The Invested Fathers
The Invested Fathers
IF 101 - He Was Finally There When It Mattered Most with Jonny Gamet
Jonny Gamet joins the show to discuss his journey of balancing a demanding career in media, ministry, and personal life. Jonny reflects on his deep passion for sports and broadcasting, his tenure at Bob Jones University, and his transition to working at Heard Media. He explores the challenges and successes of managing multiple responsibilities, including his role as a student and family pastor, and the impact of career demands on family life. Jonny shares insights on prioritizing health, faith, and family, along with personal stories of struggle and triumph. He emphasizes the importance of community support, transparency in struggles, and the invaluable moments of being present for his children.
Jonny Gamet - LinkedIn
00:00 Introduction and Welcoming Jonny Gamet
00:10 College Memories and Early Career
01:07 Current Roles and Responsibilities
05:26 Growth and Challenges in Career and Church
08:01 Balancing Family and Career
09:09 Health Journey and Realizations
12:20 Support Systems and Community
16:40 Reprioritizing Life and Family
18:04 Balancing Personal Goals and Family Priorities
18:32 Career Struggles and Opportunities
19:20 The Call to Pastoral Ministry
20:49 Making Life-Altering Decisions
21:53 Choosing Family Over Career
23:38 Cherishing Family Moments
25:44 The Importance of Being Present
29:16 Finding Joy in Everyday Activities
32:12 Challenges and Rewards of Ministry
35:25 Final Thoughts and Encouragement
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one story that I'll never forget is, my daughter started playing basketball with the middle school team, they call it junior league in her school. And, she tries really hard and is, is working really hard and her team, God bless'em, goes out on the floor and loses most games, 35, 40 to two or 40 to, it's not, it's rough. Yeah. But they work so hard and they have, you have great coaches and everything like that. Well, she came down the lane, got the ball turns and just puts up this shot and she made it, And the look on her face, she turns around and immediately like goes to the crowd looking for us.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:And we make eye contact and she's cheering, she's. So excited. She's running now, they're losing by 30, you know, or whatever. It doesn't matter. But, but she looked and she looked and she saw her whole family there. my, my wife and I, all of all of her siblings were there cheering her on. Yeah. the photographer at the game actually, for whatever reason, probably'cause we jumped up and went crazy and we were the only ones cheering and they that turned and they take a picture and we're all, you know, jumping up and everything like that. And I told the photographer that meant so much to me because you don't know, just months before I had made that career transition and all that kinds of things, I wouldn't have been there. I I would've missed that whole moment.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah, man.
Jonny:and I would've missed, that's something you can never get back. That was her first basketball basket. and my wife told me about it. She could have recorded it on her phone or whatever, but the fact that my daughter made the basket and then immediately turned to the stands looking for us. Yeah. and as a dad, you can't put a price on that.
Kenny:Johnny Gamt in the house today. Johnny, thank you for joining The Invested Fathers. How are you today? I,
Jonny:I am super excited, man. Big time, fan of the show and I'm, I'm excited to be in the guest seat now, Johnny.
Kenny:Um, we met in college. Mm-hmm. Freshman year, we. Was it freshman year? I think
Jonny:it was your freshman year. Were we the same grade or junior grade? I don't know. Um, 10. I was nine. So we were, we were close. I think it was a year ahead of you, but an old lobby.
Kenny:We went to the same college. Yep. We served in the lobby crew of the Usher crew. Yep. For anyone out there that is a Bob Jones person. Um. They know how revered and, and sacred that is. We guarded the statues
Jonny:with our lives.
Kenny:We stood there and looked at all the girls walking by and tried to stand up straight and look helpful. That's great. Um, no, it was, uh, it was a good time. And obviously as time has progressed, kids have come to scene. Mm-hmm. Um, you've stayed in Greenville, as have I. Mm-hmm. And, um, you've been very active with, uh, the Bruins back in the day. Yeah, I know you, you're not there now. I'm not there now. Um, and you've just always been like media, you're like a radio broadcast voice guy. Yeah. Um, so anyway, welcome to the show, buddy.
Jonny:Yeah, man, I'm, I'm super happy to be here. I'm excited.
Kenny:Johnny, I guess while we were kinda recording there in the intro, we we're kind of getting into the sort of heart of what we want to really circle around today, which is that idea of, Can you be successful in your job and, and even in the church and at home. Mm-hmm. And there's just that like tension of, uh, you know, almost maybe even doing too many good things, but at the detriment of other things.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Kenny:Um, you've had an awesome health journey. Mm-hmm. So I wanna talk about that today. Um, and yeah, let me just go ahead and, and open it with, uh, tell us what you're doing today. And then we're gonna kind of probably backtrack and see some of where the highs and lows were on, on this kind of Yeah, absolutely.
Jonny:So, as you said, media has really always been important to me. Um, I, I grew up loving sports as the youngest of three boys, uh, growing up in Denver, Colorado, and, uh, enjoying the outdoors whatever sport was in season, we played it.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Uh,
Jonny:and um. Just realized really early on that I loved sports and maybe wanted to pursue that as a career. so I went to college for radio and television broadcasting. I wanted to be, you know, for those old people out there, I wanted to be Stuart Scott or Scott Van PE on E-S-P-E-S-P-N, you know, at the sports center desk or whatever. That was the dream job, and, uh, was, was on my way to pursuing a career with that. And then came back to my alma mater when they started intercollegiate sports, uh, and helped kind of get that off the ground from a, from a branding and, and marketing and media perspective, and did that for 11 years. And, uh. A good friend of mine, we knew each other in college, Adam, he went, we went our separate ways after college, he went and started a, a marketing agency. Mm-hmm. And, about two and a half years ago now, I had been doing some work for them on the side contract, but, we, we decided to make the move and go full time with heard media is what it's called. So, mm-hmm. I do, anything and everything over there. helping run the day to day, of it. And, also on the side, I'm a, I'm a pastor as well at our church here in Greenville.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:So student and family pastor, which, uh, which basically means kids all the way up to teenagers, birth to per birth, to graduation. Okay. Uh, at our kids' ministry, we have somewhere in the neighborhood about 180 kids, so it's, and their families and all that kind of stuff. So it's a lot of responsibility. And then four, four of my own. So,
Kenny:yeah. Wow. Dude, I didn't realize you guys had grown that much.
Jonny:Yeah.
Kenny:Yeah. Um. You were saying. How big were you guys when you first started that position back in 2010?
Jonny:Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So my wife and I, when we realized we were gonna be in Greenville for a little bit, we're both not originally from here. She's from the, uh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. I, of course, grew up in Colorado. Okay. Uh, we realized we were gonna be here, we thought maybe for two or three years, something like that. We really wanted to get involved in a smaller church. And so
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:when
Jonny:we, when we started going, our church was like 40, 50, 60 people. Something like that. Real small. Okay. We did church outta the back of a truck, basically, where we'd pull up to a location, unload all of our chairs, and the piano and all that, you know, the, the keyboard, piano and stuff like that. Yes. Do church, you know, pack everything back up and then move to the next location. And, uh, you know, we did that for a long time in our, in our church plant. And, uh, you know, about seven years ago we got a permanent location, uh, downtown. And, uh, you know, it's been awesome. God's been good to, to grow us in those kinds of things. But, uh, my wife and I, in 2010, uh, we had a guy who had started the youth group and then went and planted a church up in Maine. A good friend of ours, and, uh, we just kind of slid into the, the role of running the youth group. Mm-hmm. At the time, we had literally like five or six kids. There were, there were Wednesdays that we would come and the adults would outnumber the teenagers. And it's like, this is awkward. You know, four, four adults and two kids. This, all right, what do you want to talk about tonight? Um, but it's, it's been cool to see how God's have grown that.
Kenny:Awesome. you know, you're, you're reminding me of the importance of time in regards to, uh, when you're younger. kids aren't maybe in the picture, you know, new family church plant, feels like, you know, you have a lot of time to do things. Mm-hmm. As life goes on, kids come to the picture, the same standards that you had in regards to like free time and Oh yeah, we can volunteer and do this stuff. It shifts and that even, I think it's more exaggerated as the career picks up.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:It is.
Kenny:So, um, so let's talk about that because, um, give us sort of like, what was the, the peak. Uh, that you've not, not like it's, it's now dropped, but like Yeah. In your, in your career journey of doing, you know, pastor, heard media stuff, stuff that, you know, your Bob Jones.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Kenny:where was that going and, um, and tell us a little more about, you know, that, that climb.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:So it, it really started again by God's grace and, um, the great team that we had at Bob Jones. Um, we were able to build something really special. And I don't mean that as you know, pat on the back, but, you know, we were winning awards all the time mm-hmm. For top division two institution. Our teams were winning national championships. We were doing, um, consulting type work with other universities who were saying, man, how are you guys doing this? And, and, and just all the time. And so God was really good in that. And, and it got to a point where we were just, you know, we're, we were exploding. We had, um. We had, uh, student athletes coming, we had, uh, expansion of our programs, we were bringing on new sports. Mm-hmm. You know, those kinds of things. And as we were growing in that organization, again, from the church perspective, we were going through a lot of that same growth. So, um, you know, our youth group was growing, our church was growing. We were getting more families, more people, um, as I had started to do contract work with Herd after Adam and I had reconnected, that was growing. Mm-hmm. And so, as you said, what started to happen was. All of these things, good things that were all a part of my life. Were all starting to grow and we're all demanding more and more time and energy and effort at the same time. My wife and I, our family was growing as well. Right. And, uh, you know, we had gone from having one child when I, when I joined the Bruins back in 2012. And now we had four children and all of our kids were pretty close in age. There was a time that we had four kids, uh, six and under, and it was, you know, it was tough. You know, you, you know, as a dad, the, the sleepless nights and the, and I give a lot of credit to my wife in those days because I was in a job where intercollegiate sports, they, they don't play during the day. They don't play in the mornings, it's. It's late at night, it's weekends, and so there would be a lot of times that, we would joke at the beginning of busy season in August, I would kiss my wife and say, you know, I'll see you in March, or I'll see you in May. those kinds of things. And we said it in jest, and then with the church responsibilities and everything like that, that it, it just got to be where, the time with the kids was starting to get smaller and smaller and smaller. And I started to notice it more. when kids are young, they don't complain. Mm-hmm. You know, they, they, they love to see you. Anytime you're there, you, oh, dad's here and they come scream and dad's home. You know, those kinds of things. Right. As they get a little bit older, they start to question, why are you gone so much? Right. Like, why are you, where are you going? Right. Right. Um, it's hard to walk and get in the car and drive away. Yes. When your 4-year-old or 5-year-old is like, you're gone again. Right. You know, and uh, that's when I really started to think like, do I really want to do what I'm doing continuously? Mm-hmm. And not even just the mental stress, the physical stress. I actually ended up in the ER one time just because of like physical stress and kind of all of it coming to a head. And it was, I think it was God using those times to be like, look. You gotta slow down. You, you're doing way too much for one person. Right. And, you gotta kind of take a step back and go, where, where are your priorities really lying here. Yeah. And what is it that needs to back off and what is it needs to drop?
Kenny:Yeah. No, that's, that's pretty powerful dude. I didn't, um, I didn't know all that. Yeah. And I mean, it makes sense though. Mm-hmm. And I think that's the kind of like untold story that maybe a lot of dads have out there. Yeah. It is just like, yeah, these things grew. I mean, everything you said about, you know, the church, the business. side business, the side hustles. Yeah. Side hustle. They all were kind of, sort of in an infant stage. Yeah. and even if they were like developed, like there's still just like certain demands that, that change and flux. and I think what's really cool, I mean, you mentioned God, I, I absolutely agree. I think God brings us sort of to our knees sometimes. Yeah. It's just like, Hey, like what are you doing? Mm-hmm. Like, let's reset maybe. Mm-hmm. Er, yeah. Um, when did the health also become a. The, the weight journey. Yeah.'cause I mean, was that, that'd be right in the middle of it.
Jonny:Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Right in the middle of it. And, and again, I, I'm sure a lot of dads watching this can sympathize with the busier that you get, the more we tend to push ourselves kind of on the back burner in our, in our own health journey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. on the back burner and, again, I worked in athletics. I worked with a bunch of very, very fit people. Yeah. especially college athletes. I mean, it's, it's a full-time job what they do, Yeah. They, they go to training and practice and road schedules and academics and all that kind of stuff. It really is a full-time job for them. And, so we had access to weight rooms and mm-hmm. and those kinds of things. And literally, 10, 15 feet from my office was the weight room, it's right there and, and. Uh, like so many dads, I tried to, tried to squeeze it in when I could. Mm-hmm. And really what started to happen again was the, the busier that I got, that was the easiest thing to, well, I can get it, I can grab that 30 minutes or that 45 minutes that I normally would be on the elliptical or treadmill or lifting weights or whatever. Mm-hmm. And I can grab that because I've gotta do this.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Mm-hmm.
Jonny:and there's a danger in that. Mm-hmm. and again, it's not that those side hustles or businesses or church or whatever ministry that you're in sometimes demands that time, but. What really has helped me, really about a year and a half ago is when I really started, the serious health journey that I'm on right now. was just that moment of, of saying like. What are those things that have to be essential in the day? and those are the non-negotiables. Mm-hmm. And like for me, a couple years ago it boiled down to time with God. having that time for me, it's in the morning where I am in studying his word, praying. Getting the quiet time that I need oftentimes before the kids wake up, before, before the daily grind gets going. Mm-hmm. Uh, number two is time with my family. dedicated time with my family, with my wife, with my kids, and then three is that some kind of physical movement. Mm-hmm. it doesn't have to be the same thing every day. Believe me, my, when I first started, I, I got up to a certain number of weight that I couldn't believe. Mm-hmm. just physically. And for a while it was just taking a walk every day, and saying, Hey, look, I'm gonna walk a mile, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to get 10,000 steps in, or I'm gonna try whatever it might be. and those are the things that started me thinking like, again, you have to take your health seriously because we can put others first, we can put the job first, or whatever. Mm-hmm. But eventually, if we don't. Take care of ourselves. We're not gonna be there to take care of other people. Mm-hmm. Um, and uh, again, like I said, there was one time in particular super, super stressful time at work. We had all this kind of stuff going on. and I got to a point where we're going to set up and I, I started to feel like I was having an heart attack. I mean, ultimately I think. What the doctors kind of diagnosed. It was kind of a panic attack. Yeah. maybe some, indigestion. Yeah. heartburn, those kinds of things. Yeah. But I'm like, I'm on the side. I'm like breathing heavy. And finally I called my wife and I'm like, I'm gonna go to the er. I think I'm having a heart attack. And so drove down there, thankfully, did all the tests. Everything was good. But it was then again, another reminder of God saying like, you have got to slow down. Yeah. And you have got to realize that. You can't do everything, and if you try to do everything, you're gonna end up killing yourself in the process.
Kenny:Mm-hmm. I want to maybe go like one more layer on this because, uh, our wives, they're essential to our success. A hundred percent. I mean, we could probably talk the rest of the episode on this, this, but, knowing the pressures that we have as, the leaders of the household
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:mm-hmm.
Kenny:usually the breadwinners. Mm-hmm. Spiritual leaders, like there's just kind of a lot on our shoulders, and I don't think there's really a lot of conversations that happen with other men. I'm just like, mm-hmm. Hey, this is hard sometimes. Yeah. And it's like, well, you know, be a man. Like, yeah, tough, tough up, let's go. Who cares? But I feel like in these moments of like physical, emotional exhaustion, um. Who's there to help us, it's usually our wives. Yeah. And just like, they see it, they're the front row of everything we're doing. could you maybe share what was the interaction there on you guys coming together? Was there like relational issues beforehand or was it like, she's always been a supporter and it just was like one more thing? Like, give us a little bit about that.
Jonny:So part of my wife's up upbringing, her dad is a Christian school administrator and was a basketball coach. And, I. So I think she was used to seeing, someone in her household kind of burn the candle at both ends. Okay. again, as a principal, you're there first in the morning, then all the ancillary duties of a small Christian school. he's the janitor, he's the coach, he's the bus driver, so I, I don't think it was a culture shock for her for that because she was so used to seeing her mom do that with, with their family. Mm-hmm. but. Again there, when, when it kind of reached its tipping point in my career. I remember having some conversations and I think I was surprised because she wasn't surprised. Like she, she was like, I can tell you're struggling, and you're like, shoot it. it took some humility Yeah. To be able to admit like, I needed help. Yeah. and so once we started to be real with each other, and again, I have. trusted people in my circle as well of other men who, who noticed it as well. Mm-hmm. Who were coming alongside and saying, you can't do this anymore, man. Like, yeah. and again, we, I think we do a good job as men as well of disguising everything and, oh, it's all good, Hey man, how are you? Oh, I'm great man. Good. and inside there's this war that's going on inside. It's just utter, it's like if you really knew what was going on in my mind. Right. You wouldn't have asked me that question how I'm doing.'cause I could give you four hours of why I'm not okay. Right,
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:right.
Jonny:And We need to be better about that as men, I think of especially having that circle of guys, other men, other fathers, other guys that can speak into our lives. Mm-hmm. because I don't think it's fair for our wives that have to always bear that burden because they, they shouldn't have to, they have their own burdens to bear. I mean, my wife is a, is a teacher, works full time as well, and, has to juggle her own. plate of, caring for the kids and being a good wife and, and her ministry is at church and everything like that. So it's for me to come home and complain all this stuff I have to do. She's like, yep, me too. Yeah, same bro. And so, but it is so important to have that circle around where you can, you can confide in people and then you can have guys that come in and say, you know what? I, I've noticed you're, you're off and. How can we work through that together?
Kenny:So, no, that's huge. the community, some people have workout buddies. Obviously the church is probably the, the best place to have men in your corner, older men if possible. and I've seen some big victories in my life. Mm-hmm. Just being consistent, you know, you think about it. um, these CEOs, these, these big, high earning people, and there comes a point where it's like. I need this activity in my, these people in my life and I'm cool with losing, losing investing maybe is a better term. Yeah. Investing hours in each week with these people because like my bucket over here is, is empty or is get dangerous. Yeah. Low. So, um, great point there. Our wives are obviously like our first probably supporter mm-hmm. In the trenches. But, um, yeah, to like put everything like, Hey, I need you to help me right now. Fill my cup and it's like, I, I need you to fill my cup. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So great point on the community for sure. so I guess the question is like, what happened, when you started realizing, you know, we're over, we're overdoing it. Mm-hmm. We got the family, all these other buckets that you're working on. Um, did you just like. Yeah. Did you just pull the plug on one or two or kind of tell everybody, Hey, this is what I'm doing, like Yeah. Could you maybe give us a little, step by step on like Yeah.
Jonny:The mindset there? Yeah. So it, it, it came to a, it came to a head basically, again, had, had some of the physical challenges that I was, that I was running into. Job was exploding, side hustle was exploding. church thing was exploding. And again, I credit my wife, I credit, a lot of people in that inner circle, even my own parents and, and family who kind of just came alongside and just said, what do you wanna do for the rest of your life? And, what, for me, I realized I, I couldn't do it all anymore and I didn't wanna do it anymore. Mm. And again, I was missing out on key moments with my kids. I was going days and days. Without kissing them or, you know, to bed at night or tucking them in at night. there was times in busy season I would drop them off at school. Mom would pick'em up from school, they would do dinner together, everything like that. I wouldn't see'em. And then by the next morning, because it was so busy, I would've woken up already and, and left. And so they would be, you know, two, three days without even seeing me. it really was a Reprioritization for me of saying like. As a man and as a man who follows Jesus. Like my primary role and responsibility is to follow him, but the secondary role that God has given me is to be a husband and a father.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Mm-hmm.
Jonny:And then all the work stuff and all the providing for the family, like that's all underneath all of that. Mm-hmm. And so for me, what I had allowed to happen is the goals and the careers and the aspirations of my own personal journey had risen to the same priority as. Uh, as that father, husband, even follower of Jesus role. And it was like, I have to do all these things'cause I have to keep it all in, in balance. Mm-hmm. And what I realized was to do those top things effectively, they have to have their own priority. Mm-hmm. You know, and then let the other things fall by the side. So anyway, as I was saying, it all kind of came to a head. Um, my, my boss at the time. Um, over at Bob Jones, was feeling some of his own internal, struggle in terms of career, family balance, those kinds of things. And we, we just, at our routine monthly lunch, he just confided in me and said, you know what? I, I think my time is, is coming to an end here. I want you to pray about being the next athletic director at, uh, at Bob Jones. And I was like, okay. I don't think he knows all the internal struggle that I'm going through right now. Like what? You know. And so, um, I, I remember coming home to my wife and, and she, she actually, when I told her about it, she kind of chuckled and said No. And I said, I felt the same way. Hard note Johnny, but, but I wanted to make sure you felt the same way. And, and at the same time, I mean, God had really started to burden my heart more for pastoral ministry. Um, you know, again. Because things were so busy at work and side hustles and family and everything like that, we really weren't giving our all in the ministry of, youth ministry and kids ministry like we could.'cause we just didn't have time, And so, um, as it was growing, we were seeing God work and the lives of our teens and in kids and, and those kinds of things. And it was like. But we only have this little pocket of time that we can give you each week. Right. And even the pastoral staff at our church started to recognize that, but also started to recognize like. We want you to be in this role, but we want someone in this role who's really gonna help grow it and develop it, and those kinds of things. Mm-hmm. So at the same time, I was approached about, uh, again, I had served in that capacity was, was approached about actually going through the official ordination process. which again, for those maybe that are watching that are not as religious or anything, it's kind of the church's stamp of approval on someone. Okay. Just in terms of, do you know the doctrines of faith? do you know, and can you teach and all these kinds of things. So, went through that process with, six or seven guys on my ordination council, and basically all they do is grill you about the Bible and you write a, a personal statement of faith about all the different categories of, the doctrine of God and scripture and Jesus and all this kind of thing. And then they. Ask you questions about it. And so I had went through that, not with the anticipation of, of joining the pastoral staff, but just, this is gonna be a good thing and, and needed to do this anyways. and so praying about the ad position, praying about, what God is doing in the pastoral position, at the same time heard, was doing contract work for them, had approached me and basically said, Hey, I know you're pretty invested at Bob Jones. Like, we're growing so much, would you, would you ever consider coming to us full time? And so, like, it was very clear. God was like. So you're going a certain direction. Yeah. Like here's some options and paths, but it's very clear you're going to make a decision and one of those things you're going to have to leave. Mm-hmm. You, you can't do all three anymore.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:And and so we had prayed about it for a long time and I. again, I could go on and on and on about this, but just the direct ways that God worked in that particular situation. after I passed the ordination counselor or whatever, a couple months later, some of our leadership team came back and said, we actually would love for you to join the pastoral staff. We can only do it part-time right now'cause of the size of our church, whatever. I'm like, I got four kids. I. I can't do that. Right. and again, at the same time, the herd guys came back and were like, Hey, we'd love for you to work full time. It's, it's a little more flexible. It's more project work. You can work remote, those kinds of things. And it was like, this is just, this is the alignment that I was looking for. And, again, I loved my time at Bob Jones. Loved my time, with the athletic department. I actually was, this last April inducted into the 2025 class of Hall of Fame. And yes, I said in my, I said in my. Hall of Fame induction speech, especially to my kids, I wasn't always a Hall of Fame dad. And, they made a lot of sacrifices and, but at the end of the day, like the biggest thing for those dads that are struggling with this right now is I had to ask myself would I rather be a Hall of Famer Professional or a Hall of Fame dad? Mm-hmm. And like, because I, I, maybe there's people out there who have done it better than I did. and juggling that high stress, busyness and family, I couldn't do it. And it was, and, and I've met a lot of dads who struggle with that too. And so like, there came a point for me, it was like, I, I'm willing to make that sacrifice of keep going up that ladder because my family means more to me than that. Mm-hmm. And my, my wife means more to me than that. My kids mean more to me than that. And, other thing, my own health journey and, and spirituality and all these kinds of things like that needs to have a better, grasp in my life than, chasing titles and chasing, the admiration of peers and, and awards and accolades and all those kinds of things. And so, uh, that's really where it came to me. Yeah. That's Johnny. Well, well
Kenny:done man. That's, that's a lot. In fact, it's funny'cause like I know you, I've kind of seen you, in and out over the years and it's like you don't know what people are really going through Yeah. Throughout everything. Yeah. So it's really cool, sort of, at least at this moment to, to know your, where you're at today mm-hmm. And sort of where those values are. Sure. maybe, if you don't mind, share some of the victories with, over the, I mean, I guess maybe since you left the Bruins and kind of have, decided, hey, these are the values I have. what's been some things that you've been like. I got this back, like this was sort of a cool victory.
Jonny:Yeah, I, I'll share one story with that. somebody, we have a good friend who, again, my oldest is, is just became a teenager. Okay. 13, all the way down to, to seven at this point. And she, that's a victory in itself. I know, right? Real, real. I'm so alive and people wonder why I don't have any hair and that I'm getting gray in the beard and everything like that. But, one, one story that I'll never forget is, my, my daughter started playing basketball with the middle school team, at the time upper elementary, but, middle school elementary crossover and they call it junior league in her school. And, she tries really hard and is, is working really hard or whatever, and her team, God bless'em, goes out on the floor and loses every, most games, 35, 40 to two or 40 to, it's not, it's rough. Yeah. But they work so hard and they have, you have great coaches and everything like that. Well, she came down the lane, got the ball turns and just puts up this shot and she made it, after this like game eight or nine in the season. Yeah, yeah. And the look on her face, she turns around and immediately like goes to the crowd looking for us.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:And we make eye contact and she's cheering, she's. So excited. She's running now, they're losing by 30, you know, or whatever. It doesn't matter. But, but she looked and she looked and she saw her whole family there. my, my wife and I, all of all of her siblings were there cheering her on. Yeah. And so I, I, I told the person afterwards, the photographer at the game actually, for whatever reason, probably'cause we jumped up and went crazy and we were the only ones cheering and they that turned and they take a picture and we're all, you know, jumping up and everything like that. And I told the photographer that meant so much to me because you don't know, like. In my, just, just months before I had made that career transition and all that kinds of things, I wouldn't have been there. You were there.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Jonny:I I would've missed that whole moment.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah, man.
Jonny:and I would've missed, like, that's something you can never get back. That was her first basketball basket. And, and my wife told me about it. She could have recorded it on her phone or whatever, but the fact that my daughter made the basket and then immediately turned to the stands looking for us. Yeah. and as a dad, you can't put a price on that. Mm-hmm. I would challenge dads out there like, would I rather be sitting in a meeting? Or making another deal or working for another hourly rate or get those kinds of moments and memories. And like for me, I wanted to make the sacrifices that we needed to make, we had to make some lifestyle changes, which is fine. we're fine, we're not poor, we're not, missing meals and those kinds of things. But, but it was one of those things where it's like, I'd rather have those moments than, than miss out on that. Just for, chasing the dollar or whatever. Yeah. So that's, that's one way. That's awesome. again, from the church perspective, I could share story after story of just, again, just the, from a physical perspective, the fact that I, I sleep more now. Mm-hmm. obviously I've been hitting the gym more. Mm-hmm. health is better, those kinds of things. So I, I in turn, when I'm focusing on myself in those areas. I find I'm able to give more to others because again, I have that sleep, I have more energy, I have, that kind of stuff just because I've taken those little pockets of time to, to make sure that I can be as best as I can be for, for everybody around me.
Kenny:I love that story. Mm-hmm. I actually kinda got chills and like, was like fighting back a little bit of tears.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Kenny:Um, so that's a really good story. Yeah. And I mean, to me it's like you, you just, you can't put a price tag on that, that moment. Exactly.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Exactly.
Kenny:And if people are rolling their eyes about that, say, oh, I can't make it every game. we obviously do the best we can. Yeah. But there's, there's a cost to everything. Mm-hmm. In fact, when people, I love when people say, uh, like, oh, what you do is so risky. Or it's like, you're a real estate investor. Like, yeah. You know, how do you borrow people's money and do, you know, do these things? And, and in, in my mind, my response is, well, you are risking your, like Yeah. Life missing some things. Exactly right. I'm not saying I'm gonna just like throw someone's money away. Like there's obviously calculated, like due diligence things I do. Absolutely. But if we're just risking. Our, our time. Mm-hmm. Like I feel like I'm making the right choices. Absolutely. So, and everyone has to kind of come to grips on that for themselves.
Jonny:Yeah. I'd rather get on my deathbed someday and have my kids go. My dad was always there for me. You know, I didn't have the nicest cars, the nicest shoes or whatever it was. But my dad was there at every single'cause that's how my dad was. I'm sure that's how your dad was. they balanced professional life, but my dad was at every sporting event for me. Yeah. and yeah, we didn't always have the nicest things, but like, who cares? Yeah. Right. Like, I don't care. I never ever thought, I never wore Abercrombie growing up and it was all right. I made it. It's okay.
Kenny:Yeah. Yeah. That's a great lesson. And, and kids may not understand that now. Mm-hmm. my son's eight. Um, but, I'm very involved in his life. Mm-hmm. And, and I, I, and I, I feel very fulfilled, with my relationship with him in regards to like
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Yeah.
Kenny:You know, just the close, the closest we are. Absolutely. So, um, so anyway, if there any dads out there that are, you know, feeling, feeling maybe the pull to pull back, pulled toward the kids more. Yeah. Let this be a, a message of like, yeah, do it, man. You won't, you won't regret
Jonny:it, man. I'm telling you. You won't regret it. obviously it has to be calculated, right? You have to think about, what is it that you can drop out of your life? And again, for some people it might be a career change, it might be, going all in on that side hustle, that, that has really grown. And, and they've realized, look, I can, I can leave the nine to five. It's gonna be a little bit of a leap of faith.'cause I know you even did that, with your, your career with landscaping and everything like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, there comes a point where it's like, I'm gonna go all in on this, but the, the primary goal is not so that I can make millions of dollars, but it's, it's so that I can invest, my skillset to, to yes, provide for my family, but I can get back that time that I can then reinvest into, my wife and kids and the things that I'm more passionate about.
Kenny:So, yeah. Yeah. Love it, Johnny. I wanted to see here. just in regards to time blocking. Mm-hmm. Um, first off, curious like what are the hobbies right now?'cause I feel like what's important, like the sort of, um, fun and recreation hat. Yeah. You know, I would imagine during the like, hard times, that was zero. Zero. Yeah. So, um, so now that there's been some, you know, removing some things, you know, looking at the balance of my life. Um, what are some things you enjoy doing right now? I mean, even with the kids? Or without kids? Yeah. Well, I mean,
Jonny:we love, especially, I mean, Greenville is such a, a great community for hiking trails. Mm-hmm. And, and those kinds of things. honestly, something that someone kind of drilled into me a couple of years ago too, is, just taking your kids in the day to day that you have to do. Mm-hmm. So, like, my kids enjoy. we go to Home Depot or whatever and I've gotta get some things or whatever, and they know that dad's kind of a softie and I might get'em a candy bar or we might start stop at Starbucks on the way home or, those kinds of things. But we try to do that. Even my wife does that, a really good job of that too, of, of trying to, as we have to go about the day to day of just normal life of taking a kid with us in that. Mm-hmm. a, it gives them kind of that one-on-one time with dad or mom. and again, you have to do those things anyways. Mm-hmm. And so we, we do a lot of that, but we do a lot of, I mean, again, Greenville's awesome. We, we do a lot of, ministry together as a family. our, my kids love serving in different capacities in church. My, my teenager is on the welcome team. And so as people come in, she's greeting them and stuff like that. So, I mean, it's good to, again, just to have that kind of time. For us, it's not that we didn't spend time together. Mm-hmm. when I was so busy and so stressed and all that kind of stuff, but it was like, now the time is I feel like more precious, more special because I. I, I'm not taking a hike with the kids, wondering what I'm missing at work. Mm-hmm. Or, I get back to my phone and it's just blowing up with all kinds of things that I have to do. Or, kids have gone to bed and I'm still up at one or two or three o'clock in the morning trying to finish everything. Just, and so again, it's just the idea of we enjoy our life together more, I would say, just because we're, we're all. Have the energy to be on to do it right. Yeah. Yeah. It's easy. We love hiking, we love, we love, riding bikes, obviously exploring this great city. Yeah. And, doing all the fun things.
Kenny:and I make sure, one curiosity, another question, in regards to like the pastor hat.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Mm-hmm.
Kenny:So those in the ministry. this show, it is had different people on with different walks of faith. I'm a Christian. Sure. We went to a Christian college, so, I, I feel very strong about, how important my faith is to me. Mm-hmm. And there's a lot of give that happens. Yes. especially if you're a, a leader. Yeah. Like Absolutely. You're like the lead servant. Like you are pouring out to other people. Yeah. So, maybe if you could gimme some other victories or struggles of, as a dad. Leading in the church, some of the deacon meetings, I'm, I go to, well they're at six o'clock at night and they're like, till like nine. It's like not the ideal like family time. Exactly.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Exactly. But like, you
Kenny:know, what else do you do it? Yeah. So, any, any wins or discoveries on that front of, leading the household through the, like in ministry as well? Yeah,
Jonny:absolutely. one thing again. I was kind of on the outside of those leadership circles in the early days.'cause again, I was, I was in charge of the youth group, but I wasn't officially on pastoral staff. now that I have the last couple of years been in those, I, first of all, I want to tell people like I. I think there's a misperception about what a pastor actually does. I know even growing up sometimes it was like, what? Like you have to preach two sermons. Like what a job. and then, but the amount of good pastors, good faith leaders, the amount of time that they spend investing in other people is. it's just shocking to me and I, I was not, I was not fully aware of that until I started doing it myself. the lead pastor at our church and the other pastors, the deacons, others, just the amount of time and energy and effort they pour into people each week. not to mention, the amount of time they pray for people and, the, the amount of time they spend studying God's word, preparing, the different ministry and that kind of thing. And so like for me, I, I wanted that, but I, I don't think I was fully ready for, some of the challenges that brings, because particularly in Christian circles, I think are really good at, like we talked about before of, we show up on a Sunday. Hey, how are you man? Oh, it's good. How was your week? Oh, it was good. And really we're masking the struggle of what was really going on that week. and so. For me as a pastor, I've, I've had the opportunity now to kind of have people pull that curtain back a little bit. Mm-hmm. And you realize that. There is a lot of struggle that people are going through, and what I hope people will understand, especially those in the Christian faith, is that it's okay. Mm-hmm. It's okay. We're all struggling. Mm-hmm. Like we're all on a journey and just because I'm in a role of a leader in, in pastoral ministry. Doesn't mean like, like I've shared today, it doesn't mean that I have my own baggage and my own, uh, struggles that I'm going through even on a, on a weekly basis. You know what? My kid might not not slept through the night last night either, and that's okay. We can come together and we can, we can encourage one another and let's go get a cup of coffee together, and make it through this. But, as Christians, we need to be better about just opening up to each other and again, I, I could share obviously story after story and the ways God has allowed my wife and I. because of the lack of busyness in the evenings, now we've, we've really tried to open our home more to people and, and have more people over. And again, we couldn't do that before.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Mm-hmm.
Jonny:And so, mm-hmm. Uh, the amount of conversations we've been able to have through that. And I would say with that as well, my wife has done a great job more so than I have, in recent years of just like opening up her home for her friend group to be around and they come and they know there's toys and clothes and the house is not perfect. Mm-hmm. And pretty and everything like that.
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:Mm-hmm.
Jonny:But the amount of times that my wife has just had people over and, you know, I'll come home from doing stuff and. There's three ladies on my couch and they're all drinking coffee together, or they're eating the snacks in our fridge or whatever, whatever, you know, and their kids are running around. That's great. That's, that's life. Yeah. That's what we want. And, uh, so to allow people to, to just, be in your life and mm-hmm. You can pour into each other and those kinds of things. It's, it's great to have that kind of ministry,
Kenny:Johnny. I would, say, great job, man. Appreciate it. The successes you've shared have been encouraging to me. and I love that you said, we're all struggling. Mm-hmm. It's totally true. the people I see at the gym and, these, uh, you know, I'm like, c Christian, Kenny, it doesn't cuss and all these things. Yeah. It's like, hey, like, I'm not perfect. Exactly. we, we need community. Yeah. Like we need each other. Having people over with the house. Messy. Love that. Yeah. we struggle with that a little bit in regards to like, just push it all in the closet and just shove it all in the closet. Have that closet and don't open that closet. No, that's very good. Thank you so much for sharing everything today. Johnny. If people wanted to keep track of what you were up to, you mentioned a few things. How would you direct them and kind of. Are they get in touch with you or following your journey?
Jonny:Yeah, absolutely. So, probably LinkedIn is the best for people particularly that are watching this show or listening to this show. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. it's just Johnny, J-O-N-N-Y. Gamut is game with a t. Yes, it does sound like a swear word. So that's, yeah, that's. I could tell you story after story of that, of, of coaches growing up at uh, uh, that got yellow cards and technical fouls.'cause they would scream my last name and the official thought that, you know, he was getting sweared at. So
riverside_kenny_johnson_raw-video-cfr_kenny_johnson's stu_0018:that's great.
Jonny:but anyway, Johnny Gamut, would love to, to connect especially with those, of you that, that I can be an encouragement to, again, as a dad, we're all, we're all struggling through this together as a, as a professional, we're trying to provide for our families and just do the best that we can.
Kenny:Johnny, thank you for joining us today. Take care, buddy. Alright, thank you.