It is a word that is commonly misused and misunderstood. The word is Vulnerability. Many times we view those who choose to become vulnerable as soft or weak. The truth is that choosing to admit our vulnerabilities is a sign of strength and courage. I had a conversation with a man a couple of years ago who shared how he had to become “weak enough” to truly become strong enough to handle the trials and adversities in his life.
His name is Rick Burgess. He is Rick on the nationally syndicated radio talk show entitled The Rick and Bubba Show. His story is one of valleys and peaks. Rick has walked through failures, pain, and incredible success. I invite you to listen to this re-released interview as Rick takes us on a journey of his life and then talks about the woman who changed it. He also shares a vulnerable story of loss and hope.
Rick’s message of strength through weakness is more relevant today than ever. When we choose to become aware that our strength lies in our vulnerabilities, we will make a difference.
[00:00:09] Hey everybody, this is Larry Little and you're listening to Crossing the Line, a podcast where
[00:00:15] I talk with people about the moments in their life when they crossed the line from leading
[00:00:19] with their head to leading with their heart and then from leading with their heart to
[00:00:23] leading with their head.
[00:00:25] Today, we're going to go retro.
[00:00:27] We're actually going to go back to August of 2021 when I spoke with Rick Burgess and
[00:00:34] I heard his story.
[00:00:36] It's a powerful story about vulnerability, about choosing to be weak enough, if you will.
[00:00:43] It's a story about his childhood and the lessons he learned.
[00:00:47] Now, this is important because Rick is the Rick of the Rick and Bubba show.
[00:00:51] They're a nationally syndicated radio show that has over a million listeners.
[00:00:56] So Rick, Rick has an incredible story, but he's also had incredible success.
[00:01:00] He knows what success looks like.
[00:01:03] So he's going to talk to us about the lessons he learned through his childhood.
[00:01:06] He's going to talk about the woman who set him straight and then he's going to share,
[00:01:12] speaking of vulnerability, about an incredible loss.
[00:01:16] It's a powerful interview.
[00:01:18] I think it's timely.
[00:01:19] I think it's appropriate that we go back and listen in this day and time when it seems that we
[00:01:25] just don't hear a lot about being vulnerable.
[00:01:27] We just don't hear a lot about choosing to be weak enough to be strong.
[00:01:31] So I invite you to just kick back and listen with me again to this really,
[00:01:37] really interesting and I think powerful interview with Rick Burgess.
[00:01:51] Well, I'll tell you what, there are leaders in this world.
[00:01:54] There are leaders everywhere.
[00:01:55] They're good leaders and bad leaders.
[00:01:56] But today we have a man who understands leadership.
[00:01:59] Rick Burgess, you are an incredible leader, not any of your own stuff,
[00:02:03] but because of what God has done for you.
[00:02:04] You are a God-fearing man, but it's more than that.
[00:02:08] You don't only fear God, you put that into action.
[00:02:11] And that's what this podcast is all about.
[00:02:13] You got it in your head, but you also got it in your heart.
[00:02:15] Both ways, you believe it, but you do it.
[00:02:18] And amazing, amazing testimony that you have, but amazing leader.
[00:02:22] Thank you for being on Crossing the Line today.
[00:02:24] Well, what an honor to be invited to be here.
[00:02:26] I got excited when you reached out.
[00:02:29] I love that you and I, even at our age, that we're starting to figure out.
[00:02:33] I remember the first time I heard the word podcast.
[00:02:36] I thought it was some kind of disease and I didn't know who was going to stop it.
[00:02:40] But, you know, and even in what I do for a living,
[00:02:43] you know, which started as Terrestrial Radio,
[00:02:45] we've learned that, you know, the podcast world is real
[00:02:49] and people love to go get content.
[00:02:51] And when I heard about the opportunity
[00:02:52] to do this long form kind of interview,
[00:02:55] I was excited because we can really unpack it.
[00:02:57] Oh man, and I appreciate that.
[00:02:59] In our age, you know, Rick, what are we now?
[00:03:01] 39? Is that about right?
[00:03:02] Well, you know, somebody told me that you actually,
[00:03:07] it says you're only as old as you feel.
[00:03:09] And there's days that makes me 85 and there's days that makes me 32.
[00:03:13] So, you know, it fluctuates.
[00:03:15] And it's those 32 days that get me in trouble.
[00:03:17] That's right.
[00:03:17] Me too.
[00:03:19] Rick, let's take just a few minutes.
[00:03:21] You have done so much and in the intro,
[00:03:23] we talk about all that you have accomplished,
[00:03:25] that God has accomplished through you,
[00:03:27] but you know how to pull people around you.
[00:03:29] You know how to lead.
[00:03:30] You know how to build something for you.
[00:03:32] An entrepreneur at heart,
[00:03:34] you built an incredible enterprise
[00:03:36] and all those things are great.
[00:03:37] But I really don't want to talk about that today.
[00:03:40] What I want to talk about is you.
[00:03:42] And I want to take a few minutes,
[00:03:44] if you don't mind, because we want to understand leaders.
[00:03:46] That's, I believe, if we can get people like you
[00:03:49] to pour into us and share with us,
[00:03:51] kind of the attributes good and bad
[00:03:53] that made you who you are today,
[00:03:55] then we can make an impact on leaders across the world.
[00:03:57] So, let's do this.
[00:03:58] Let's go back to a day in the life of Rick Burgess
[00:04:02] when he was, Rick, you're eight years old.
[00:04:06] You're eight years old.
[00:04:07] You're at home.
[00:04:08] Tell me about how you grew up.
[00:04:09] Tell me about your mom and dad, your siblings.
[00:04:12] Give us a little insight
[00:04:13] to who was Rick Burgess as a child, young child.
[00:04:16] Well, no one is surprised at what I do for a living.
[00:04:20] My mother said that, you know, that when I was a little,
[00:04:23] she said it was like raising a small version of PT Barnum.
[00:04:27] She said, you would come in
[00:04:29] and you'd put together some puppet show
[00:04:31] that we had to all go watch.
[00:04:32] And then one time I actually built an amusement park
[00:04:35] out in the wooded area behind our house
[00:04:38] that you could come through the trails
[00:04:40] and I had various things set up.
[00:04:41] Now you had to always pay a dime to do any of this.
[00:04:44] And I had a circus on the carport one time.
[00:04:46] Now some of you don't even know what a carport is.
[00:04:48] I never had a garage.
[00:04:50] We had a carport.
[00:04:50] That's right.
[00:04:51] That meant there was a concrete slab
[00:04:53] and you parked your car on it
[00:04:54] and it had a little covering over the top of it.
[00:04:56] And I did a circus out there one time
[00:05:00] that involved my dad's hunting dogs
[00:05:02] because I didn't have lines in tiger.
[00:05:04] So I had to get something.
[00:05:05] And I painted my little brother up as a clown
[00:05:07] and had mom make popcorn.
[00:05:09] And so she said the entrepreneurial spirit was in you
[00:05:14] as a child.
[00:05:15] And so she said, you really only
[00:05:17] seemed interested in three things,
[00:05:19] radio, football and music.
[00:05:22] And she goes, honestly, you weren't well rounded.
[00:05:25] That seemed to be the only three things
[00:05:26] you really cared about.
[00:05:27] That was it.
[00:05:28] Yeah, so when people ask me,
[00:05:30] Mr. Burgess, can you help me discover
[00:05:32] what I'm going to do with my life out of college?
[00:05:35] A lot of times I'm like, I'm not a lot of help
[00:05:37] with that because I've always known what I wanted to do.
[00:05:39] Wow.
[00:05:40] You know, and I just felt that that was,
[00:05:42] I didn't understand it being a call as a child.
[00:05:45] But I was always just really enamored
[00:05:47] with listening to the radio
[00:05:49] and what was going on with the radio.
[00:05:51] And those men and women on the air
[00:05:53] just really drew me in.
[00:05:54] And I thought, man, I would really love to do that.
[00:05:57] But as far as leadership as a child,
[00:06:00] I have one younger brother
[00:06:02] and then a sister that's 10 years younger than me.
[00:06:06] But my dad is a very successful,
[00:06:10] or he's retired now, successful football coach.
[00:06:13] So my entire life, because my dad was given
[00:06:16] the responsibility of being a head football coach
[00:06:20] when he was in his 20s.
[00:06:21] Wow.
[00:06:22] And now, you know, so it happened for him really quick.
[00:06:25] So I got to watch his example
[00:06:27] on what a leader looks like because,
[00:06:30] I mean, everybody in town would always
[00:06:32] talk to me about my dad, you know,
[00:06:35] and tell me what impact he had on them
[00:06:37] as a player and what impact he did.
[00:06:40] So I was able to kind of,
[00:06:41] a lot of the things that I modeled
[00:06:43] as far as leadership, you know, before,
[00:06:46] I didn't really, I mean,
[00:06:47] I certainly understood scripture
[00:06:48] and I was raised in a Christian family
[00:06:51] and my grandmother, powerful woman of God.
[00:06:54] But when you're a child,
[00:06:56] you don't fully understand those concepts
[00:06:59] of the perfect leadership that we find in scripture.
[00:07:02] So as far as an earthly standpoint,
[00:07:04] most of my leadership was built watching my dad.
[00:07:08] It's a reminder to us all that our fathers,
[00:07:13] our mothers, our parents have great influence over us,
[00:07:18] positively and negatively.
[00:07:20] Those people who spoke into our life as a child
[00:07:25] cannot be underestimated.
[00:07:28] So go back just a minute with that.
[00:07:30] You're watching your dad,
[00:07:31] but you're out, you're making carnivals,
[00:07:33] you're building, what inside of you,
[00:07:35] back in the day we didn't have,
[00:07:37] we couldn't go get on our iPad or,
[00:07:40] we didn't have any of that,
[00:07:41] but you somehow decided, hey,
[00:07:43] this is something I love and then you had to create it.
[00:07:46] Is that, and is that what happened?
[00:07:48] Yeah, you know, it's,
[00:07:49] and I think, and you know,
[00:07:51] I'm not gonna come on here and say,
[00:07:53] video games are horrible, all this stuff's terrible.
[00:07:57] It can be, but I can speak to what you're talking about.
[00:08:01] I do have a legitimate concern
[00:08:04] that children are not given the opportunity
[00:08:07] to develop their imagination.
[00:08:11] I mean, we, I remember in our backyard,
[00:08:14] when we grew up, everybody had little houses
[00:08:16] and huge yards.
[00:08:18] And no, I mean, I couldn't imagine the people
[00:08:20] that I was around as a child
[00:08:22] that anybody would build a house with a large bathroom.
[00:08:26] Right, you know what I mean?
[00:08:27] That'd be like, who wants to stay in the bathroom?
[00:08:29] And so, you know, it was,
[00:08:31] the houses were just simple,
[00:08:34] they were functional, because the world was to get outside.
[00:08:38] There was no desire to stay indoors
[00:08:42] and sit and look at a TV or sit and look at anything.
[00:08:45] The whole world was outside.
[00:08:47] And you were told to go outside,
[00:08:49] find something to do,
[00:08:50] and you would be told when to return to the house
[00:08:53] for a meal or something like that.
[00:08:55] And we weren't wealthy, so it might be,
[00:08:58] one day might revolve around an axe handle
[00:09:01] that no longer has the head on it.
[00:09:03] So now it's a big stick.
[00:09:05] And hey, here's a ball we found.
[00:09:08] It may not be a baseball.
[00:09:09] And before you know it, you're in the World Series
[00:09:11] in the backyard with an axe handle
[00:09:13] and some ball you found.
[00:09:16] No one had a glove, no one had a helmet.
[00:09:18] I mean, those things were not even,
[00:09:19] those things weren't affordable, so you didn't have them.
[00:09:22] So you had to go out and create.
[00:09:24] So if I'm thinking about to your point,
[00:09:27] I'm going to do something out in this wooded area
[00:09:29] behind my house.
[00:09:30] I had to think, well, how's that going to function?
[00:09:33] You know, so would they go through,
[00:09:34] here's some trails,
[00:09:35] so I guess they should walk through trails.
[00:09:38] Here's some wood that we could build some forts with.
[00:09:42] So I want to have some scenes where they come by
[00:09:44] and see forts and I want to have a war going on out here
[00:09:47] and maybe some cowboys and, you know,
[00:09:49] we'll hear something.
[00:09:50] This could be like a cowboy hat though it really isn't one.
[00:09:53] So you had to create something from nothing.
[00:09:56] Creating something from nothing.
[00:09:59] Most great leaders understand how to think creatively
[00:10:04] or innovatively, how to ask that question,
[00:10:07] what else can we do?
[00:10:09] I think it's one of the reasons that Rick
[00:10:11] has been so successful in building this radio talk show
[00:10:15] Empire if you will, that he co-host.
[00:10:19] And I'm concerned that with all the incredibly creative things
[00:10:24] that we have now, you can actually live your life now
[00:10:28] with someone else handling all the creativity in your life.
[00:10:31] That's exactly right.
[00:10:32] You don't really have to develop anything from nothing.
[00:10:34] Yeah, you just made my point.
[00:10:36] Nothing wrong with electronics but I think it's stealing away
[00:10:40] what you have, some of that creativity,
[00:10:42] some of that looking around and creating something out of nothing.
[00:10:46] And I think you've carried that, I've watched you from afar,
[00:10:49] but that attribute is something you've carried with you
[00:10:51] for your whole life that's helped you to be the man you are today
[00:10:54] in terms of I'm not afraid to take risk.
[00:10:57] I'm not afraid to create something,
[00:10:59] to I'm not afraid to dream and then go execute that.
[00:11:02] So I think as you, you know, our parents just parented us
[00:11:05] different same thing.
[00:11:06] Go out and play.
[00:11:07] I'll let you know when I need you back in our relatively small house, right?
[00:11:12] So as you walk through that, then you had this love for football
[00:11:16] and I'm going to guess because your dad was a head football coach.
[00:11:18] I'm just guessing that could or could not be,
[00:11:20] but what was that like?
[00:11:22] So now you're in junior high, high school, wanting for that.
[00:11:24] Well it was, you know, it was really, yes,
[00:11:27] my dad's what he did for a living.
[00:11:29] It was so normal.
[00:11:31] It really was more that the culture that I grew up in
[00:11:35] is that everybody played football.
[00:11:37] I mean it was the thing that was, you know,
[00:11:39] you saw people packing high school stadiums on a Friday night.
[00:11:43] So you thought, well I guess, I guess if you're going to play sport,
[00:11:45] play football.
[00:11:46] That seems to be the one everybody cares about.
[00:11:48] My dad actually again, I think showing great leadership
[00:11:50] made it very clear to my brother and to me
[00:11:53] that our identity was not football.
[00:11:56] My dad, I think did a really good job
[00:11:59] and there's a lot of coaches that don't do this well.
[00:12:02] He had other interests.
[00:12:03] He loved to hunt.
[00:12:04] He loved to fish.
[00:12:06] He loved to be outdoors.
[00:12:07] He loved music.
[00:12:09] There's some of that stuff I guess I was getting developed.
[00:12:11] We never looked at our dad and thought football, football only.
[00:12:14] We looked at our dad and thought this guy really enjoys life.
[00:12:18] And he told us, he said,
[00:12:19] I do not want you to play football if you don't want to.
[00:12:22] Wow.
[00:12:22] And don't play football for me.
[00:12:25] So I really never did it for him.
[00:12:27] We did it really under the pressure,
[00:12:30] but that the culture just kind of demanded it.
[00:12:32] I mean if you were a kid that had some athletic ability,
[00:12:35] you played football.
[00:12:35] And so, you know, and I probably looking back started too young.
[00:12:40] I'm not a huge fan of little bitty football
[00:12:43] because honestly, little league baseball
[00:12:46] and basketball and some of the other sports,
[00:12:49] you can, it's pretty much like what you do in the backyard.
[00:12:52] But little league football is nothing like what you do in the backyard.
[00:12:54] You know, suddenly a guy's told all you do is block.
[00:12:57] And you know, and there's, you go out there
[00:12:59] and there's all these men that now think this is their time
[00:13:02] to be better bright and Nick Saban and, you know,
[00:13:05] and Shig Jordan and all this kind of stuff.
[00:13:07] These are Alabama coaches I'm talking about that we all grew up around.
[00:13:09] But, you know, and they're shouting at you
[00:13:12] and they're trying to run you till you drop.
[00:13:14] And, you know, so a lot of little boys go,
[00:13:16] well, why am I doing this?
[00:13:17] This isn't fun at all.
[00:13:19] And so it wasn't a great little league experience,
[00:13:22] but again my dad never coached us in little league.
[00:13:25] He never got out in the backyard and says,
[00:13:27] let me throw you how to throw,
[00:13:28] show you how to throw and catch, show you how to block.
[00:13:30] If we asked him for help, he would give it to us.
[00:13:33] But he, I think he was very, very conscious
[00:13:36] that if we were going to participate in football,
[00:13:38] it wasn't going to be because of him.
[00:13:40] And I always appreciated that.
[00:13:42] I never felt that pressure.
[00:13:43] And I did get the opportunity to play for him
[00:13:45] in high school.
[00:13:46] My brother and I both did.
[00:13:48] And again, something that's abnormal.
[00:13:50] The minute I say that I played high school football
[00:13:52] for my dad, everybody conjures up these images
[00:13:54] of Friday night lights and all these horror stories,
[00:13:57] we had no such experience.
[00:13:59] My dad did a masterful job of saying,
[00:14:03] I'm your dad and I'm your coach.
[00:14:06] And they are not the same thing.
[00:14:07] He never brought it home.
[00:14:09] He never came, if he was mad about something
[00:14:11] that had to do with us as a player,
[00:14:13] it was never mentioned in the house.
[00:14:15] When we got back to practice the next day,
[00:14:17] then he would bring it back up again.
[00:14:18] He didn't come home saying,
[00:14:19] now look today on that one play,
[00:14:21] what were you doing?
[00:14:22] Never did that.
[00:14:23] He was dad at home and he was coach on the field.
[00:14:27] And there's very few men that can pull that off.
[00:14:30] And my dad did it masterfully.
[00:14:31] That is amazing.
[00:14:32] And by the way, you played for a great program too.
[00:14:34] So it's not like you're playing for a mediocre program.
[00:14:37] Where you played in high school.
[00:14:38] Yeah.
[00:14:39] And dads in all the hall of fame
[00:14:40] there are in our state and all that.
[00:14:42] So he was very successful,
[00:14:44] but he didn't do the...
[00:14:46] He's not this cartoonish coach who coached his sons
[00:14:50] that you see portrayed.
[00:14:52] And sadly it's portrayed because a lot of times
[00:14:53] men can't handle that.
[00:14:55] But my dad handled it beautifully.
[00:14:56] If there was only one thing that he probably looking back said
[00:14:59] that maybe he erred too far to the side of not...
[00:15:04] He didn't feel comfortable talking about any of our
[00:15:06] accomplishments to press or anything like that.
[00:15:09] So it was almost like...
[00:15:11] There's a funny story that when I was a sophomore
[00:15:13] and I didn't get pulled up to the varsity because I was great,
[00:15:16] I got pulled up to the varsity
[00:15:17] because senior class that year wasn't very good.
[00:15:19] And so they pulled up some sophomores
[00:15:21] to try to fill in to see if they could put together a team.
[00:15:23] And we didn't end up going to the playoffs
[00:15:25] and winning our area and all that.
[00:15:27] Not by any huge margins because we had to fight for everything.
[00:15:31] But I remember that I had made a play
[00:15:35] that warranted an award.
[00:15:37] They had this thing called hardest hit or whatever in the game.
[00:15:40] And so my mom who never really interfered went by
[00:15:43] where the coaches were watching the film
[00:15:44] and she heard them arguing that dad was not going to give me the award.
[00:15:49] And he says,
[00:15:50] the sophomore, we put it on him as a sophomore,
[00:15:52] it'll go to his head.
[00:15:53] I don't give awards to sophomores.
[00:15:55] And so my mother,
[00:15:56] I didn't hear the story title as a grown man,
[00:15:59] knocked on the door and asked to speak with her husband.
[00:16:02] And she called him outside.
[00:16:04] She said, if that boy had the hardest hit,
[00:16:05] he better get the award.
[00:16:07] And I got it.
[00:16:10] I bet you did.
[00:16:13] So there was always mama,
[00:16:14] if all else failed, bring mommy in.
[00:16:16] But I could understand his dilemma.
[00:16:18] He's like, well, this part's going to be kind of awkward.
[00:16:21] He's just a sophomore,
[00:16:22] sophomores don't do this kind of stuff.
[00:16:23] But she said the bottom line is,
[00:16:25] if it's not worthy of the award, don't give it to him.
[00:16:27] But if it is, don't withhold it from it.
[00:16:29] And that's mama giving a little wisdom.
[00:16:32] You know, there's something about that generation of men.
[00:16:34] Your dad's almost, is 80.
[00:16:36] And that humility or that strength and humility sometimes,
[00:16:42] they just had an adversity to just bragging on their son,
[00:16:47] many of them.
[00:16:48] And that's that greatest generation, that mindset.
[00:16:50] No, you're right.
[00:16:51] I've talked about this before, Larry,
[00:16:53] and it's a sad to say this.
[00:16:55] And I actually do a comment a bit about this,
[00:16:57] but some of my kids played some of this tournament ball.
[00:17:00] You know, we end up going to these summer tournaments.
[00:17:03] And a man would come up to you that you never even met.
[00:17:06] I mean, he's from Texas or something,
[00:17:08] and I'm from Alabama.
[00:17:10] And he's like, yes, my son out there, number 11.
[00:17:12] Okay, well, nice to meet you.
[00:17:14] Yeah, you know, he's all state is high school
[00:17:17] and he's got about 50 offers out there
[00:17:19] and he can run a 440 and can bench press 300 pounds.
[00:17:23] And I just like, I don't even know you.
[00:17:25] Right.
[00:17:26] And he's already bragging on his son.
[00:17:29] And I said, now you just said it, our dads?
[00:17:33] I said, here's how the conversations go with our dad.
[00:17:36] Hey, Bill, that's a big old boy you got there, lazy.
[00:17:39] That's right.
[00:17:39] Big old baby.
[00:17:41] If I can get him out front in his mama's skirt,
[00:17:42] he might do something.
[00:17:43] I mean, they would just withhold any comp.
[00:17:47] They didn't want to ever come off if they were bragging.
[00:17:49] They're being prideful about their own children.
[00:17:52] Let me tell you something, parents have no problem with that today.
[00:17:55] And the problem with that is you're just heaping pressure
[00:18:00] on top of your kid and you're also turning that kid
[00:18:03] into an arrogant person that won't follow the leadership.
[00:18:05] Yeah, we call it narcissism and I think it's epidemic today.
[00:18:08] But our parents were a bit different
[00:18:10] and that generation was different and we grew up that way.
[00:18:12] So now Rick is a high schooler.
[00:18:15] He's in high school doing his thing at Oxford and then on.
[00:18:18] What, tell me who were you then?
[00:18:19] Hey, what was that like?
[00:18:20] Well, when I was in high school,
[00:18:22] I was what you would call a cultural Christian.
[00:18:24] I certainly believed all the concepts of the gospel.
[00:18:28] And I think for me in high school growing up in the Bible belt,
[00:18:32] I was a kid that everybody would say, hey, well, you know what?
[00:18:37] My mother's name is Gennale, a good southern name and my dad, Bill.
[00:18:40] Bill Gennale's got a good boy.
[00:18:41] He's a good boy.
[00:18:42] You know, he goes to church.
[00:18:44] He doesn't drink.
[00:18:46] He carries himself well.
[00:18:47] Now, I was completely the class clown though.
[00:18:51] And so I got in trouble all the time, not about things that were mean or whatever.
[00:18:56] And some of it may have been disrespectful because I should have kept my mouth shut in the class.
[00:19:00] So I apologize for that.
[00:19:01] But now I did have a problem with that.
[00:19:03] I was not a great student.
[00:19:05] I say that my football number was 75 and that was not me wearing my average out onto the field.
[00:19:12] I was a classic C student.
[00:19:15] I didn't like school.
[00:19:18] If I was not interested in the topic, I had a hard time paying attention.
[00:19:24] But if you look at even my high school and my college, you'll see I did really well
[00:19:28] in the area of things I was interested in.
[00:19:31] And I did very poorly in things that I was not interested in.
[00:19:34] But so and I was from a leadership standpoint, I was captain of the football team.
[00:19:42] How about that?
[00:19:42] I was part of the class.
[00:19:45] I was the buddy of mine, we're president, vice president of the student body and that kind of stuff.
[00:19:51] But it wasn't I don't think I really understood.
[00:19:53] I wasn't trying really to be a leader.
[00:19:57] And unfortunately, I think there was even a side of me that said,
[00:20:00] I don't really want that responsibility.
[00:20:03] But it was just the way the personality and the way God created me.
[00:20:07] It was almost like you don't really have a choice.
[00:20:10] So you better learn how to do it.
[00:20:11] And but so early on, I was and I was in that in that culture a lot of times,
[00:20:20] you know, spend a lot more time with my family than I did anybody else had great friends,
[00:20:24] you know, grew up in a neighborhood where everybody knew each other.
[00:20:26] And we all hang out.
[00:20:28] So I had great friends.
[00:20:29] I had a great time playing high school football was always on good teams.
[00:20:33] I loved playing for my dad.
[00:20:35] It was not a negative experience at all.
[00:20:37] I joke around a little bit.
[00:20:38] You know, I do men's conferences about some of the sayings that he
[00:20:41] that he has, which were hilarious.
[00:20:43] But but but I really enjoyed it.
[00:20:46] I went to a group in a community, Oxford, Alabama, which is, you know,
[00:20:51] so I get to go around telling the world that I'm an Oxford graduate.
[00:20:53] Yes, yes, that's always impressive.
[00:20:55] People here until I tell them it's Alabama.
[00:20:58] But but it was just the classic hometown, small town, Alabama with a high school
[00:21:04] where the community loved the football team and and everybody was,
[00:21:08] you know, if you weren't at the football game on Friday,
[00:21:09] everybody thought something was wrong.
[00:21:11] That's right.
[00:21:12] I had some great teachers that that invested in me.
[00:21:15] I did have one teacher who we have.
[00:21:17] I still get to talk to her from time to time who literally said this in a classroom,
[00:21:21] Rick Burgess.
[00:21:22] I don't know what your plan is, but good luck on finding a career
[00:21:26] that is going to pay you to sit and make wisecracks.
[00:21:31] And here you are.
[00:21:32] And here I am.
[00:21:32] Look at the.
[00:21:33] I saw her after the show, the Rick and Bubba show had been on there for like
[00:21:36] 10, 15 years.
[00:21:38] Right.
[00:21:38] And I said, Miss Kelly, have you heard of our radio show?
[00:21:40] She goes, yes.
[00:21:41] And it makes me want to run my car into a tree.
[00:21:43] She said, please don't tell him I taught you English.
[00:21:47] So anyway, so it's kind of a running joke.
[00:21:49] I love it.
[00:21:50] But but I do remember that.
[00:21:51] It's like, hey, if you think you're going to find a way to make a living at all this.
[00:21:55] She was a prophet and didn't know it.
[00:21:56] There you go.
[00:21:58] But I had a great time in high school.
[00:22:00] Everybody loved you.
[00:22:00] You were a natural, I guess a natural leader or naturally connected
[00:22:04] and you weren't afraid of doing that.
[00:22:05] That's kind of in your in your DNA.
[00:22:07] And you go on now.
[00:22:09] You're up to college or in college.
[00:22:11] Talk a little bit about that and who you were at that stage of your life.
[00:22:13] Well, this is not so good.
[00:22:15] So so when I was actually being recruited and I was still trying to figure out in my life then
[00:22:20] is football?
[00:22:21] Is this it?
[00:22:22] Is that is that my identity?
[00:22:24] You know, we do this even in the men's ministry stuff that we do the first five
[00:22:27] weeks in our curriculum is identity because most men don't know their identity.
[00:22:30] That's right.
[00:22:31] And so I said, what is my identity?
[00:22:33] Is it football?
[00:22:35] Yeah, this radio interest.
[00:22:36] I don't really have a plan on how that's going to happen, but I'm currently playing football
[00:22:41] and and I and if I had had a if I had worked harder at it,
[00:22:45] you know, I just was naturally able to play probably from my dad and my granddad and all
[00:22:49] their genetics.
[00:22:50] My brother was he worked harder at it and it was an overachiever.
[00:22:55] I was probably honestly, I wouldn't say underachiever, but I didn't.
[00:22:58] I didn't do extra workouts and stuff like that and all.
[00:23:01] And so so the didn't enjoy that part of it really.
[00:23:05] I used to always say, look, just get me to Friday night.
[00:23:07] Everything will be fine.
[00:23:08] This other stuff and which is not a good attitude to have, by the way.
[00:23:12] That's that's I wouldn't promote that.
[00:23:14] So I was being recruited by the SEC and my dad had played for Auburn University
[00:23:19] and they were recruiting me heavy and I was like, well, that's where I'm
[00:23:22] going to go.
[00:23:23] And I didn't really take many visits to other schools that were talking to me and
[00:23:26] and did most all my visits there.
[00:23:29] And I got injured in the semifinals of my senior year and we didn't have
[00:23:34] orthopedic surgeons on the sidelines on those days.
[00:23:36] Right.
[00:23:37] We had the local doctor, somebody that would help and they didn't really have
[00:23:40] that expertise.
[00:23:41] I would find out years later that my foot actually had broke across the top of
[00:23:45] the of the of the knuckle.
[00:23:47] And I call it knuckle.
[00:23:48] Right.
[00:23:48] You're already big toe and then right across that part.
[00:23:51] It broke there.
[00:23:52] And then the ligaments on the other side had been stretched to the point.
[00:23:55] They were like bold spaghetti.
[00:23:56] So but in those days, I mean, they take me
[00:23:59] up and I went back in the game and finished out.
[00:24:02] My wife hates this story.
[00:24:03] She's like, y'all are idiots.
[00:24:05] And so I said it was just a different time.
[00:24:07] It was.
[00:24:07] And so so I played two and a half more games.
[00:24:11] And so on signing day, I was brought down to the athletic department
[00:24:16] and the Auburn coaches were all there at the time.
[00:24:18] Pat Dye was the head coach.
[00:24:19] It was his second season.
[00:24:21] Bo who I played against to go on the year before.
[00:24:23] And so he told me that day they weren't going to sign me.
[00:24:27] And so I was like, what?
[00:24:29] And so so he said, we don't like this injury.
[00:24:31] We don't know how it's going to affect you.
[00:24:33] Why don't you just walk on and let's see how it does.
[00:24:36] And then maybe we'll give you a scholarship.
[00:24:39] So I got real upset about that.
[00:24:41] Really had not prepared myself for that kind of setback
[00:24:44] and started calling the other colleges who said, hey,
[00:24:47] it's signing day.
[00:24:48] We don't we would have to do the same thing.
[00:24:49] We've already committed all of our scholarships.
[00:24:52] And so then Troy was Troy state then is Troy now.
[00:24:57] They were in the Gulf South Conference Division two.
[00:24:59] And they came in and said, we'll give you full scholarship to come play here.
[00:25:03] Well, in the all star game that summer,
[00:25:06] I'm now playing in this high school all star game with all the guys
[00:25:09] that I think is good at our better good as are better.
[00:25:12] And they're all going to the big schools and they're doing all this.
[00:25:15] I didn't have appreciation for Division two or one double A football at that time.
[00:25:20] It's funny that dad would go on to coach that after this.
[00:25:23] So I would have a real appreciation for it.
[00:25:24] So I was I was in this important for people listening to this to understand decisions.
[00:25:29] So I had never had a drink of alcohol my entire life.
[00:25:33] And I was standing with it with a bunch of guys at night and it wasn't peer pressure.
[00:25:37] Right?
[00:25:37] Because like I said, I've always been in a position that I never was in a position
[00:25:41] that I ever received peer pressure because I was usually in a leadership role.
[00:25:44] So I didn't have peer pressure.
[00:25:46] I don't I don't know for what reason, whether it was just frustration.
[00:25:50] It was certainly that I had not built my faith on a strong foundation.
[00:25:54] I was just a cultural Christian.
[00:25:56] I knew the basic concepts of it.
[00:25:58] But I had definitely not submitted to the authority of Christ or our understood,
[00:26:03] you know, true redemption.
[00:26:05] And so I decided with all these big time players to take a drink of alcohol.
[00:26:11] And when I did that led to 13 years of this total disaster.
[00:26:16] I went to Troy for one year.
[00:26:19] Okay.
[00:26:19] Was played as a freshman was terribly out of shape.
[00:26:23] When I got there still ended up getting on the field and playing turned into just a horrible human being
[00:26:30] and went down the road of just total debauchery, rejected everything, did not go back to church.
[00:26:37] Was a total embarrassment for my family and left the team after one season joined a rock band
[00:26:46] and went on the road as a lead singer of a rock band.
[00:26:49] Wow.
[00:26:50] And spent the next 13 years really destroying a lot of lives, making a lot of damage and causing a lot of
[00:27:00] I certainly wasn't the type of leader that you would want.
[00:27:03] Wow.
[00:27:04] I really appreciate Rick's authenticity here.
[00:27:08] His self awareness, his ability just to call it like it is even when he's talking about himself.
[00:27:16] That shows great character.
[00:27:19] Wow.
[00:27:20] All of that back to that decision.
[00:27:22] That one decision, I never felt pressured.
[00:27:26] Matter of fact, I remember in high school being told that you're not invited to come to this party.
[00:27:32] We're going to the beach.
[00:27:33] We don't want you to go because we know you don't drink to being everything that I had found repulsive.
[00:27:40] Wow.
[00:27:40] So that lasted 13 years of your life.
[00:27:42] 13 years of your life.
[00:27:43] You just living it for yourself.
[00:27:46] Lead singer of a rock band.
[00:27:47] I guess I'm making assumption doing things that go along with that type of lifestyle.
[00:27:51] Absolutely.
[00:27:52] So did you hit bottom?
[00:27:53] What happened?
[00:27:54] Yeah, I had been married for two and a half years in the middle of all that.
[00:27:59] Had been divorced, had two kids, and then I met Sherry.
[00:28:03] As she then the Rick, then I left the rock band.
[00:28:07] One time I was doing radio in the band at the same time, which I would not suggest that lifestyle
[00:28:11] either when they moved me to mornings.
[00:28:12] I thought, well, this is surely my death.
[00:28:14] And because I would come from playing and go right on the air.
[00:28:18] And so when the show first started, when I finally, I did the show by myself for a while
[00:28:22] and then I met Bubba as an engineer.
[00:28:24] And when we first started the show, I was still in this lifestyle had been divorced.
[00:28:29] And Sherry came in as the new news person on the show.
[00:28:32] And I saw her and I thought, well, that's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my whole life.
[00:28:35] And everybody's like, please don't embarrass yourself.
[00:28:38] And so I started pursuing her and long story short,
[00:28:43] she decided to go out with me one time for a lunch.
[00:28:46] And we met each other and then we fell in love.
[00:28:49] And I was bringing a lot of baggage.
[00:28:51] I was not what every little girl dreams of.
[00:28:54] I always say no little girl dreams of a man with a mullet
[00:28:57] in a broken down car with two little kids from a broken down marriage.
[00:29:01] That's not what women usually dream about.
[00:29:04] Prince Charming.
[00:29:05] And so but she loved me anyway.
[00:29:08] And together through our marriage counseling, we both became redeemed.
[00:29:14] The marriage counselor looked at my life and said,
[00:29:18] I think you're just lost, Rick.
[00:29:20] And I don't want to marry you because I think you're just going to mess up somebody else's life.
[00:29:25] And I was like, yeah, but I mean, I believe when I was a kid
[00:29:27] and I got baptized twice once as a kid, once as a teenager.
[00:29:32] And he said, there's just no evidence of redemption in your life.
[00:29:35] Look at how you've lived deliberately, perpetually, continually.
[00:29:39] These are not stumbles.
[00:29:41] And I just believe you're lost.
[00:29:43] And he was right.
[00:29:45] And I remember going home and dealing with that and saying,
[00:29:49] there's something wrong here.
[00:29:51] But but I know I believe the right things.
[00:29:52] I've believed that since I was a child.
[00:29:55] And and I took a Bible which I had not cracked in 13 years.
[00:29:59] And it fell open to the book of James.
[00:30:01] And I didn't even know who James was.
[00:30:04] And I saw the word submit in James chapter four, submit yourself.
[00:30:08] Chapter verse seven, submit yourself to God, resist the devil.
[00:30:12] He'll flee from you.
[00:30:13] Come near to God.
[00:30:13] He'll come near to you.
[00:30:15] And because of understanding authority,
[00:30:17] growing up under the leadership of my dad,
[00:30:19] because he was very authoritative in a good way.
[00:30:21] Sure.
[00:30:22] I looked and I thought submit.
[00:30:25] I'm not under God's authority.
[00:30:27] And I do whatever I want.
[00:30:30] And and at that moment in that in that in that bachelor pad,
[00:30:34] I still see that on nasty carpet.
[00:30:36] I got on my face and I said, Lord, I'm not under your authority.
[00:30:40] So I want to just submit.
[00:30:41] I see this word.
[00:30:42] I understand what that means to submit to authority.
[00:30:44] So I will submit to your authority.
[00:30:46] I know what you did on the cross and told them a whole life.
[00:30:49] So I know that you love me.
[00:30:52] But God, I don't love you.
[00:30:54] It's evident.
[00:30:55] Look at my life.
[00:30:55] I don't love you.
[00:30:56] So you got to teach me to love you.
[00:30:58] And I realized I didn't love him because I didn't know him.
[00:31:01] Because if you know him, you'll love him.
[00:31:03] And he says, if you love me, then you'll obey me.
[00:31:05] It's not legalism.
[00:31:06] It's not self-control.
[00:31:07] It's not a new code of conduct.
[00:31:08] It is response to how much you love him because of the strength
[00:31:13] that has come into your life and your tree to redeem.
[00:31:15] And so I did that as best as I could understand.
[00:31:18] I was sincere, which is the key.
[00:31:21] And it radically changed my life.
[00:31:23] And Sherry and I both submitted to the authority of Christ,
[00:31:26] repented of our sin, came under the authority of a local church.
[00:31:30] And we've been sanctified and growing ever since.
[00:31:32] All right.
[00:31:33] So your decision back as a college freshman, that was a failure.
[00:31:38] You used to look, I decided to do this lifestyle, but it wasn't fatal.
[00:31:43] Because of God's grace, you were able to make another decision,
[00:31:46] right?
[00:31:47] With Sherry that said, I'm going to submit.
[00:31:49] I'm going to give my life.
[00:31:51] And Sherry did the same.
[00:31:52] Yes.
[00:31:52] Yeah.
[00:31:53] Sherry had been on her own journey of cultural Christianity,
[00:31:56] but she said something so beautiful when we both were kneeling at that altar
[00:32:01] and we could feel the Holy Spirit all over us.
[00:32:05] Sherry said this is so beautiful.
[00:32:06] I agreed with her.
[00:32:07] She said for the first time in my life, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
[00:32:11] Well, it's amazing.
[00:32:12] Yeah.
[00:32:13] What a testimony.
[00:32:14] What to say that on your wedding day with her by,
[00:32:18] and you guys have been together now married how long?
[00:32:20] 25 years.
[00:32:20] 25 years.
[00:32:21] And not all of it has been easy.
[00:32:23] No.
[00:32:23] Walk us through.
[00:32:25] Now you're married, you've turned, you still have the show.
[00:32:29] I mean, you have the show now, but you're not in the band.
[00:32:32] No.
[00:32:32] No.
[00:32:32] I'm going to get to that.
[00:32:33] We did a little bit of continuing now under the authority of Christ,
[00:32:36] but I was new to the faith.
[00:32:38] We did some shows like an amphitheater, just Rick and Bubba and some musicians and stuff.
[00:32:42] But no, the band life, I was leaving it.
[00:32:45] And so we started the process of getting in the local church,
[00:32:49] which I'd never done before.
[00:32:51] And now, see I've got to learn to be the spiritual leader of a home,
[00:32:54] which I didn't know how to do that at all.
[00:32:57] And my wife plugged into the faith quicker than me,
[00:33:01] started growing spiritually quicker than me.
[00:33:03] And unfortunately had to lead our house spiritually for a while,
[00:33:06] because I use those excuses you heard me talk about.
[00:33:09] I'd talk about this at Men's Gatherings,
[00:33:11] that I made the excuse that I just didn't like to study.
[00:33:14] I was never a good student.
[00:33:15] I don't like to study.
[00:33:16] This is hard for me.
[00:33:18] And, but then I realized though, but wait a minute,
[00:33:22] I'm an expert on everything I care about.
[00:33:25] So somehow even if I don't like school and I don't like reading,
[00:33:30] where have I become an expert on football?
[00:33:33] Where did I become an expert on deer hunting, fishing, filling the blank?
[00:33:37] How did I become an expert on those things?
[00:33:39] Well, I tell you how.
[00:33:40] I love them.
[00:33:41] I deem them a value.
[00:33:43] So a man always is an expert on anything he deems a value.
[00:33:47] And I realize that.
[00:33:49] And so I started the process of pursuing scripture,
[00:33:52] pursuing my faith the way I did everything else I deemed a value.
[00:33:56] And over time, as you know, once you taste that,
[00:33:58] you taste of the Lord and he is good,
[00:34:01] it began to be everything else.
[00:34:03] And it's still happening now.
[00:34:05] Everything becomes less and less important and desirable
[00:34:08] when you realize how wonderful he is.
[00:34:10] Yeah, I watched you or listened to you for years
[00:34:12] and I've seen that process.
[00:34:14] I've seen it go through that.
[00:34:15] You're interest, you're passion.
[00:34:18] One of the things you teach us, Rick,
[00:34:19] is about what we're interested in.
[00:34:21] We invest in and certainly God and his son
[00:34:25] and really studying and learning.
[00:34:27] But the other thing I've watched you
[00:34:28] is you become a student of Sherry, your wife.
[00:34:31] You're passionate about her, man.
[00:34:32] You love her.
[00:34:33] Well, it's your number one earthly priority if you're married.
[00:34:38] And I just, I mean, I realize that God is what changed me,
[00:34:44] but he used her.
[00:34:46] If he doesn't get me approved under holy matrimony
[00:34:49] with a woman like her, where would I be?
[00:34:52] Because many women are equal.
[00:34:54] No question about that, but they're distinctly different.
[00:34:57] And the job she has done to be the perfect helper,
[00:35:01] as we hear God say that in the book of Genesis,
[00:35:04] if you want to know God's standard of marriage,
[00:35:06] just look the first time he ever, when he creates it.
[00:35:08] And he says there is nothing that's a perfect helper
[00:35:11] and partner for a male.
[00:35:12] I haven't made it yet.
[00:35:13] Genesis chapter two, I haven't made it.
[00:35:16] So then he says, so I have to go on record.
[00:35:17] I will now create the perfect helper
[00:35:19] and the perfect partner for man, a male.
[00:35:25] Which means everything he created at that point
[00:35:27] was not the right partner.
[00:35:29] So he created a woman.
[00:35:31] And this is not a mild deal when he says
[00:35:34] this woman now becomes your helper and your partner.
[00:35:37] What Sherry has done to undergird me
[00:35:40] and has been used by God to disciple me, to grow me,
[00:35:44] and to even at times say, I've discovered this in Scripture here.
[00:35:49] Look at this.
[00:35:49] This is a way to go about this that you may have missed.
[00:35:52] And then we sit down and she'll say,
[00:35:54] sometimes I'll deliver a message
[00:35:55] that she's actually sat down with me
[00:35:57] and helped me put together
[00:35:58] and always bring stuff to the table that I didn't see.
[00:36:01] And she's a powerful woman of God.
[00:36:04] And there is no word to describe her value to me.
[00:36:08] And that is so evident.
[00:36:10] And you guys were building a foundation now in your marriage.
[00:36:12] You were having children.
[00:36:15] The spiritual foundation is growing.
[00:36:17] And then something happened.
[00:36:20] Yeah, so Sherry becomes a stepmom of two little kids,
[00:36:23] a boy and a girl does a great job with that.
[00:36:26] And so we started having children
[00:36:28] that were biologically hers as well.
[00:36:31] So we had three sons.
[00:36:33] So now we have five children
[00:36:34] and four sons and one daughter.
[00:36:36] And our youngest, Bronner.
[00:36:39] And I remember Sherry coming up with that name.
[00:36:40] She said, you've named all the kids.
[00:36:42] I want to name this one.
[00:36:43] And she says, what do you think about the name Bronner?
[00:36:46] And I was like, that sounds like somebody's last name.
[00:36:48] I don't know.
[00:36:49] Where are you getting Bronner from?
[00:36:51] And she says, I don't know.
[00:36:52] I just, I think it's not weird, but it's unique
[00:36:55] because I always worry about giving your kid a weird name
[00:36:57] because they have to deal with it at school and all that.
[00:36:59] And so when he was born,
[00:37:03] we gave him a family name, William,
[00:37:04] which is throughout family.
[00:37:05] That's my dad's name, my brother's name,
[00:37:07] my grandfather's name and the list goes on and on.
[00:37:09] So William Bronner Burgess.
[00:37:11] And so at two and a half years old,
[00:37:13] I was speaking in Pigeon Forge.
[00:37:16] I had started to go out and speaking.
[00:37:17] At this time, mainly youth stuff.
[00:37:18] And I was speaking with Scott Dawson,
[00:37:21] Evangelistic Association.
[00:37:22] And Sherry was home with the kids.
[00:37:24] And then our oldest were teenagers at that time.
[00:37:27] And then the younger ones were eight, six,
[00:37:29] and Bronner, two and a half.
[00:37:32] And so I got a call while I was there
[00:37:35] with my wife, Frantic, that our youngest had somehow,
[00:37:40] while he was playing with his brothers or whatever,
[00:37:43] had gotten out of what we thought was a secure locked door
[00:37:46] and had gone out to the pool and fell in and drowned.
[00:37:50] And she said, they're trying to revive him.
[00:37:54] And when you're five hours away from your wife,
[00:37:57] and this is taking place,
[00:37:58] and you start trying to work your way back,
[00:38:01] there's...
[00:38:01] But I felt the power of the Holy Spirit on me just
[00:38:04] because I'm like, Lord, this is...
[00:38:07] He loves you enough to take you to places
[00:38:09] where you have to depend on him.
[00:38:10] You don't have any choice.
[00:38:12] As I learned from God that my problem
[00:38:15] was not that I wasn't strong enough,
[00:38:16] it was that I wasn't weak enough.
[00:38:18] I was raised to be strong, to stand up,
[00:38:21] take on anything.
[00:38:22] And there's nothing...
[00:38:23] I mean, that's okay,
[00:38:25] except when you start committing the sin of self-reliance.
[00:38:28] Yeah.
[00:38:29] And so because there's things God can't do
[00:38:31] with a man that won't be completely reliant on him
[00:38:35] or a woman who won't be completely reliant on him.
[00:38:38] And because you're trying to say,
[00:38:42] this part, I can still do this on my own.
[00:38:44] And so as the apostle Paul talks about
[00:38:47] in 2 Corinthians 12,
[00:38:48] I've asked you to remove the storm in my flesh.
[00:38:50] I've asked you three times about it and you won't do it.
[00:38:52] And I realize you won't do it
[00:38:54] because you keep me from being conceited
[00:38:56] and you're humbling me with it
[00:38:58] and reminding me that your grace is sufficient.
[00:39:00] So I celebrate calamity.
[00:39:02] I celebrate my weakness because when I'm weak,
[00:39:05] then I'm actually strong.
[00:39:07] And so God was taking me through that process
[00:39:09] because this was a...
[00:39:11] You got nowhere to go but God
[00:39:12] and you had no way to do it.
[00:39:14] I don't know if you're a person of faith or not,
[00:39:17] but this lesson that Rick is teaching us
[00:39:20] on vulnerability is incredibly powerful.
[00:39:23] So many times the greatest leaders
[00:39:25] are the leaders who recognize their weakness
[00:39:28] and allow others to help them.
[00:39:31] And as a person of faith,
[00:39:33] it's about realizing that in our weakness,
[00:39:37] God can make us strong.
[00:39:39] Great teachings from Rick.
[00:39:41] At one point, even tying your shoe.
[00:39:44] Yeah, you know, when I was sitting down
[00:39:47] after going through all this,
[00:39:49] and I did, I looked down
[00:39:50] and I was trying to go back to work
[00:39:52] a week after he went to heaven
[00:39:53] and went through the memorial service
[00:39:55] and learning from Shari
[00:39:58] as she was sitting in children's hospital.
[00:40:02] She wrote that she's got a book
[00:40:03] called Brawner, A Journey to Understand.
[00:40:06] She wrote that, it took her five years to write it.
[00:40:08] It was just grueling.
[00:40:10] And in it, she describes the moment
[00:40:12] of sitting there waiting on me to get there.
[00:40:15] And she said, our pastor came to the hospital
[00:40:18] after they told us that our son could not be revived.
[00:40:21] Our friends came, some of our family came.
[00:40:23] She said, but everybody knew the same thing.
[00:40:26] They couldn't be my husband.
[00:40:28] There was a leadership row
[00:40:29] that God had placed my husband in
[00:40:31] that no one could duplicate.
[00:40:33] He could not be replaced.
[00:40:36] So we waited on him.
[00:40:38] And so God prepared me for that
[00:40:40] all the way to get to her.
[00:40:43] I said to her what he told me to say.
[00:40:45] I took her in my arms.
[00:40:47] And she said in that moment,
[00:40:48] it was the first moment that I knew
[00:40:51] that everything was going to be all right.
[00:40:52] Now this is a powerful woman of God.
[00:40:55] It's not somebody that knows scripture.
[00:40:57] And so she knows these things,
[00:41:00] but there was something unique
[00:41:01] in the husband-wife relationship
[00:41:03] that couldn't be duplicated.
[00:41:06] And so after that's over,
[00:41:08] and we do the memorial service,
[00:41:10] which I didn't think I was going to speak at.
[00:41:12] I thought I was just going to thank everybody.
[00:41:14] It ends up on YouTube.
[00:41:15] It becomes the number one most viewed YouTube
[00:41:17] in the world for a week.
[00:41:19] Goodness gracious.
[00:41:20] Which I didn't even know what YouTube was.
[00:41:21] And YouTube was invented the year that Bronner was born.
[00:41:25] You see God with all that going on.
[00:41:28] So that moment now to what you're talking about,
[00:41:31] we had a little farmhouse that we were living in
[00:41:33] that we left the main house and went and lived there
[00:41:36] because we didn't know if we could go back.
[00:41:37] I didn't know if Sherry wanted to go back
[00:41:38] to where the pool was.
[00:41:39] And so I'm sitting there ready to go back on the air
[00:41:43] and I say Lord,
[00:41:44] I kind of think I just need to...
[00:41:46] I don't know about doing this anymore.
[00:41:47] I mean when's the next time you say something funny?
[00:41:50] It's going to be hard for me to give everybody the stories of the day
[00:41:53] and let's break them down.
[00:41:54] I don't care about any of that right now.
[00:41:55] That's right.
[00:41:56] This world is...
[00:41:57] In this world little boy's drowned.
[00:41:59] Lord, I don't want to be here.
[00:42:01] I mean I really was at the point,
[00:42:02] I wasn't suicidal but I was like,
[00:42:04] man if you want to come back now,
[00:42:05] if you want to take all this to you,
[00:42:08] I'm good.
[00:42:09] Yeah.
[00:42:09] You know I'm done.
[00:42:12] And I said I can't even tie my shoes to go to work
[00:42:15] and you expect me to go back and do this.
[00:42:16] And that's when I heard from my spirit,
[00:42:17] no now you're ready.
[00:42:19] You know there was a time,
[00:42:21] your problem is not strength.
[00:42:23] Your problem is weakness.
[00:42:24] And so I have broken you down to right now
[00:42:27] you're asking me to help you tie your shoes.
[00:42:30] So from this day forward,
[00:42:31] I can now use you in a way that I never could before.
[00:42:35] And I have people say and they'll say this,
[00:42:40] hey have you ever heard Rick Burgess speak anywhere?
[00:42:42] And they'll say yeah I think I did.
[00:42:43] When?
[00:42:43] Before 2008 or after.
[00:42:45] And if anybody says before,
[00:42:47] they say go hear him again.
[00:42:48] You didn't hear the same guy.
[00:42:50] Man.
[00:42:50] You got to go hear the guy after 2008.
[00:42:53] And my wife will even do that.
[00:42:54] We've seen what suffering has done in both of our lives
[00:42:56] and sometimes we'll sit and we'll hear a young guy
[00:42:59] there talking.
[00:43:00] He'll be great man.
[00:43:01] He'll be gifted, he loves the Lord
[00:43:05] and Sherry will nudge me.
[00:43:06] She'll say this guy's really going to be something
[00:43:07] once he suffers.
[00:43:09] Man.
[00:43:10] Thanks a lot.
[00:43:11] Yeah right.
[00:43:12] She said well when God refines him,
[00:43:13] he's really going to be something.
[00:43:14] That's you know it's.
[00:43:15] There's a tone that comes with suffering
[00:43:17] that you can't duplicate any other way.
[00:43:19] It's so true Rick and I've always said
[00:43:21] even in my life,
[00:43:22] I don't like that that I seem to learn the most
[00:43:25] from my failures or my struggles
[00:43:26] and my I don't like it but it's just true.
[00:43:28] I'm like God what can I learn something
[00:43:30] from something good?
[00:43:32] Oh I know.
[00:43:32] Well my wife says this in her book.
[00:43:34] She says I don't always like God's tactics
[00:43:36] but I cannot argue with his results.
[00:43:38] Right that's well said.
[00:43:40] Yeah yeah because there's things
[00:43:41] that I have seen accomplished in my life
[00:43:43] and my children's life
[00:43:44] in my father's life back to him again.
[00:43:48] That weren't going to be accomplished
[00:43:48] any other way.
[00:43:49] That's amazing.
[00:43:51] Well Rick you have used your life
[00:43:53] and the life of those that you hold dear
[00:43:55] and love.
[00:43:56] You've used them for God's glory
[00:43:57] and he is honoring you
[00:43:59] and putting you in a position of influence
[00:44:01] and that's what leadership is.
[00:44:03] It's really the ability to influence others
[00:44:05] and you are an influencer
[00:44:06] an amazing influencer
[00:44:08] and what I love about you is
[00:44:09] you are very strong
[00:44:11] and you're a very strong person
[00:44:13] from a personality standpoint
[00:44:15] but you're not narcissistic
[00:44:16] and I've seen you pull people around you
[00:44:19] I've seen you allow other
[00:44:20] but you do it on the Rick and Bubba show
[00:44:21] you have a
[00:44:22] your whole thing is
[00:44:23] we've got a great team here
[00:44:24] and I hear you thank them every day
[00:44:26] I hear you
[00:44:28] and your relationship with Bubba
[00:44:30] all of that to say
[00:44:30] that's what leadership looks like
[00:44:32] you're influencing leading them
[00:44:34] through serving them
[00:44:35] through caring for them
[00:44:36] so here's what I want to do
[00:44:37] is we've got a clock to talk to you
[00:44:39] all day you got to go preach in a minute
[00:44:40] Oh yeah that's right.
[00:44:41] But I want to ask you this
[00:44:42] if you will help us
[00:44:43] and we'll wrap this thing up
[00:44:44] and thank you for this
[00:44:45] you are amazing
[00:44:46] this will help people
[00:44:48] and bless people
[00:44:48] and what an amazing leader
[00:44:50] can I ask you one more question
[00:44:52] before I let you go
[00:44:53] there are
[00:44:55] just like you
[00:44:55] just like me
[00:44:56] there are young leaders
[00:44:57] out here today
[00:44:57] and they're trying to figure it out
[00:44:59] they're making some bad decisions
[00:45:00] some good some bad
[00:45:01] we don't want those bad decisions
[00:45:03] to be fatal
[00:45:04] we want them to learn
[00:45:05] like we did
[00:45:06] could you give us
[00:45:07] just two or three things
[00:45:08] that you would say to an aspiring
[00:45:09] young leader a man or woman
[00:45:10] all right number one
[00:45:11] if you're in a position of leadership
[00:45:13] please don't treat everybody
[00:45:15] like they're all encouraged
[00:45:16] inspired exactly the same way
[00:45:19] this I learned this from my dad
[00:45:21] my dad said look
[00:45:22] everybody on the team
[00:45:24] and whatever that means to you team
[00:45:27] all have to abide by the same rules
[00:45:28] I don't play favorites
[00:45:29] like this person was able to get away
[00:45:32] with being late
[00:45:32] but you can't that kind of stuff
[00:45:33] that's not what I'm talking about
[00:45:35] he said everybody is under the same rules
[00:45:37] there's a quality with everybody
[00:45:38] it's everybody's the same
[00:45:40] but you don't motivate everybody the same
[00:45:42] that's right
[00:45:42] if you go after one person on your team
[00:45:46] aggressively like hey man
[00:45:47] I'm going to challenge them
[00:45:48] for some of those members of your team
[00:45:50] that will actually break them down
[00:45:51] they that is not their language
[00:45:54] now you have some people that are
[00:45:55] and you got to figure that out
[00:45:56] that are inspired by being challenged
[00:45:58] I was one of those people
[00:45:59] my dad would challenge me
[00:46:00] but if he went after my brother
[00:46:02] the same way
[00:46:03] my brother would quit on him
[00:46:04] and be mad at him
[00:46:05] he would get a pushback
[00:46:07] like you know
[00:46:08] I'll show you
[00:46:09] I won't do anything
[00:46:11] made my brother mad
[00:46:12] so my brother needed encouragement
[00:46:14] that was his language
[00:46:16] not that you let him get away
[00:46:17] with breaking rules
[00:46:18] that's not what I'm talking about
[00:46:19] but you can't inspire him
[00:46:21] through challenge
[00:46:22] challenge challenge
[00:46:24] you inspire him by saying
[00:46:25] you know what
[00:46:26] that was really great
[00:46:27] what a good job
[00:46:28] but let's talk about this
[00:46:29] let me next time
[00:46:29] I want you try this
[00:46:31] where you go to another person
[00:46:32] and say hey man
[00:46:33] that's only can't happen
[00:46:34] unless you can't do that
[00:46:35] right
[00:46:35] I mean I
[00:46:36] you're better than that
[00:46:37] well that
[00:46:38] some people
[00:46:38] respond to that others don't
[00:46:40] so don't take this blanket
[00:46:42] this is where I get the most out
[00:46:43] everybody
[00:46:44] and apply it to everybody
[00:46:45] because it didn't work
[00:46:45] you better invest
[00:46:47] and get to know them
[00:46:48] and figure out what makes them tick
[00:46:50] if there's one thing
[00:46:52] that I've learned is
[00:46:53] try to figure out
[00:46:54] what gets the best
[00:46:55] out of each individual person
[00:46:57] the other thing is
[00:46:58] and I know this may be worn out
[00:47:00] but I want you really think about it
[00:47:01] they have to know you care about them
[00:47:03] they have to know
[00:47:05] I mean are you asking the people
[00:47:06] that you have been placed in leadership
[00:47:09] have you asked them about their spouse
[00:47:11] have you asked them about their children
[00:47:13] do you know the names of their children
[00:47:14] do you know the name of their spouse
[00:47:16] do you know that their mama's in the hospital
[00:47:19] you know don't put yourself up in some ivory tower
[00:47:22] as if you're in one place
[00:47:24] and they're in another
[00:47:25] get down there
[00:47:26] and get dirty with them
[00:47:27] I mean get into life
[00:47:28] if someone knows
[00:47:30] that you care about them
[00:47:31] and somebody knows that
[00:47:32] you just don't want them to do the job
[00:47:34] you don't want to do
[00:47:36] and then be sure they know that you actually are investing in them
[00:47:39] and then the third one
[00:47:40] is and I saw it happen with my dad
[00:47:43] is you never ask people to do something that you won't do
[00:47:47] there's a story about my dad
[00:47:49] athletic director
[00:47:50] award-winning football coach
[00:47:52] have been coaching successfully for years
[00:47:55] and the guy told this about my dad
[00:47:57] I've never forgot it
[00:47:58] he said I was here to sell equipment to him
[00:48:00] as an equipment salesman for the team
[00:48:02] I showed her pads, helmets whatever
[00:48:04] and I couldn't find him
[00:48:05] he said I went to athletic building
[00:48:06] I couldn't find him
[00:48:07] he said so I started calling for him
[00:48:10] out into the dressing room
[00:48:11] and I heard him answer me
[00:48:12] deep into the dressing room
[00:48:14] he said so I go around
[00:48:15] he's athletic director and head coach
[00:48:17] I walk in and he's cleaning the toilets
[00:48:21] and I said
[00:48:22] my dad's name is Bill
[00:48:23] I said Bill
[00:48:23] what are you doing cleaning the toilets
[00:48:25] you know what he said
[00:48:26] because it's my turn
[00:48:28] wow
[00:48:28] it's my turn
[00:48:30] and so
[00:48:34] if that's not servant leadership
[00:48:36] and that's not humility
[00:48:37] if somebody
[00:48:38] every time somebody says
[00:48:39] tell me the one thing about your dad
[00:48:40] that I may not know
[00:48:41] his humility is incredible
[00:48:42] my dad never tried to bring attention to himself
[00:48:46] and no one ever worked for my dad
[00:48:49] he did a press conference
[00:48:51] after winning the national championship
[00:48:53] the guy asked him
[00:48:55] it was the last play of the game
[00:48:56] to win the game
[00:48:56] and you know how they do
[00:48:57] some head coaches they get him
[00:48:58] he goes coach Burgess
[00:48:59] did you make the last call
[00:49:00] that won the game
[00:49:02] and you know what he said
[00:49:03] and I don't know head coach alive
[00:49:04] that went and said well yeah
[00:49:05] you know I got down there
[00:49:06] and talked about it
[00:49:07] right what defense we needed to be in
[00:49:09] he goes let me ask you a question
[00:49:10] if you're gonna make
[00:49:11] the right defensive call
[00:49:13] for the offense
[00:49:14] his last try to score
[00:49:16] from about the 11 yard line
[00:49:18] he said who you're gonna have
[00:49:19] make that call
[00:49:20] the coverage we're gonna get
[00:49:21] and how we're gonna defend it
[00:49:23] the guy who has sat down
[00:49:24] and broke down thousands of hours of film
[00:49:26] talking about his defense coordinator
[00:49:29] or the guy that spoke at the
[00:49:30] Kiwanis club
[00:49:32] oh my goodness
[00:49:33] he said so I let the guy
[00:49:35] who put the work in make the call
[00:49:36] I didn't have anything to do with that call
[00:49:38] now you tell me another head coach
[00:49:39] who would have said that
[00:49:40] nah that's a man
[00:49:42] it's an incredible leadership
[00:49:44] trait and it's incredibly rare
[00:49:46] yeah you just don't hear
[00:49:47] so those that we could do more
[00:49:49] but that's three things
[00:49:50] that I would apply to anyone
[00:49:52] who wants to be a good leader
[00:49:53] there's a lot of people
[00:49:54] and leadership is not something
[00:49:55] you just declare
[00:49:57] I'm the leader
[00:49:58] that's right
[00:49:58] it's something that is earned
[00:50:00] and it's also a skill set
[00:50:01] that's right
[00:50:02] you know just because you have a title
[00:50:03] doesn't mean you're a leader
[00:50:05] Rick Burgess
[00:50:05] you are amazing
[00:50:06] you have taught us
[00:50:07] educated us
[00:50:08] inspired us today
[00:50:10] God has
[00:50:10] God's got his hand on you
[00:50:12] he's an ornative
[00:50:12] with his Holy Spirit
[00:50:14] and you're allowing him to do that
[00:50:15] thank you
[00:50:16] this is incredible wisdom
[00:50:18] incredible nuggets of truth
[00:50:19] and it will make a difference
[00:50:21] in the lives of others
[00:50:22] thank you for being here today
[00:50:23] brother
[00:50:23] thanks for trusting me with it
[00:50:25] and I hope we get to do this again
[00:50:26] me too
[00:50:27] take care
[00:50:29] well what an authentic conversation
[00:50:31] from Rick Burgess
[00:50:32] I truly enjoyed getting to know Rick
[00:50:34] and I learned so much from him
[00:50:36] I appreciate his willingness
[00:50:38] to be honest and open
[00:50:40] to share his heart
[00:50:42] to walk us through
[00:50:43] some of the pain that
[00:50:44] that he has experienced in his life
[00:50:46] along with the hope
[00:50:47] that he has in his faith
[00:50:49] he certainly is a man of God
[00:50:51] who loves God
[00:50:53] and loves people
[00:50:54] I hope that you have
[00:50:55] as I have learned some things
[00:50:57] and enjoyed hearing Rick's story
[00:51:00] thank you for joining us
[00:51:02] on crossing the line
[00:51:03] and thank you for making a difference
[00:51:05] in the lives of those you love
[00:51:07] live with and lead
[00:51:08] we'll see you next time
[00:51:11] thanks for listening
[00:51:12] this podcast was brought to you
[00:51:13] by Eagle Center for Leadership
[00:51:14] you can check us out at
[00:51:16] www.eaglecenterforleadership.com