All Episodes

December 27, 2024 12 mins

For "Shop Talk", we share Army member Ken Morris' reflection that he is in fact a Turkey Person. And what he's going to do about it. 

Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premium

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Everybody. It's Bill Courtney with Shop Talk number thirty three.
Welcome in, Jeeve came into the shop. You're in the
shop now, the door open.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're actually at your office right now. We're not in
a shop.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
They were in the shop. The bell says it. So
we're going to revisit something that you've heard before. But
considering the time of year and that we were sent

(00:37):
this letter that I'm going to read, we're going to
talk again about a Turkey Person, but we're going to
do it from the limbs of another person. Ken Morse
sent me an unbelievably kind letter that I'm going to
share with you now, and then we're going to uh

(00:58):
to just let's just say a few words about it,
and that's going to be the end of Shop Talk
number thirty three. So Shop Talk number thirty three is
revisiting Turkey Person through the lens of Ken Morris and
some really kind words he had to me, some kind

(01:18):
words of encouragement, some inspiration and maybe even a little
bit of challenge. So Shop Talk number thirty three revisiting
Turkey Person through the eyes of Ken Morris. Right after
these brief messages from our general sponsors, all right, everybody

(01:56):
shop talk. Welcome in. I Love My I Love Buffell
from Ken Morris, dated December seventh, four thirty three. Hey Bill,
I write a devotion from my church including my Turkey experience,
trying to learn from you. Thanks Ken, December seventh, twenty

(02:18):
twenty four. Don't be a Turkey Luke ten twenty seven
and he answered, you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor
as yourself. Ken is in Thailand and here's how his
letter goes.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Army members in Thailand.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
We have army members in Thailand. That's awesome. It's the
greatest thing in the world. It's a worldwide movement. Here's
Ken's devotion, Greetings from Thailand. Often listen to the podcast
An Army of Normal Folks, hosted by Bill Courtney, a
formal former high school football coach who took a team
with losing record of the Tennessee State championship Ken. Just

(03:02):
to be clear, while I wish that was the truth,
I took him to the playoffs. I never made it
to the Tennessee State Championship, So one little footnote there,
But uh, yeah, we can at least say we got
better of football. So there it is. Can you edit

(03:27):
out that?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
But maybe I'll keep it in there to make you
look like an idiot that you could have find. Hey,
listeners say all the time about how you make fun
of me and the.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Order you gave me, the pages out of order. It
as your fault.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
Actually, I didn't give you a mode of order.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
This is poor production quality. Okay, Now I gotta kind
of remind everybody where we were. His documentary Undefeated, won
an Academy Award. I highly recommend this podcast because it
highlights ordinary people who decided to make a difference in
their communities. Through their hard work, lives have been transformed

(04:07):
and the communities they served have become better places to live.
Bill defines a Turkey person as someone who visits a
disadvantaged community only during holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving, hands
out some food or gifts, and disappear until the following year.
He describes as someone who helps others primarily to feel
good about themselves without genuinely caring about the people they

(04:30):
are helping. Last week, someone in the school where I teach.
This is Ken's speaking, of course. Last week someone in
the school where I teached emailed the staff and said,
you're invited to a Christmas celebration on a low income
community near our school and we needed help distributing some
food and supplies to the neighbors. I didn't think about

(04:51):
it and I just signed up. The event was really
nice as the small church played games with the kids,
The church members san Christmas songs, and some children dance
to the music. Since I went with someone else, they
had to leave early, so I added a part. Before
the event was over. As I was leaving, a local
person from the church.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Appost on a little bit, just so that people can
understand you better.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
As I was leaving, a local person from the church
approached me and thanked me in English for coming. Her
tone was nice, but I believe she wanted to say more. However,
not to be greedy, she stopped at that one phrase.
The next thing I was thinking about all day was
I am a Turkey. Since this community is so close

(05:37):
to my house, my wife and I have committed to
walking around it often, observing and figuring out how we
can help them. We have no idea how we can help.
We were committed to showing up. Today's scripture describes a
lawyer who tests Jesus on what is required to inherit
eternal life. Jesus does not answer the question, but gives
a lawyer a couple more questions to consider, like what

(06:00):
does the law say? And how do you understand what
the law says? The lawyer's response is impressive. In summary,
the lawyer answers jesus questions by saying, love God with
everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then
Jesus agreed with his answer and said to the lawyer,
do this and you will live. Loving your neighbor is

(06:21):
not an annual event, but being part of your neighbor's
lives during good times and bad. It includes showing compassion
and empathy with them when times are tough. To do
this well, it takes time in being present. Serving others
is important and something we must all do. So I

(06:42):
would like to challenge you to determine your motive for serving,
and when you do serve, do it consistently and show
up often. God's grace upon you and your family. Kim
Wow Ken. I could not have said it better myself.

(07:03):
And the last part is the best. Serving others is
important and something we must all do. So I'd like
to challenge you to determine your motive for serving, and
when you do serve, do it consistently and show up often.
Ladies and gentlemen. Ken gets it. If you serve in
a soup kitchen, or you give away gives it Christmas

(07:26):
to the needy, or you do stuff to serve people
that are disadvantaged, that's a beautiful thing. It's not that.
The story of Turkey Person is not to discourage that.
It's to check our motive and ask ourselves, are we
willing to be consistent in that work. It's phenomenal. Love

(07:47):
your neighbor as yourself, have empathy, have grace, and be giving.
Do it for the simple edification of a person that's
not as blessed as you, and do it more than once.
Do it consistently so that the very people you seek
to serve don't see you as a fraud doing it
for yourself, but they see you more often, and they

(08:10):
see you motivated by their exultation. If you do that,
you can lead, you can serve, and you can make
a difference in your communities. We've talked about it before,
but through Ken's lens, I just felt like at this
time of year, it would be good to share from
a guy in Thailand who's heard the story, who's recognized

(08:34):
the importance of the story, who understands the inspiration behind
the story, and who he himself found himself possibly slipping
into the role of a Turkey person, and who he
and his wife have now decided we're going to be consistent.
We're going to do it for right reason. We don't

(08:54):
even know if we can help or how to help,
but we're going to try. That's it, that's all all.
It takes, just a willingness and an understanding that somebody
I had to do something about these problems is not
good enough. That's somebody as us. And if we're motivated
by the right reasons and willing to remain consistent, we

(09:17):
can make amazing changes. And I'll usually say all over
this country, but Ken's and Thailand, so we can make
changes all of the world for the better. That's Shop
Talk number thirty three. Ken Morris, hats off to you.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and please write
me back when you figure out what you're going to

(09:38):
do to that little with that little community. I really
want to hear about it because I absolutely believe in
your your focus, your inspiration, and your commitment. So follow
up with us Ken, thanks for the idea of shot
talk number thirty three.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Hold on, and if people want to watch the full
Turkey for story.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Oh yeah, and if you're hearing this for the first
time and you really want to watch the first Turkey
Person story. I think Alex actually bought a domain name
or something. What's it called turkeyperson dot com. Yeah, yeah,
you can go to turkeyperson dot com.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
And see a fat reddithead a guy on camera for
ten minutes.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Hold it. I'm allowed to make fun of myself, but
when you say it, you're just being mean. So you
can watch a fat, redheaded guy talk about Turkey Person.
You could do that, and I think there's even a
link to when we did it on the Kelly Clarkson Show. Right,
that's correct, So you can go. Also look at me
explaining to Kelly Clarkson, what the turkey what about the
Sherry Show?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's yeah, that's all there.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Okay, So you can see me talking about Turkey Person
to Kelly Clarkson on TV. You can see me talking
to Sherry on TV about Turkey Person you can see
a video of me explaining originally the Turkey person story.
So there's a lot of it at turkey person dot com.
Right correct, All right, there you are.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
If you have shop talk ideas, I'm going to that
you were about to miss.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Do you want to host this thing?

Speaker 2 (11:09):
You already rung the bell and you're closing it out.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Hey you I walk back in. All right, Guys, If
you have ideas for shop talk sharing with us, you
can write me anytime at Bill at normal Folks dot us.
I will respond. And if you have ideas that I
think I can add value to, I will always respond.
But if you have ideas I think I can add
value to, or if I share them, I'm not going

(11:34):
to sound like a complete until idiot. I'll share them
on the air, and I appreciate you. Guys. Listen, Please
share this thing with friends and rate us and review us,
share us on social get involved. Don't be a turkey person.
Be a part of the army of normal folks. I'm
Bill Courtney with Alex signing off shop Talk number thirty

(11:58):
three thanks to producer iron Like Labs. I'll see you
next week.
Advertise With Us

Host

Bill Courtney

Bill Courtney

Popular Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Don't miss out on the NFL Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts' exclusive week of episodes recorded in New Orleans!

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

Today’s Latest News In 4 Minutes. Updated Hourly.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.