{"id":39957,"date":"2024-09-11T12:51:04","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T16:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=39957"},"modified":"2024-09-11T12:51:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T16:51:04","slug":"i-dont-know-why-god-does-what-he-does-coach-joe-kennedy-shares-how-god-uses-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/09\/i-dont-know-why-god-does-what-he-does-coach-joe-kennedy-shares-how-god-uses-people.html","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI don’t know why God does what He does\u2026\u201d Coach Joe Kennedy Shares How God Uses People"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ian M. Giatti \/ Youtube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During a recent interview at Fellowship Church in Grapevine Tx, for a discussion on \u201cPolitics in the Pews,\u201d former football coach Joe Kennedy shared his faith battle that brought him all the way to the Supreme Court. Kennedy\u2019s troubles began in 2015 when he was the varsity football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state. Kennedy had been warned by the school to desist praying at the 50-yard line after games. When he continued, he was eventually terminated, and a long legal odyssey followed, which was resolved by a 6-3 Supreme Court decision that asserted Kennedy\u2019s right to engage in personal, private prayer even when on public school property.<\/p>\n

Kennedy, an 18-year US Marine veteran, said it was a battle he didn\u2019t willingly partake in. \u201cThis is something that I did not want, I did not ask for. And this whole entire time, I’ve been dragging my feet on it and saying, ‘God, I don’t want to go through this.’ But He does the most incredible things with idiots like me,\u201d he said<\/a>. Despite his initial unwillingness, he encouraged the audience to be ready. \u201cSo, imagine what He can do with you guys! That’s how cool this is. If He picks me to do something so great \u2014 of changing the nation in our religious liberties \u2014 imagine what we could do as just individual families, individual groups, individual companies out there, individual churches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy did not grow up in the faith. Originally an atheist after going through the foster care system, he eventually came to Christ after marrying a Christian woman. But even he and his wife clashed during his legal battles as she worked for the school district. \u201cDuring that fight, I had to sit there and rely just on my relationship with God, because I had nothing else,\u201d he said in a statement of Job\u2019s own personal battles. Despite the Supreme Court siding with him, Kennedy warned other Christians to be prepared to lose. \u201cWe are not called to win the fight. I wish that was part of the paragraph, but it’s not. We are called to fight the good fight,\u201d he called. \u201cWe’re called to finish that race and to remain faithful. And when I get to Heaven, I want God to look at me and go, ‘Hey, you did alright.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s faith battle has earned him the attention of Christian entertainment. GND Media Group and Fathom Events announced that they would be releasing a film about Kennedy\u2019s experience called \u201cAverage Joe<\/a>\u201d that will be released October 10. \u00a0Eric Close will play Kennedy while Amy Acker plays his wife, Denise. Fathom Events framed Kennedy\u2019s life before the legal battle as \u201ccoming together.\u201d \u201cRetired, happily married, building into kids as a strong role model\u2026 it was finally coming together for Joe. Until he prayed. Yep, Joe was fired. For praying. Silently. By himself. After the games.\u201d You can find out more about the upcoming film at Fathom Events\u2019 website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a recent interview at Fellowship Church in Grapevine Tx, for a discussion on \u201cPolitics in the Pews,\u201d former football coach Joe Kennedy shared his faith battle that brought him all the way to the Supreme Court. Kennedy\u2019s troubles began in 2015 when he was the varsity football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":39942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cI don't know why God does what He does\u2026\u201d Coach Joe Kennedy Shares How God Uses People<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/09\/i-dont-know-why-god-does-what-he-does-coach-joe-kennedy-shares-how-god-uses-people.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cI don't know why God does what He does\u2026\u201d Coach Joe Kennedy Shares How God Uses People\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During a recent interview at Fellowship Church in Grapevine Tx, for a discussion on \u201cPolitics in the Pews,\u201d former football coach Joe Kennedy shared his faith battle that brought him all the way to the Supreme Court. 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