're living, not to be sensational or date setting or anything like that, but just to talk about what does God say about the last days of planet earth?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, what does Jesus say in in Matthew 24 and 25?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So covering all those uh topics, but in the end, all it all points to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And now we're traveling the country giving that hope to teenagers as well that are gathering for these uh conferences.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: We're coming together in an organization we founded called Future Hope.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: FutureHope.now is the website.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're speaking to teenagers all over the country, and they are so dialed in.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know, is there any hope for my generation?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're giving them that hope through Jesus Christ.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Is a lot of that, Jeff, done through churches across the country, or how do you put that together and organize for for you to be able to go and speak to those young people?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, primarily we usually look for like a hub church, like a host church, and we'll ask them to host the event, and then they'll reach out to churches and youth pastors uh in the surrounding area.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: For example, we'll be in uh Chino Hills, California in November, and uh Pastor Jack Hibbs there in his church, and uh we'll have well over a thousand teenagers come to this thing.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So they're this uh they drive in from LA and other states and that kind of thing.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just identifying a church that might be interested in in helping uh young people understand what God says about the last days and then how to give that hope to their generation.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if they go to future hope.now, uh there's a place where you can kind of send a question or get to more info and that kind of thing, we'll reach out to you.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'll make sure and inc include that link because that's uh man, that's incredible.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I like I I was telling you before we jumped on here, I was looking at your travel schedule and all the places you speak.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And how do you How do you manage because you're doing a lot and it's all good stuff?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: How do you balance yourself out to be able to travel as much as you do while also, I mean, writing a book takes a ton of time?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: I uh I'm promoting books and I'm promoting authors.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: I've actually sat down to try and type one out and I was like, I'm not there yet.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: I don't, I don't have the patience or you know, the what I perceive as the time to do it.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: But how do you, I guess, determine what is going to be the most impactful action or thing you do on a day or weekly basis as you balance, you know, all of the different avenues that you have going on.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, primarily for me, it takes discipline to manage your calendar, make sure you're sticking to your calendar.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I when my three boys were growing up, I was a youth pastor and then later became uh a pastor.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I during that time, we didn't I didn't really travel that much because I wanted to be home, be with my boys.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: And throughout their whole career, I missed two football games.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was uh kind of my my badge of honors.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was gonna be there every time for them.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so they know I was there.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: I officed out of my home and uh for a lot of those years.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just had a real f commitment to our family.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: That was number one for us.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but once my boys grew up and went off into the world, and you know, one went to West Point, other others went to college and overseas and that kind of thing, we decided, okay, now uh my schedule can open up.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh so that's when my travel schedule just really began to explode.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: But basically, the way I manage this is that I um my wife is on my board and we sit down and we talk about, you know, hey, should I go here?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Should I accept this engagement?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and that ends up, you know, being well over 30 different engagements a year, traveling both around the country and internationally.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: And 27's already booking up, which is so it's kind of crazy.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but I'm a guy that I I'm very focused on what I'm doing in the moment.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I can compartmentalize my mind and my life, and uh, like I said, looking at that schedule and uh, you know, I'll I'll leave this interview, I'll go to something else, you know, and then I've got something else this afternoon.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, just trying to keep it real that way and uh doing the best I can, make the most impact that I can, because I realize we do realize that the time is short.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, so we really do want to make an impact.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we're doing this thing with youth and uh focusing in on uh, you know, as I travel, making sure that I'm going to places and being used by God in the most impactful way, hopefully.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and we'll we'll do our part, Jeff, to again share your website and all the links that we can for those who are interested in either having you speak or if they're interested in finding your books or or whatever else we can share, we'll make sure and include those in the notes.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: But Jeff, I've got I've got one more question for you.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I ask everyone the qu this question that comes on the Books for Guys podcast, is it strictly strictly more of a book question, you know, just for for our audience.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm always curious to know what is a book or two that has meant a lot to you personally, and what is a book that you love to recommend to other people?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I like I said, when I first became a Christian, I was not uh a reader at all.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but at age 16, after not reading anything deeper than a comic book, I started reading books.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh I read uh about 50 books the first year of my uh my salvation experience.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I I stumbled on a book one time called Um Knowing God by J.I.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Packer.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that book is all about the attributes of God and really who God is uh in that book.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that book impacted me profoundly.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it took me a long time to read it because it's a very deep, densely packed book with truth.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: But that one really had a huge impact for me.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Another book called In the Shadow of the Almighty is about the life of Jim Elliott and uh who was a missionary in uh Ecuador, and uh just seeing how God could use a life that he actually died, you know, like Brandon did, but just how God can use your life in this world.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we all want to want our lives to be count, uh, to count for Christ.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And as one famous quote said, There's only one life, it'll soon be passed.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Only what's done for Christ will last.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to make sure I I make the greatest impact that I can.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I write, that's why I speak, that's why I travel, that's why we do this youth ministry, because we just want people to be impacted and to know Jesus and to know him uh like we do and to know how wonderful uh he is.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it'd be really cool, Jeff, if you could go back to your 14-year-old self and tell them all that you've accomplished from a speaking standpoint, how many books you've written.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I bet it would blow that person's mind to know what they're about to embark on for their life's journey.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so, Jeff, man, again, thank you so much.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: As someone who's just been a fan, you know, specifically of the Brandon Burlsworth book that you wrote, and then being able to meet you and talk to you and have you on our platform.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Man, such an honor, such a pleasure, and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, man, we're gonna do what we can to spotlight you and your work and everything that you guys are doing.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're we're proud to be a part of your journey and we really appreciate you being a part of ours.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much, Chris.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: The the honor was mine.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you having me on.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Jeff.