Army of Normal Folks

He Worked for Free—Then Changed My Life (From The Vault) 03.07.2026 16min

We're bringing back Shop Talk #3. Because it's been years and it's beautiful! What would make someone work an entire weekend without pay? When Coach Bill Courtney's lumber company was on the brink of collapse after 9/11, one employee refused to go home. For 72 straight hours, Sam Quinn—a former Marine living in a halfway house—worked alongside Bill to save the business, asking for nothing in return. That weekend changed both of their lives. In this deeply personal Shop Talk episode, Bill reflects on the friendship that followed, the leadership lessons Sam taught him, and why the truest measure of success isn't money or titles—it's the lives we help transform.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Your Brain Does With Trauma—And How to Finally Heal It (Pt 1) 30.06.2026 39min

Dan Jarvis came home from Afghanistan carrying wounds that didn't show up on any medical chart. In this episode, he breaks down what trauma actually does to the brain - why it hijacks your responses, why willpower alone can't fix it, and how understanding the neuroscience behind your pain is the first step to healing it. Dan built Healing the Hero, a nonprofit that has helped over 18,000 people reclaim their lives! This is a conversation about what it really takes to heal—for both veterans and civilians. It might just help you or someone you love.  Learn more about Healing the Hero hereSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Your Brain Does With Trauma—And How to Finally Heal It (Pt 2) 30.06.2026 1t 21min

Dan Jarvis came home from Afghanistan carrying wounds that didn't show up on any medical chart. In this episode, he breaks down what trauma actually does to the brain - why it hijacks your responses, why willpower alone can't fix it, and how understanding the neuroscience behind your pain is the first step to healing it. Dan built Healing the Hero, a nonprofit that has helped over 18,000 people reclaim their lives! This is a conversation about what it really takes to heal—for both veterans and civilians. It might just help you or someone you love.  Learn more about Healing the Hero hereSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Paradox of Quitting—So That Your Work Can Live 26.06.2026 10min

In this Shop Talk, we reflect on a simple question that can haunt all of this: What do we need to quit so our best work can truly live? Featuring Erik Løkkesmoe's powerful essay "I Quit," Coach Bill explores the things that quietly pull us away from meaningful work—chasing applause, feeding the algorithm, climbing ladders, waiting for permission, and letting urgency replace purpose. Sometimes the most important step forward isn't doing more—it's having the courage to let something die. Check out Erik’s Substack here Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The One Thing You Need Before Grit, Resilience, or Confidence (Pt 1) 23.06.2026 39min

Contrary to popular belief, hope isn't a feeling. It's a formula that Dr. Ashley Cross is about to teach you about. And according to research, it's the single best predictor of wellbeing. More than grit, resilience, confidence, and it’s needed to unlock all of them.  Dr. Cross is one of the nation's leading practitioners of the "Science of Hope” through the incredible work of her Rochester nonprofit Hope 585 and now through her work advising the hope-centered movement in Memphis.  Her hope lessons in this episode might just change your life…  and definitely can help many of the lives you’re serving. Learn more about her work at Hope585.orgSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The One Thing You Need Before Grit, Resilience, or Confidence (Pt 2) 23.06.2026 1t 14min

Contrary to popular belief, hope isn't a feeling. It's a formula that Dr. Ashley Cross is about to teach you about. And according to research, it's the single best predictor of wellbeing. More than grit, resilience, confidence, and it’s needed to unlock all of them.  Dr. Cross is one of the nation's leading practitioners of the "Science of Hope” through the incredible work of her Rochester nonprofit Hope 585 and now through her work advising the hope-centered movement in Memphis.  Her hope lessons in this episode might just change your life…  and definitely can help many of the lives you’re serving. Learn more about her work at Hope585.orgSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Plane Was in the Bay. Then He Said Something Remarkable. 19.06.2026 15min

In today's Shop Talk, Bill and Alex discuss the Asoh Defense — the forgotten leadership principle that says admitting your mistake honestly and immediately is more powerful than any excuse you could make. This one's for anyone who's ever been wrong about something. So, everyone. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He Was a Pastor With a Sex Addiction. Now He's Helped 25,000 Men Heal (Pt 1) 16.06.2026 38min

Nate Larkin spent 20 years hiding a sex addiction. For 5 of those years, he was a pastor. When it was exposed and everything collapsed, it could have been the end of his story. It turned out to be the beginning. In this conversation, Nate shares what it took to rebuild and how that journey led him and a dozen guys to start the Samson Society, a community built on radical transparency, vulnerability, and confidentiality. What started as one small group has now grown to more than 600 local chapters, daily virtual meetings in 8 languages, and has helped over 25,000 men heal!  You might benefit from the Samson Society or the newer women's version called the Sarah Society. We all know family members and friends who could. And Nate can teach all of us how to be real and live authentically.  Check out Samson Society here: https://www.samsonsociety.com/about  Join Army of Normal Folks and receive our Soul Service newsletter: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He Was a Pastor With a Sex Addiction. Now He's Helped 25,000 Men Heal (Pt 2) 16.06.2026 1t 12min

Nate Larkin spent 20 years hiding a sex addiction. For 5 of those years, he was a pastor. When it was exposed and everything collapsed, it could have been the end of his story. It turned out to be the beginning. In this conversation, Nate shares what it took to rebuild and how that journey led him and a dozen guys to start the Samson Society, a community built on radical transparency, vulnerability, and confidentiality. What started as one small group has now grown to more than 600 local chapters, daily virtual meetings in 8 languages, and has helped over 25,000 men heal!  You might benefit from the Samson Society or the newer women's version called the Sarah Society. We all know family members and friends who could. And Nate can teach all of us how to be real and live authentically.  Check out Samson Society here: https://www.samsonsociety.com/about  Join Army of Normal Folks and receive our Soul Service newsletter: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Church Compared Life to a Guitar. And It Went Viral. 12.06.2026 17min

Most commencement speeches are forgotten within days. But when country music star Eric Church compared life to a guitar with six strings that must stay in tune—faith, family, relationships, ambition, community, and identity—the message struck a chord with millions. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex unpack the viral speech and explore what it means to keep your own life in tune when the world keeps pulling you out of it. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Generosity of Scars: How Your Hardest Moments Can Help Others Heal (Pt 1) 09.06.2026 39min

After nearly taking his own life during a difficult transition from the military, retired Green Beret Scott Mann discovered an unexpected path to healing: telling the stories he most wanted to hide. In this conversation, Scott shares lessons from combat, leading Operation Pineapple Express (rescued 1,000 Afghanis from the Taliban), and his new book, The Generosity of Scars, showing us how our hardest moments can help others feel less alone—and why the stories we're most afraid to tell may be the ones the world most needs to hear.Buy The Generosity of Scars hereSupport the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Generosity of Scars: How Your Hardest Moments Can Help Others Heal (Pt 2) 09.06.2026 1t 15min

After nearly taking his own life during a difficult transition from the military, retired Green Beret Scott Mann discovered an unexpected path to healing: telling the stories he most wanted to hide. In this conversation, Scott shares lessons from combat, leading Operation Pineapple Express (rescued 1,000 Afghanis from the Taliban), and his new book, The Generosity of Scars, showing us how our hardest moments can help others feel less alone—and why the stories we're most afraid to tell may be the ones the world most needs to hear.Buy The Generosity of Scars here  Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She Heard One Podcast and Drove Nine Hours to Volunteer 05.06.2026 21min

For Shop Talk, the extraordinary story one Army member inspiring another one, which inspires us and hopefully you! Amy Crenshaw's nonprofit ComeUnity Cafe where you can donate money or work for your food inspired Lisa Fox to drive 9 hours from Wellington, OH to Jackson, TN to volunteer there for several days and explore if she can do something similar in her community. Listen to this episode and think: Who can inspire me to do even more? Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 7 Things Every Person Needs to Flourish (Pt 1) 02.06.2026 39min

What does it actually take for a person—and a whole community—to flourish? That's the nut that Joe Woodward from Stand Together is trying to crack in Wichita, as part of their goal to make it a model city for the country. In this episode, Joe shares the 7 conditions every person needs to thrive, why healthy families and communities matter more than we realize, and how ordinary people can solve problems that institutions can't. From a $500 e-bike that transformed a single dad's life to innovative efforts tackling foster care, housing, and poverty, this conversation will challenge the way you think about service, empowerment, and your role in helping your community flourish.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 7 Things Every Person Needs to Flourish (Pt 2) 02.06.2026 1t 2min

What does it actually take for a person—and a whole community—to flourish? That's the nut that Joe Woodward from Stand Together is trying to crack in Wichita, as part of their goal to make it a model city for the country. In this episode, Joe shares the 7 conditions every person needs to thrive, why healthy families and communities matter more than we realize, and how ordinary people can solve problems that institutions can't. From a $500 e-bike that transformed a single dad's life to innovative efforts tackling foster care, housing, and poverty, this conversation will challenge the way you think about service, empowerment, and your role in helping your community flourish.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Christian Leader Who Challenged The Left And Right (And Maybe You) 29.05.2026 14min

After surviving poverty, racism, violence, and a near-fatal beating, John Perkins chose a path few people ever would: forgiveness. This Shop Talk explores the life of one of America's most influential Christian leaders and his radical vision for building what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the beloved community."Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Happens When You Finally Listen to Foster Kids (Pt 1) 26.05.2026 36min

When Brian Mavis and his wife learned there were hundreds of foster kids in Colorado that nobody was stepping up to adopt, they realized the problem wasn’t that people didn’t care — it’s that they’d never truly heard the kids’ stories. In this powerful conversation, the founder of America’s Kids Belong shares how recording video testimonies of foster children transformed his life, helped more than 2,400 kids find families, and revealed an upstream solution to some of America’s largest problems. You’ll walk away with practical ways to help foster kids in your own community — whether that means adopting, fostering, supporting foster families, mentoring a child, or simply becoming the kind of adult who refuses to look away.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What Happens When You Finally Listen to Foster Kids (Pt 2) 26.05.2026 1t 15min

When Brian Mavis and his wife learned there were hundreds of foster kids in Colorado that nobody was stepping up to adopt, they realized the problem wasn’t that people didn’t care — it’s that they’d never truly heard the kids’ stories. In this powerful conversation, the founder of America’s Kids Belong shares how recording video testimonies of foster children transformed his life, helped more than 2,400 kids find families, and revealed an upstream solution to some of America’s largest problems. You’ll walk away with practical ways to help foster kids in your own community — whether that means adopting, fostering, supporting foster families, mentoring a child, or simply becoming the kind of adult who refuses to look away.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They Came For Food. They Left With Financial Freedom 22.05.2026 14min

What if many food pantries (and other types of nonprofits) are solving the wrong problem? This week on Shop Talk, Birch Community Services reveals a radically different model that helps families escape financial instability — and offers lessons that could reshape how you think about service, dignity, and what it actually takes to help people flourish.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Hidden Crisis Facing 14 Million Single Parent Families (Pt 1) 19.05.2026 36min

Unannounced, Robert Beeson's ex-wife abandoned him and their 3 young daughters one morning. In this important episode, he vulnerably shares why single parents suffer in silence and how there were almost no resources available to 14 million fellow Americans in his position.  So Robert did what every member of Army of Normal Folks does—he saw a need and he’s filling it. Today, his nonprofit “Solo Parent” has support groups in 18 states, on Army bases, worldwide virtually, a podcast, and they’ve impacted 220,000 families so far!  You will learn about an incredible resource that either you need, or someone you know needs. Because we all know Solo Parents.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#joinSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.