May 7, 2025 • 18 mins
What happens when childhood trauma becomes the foundation for revolutionary joy? The remarkable story of Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas offers powerful lessons about resilience that transcend the baseball diamond.
Jesse Cole's journey from a broken home with an addicted mother to creating the baseball phenomenon that recently filled Clemson's Death Valley with 81,000 cheering fans demonstrates how adversity builds the emotional muscle needed for extraordinary vision. His willingness to go $1.5 million in debt, sell his home to make payroll, sleep on a twin air mattress in a cockroach-infested apartment, and survive on $30 weekly grocery budgets reveals what true belief costs before breakthrough arrives.
Through what I call the "baseball diamond of adversity framework," Jesse's story teaches us to face our personal pain (first base), identify necessary risks and sacrifices (second base), maintain relentless belief despite setbacks (third base), and finally experience the breakthrough joy that can be shared with others (home plate). The Savannah Bananas didn't just survive—they disrupted an entire system by studying when fans grew bored and reimagining what baseball could be through dance routines, trick plays, and unconventional cheerleading squads that keep crowds engaged from first pitch to final out.
Like biblical figures Joseph and Peter, Jesse's story reminds us that God often works through surrendered courage rather than perfect circumstances. Your beginning doesn't define your legacy—your resilience does. What dream might you be afraid to pursue because the odds seem impossible? Don't settle for mediocrity or victim status. Your wounds aren't your destiny—they're the proving ground for a vision that might just change everything. Share this message if it resonates, and don't forget to leave us a five-star review to help spread hope to others walking through their own valleys.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tonya Shellnutt (00:12):
Welcome to Courageous Overcomers.
I'm your host, tonya Shellnutt,so excited to be with you all
this week.
We have a very interestingepisode today, and the question
is this what do the SavannahBananas and Courageous
Overcomers have in common?
I know it is a burning desirethat you all have and I can't
(00:34):
wait to introduce you to theSavannah Bananas.
So my husband and I, and ourdaughter and her husband, went
to a game recently and I justhave become very fascinated with
Jesse Cole and the SavannahBananas, and you know a lot of
you might know this about me,but obviously I'm a sucker for
(00:56):
any sports movies.
Overcoming like it just isfascinating to me and it's very
interesting to me.
So I did a little bit ofresearch on Jesse Cole.
I would die to be able to havehim on this podcast, but I can't
.
So I just did my own research.
And so what does it take tobelieve in something that no one
(01:16):
else sees?
To fight through debt ordespair or doubt, to bring joy
to others?
And today we're going to stepinto a different kind of field,
one that teaches us about faith,grit and what it means to be a
courageous overcomer.
So I want to give you a littlebit of backstory, because it's
(01:37):
important that you all know thatresilience is built in the
shadows before it ever shines inthe spotlight.
And Jesse Cole and his wifeEmily are the founders of the
wildly popular Savannah Bananas.
The game started at seveno'clock.
We showed up at 430.
I'm going to show pictures ofyou guys, of this.
(01:58):
At all, at Clemson in DeathValley, 81,000 people were there
and it's a team that turnedtraditional baseball on its head
, and I equate it to the HarlemGlobetrotters, I guess, of
basketball.
This is what it is of baseball.
It's very entertaining, excuseme, but a lot of fun.
(02:23):
So I want to share a little bitabout how does Jesse Cole come
into play with CourageousOvercomers.
And I don't know everythingabout Jesse Cole, but I know
this that he has a backstory andit's important.
So I do know that his parentsdivorced when he was young and
(02:43):
that his mother struggled withaddiction.
If you guys remember, we spentall of April talking about
addiction.
And so here's Jesse Cole,raised in this family where his
mom had an addiction we don'tknow exactly what it was, but
that his parents got divorcedand his dad ended up raising him
, and so he was the stability inthe middle of all of the chaos,
(03:07):
and I want to draw the parallelthat you know we've talked
about this many times but earlyadversity builds emotional
muscle and your beginningdoesn't define your legacy, but
resiliency does, and true beliefcosts something.
Sometimes it costs everything.
(03:28):
And Jesse and his wife and hehas a book, he has podcasts.
You guys can go listen to this,but again, I just wanted to
share the story with you.
So he and his wife actually hada team here in Gastonia, north
Carolina, which is like 45minutes from here, and he was
(03:48):
going to.
He went to Wofford, he wasgoing to play college ball but
he ended up getting injured andso he went to become the general
manager of the GastoniaGrizzlies and they ended up
having some pretty good successearly on.
They didn't.
And they went to Savannah on atrip and ended up buying a team
over there in Savannah and theywanted to call it the Savannah
(04:11):
Bananas and everybody laughed atthem.
They thought that was crazy andthey went, ended up going into
like a million and a halfdollars in debt and they tell
the story about sleeping on twin.
They had to buy, they had tosell their house and they ended
up buying a dump literallytalked about cockroaches,
(04:32):
palmetto bugs if anybody,obviously my friends up in
Montana, they're not going tounderstand this, but if you know
anything about cockroaches areso gross.
And they tell this story aboutsleeping on this twin air
mattress and surviving on $30 aweek for food, because they
believed wholeheartedly in theirmission and they weren't going
(04:54):
to give up on it.
So they sold their house justto make payroll.
And I think it's important that,as we, as we learn a little bit
about his backstory, you knowhow often adversity is proving
ground for a vision, and I wantto use the baseball diamond of
(05:15):
adversity for us as ourframework.
Today We'll talk a little bitabout, you know, working through
adversity, overcoming, becausethat's the essence of this story
and you can see the parallel isthat Jesse's mom had addiction.
He grew up in it and it and itlit a fire in him and he talks
about how he just wanted to makepeople happy because he, you
(05:39):
know, was struggling, he wasn'thappy.
And so when we look at, youknow this, this baseball diamond
, adversity, we look at firstbase as being the you know the
personal pain and the importanceof facing it.
I say all the time on the showabout the importance of you
can't heal what you don't face.
So first base is is personalpain and facing it.
(06:02):
And then second base is lookingat the risk and the sacrifice
and identifying it.
And then third base isbelieving in it and just
relentless belief in it andworking through it.
And then you get to home plate,right, and if again I'm a, I
love sports, love, love, lovesports, like my, my dream to go
(06:24):
to the College World Series.
My kid, my girls play softball,my boys played baseball.
I coached the girls team, thesoftball team.
I love it, and so I love thisillustration of the adversity
framework.
And so when we get to homeplate, that is where you score
the run and it's thebreakthrough and the joy and you
(06:46):
share it and you inspire itwith others.
And so what happens once youstomp on home plate?
Well, more often than not,you've just scored a run for
your team and hopefully it's thewinning run and there's going
to be a lot of breakthrough andjoy.
And joy can be a revolutionaryact.
And we know that the SavannahBananas are known for fun.
(07:10):
They do dance routines, theybreak all the rules of baseball,
they do tricks, they have the Ican't remember the proper name
of it, but, like the, the cheersquads are the, the dad bods and
I'm not kidding when I tell youthat they legit are dad bods,
they're hilarious.
(07:30):
And then the nannas.
So I think the cheerleaders arethe 50 plus in age and it.
My daughter said, mom, youshould try out to be one of the
Savannah banana cheerleaders.
And I thought, yeah, I don'tthink so, but okay, so so
they're just.
I want to talk through that,that, the home plate and the,
(07:51):
the joy and how, what theSavannah bananas are doing.
Jesse didn't.
His vision didn't just survive,it disrupted an entire system,
and I think that it's importantthat when you believe in
something, you press on, youwork through it and you're
resilient.
I've shared many times on herehow so many people lack
(08:13):
resiliency and you know if yougo and listen to any of the
podcasts or you read his book,you see that Jesse had a vision.
He and his wife, they believedin it and they just kept
pressing on, even when it costthem everything, and he, he
fought for it.
And they just kept pressing on,even when it cost them
everything, and he, he foughtfor it.
And so they just at this eventthat we were at.
(08:35):
They just had the largest crowdthat they've had ever had
81,000 people.
And I follow him, jesse Cole, onall social media outlets.
But one of the places I followhim is on LinkedIn and he gives
a lot of great advice for forleaders and business leaders and
thought leaders about all ofthese different issues.
(08:56):
And one thing I remember himsaying is that you know, they're
all about the fans.
They're not even really aboutthe game of baseball, they're
about the fans.
And this is, you know, gettinga reaction from the fans and
they would literally film theirgames all every inning to just
watch, to find out when theirfans were leaving, when they
would disengage.
(09:17):
And you know we've all beenthere, right, like, especially
baseball can be so slow.
We've all left because it wasboring, but they go through and
they watch these films and theyjust keep trying to figure out
how do they get better.
They're always trying to getbetter and I love that about
this guy and his wife, becausethat's what facing adversity is.
(09:39):
That's what resiliency is.
It is not accepting where you'reat, it is not just being okay
with being wounded and notworking through healing.
You've got to keep workingtowards excellence and working
towards healing and being abetter version of yourself, and
so I really wanted to highlightthat in this episode.
(10:01):
And so what?
What dream are you afraid tobelieve in?
Because the odds lookimpossible.
You know, maybe you are reallystruggling with addiction right
now and you want to be sober,but to you there's just no way
out because it's all you everhave ever known is to drink and
numb the pain.
And it looks impossible.
(10:22):
And the other question I haveis what might be your own
version of that $30 grocery week, you know, wondering if it's
worth it.
They obviously believed intheir vision and said, okay,
we're going to live on $30 aweek so we can make payroll.
Because they believed in it.
(10:44):
What's something that that youknow, a dream or something that
you have?
Don't give up.
You're not just building yourdream, you're becoming an
overcomer.
And I think to tie Jesse's storyto some biblical stories is
important.
So we have, you know, Josephwas sold into slavery by his
(11:06):
brothers.
He was, you know, mocked andridiculed, and his he never gave
up.
You know, he was accused ofrape.
He was accused of all of thesethings and it was like why would
God do all this to Joseph Imean especially his own brothers
selling him into slavery.
Why would God allow for that?
(11:27):
Yeah, I've talked a lot withyou guys about the why.
I'm always like why, why, why,why, why and is definitely one
of the stories, even job why,why, why?
Why would God allow for all ofthat suffering and adversity?
And here's something that Ithink is important for us to
recognize is that God oftencalls us to things that we don't
(11:50):
always understand.
So, for example, I would havenever in a million years aside
from the trauma that happened tome as a kid I've rectified that
and the Lord and I have workedthrough the why on that but I
would have never in a millionyears believed that God would
(12:12):
call me to what I'm doing nowand I would.
I'm working policy.
I just I would have neverimagined that this would be
something that he's called me to, but he's equipped me to it and
, just like the Savannah bananas, it's not because he wants us
to fail, because he wants toshow us what he can do through
(12:33):
surrendered courage.
And and that is so important,especially for me in my
profession, because oftentimesI'm at the mercy of so many
other people deciding whether ornot they think that they can
push legislation through or not,and I feel like a failure a lot
of times because I can't getanything done, especially and
(12:54):
just being real, in the state ofSouth Carolina.
It's so hard, it's so hard andit's so frustrating.
But this is what James 1 to 12says blessed is the one who
perseveres under trial.
Romans 5, 3 through 4 says thissuffering produces perseverance
, perseverance, character andcharacter, hope.
(13:16):
And so if today's story remindsyou of your own struggle or has
sparked a little hope for yourfuture, I want to encourage you
to to learn about the savannahbananas, and if you can get
tickets to the game, you shoulddefinitely go.
My husband, who is more um, youknow, fishing, hunting is his
(13:38):
thing.
He doesn't necessarily lovethings like this, but he
actually really enjoyed it andhad a great time, and the great
thing about it is nobody got upand left.
The seats were still full theentire night and it's just an
attribute to perseverance.
(13:58):
All of the things that Jessewent through as a kid.
I know there's more to.
I know that he and his wifeadopt children, so they're very
big into adoption.
I don't know their story aboutfertility I haven't learned any
of that yet or not, but I doknow that his life was shaped by
his mother's addiction andloneliness that he endured and
(14:22):
his father not letting Jesse bedefined by you know, the loss of
his mom being present and hisdad really encouraged him to be
the best version of himself, andI think it's important that you
know.
It's another story of anovercomer.
(14:43):
Again, I don't get the luxury ofgetting to interview Jesse, I'm
just taking this all from whatI've learned, but it's just a
really inspiring story of notletting yourself be defined by
your wounds, and that's thething that's the purpose of this
podcast, right is to inspirepeople to know that they're not
(15:04):
alone, because courage inspiresothers, and so that's why I try
to bring guests on to let youhear about them and their what
they've overcome, because I wanty'all to be encouraged, I want
you to be inspired, I want youto dream.
I don't want you to stay stuck,I don't want you to settle for
(15:27):
mediocrity, I don't want you tosettle for seconds.
I want you to know that God hasa purpose for you and that God
has called you to somethinggreater.
And it's not meant to be avictim, it's not meant to be
complacent.
It's meant for you to share astory.
Today's sermon at churchactually was about the boldness
(15:49):
of Peter and John in Acts 4.13.
And I love that story because,you know, god doesn't call the
most wisest person in the worldor the most scholar person in
the world.
He just wants us to be obedient, he just wants us to rely on
him, and so I hope that thestory of the Savannah Bananas as
(16:13):
odd as it is to be onCourageous Overcomers has
inspired you.
I'm going to share some videoclips with you, some of the
pictures, just for you to enjoy.
And it's all about bringingfamily fun and warmth to our
communities.
And you know a lot of peoplestill make fun of Jesse Cole and
(16:33):
his wife Emily for this.
But listen, they are inspiringothers.
The other thing that they didtoo I know I'm going on a rabbit
trail, but that's okay, I can'tbecause this is my podcast but
they highlight adoption families, and so at the Clemson game in
Death Valley there, theyhighlighted this family that was
(16:55):
a foster care family and hadserved over 70 children in their
time as foster parents, and Ijust think that's such an
inspiration because think of howmany children just want to be
loved and cared for, and so youknow, this is the great thing
about what Jesse and his wifeare doing is they're taking the
(17:16):
adversity of their past andmaking an impact in their
communities, and so I hope you,too, will be inspired by that.
So if this message resonateswith you today, I would love for
you to share it, and, for sure,go do like and give us a five
star review, because the morefive-star reviews we have, the
(17:37):
quicker we can get hope out toothers.
So I hope everyone has a greatweek.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I appreciate you all and I look forward to talking
with you next week.
Follow, like and share thispodcast.
To find out more about Tonya,go to her website at
tonyashellnutt.
com or to ask a question aboutanything you've heard on today's
show.
Leave us a five-star review andyour message or email at tonya
at tonyashellnutt.
com.
Remember that'sS-H-E-L-L-N-U-T-T.
(18:12):
This podcast is produced by BobSlone Audio Productions.
Welcome to Courageous Overcomers.
I'm your host, tonya Shellnutt,so excited to be with you all
this week.
We have a very interestingepisode today, and the question
is this what do the SavannahBananas and Courageous
Overcomers have in common?
I know it is a burning desirethat you all have and I can't
(00:34):
wait to introduce you to theSavannah Bananas.
So my husband and I, and ourdaughter and her husband, went
to a game recently and I justhave become very fascinated with
Jesse Cole and the SavannahBananas, and you know a lot of
you might know this about me,but obviously I'm a sucker for
(00:56):
any sports movies.
Overcoming like it just isfascinating to me and it's very
interesting to me.
So I did a little bit ofresearch on Jesse Cole.
I would die to be able to havehim on this podcast, but I can't
.
So I just did my own research.
And so what does it take tobelieve in something that no one
(01:16):
else sees?
To fight through debt ordespair or doubt, to bring joy
to others?
And today we're going to stepinto a different kind of field,
one that teaches us about faith,grit and what it means to be a
courageous overcomer.
So I want to give you a littlebit of backstory, because it's
(01:37):
important that you all know thatresilience is built in the
shadows before it ever shines inthe spotlight.
And Jesse Cole and his wifeEmily are the founders of the
wildly popular Savannah Bananas.
The game started at seveno'clock.
We showed up at 430.
I'm going to show pictures ofyou guys, of this.
(01:58):
At all, at Clemson in DeathValley, 81,000 people were there
and it's a team that turnedtraditional baseball on its head
, and I equate it to the HarlemGlobetrotters, I guess, of
basketball.
This is what it is of baseball.
It's very entertaining, excuseme, but a lot of fun.
(02:23):
So I want to share a little bitabout how does Jesse Cole come
into play with CourageousOvercomers.
And I don't know everythingabout Jesse Cole, but I know
this that he has a backstory andit's important.
So I do know that his parentsdivorced when he was young and
(02:43):
that his mother struggled withaddiction.
If you guys remember, we spentall of April talking about
addiction.
And so here's Jesse Cole,raised in this family where his
mom had an addiction we don'tknow exactly what it was, but
that his parents got divorcedand his dad ended up raising him
, and so he was the stability inthe middle of all of the chaos,
(03:07):
and I want to draw the parallelthat you know we've talked
about this many times but earlyadversity builds emotional
muscle and your beginningdoesn't define your legacy, but
resiliency does, and true beliefcosts something.
Sometimes it costs everything.
(03:28):
And Jesse and his wife and hehas a book, he has podcasts.
You guys can go listen to this,but again, I just wanted to
share the story with you.
So he and his wife actually hada team here in Gastonia, north
Carolina, which is like 45minutes from here, and he was
(03:48):
going to.
He went to Wofford, he wasgoing to play college ball but
he ended up getting injured andso he went to become the general
manager of the GastoniaGrizzlies and they ended up
having some pretty good successearly on.
They didn't.
And they went to Savannah on atrip and ended up buying a team
over there in Savannah and theywanted to call it the Savannah
(04:11):
Bananas and everybody laughed atthem.
They thought that was crazy andthey went, ended up going into
like a million and a halfdollars in debt and they tell
the story about sleeping on twin.
They had to buy, they had tosell their house and they ended
up buying a dump literallytalked about cockroaches,
(04:32):
palmetto bugs if anybody,obviously my friends up in
Montana, they're not going tounderstand this, but if you know
anything about cockroaches areso gross.
And they tell this story aboutsleeping on this twin air
mattress and surviving on $30 aweek for food, because they
believed wholeheartedly in theirmission and they weren't going
(04:54):
to give up on it.
So they sold their house justto make payroll.
And I think it's important that,as we, as we learn a little bit
about his backstory, you knowhow often adversity is proving
ground for a vision, and I wantto use the baseball diamond of
(05:15):
adversity for us as ourframework.
Today We'll talk a little bitabout, you know, working through
adversity, overcoming, becausethat's the essence of this story
and you can see the parallel isthat Jesse's mom had addiction.
He grew up in it and it and itlit a fire in him and he talks
about how he just wanted to makepeople happy because he, you
(05:39):
know, was struggling, he wasn'thappy.
And so when we look at, youknow this, this baseball diamond
, adversity, we look at firstbase as being the you know the
personal pain and the importanceof facing it.
I say all the time on the showabout the importance of you
can't heal what you don't face.
So first base is is personalpain and facing it.
(06:02):
And then second base is lookingat the risk and the sacrifice
and identifying it.
And then third base isbelieving in it and just
relentless belief in it andworking through it.
And then you get to home plate,right, and if again I'm a, I
love sports, love, love, lovesports, like my, my dream to go
(06:24):
to the College World Series.
My kid, my girls play softball,my boys played baseball.
I coached the girls team, thesoftball team.
I love it, and so I love thisillustration of the adversity
framework.
And so when we get to homeplate, that is where you score
the run and it's thebreakthrough and the joy and you
(06:46):
share it and you inspire itwith others.
And so what happens once youstomp on home plate?
Well, more often than not,you've just scored a run for
your team and hopefully it's thewinning run and there's going
to be a lot of breakthrough andjoy.
And joy can be a revolutionaryact.
And we know that the SavannahBananas are known for fun.
(07:10):
They do dance routines, theybreak all the rules of baseball,
they do tricks, they have the Ican't remember the proper name
of it, but, like the, the cheersquads are the, the dad bods and
I'm not kidding when I tell youthat they legit are dad bods,
they're hilarious.
(07:30):
And then the nannas.
So I think the cheerleaders arethe 50 plus in age and it.
My daughter said, mom, youshould try out to be one of the
Savannah banana cheerleaders.
And I thought, yeah, I don'tthink so, but okay, so so
they're just.
I want to talk through that,that, the home plate and the,
(07:51):
the joy and how, what theSavannah bananas are doing.
Jesse didn't.
His vision didn't just survive,it disrupted an entire system,
and I think that it's importantthat when you believe in
something, you press on, youwork through it and you're
resilient.
I've shared many times on herehow so many people lack
(08:13):
resiliency and you know if yougo and listen to any of the
podcasts or you read his book,you see that Jesse had a vision.
He and his wife, they believedin it and they just kept
pressing on, even when it costthem everything, and he, he
fought for it.
And they just kept pressing on,even when it cost them
everything, and he, he foughtfor it.
And so they just at this eventthat we were at.
(08:35):
They just had the largest crowdthat they've had ever had
81,000 people.
And I follow him, jesse Cole, onall social media outlets.
But one of the places I followhim is on LinkedIn and he gives
a lot of great advice for forleaders and business leaders and
thought leaders about all ofthese different issues.
(08:56):
And one thing I remember himsaying is that you know, they're
all about the fans.
They're not even really aboutthe game of baseball, they're
about the fans.
And this is, you know, gettinga reaction from the fans and
they would literally film theirgames all every inning to just
watch, to find out when theirfans were leaving, when they
would disengage.
(09:17):
And you know we've all beenthere, right, like, especially
baseball can be so slow.
We've all left because it wasboring, but they go through and
they watch these films and theyjust keep trying to figure out
how do they get better.
They're always trying to getbetter and I love that about
this guy and his wife, becausethat's what facing adversity is.
(09:39):
That's what resiliency is.
It is not accepting where you'reat, it is not just being okay
with being wounded and notworking through healing.
You've got to keep workingtowards excellence and working
towards healing and being abetter version of yourself, and
so I really wanted to highlightthat in this episode.
(10:01):
And so what?
What dream are you afraid tobelieve in?
Because the odds lookimpossible.
You know, maybe you are reallystruggling with addiction right
now and you want to be sober,but to you there's just no way
out because it's all you everhave ever known is to drink and
numb the pain.
And it looks impossible.
(10:22):
And the other question I haveis what might be your own
version of that $30 grocery week, you know, wondering if it's
worth it.
They obviously believed intheir vision and said, okay,
we're going to live on $30 aweek so we can make payroll.
Because they believed in it.
(10:44):
What's something that that youknow, a dream or something that
you have?
Don't give up.
You're not just building yourdream, you're becoming an
overcomer.
And I think to tie Jesse's storyto some biblical stories is
important.
So we have, you know, Josephwas sold into slavery by his
(11:06):
brothers.
He was, you know, mocked andridiculed, and his he never gave
up.
You know, he was accused ofrape.
He was accused of all of thesethings and it was like why would
God do all this to Joseph Imean especially his own brothers
selling him into slavery.
Why would God allow for that?
(11:27):
Yeah, I've talked a lot withyou guys about the why.
I'm always like why, why, why,why, why and is definitely one
of the stories, even job why,why, why?
Why would God allow for all ofthat suffering and adversity?
And here's something that Ithink is important for us to
recognize is that God oftencalls us to things that we don't
(11:50):
always understand.
So, for example, I would havenever in a million years aside
from the trauma that happened tome as a kid I've rectified that
and the Lord and I have workedthrough the why on that but I
would have never in a millionyears believed that God would
(12:12):
call me to what I'm doing nowand I would.
I'm working policy.
I just I would have neverimagined that this would be
something that he's called me to, but he's equipped me to it and
, just like the Savannah bananas, it's not because he wants us
to fail, because he wants toshow us what he can do through
(12:33):
surrendered courage.
And and that is so important,especially for me in my
profession, because oftentimesI'm at the mercy of so many
other people deciding whether ornot they think that they can
push legislation through or not,and I feel like a failure a lot
of times because I can't getanything done, especially and
(12:54):
just being real, in the state ofSouth Carolina.
It's so hard, it's so hard andit's so frustrating.
But this is what James 1 to 12says blessed is the one who
perseveres under trial.
Romans 5, 3 through 4 says thissuffering produces perseverance
, perseverance, character andcharacter, hope.
(13:16):
And so if today's story remindsyou of your own struggle or has
sparked a little hope for yourfuture, I want to encourage you
to to learn about the savannahbananas, and if you can get
tickets to the game, you shoulddefinitely go.
My husband, who is more um, youknow, fishing, hunting is his
(13:38):
thing.
He doesn't necessarily lovethings like this, but he
actually really enjoyed it andhad a great time, and the great
thing about it is nobody got upand left.
The seats were still full theentire night and it's just an
attribute to perseverance.
(13:58):
All of the things that Jessewent through as a kid.
I know there's more to.
I know that he and his wifeadopt children, so they're very
big into adoption.
I don't know their story aboutfertility I haven't learned any
of that yet or not, but I doknow that his life was shaped by
his mother's addiction andloneliness that he endured and
(14:22):
his father not letting Jesse bedefined by you know, the loss of
his mom being present and hisdad really encouraged him to be
the best version of himself, andI think it's important that you
know.
It's another story of anovercomer.
(14:43):
Again, I don't get the luxury ofgetting to interview Jesse, I'm
just taking this all from whatI've learned, but it's just a
really inspiring story of notletting yourself be defined by
your wounds, and that's thething that's the purpose of this
podcast, right is to inspirepeople to know that they're not
(15:04):
alone, because courage inspiresothers, and so that's why I try
to bring guests on to let youhear about them and their what
they've overcome, because I wanty'all to be encouraged, I want
you to be inspired, I want youto dream.
I don't want you to stay stuck,I don't want you to settle for
(15:27):
mediocrity, I don't want you tosettle for seconds.
I want you to know that God hasa purpose for you and that God
has called you to somethinggreater.
And it's not meant to be avictim, it's not meant to be
complacent.
It's meant for you to share astory.
Today's sermon at churchactually was about the boldness
(15:49):
of Peter and John in Acts 4.13.
And I love that story because,you know, god doesn't call the
most wisest person in the worldor the most scholar person in
the world.
He just wants us to be obedient, he just wants us to rely on
him, and so I hope that thestory of the Savannah Bananas as
(16:13):
odd as it is to be onCourageous Overcomers has
inspired you.
I'm going to share some videoclips with you, some of the
pictures, just for you to enjoy.
And it's all about bringingfamily fun and warmth to our
communities.
And you know a lot of peoplestill make fun of Jesse Cole and
(16:33):
his wife Emily for this.
But listen, they are inspiringothers.
The other thing that they didtoo I know I'm going on a rabbit
trail, but that's okay, I can'tbecause this is my podcast but
they highlight adoption families, and so at the Clemson game in
Death Valley there, theyhighlighted this family that was
(16:55):
a foster care family and hadserved over 70 children in their
time as foster parents, and Ijust think that's such an
inspiration because think of howmany children just want to be
loved and cared for, and so youknow, this is the great thing
about what Jesse and his wifeare doing is they're taking the
(17:16):
adversity of their past andmaking an impact in their
communities, and so I hope you,too, will be inspired by that.
So if this message resonateswith you today, I would love for
you to share it, and, for sure,go do like and give us a five
star review, because the morefive-star reviews we have, the
(17:37):
quicker we can get hope out toothers.
So I hope everyone has a greatweek.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I appreciate you all and I look forward to talking
with you next week.
Follow, like and share thispodcast.
To find out more about Tonya,go to her website at
tonyashellnutt.
com or to ask a question aboutanything you've heard on today's
show.
Leave us a five-star review andyour message or email at tonya
at tonyashellnutt.
com.
Remember that'sS-H-E-L-L-N-U-T-T.
(18:12):
This podcast is produced by BobSlone Audio Productions.
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