James Brown: Faith, Family, and Purpose – I

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John Fuller: This is John Fuller, and please remember to let us know how you're listening to these programs on a podcast, app, or website.
James Brown: The bottom line is that which leads me, and I know is the answer is the word of God. I've got a number of friends on those that I do know, I should say, who aren't believers, but carrying out the Great Commission is not a suggestion.
Jim Daly: Uh.
James Brown: It's not an option.
Jim Daly: Right.
James Brown: God tells us that's what we're to do.
John Fuller: Well, that's a familiar voice, James Brown, also known as JB, the host of the NFL Today on CBS. He really loves the Lord, as you can tell, and he's going to share his story with us today on this special edition of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Fuller.
Jim Daly: John, it's football season again, and you know my love for the game, and it's my favorite sport, and this is a great time to break out a conversation that I had with James Brown not that long ago. It was a wonderful visit. He appreciates the ministry of Focus on the Family, and we admire the work he does on the set each week during the football season. It's important to pray for him. I mean, he's there. He's got a spotlight. He's got a platform, and you can hear in the interview we're about to share with you just how much he loves the Lord and wants to make sure everybody around him knows about that. And it's a good thing. He's a wonderful role model. He's trying to live for Christ in everything he does, and you can't help but admire this guy. As you'll hear, his mom and dad had a profound impact in his life, and you'll be hearing more about his family, including his grandfather Milton. And I love these stories where these people of prominence now they've made it. They point back to their grandfathers and grandmothers being so significant.
John Fuller: That is really encouraging, especially to the older audience members who have grandkids. Uh Jim, we're going to be featuring JB in our Sports and Faith audio collection. It's a free download for you. We've got a number of great sports people in this collection, including Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton and NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins and others, and you can get that at our website. Now James is well known around the world for his coverage of the NFL. He's a five-time Emmy Award winner, and he's hosted the Super Bowl a record-breaking 11 times. And what you might not know is that he's also an ordained minister, and he enjoys speaking at churches and conferences. He's been inducted into the broadcast wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and we can go on and on, but let's get to the conversation. Here he is with Focus president Jim Daly.
Jim Daly: JB, it's so good to have you here on Focus on the Family. Thank you for joining.
James Brown: Jim, thank you very much. I mean, look, everyone knows who you are and what you're about and
Jim Daly: No, everybody knows who you are.
James Brown: Well, maybe two different spectrums, but we believe the same, so it's all good.
Jim Daly: Well, I love it. You know, I love the fact that you admire the Lord, that your heart is there for the Lord first and foremost, and it wasn't always that way. But your mom was a person of faith and conviction, correct?
James Brown: Yes, sir. And because you've done a zillion of these, you help me to keep to track, and so I believe in putting it with headlines, a mother's influence. A mother's influence. My mother raised five of us, and I say my mother because my father I call him the Joseph in the Bible. He was the quiet one. He worked two and three jobs to provide for the five of us. My mother always wanted to stay home, Jim, to be an excellent homemaker,
Jim Daly: My goodness. Yeah.
James Brown: and she exceeded that desire with the five of us. Four boys, one girl. I'm the oldest of five. And it was mom's influence because even I recall in elementary school when I was walking to school to the elementary school about three or four blocks away, I would hear a gentleman on the program. I think his name was Jim Eaton. His last name was Eaton. And it was a little five-minute sermonette that I would hear that was planted in me at that early age. But we were not people of faith going to church. Fast forward later in life in a different neighborhood altogether, probably in my teens, my mother was the one who took us to church, and that's when we became exposed to the word of God. So yes, I am a man of God because after I got cut and probably I'm leaving some things out here and okay, you know what, and you'll take me back through that. But that was a circumstance when I realized I was living an empty life after not realizing my dream of playing professional basketball. You played football, so you know all about it. And I remember coming home one night late and asking the Lord when I realized that going to all of these so-called happy hours, and there's not much really associated with a happy hour being a happy hour,
Jim Daly: Right.
James Brown: I said, Lord, I've heard of you, but I don't know you. If you would reveal yourself to me, I'll serve you.
Jim Daly: Let me Let me ask you in that regard. How old were you when that happened?
James Brown: I was 20 about 23 24. I'd been cut by the Atlanta Hawks, and and again my my ball-playing buddies who, you know, we weren't saved, although we went to Catholic school, um I just realized that that lifestyle had nothing of substance there.
Jim Daly: Yeah. I want to come back to that in a moment, but I do want to celebrate moms because my mom was an awesome mom as well. She She accepted Christ the day before she died. But her life was good. I mean, she was humorous. She worked three jobs, my dad, and she divorced when I was five. So she was working two three jobs just because we are five kids, but I'm at the other end of the birth order. I'm the last born. You're the first born. You know, Dr. Kevin Lehmann talks about that, and I wanted to ask you about that when I was reading through your history, your background. That first born, I'm so glad I wasn't one. But you are Mr. Responsible in that position. How How did that work with your siblings? What are their ages from you? And then did you assume some of that sense of responsibility as a young guy?
James Brown: Yeah, you know what, and I'm not the best at this, but there were of the five kids there was probably a span of about eight years from the oldest mate to the youngest.
Jim Daly: All right, but not not many years.
James Brown: Not many years, but to your point, there was a responsibility there because they looked up to me.
Jim Daly: Right.
James Brown: Fast forward to now. I'm the oldest at age 74 now. My sister was in the middle. We're the last two of five.
Jim Daly: Yeah. Oh wow.
James Brown: All of my younger brothers have since passed.
Jim Daly: Mm.
James Brown: But this was with a renewed, saved mindset in the last 15 20 years more more than that where I tried to make certain that I was imparting the truth of Jesus Christ to them that they were walking in it. My youngest brother battled the drug demon for 38 years.
Jim Daly: Wow. I'm so sorry.
James Brown: And so he was so much younger than me, and I didn't realize the lifestyle that he was engaged in because I was so much older pursuing a different path. But of course, when I came back home and could do that, there was nothing that more for me to do than to ensure that he had a relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And he did. The people at Kaziq told him the only book, because he wanted to bring Tony Evans' tapes and books and everything else, they say, no, the only book that you'll be bringing is the Bible.
Jim Daly: Yeah.
James Brown: And when he came out, he was totally cleaned and healed, and even though he had challenges health-wise from the lifestyle down the stretch of his life during an interview with Tony Evans, he wound up having a leg amputated. He had four or five different medical morbidities, yet he said he was free.
Jim Daly: Yeah. Wow. Isn't that an interesting statement?
James Brown: And so to know that each of my brothers had a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, I'm pleased.
Jim Daly: Yeah. So you have one sister.
James Brown: Yes.
Jim Daly: Oh man.
James Brown: The smartest in the family.
Jim Daly: Was she the youngest?
James Brown: Uh she's in the middle.
Jim Daly: Middle.
James Brown: Middle. And she was a corporate executive. She worked for three Fortune 50 Fortune 100 companies. She was the lead HR person in each of those companies reporting directly to the president. She's awesome and a steadying influence in our family.
Jim Daly: That's great. Your dad took him a long time to come to Christ, but he was a good man.
James Brown: Oh, he was the Joseph in the Bible, the quiet one. Mom was the homemaker raising us. She said the mantra in our family is that we all have a spirit of excellence, and there's no excuse for not applying yourself where the elements of perspiration and inspiration were evident in what we did. That was mom. So she ran a household like that. She was no nonsense, but extremely loving. I called her the sergeant, not to her face, but that was a nickname for mom at 5 5, whatever her weight was, but she carried a big stick figuratively. And literally my father worked the three jobs to provide for us, and you shared something with me in our conversation before we started this.
Jim Daly: That's awesome.
James Brown: I didn't realize it until maybe 20 25 years ago when my sister told me that my father had a deathbed conversion.
Jim Daly: Oh, that's beautiful.
James Brown: So I am thrilled to see how God continued to display himself to us, the influence. And when the priests were performing the last rites, our father confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So I'm thrilled.
Jim Daly: That And it's beautiful to tie that knot of faith within the family, and I was a very similar story with my dad's last days. He was volunteering in a church. He struggled with alcoholism and all those things, but my mom held it together, and all five of the kids, us kids, became Christians over about 30 years. So that's a very shared
James Brown: We do have a shared story.
Jim Daly: journey we have there. Let me ask you, your grandfather Barnes is an interesting guy, a businessman, entrepreneur. Tell me about him and where he lived and this shows you the the kind of the cascading effect of generations, you know, things that your dad or mom He was on your dad's side?
James Brown: On my mom's side.
Jim Daly: On your mom's side. So those things that you learn your mom learning it as a little girl from Grandpa Barnes, and then how did that come into the family? So describe Grandpa Barnes.
James Brown: And I probably need to do a bit more history searching in our family to connect all the dots. But suffice it to say that on my mother's side of the family, my grandfather Milton Barnes and there is if you will, a historical society there in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where you could see that most people when they think of Hattiesburg, if they're thinking sports, they think of Brett Favre of NFL fame, etc. And I remember doing a prayer breakfast there to speak in Hattiesburg, and I called Brett Favre, who wasn't a Christian at the time, and I said, Brett, you're the best known name here. Would you, you know, do me the honors of coming and giving the opening prayer at the prayer breakfast there? And he ran. He was sweating bullets. He says, JB, I know nothing about it. I said, Brett, trust me. But he didn't, but I understand that down the stretch now his life he is walking the faith, and I am so extremely thrilled. But my father, my grandfather, he was the businessman on the other side of the railroad tracks in segregated Hattiesburg, Mississippi. And so And he only had, I believe, it was an eighth-grade education. But he had a lot of the businesses there. He built homes on the other side of the tracks for the black families there. He had a nightclub that was a part of what we know in in worldly society. It was part of what they called the Even though the word is more accurately pronounced chitterling, we say chitlins. So he was on the chitlin circuit with a club called the High Hat Nightclub, all the old black acts that people who are musically inclined BB King, they were the best of friends as a matter of fact. When the governor of Mississippi was giving BB King not too too long ago a commendation from the governor, my grandfather was still alive. They sent a car to bring him there to celebrate him because my grandfather had him quote unquote, as they call it in the vernacular. He played my club, you know, when he was coming up the ranks. I can Tina Turner, Bobby Blue Bland, Moms Mabley, all those names, James Brown, they all played in the High Hat Night Club. But my grandfather was also in church on Sundays. I'll have to examine this to understand better because because he was good with numbers, he made certain that everything was financially in order for the church, and he brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. there towards the end of his life when he came to Hattiesburg for the purpose of registering the black folks there to vote. And Dr. King was to be heading not much longer after that to Memphis, Tennessee to support the refuse workers, the garbage workers to strike there. And when he was coming to Hattiesburg, unfortunately the Klan knew that he was coming there, the Ku Klux Klan, and they wanted to do harm to them. So my uncle, my grandfather's son, he drove a decoy vehicle going to pick up My grandfather Nick pick up Dr. King while the the car that was to be picking him up went a different route to get him, and they did see a bunch of pickup trucks following the decoy vehicle thinking that they had him. The church service was to be at 8 o'clock that evening. It did not commence until 11 p.m. As they were the decoy cars and the car driving Dr. King went a circuitous route to get to the church with deacons on top of the roof, walking with shotguns, noticing a bunch of cars that were not familiar to the neighborhood riding around looking for Dr. King. The service, the meeting started at 11 p.m. and not a soul left. And my aunt was one of the ones who was working at the elections office as well. So a little bit of history in terms of that existing in my family.
Jim Daly: That's amazing. A little bit of history for sure.
James Brown: A little bit of history. He had a baseball team appropriately called the Hattiesburg Black Sox that all the old Negro Leaguers used to go through there, whether it was Hank Aaron, Jim Mudcat Grant, Satchel Paige. It's it's amazing how much history is associated with the area.
Jim Daly: I saw Hank Aaron playing when I was a kid. I mean, that's amazing.
James Brown: Good man. Love them. Got to know them. Yeah.
Jim Daly: Let me ask you, JB, since we're tipping this way now into the issue of racial tension, you know, we talked off mic. I I spent some of elementary school in Compton, California. It was probably a third or maybe a little more, maybe 50 50% black, and the other half was Hispanic and poor white kids, etc., which we qualified for. But it gave me a really an insight into community, that community. And we You know, my mom was great. We always were taught respect. It You know, it's just the way it is. We're all in this boat together. And in that regard, when you look at what's happening or what has happened, there have been some great gains uh for the black community in the United States, but there's still so much work to do. How do we come together a little more? Not that You know, this is the $100 million question. What could be done? You have become so successful, and it's awesome in what you do as a sportscaster and and I just think, you know, that's the greatness of the country that both of us coming from where we came from, white and black, can do something quite admirable, hopefully.
James Brown: We can, and I 'm so glad that you had that experience early on to see the common thread that we all shared and still do. You and I both know it. I'm not going to try to claim to be the expert sociologist and the like. But Jim Daly, it is the word of God. I've come to that understanding. I shared with you how I have many friends in the faith. I am humble to be an ordained minister, and I tell people, yes, what I do in terms of my avocation in the world of sports or being a special correspondent for CBS News, that is my avocation. My vocation is about the word of God. One of the reasons why amongst the many friends that I have and preachers, teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ have the same attitude. God's word supersedes all. Yes, the Bible is clear in terms of what our responsibilities are in a governmental sense being up under the care of those appointed by God. There is a civil responsibility, if you will, a governmental responsibility. But there's also the biblical responsibility which supersedes all if there's ever a conflict. The bottom line is that which leads me, and I know is the answer is the word of God. I've got a number of friends on those that I do know, I should say, who aren't believers, but carrying out the Great Commission is not a suggestion. It's not an option. God tells us that's what we're to do. So I try to model that. I don't go around beating people over the head with the Bible. I try to model it. Many people may give the credit to Saint Francis of Assisi or others who are accredited with this expression. Um many people prefer to see a good sermon before they hear a good sermon. So I try to walk the talk even in my avocation. And I don't seek this responsibility because I don't want to come off like I am the pure authority, you know, moral authority in any given environment. But I do try to walk the talk. And the company has approached me on a number of occasions over the years to give commentaries because now the intersection between sports and culture is definite. It's always been, but many people have always tried to keep the two separate. And I don't ever see that as having been the case when we look at the history of our company country and the kinds of polls and and friction that we see this there. It's been there for so long. I just don't want people to run away from it when they say certain things in our history are too graphic or the like to talk about. There's nothing more graphic than to look at the horrific, ignominious, painful death that our Lord and Savior suffered where his visage was not even recognizable. That's there for us to understand what our Lord sacrificed while we were yet sinners because he loved us. So yeah, we've got some serious challenges, but if God came here and he did to reconcile us back unto him, the ministry of reconciliation back to God the Father, who are we to run away from those issues? Many people don't want to hear they call it the separation of church and state. There's no such thing as a separation of church and state. The word of God is our guide. Does that make sense, Jim?
Jim Daly: Oh, it makes sense, and I'm sitting here going, preach it, brother. I mean, you are honest.
James Brown: Well, but that's I love doing that, you know. I love doing that, and I've been humble to have friends across the spectrum in the faith area. And that excites me. And it's good. But I want to make sure that I 'm always standing on the word of God. And yes, you can see me getting excited. People say, oh, I can tell when the Holy Spirit has kind of grabbed you, but it's not to preach at you or talk down to you. It's with passion to express the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Jim Daly: Yeah. Amen. You know, when I watch you, you you and Tony Dungy, you're a good friend and certainly a friend that I've had on the broadcast before, both of you have such impeccable grace toward others. I 've learned that from both of you just watching you, you know, being able to treat people with such respect and kindness. And it comes through. I would think just about anybody watching you on the NFL show on CBS will go, he just seems like such a great guy. But thank you for doing that as a believer to be that kind of person, to be kind, to be loving, to be caring so often.
James Brown: Can I just say thank you for that because Jim, what I attempt to do is to in a winsome fashion present by the example
Jim Daly: Yeah. Yes.
James Brown: or in the proper setting and to put a button on the commentaries that I've delivered, whether it was on promotional opportunities for men of color and women in the world of sports. Please, everyone is given a gift. Prayer for you those who know the word for the benefit of the whole. Ephesians 4 16 every joint supplies for the fervent effectual working of the whole body until we all come into unity of the faith. That is powerful. But the way I have closed out each of those commentaries, whether it was on promotional opportunities, whether it was women in the C-suite, whether it was on social justice, um whether it was on the way that we carry ourselves, all of them have closed with a statement that 1 Corinthians chapter 13 1 through 8, which we know is the love chapter. Love overcomes all.
Jim Daly: I I want to ask you this question because it's a scripture that I just You know, you hold all of scripture close to your heart, but there are some that just grab you because of your own life experience. Scripture in Psalms that talks about he's close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit. Someone once told me it's like a prerequisite that the Holy Spirit is looking for that brokenness because what that brokenness does for us as human beings is humbles us. And it's a lot easier to work with a humble person than an arrogant person. And then you look at, you know, the the arrogant believer, if I could refer to it that way, that it's competition. It's to win. It It There's something just off. You know, it isn't quite right. And it's always caught my attention. You know, the New Testament, there's two billboards, salvation through Christ and Christ alone and don't become a Pharisee in my mind. But we have this easy proclivity to fall in to looking down on other people. Why is this?
James Brown: Human nature. The heart of man is desperately wicked.
Jim Daly: Human nature. Yeah.
James Brown: And unless we submit ourselves to the word of God, to following the example of Jesus, we too can fall into that saved trap. The way we learn more about the word humbly, I think, is to study and understand and properly exegete God's word on a daily basis because you've heard the old expression, the more you study God's word, the more you see in it. And the more you see in it, the more you see in it.
John Fuller: That's James Brown talking about the great depth of truth he's found in Scripture in his visit with Jim uh recently, and we're going to continue with part two next time here on Focus on the Family.
Jim Daly: What a powerful conversation, John. I just thoroughly enjoyed it. We heard how the steady influence of a faithful mother, the example of a hardworking dad, and the responsibility of being the oldest child help shape JB's heart for God and for other people. It's a It's a wonderful and very encouraging testimony. We also heard his conviction that true reconciliation in our homes, in our communities, and across the culture begins with the word of God and is lived out through the love of Jesus Christ. If you've ever wondered whether your example matters, JB's story reminds us that it does.
John Fuller: Mm. And that conversation with him is included in our Sports and Faith audio collection. It's a free download when you sign up, and it includes John Smoltz, Bernhard Langer, Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, and NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins. In fact, here's a quick taste of some of the content in this free audio collection.
Scott Hamilton: I saw so many people become self-destructive in their grief. And I saw that loss destroy families. And I realized that I didn't have to lose her. I could take her with me every single day to the ice, and I could be accountable to her, and I could honor every single sacrifice she made for me by being the person skater that she always dreamed I could be.
Kirk Cousins: You have to trust God's plan for your life, and you have to believe that he has a plan. And so that's when he again reiterated Proverbs 3 5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your understanding. My understanding said that I couldn't play college football, but don't lean on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him. Trust him, walk with him, and he will direct your steps. And so my job was to trust and obey, and it was God's job to steer the ship.
Jim Daly: Well, and John Kirk Cousins, he's trusting that more and more. He's been ping-ponging a little bit between teams, so he's got to be trusting the Lord's plan for him right now. I think kind of the toward the end of his career, but he's still playing and uh he's a wonderful human being, which is far more important than what a great quarterback he's been. Uh through the years we've had some great conversations with some of these athletes and others in the sports world, and there are some really inspirational messages about faith, family, dedication, and the discipline of being good at a sport. Uh some of the other names in the collection are Daryl Strawberry, the great baseball player, Daryl Waltrip, the NASCAR driver. He was a great one time he and I were golfing together, and I said, Daryl, I think I could have driven a NASCAR race car. And he goes, oh yeah? Why? Because I could do 230 on the straight. He goes, we don't get paid for the straights. We get paid for the curves, right? You got to keep that car right on the edge of breaking into the wall every turn. And man, what a perspective, right? That's kind of like life.
John Fuller: He was He was so unusual and interesting and phenomenal at the sport.
Jim Daly: And upbeat. He was such a And is such a great inspiration. So sign up. It's free, and it's a perfect resource for the sports enthusiast, and it will strengthen your faith.
John Fuller: Yeah, we're talking about the Sports and Faith audio collection, and you can find it at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast.
Jim Daly: And John, let me add, you know, Focus is listener supported, and it takes a big lift financially to bring you wonderful guests and great content here on the broadcast every single day. So please consider a monthly gift or a one-time gift to help us uh provide this content to people. I think last year alone uh Focus was able to identify 173 thousand rededications to Christ or first-time decisions for Christ. Be part of it. Let's put these people out there that have achieved great things, and then also, more importantly, their testimonies of being believers in Jesus. Help us to put that out so even more can come to him.
John Fuller: Yeah, the number to donate is 800 232 6459 800 the letter A in the word family or donate online and uh get that free Sports and Faith audio collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. And thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. On behalf of the entire team, I'm John Fuller inviting you back for the continuation of the conversation with James Brown as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.
Jim Daly: Hi, I'm Jim Daly. We're getting ready to celebrate 50 years of ministry at Focus on the Family, but the celebration wouldn't be complete without hearing from you. Maybe Focus help you survive the toddler years, navigate the teen years, or reminded you that you're not alone. If God has used this ministry to encourage you, we'd love to hear your story. Call now to share it with us at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast.