Army of Normal Folks

The Hero's Journey isn't just the formula behind Star Wars , Rocky , Pixar classics, and countless Hollywood blockbusters. It's the oldest pattern found in real-life heroic action—and true across cultures, centuries, and civilizations. And it always begins the same way: with an ordinary person. Someone like you. In this episode, Bill and Alex unpack why the timeless archetype matters and int...

What if one of the biggest solutions to loneliness, toxic division, and disconnection isn't another app or social media platform—but a simple cup of coffee? Ron Sparks and his friend Adam Foster started inviting small groups of people to semi-secret coffee gatherings in beautiful outdoor spaces. There was no agenda. No networking. No politics. Just coffee, conversation, and community. What b...

What if one of the biggest solutions to loneliness, toxic division, and disconnection isn't another app or social media platform—but a simple cup of coffee? Ron Sparks and his friend Adam Foster started inviting small groups of people to semi-secret coffee gatherings in beautiful outdoor spaces. There was no agenda. No networking. No politics. Just coffee, conversation, and community. What b...

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 noth...

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 re...

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 re...

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 purp...

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...

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...

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/#join See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, vulnerabilit...

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, vulnerabilit...

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...

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 har...

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 har...

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 t...

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 c...

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 c...

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/#join See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

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 child...

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 child...

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://ww...

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 n...

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 n...

What happens when a self-made millionaire realizes he’s losing everything that actually matters? This episode tells the unbelievable true story of Millard Fuller giving away $10 million (in today's dollars), intentionally making himself poor, and expectedly building one of the most well-known charities in America. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/#join See omnystudio.com/listener...