IN YOUR CITY Show With Kelley and Gordon
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IN YOUR CITY Show With Kelley and Gordon
Hottest Happy Hour Episode 47: The Power of Faith & Film - The John O'Leary Interview
we welcome John O’Leary, the inspirational speaker and extraordinary survivor whose life story ignited the anticipation behind the upcoming feature film Soul on Fire. Based on his bestselling memoir On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life, the movie is a powerful biographical drama starring Joel Courtney, William H. Macy, and John Corbett, directed by Sean McNamara. Filmed in St. Louis and set for theatrical release on October 10, 2025, this moving story of community, faith, and resilience is one you won’t want to miss.
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Welcome to In Your City Show. I always have all my stuff ready to go, my notes, and then this guy right here decides to dump his on top of mine. So I'm like sitting here just trying to figure out what the heck is going on now today. Could you like stop doing that to me? You're killing me. You're killing me, smalls. Um, so I have no idea what is yours and what it is. I think I want to say it's Monday. First of all, it's Monday, and we're just getting our week started after an unbelievable weekend to Silver Dollar City, uh, which was so much fun, and I'm so completely exhausted that I can hardly um keep my eyes open here. But I'm super excited and waking up because John O'Leary is with us the entire hour here for the In Your City show. So it's still not helping me because he still has my notes going everywhere. But we got John John O'Leary, he's an inspirational speaker. Luckily, we have been able to hear him speak a couple times, which has been fantastic. Extraordinary survivor whose life story ignited the anticipation behind the upcoming featured film Soul on Fire. So his amazing book that I was so excited. We've had it in on our shelves since we brought it home. I could not believe when I opened it up and it says May 4th of 2016. This is when we got this book. And it says, Can we stay on fire and God bless Anna Leary? So this is so cool to have this. Um, and we had it in the station, and now we get to have another look. And now, uh, did you kindly like put things in order for me so I could find it? I think so. You think so? Well, good. All right, let's not, without further ado, let's go ahead and just tilt that camera over, bring John onto the show and join us. Thank you so much. We're so excited to have you today.
SPEAKER_10:This is the hottest happy hour in all happy hours, so I'm just glad to be in the in invited to the party.
SPEAKER_02:And we should be having like cocktails and celebration, and don't kick yourself, there's a lot of times that we do. It's just Monday. Oh my gosh. So we just got back, which I said, Silver Dollar City. Have you taken the kids to Silver Dollar City?
SPEAKER_10:I have. We went as a family with my wife's family probably two summers ago and had a blast. I I had no expectations, not high or low, and it was world-class. It was a blast.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was 12 years old the first the last first and last time I'd been there. Gordon had been there maybe 20 something years ago, had been there. So you I literally couldn't remember what I would be seeing, right? What there was to do, but we went to so many museums. Um, some of them we thought, are we gonna like go to the Titanic?
SPEAKER_09:You did that one as well.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, Gordon did not survive.
SPEAKER_12:Our first stop was to, of course, you gotta stop there on your way to France. It's the fudge place. Uranus. Uranus.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, Uranus fudge. So, but the funny thing is, Gordon is a person, if there's a big ball of yarn or something. He's stopping he's gotta see three corporations. So we had to go through the freaky museum of three-headed people and uh mermaids that are half human, and then of course went to the aquarium, the Titanic. We rode every roller coaster known to mankind. I think every organ and bone is in a different place in my body right now.
SPEAKER_11:You probably still have your head rattled.
SPEAKER_02:But you know, we only have two grandboys, and it was you know, it's amazing what everything costs now. I don't know, you have a family of four, right? Right. Six with the two adults. It's so I mean, every there's nothing inexpensive that you do, and you think, how do families go and really engage and entertain their family? Because you can just spend every day hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
SPEAKER_10:Well, you and I were recording this on a Monday during Happy Hour. And yesterday my wife and I snuck out of the house early, went to the zoo, St. Louis Zoo. If you haven't been lately, go. If you've never been, go now. We had so much fun. It is free, as you know. And it it was like as fun a date as I can remember having in a long time. Just walking around the zoo on a Sunday morning watching all these families trying to crowd their little chipmunks through this massive, gorgeous zoo. So there are free activities in particular here in St. Louis.
SPEAKER_13:I don't know if it still is today, but at one time the St. Louis Zoo was the number one free attraction in the United States.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it still is, and uh it it might be in the top three. I I I know it was number one and it may still be up there. It's not even the top ten, it's in the top five.
SPEAKER_14:But it's still, I hate to think about it.
SPEAKER_02:So we don't really know where they're at from there. So here you are today. We're excited. Your book we got back in 2016, and now you have this incredible movie which you got to meet my daughter. Yes, she was on doing hair and that, and oh my gosh, she couldn't quit talking about you um after meeting you. And then and then the man who or the young man who played you, and then of course, um uh oh my gosh, oh, what is his name? Um uh William Macy.
SPEAKER_11:Oh yeah, William H. Macy.
SPEAKER_02:Shameless.
SPEAKER_11:That's where most people know him from. So he's different in real life, guys. It's not Frank. I need to.
SPEAKER_12:Let's see a little bit of that quick before we am so home five.
SPEAKER_07:How bad is it? He has burns to 100% of his body.
SPEAKER_08:Wanna send out a special hello tonight to a certain young man who's laid up in the hospital. His name is John O'Leary. He's a tough little guy.
SPEAKER_00:Will you listen to me? You will. When I first came to see you, they said you had no chance. But here you are. You're gonna face challenges when you get out of here. But you can still do almost anything.
SPEAKER_05:Welcome to the first project, double learning and live in the project.
SPEAKER_04:I guess I like to just I have a scout group and I heard about what happened to people.
SPEAKER_07:I just thought that microphone would be inspired if you can talk to them.
SPEAKER_04:I may have an idea for a way that we can work together.
SPEAKER_03:I know what it feels like to think of how we've thrown your life away.
SPEAKER_00:Everything that you did.
SPEAKER_10:Well, it's funny, I've seen it so many times, and yet as you two sat in the studio watching, you saw me up to your right watching too. Like, I'm amazed at what a beautiful job the team did putting together that film. I'm amazed what an incredible job the actors did portraying it. Then they went to editing. It took a year and a half to push this thing together just right. Then they had to make shots like that come alive. So in 90 seconds, you feel it, and you'll want to take your family out to go visit it. And October 10th. And then to recognize it's all real.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:So Hollywood does a great job of telling stories of heroes who fly, you know, or swim with mermaid fins and all these other things that are just completely made up. This story happened here in St. Louis. It was filmed here in St. Louis, and it's about heroes here in St. Louis, and I'm not one of them.
unknown:Yes, you are.
SPEAKER_10:I'm really not. I mean, it's really a celebration of how great we are.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh, it's fabulous. And I I uh noticed the scene in there of the woman asking you to speak to the Girl Scout troop, which in your book, that is your that's where your life literally transitioned from being a construction worker as your uh wife now, which is portrayed in the movie Beth, correct?
SPEAKER_06:That is right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, and and seeing that, knowing that that one little first speech that you almost said no to totally took your life into another path, thank goodness, because the you've been able to inspire so many people with your words.
SPEAKER_10:Oh man, and again, I'm not trying to be humble, it's just true. This is all God's hand in my story, it's just a reality. I'm not academically that strong. If you've interviewed me long enough, you'll find that out to be true. I'm not that articulate, even on stage or even in books. And yet this story has come alive. I've been blessed to speak for 20 years, 50 states, millions of people, dozens of countries. Now there's a film out, we have a podcast. The fact that this has all come to pass is now look what you've done. It really is look what God is doing in a very ordinary guy's life, reminding all of us our lives can be used for good.
SPEAKER_13:God can only do so much is He needs us to fulfill it's true.
SPEAKER_10:You gotta say yes, Gordon. You gotta step forward, man. You gotta do your part. And when you eventually show up on the Hollywood squares, whatever that version of success looks like for you, you've got to recognize it's not all me who did this. And I'm just super aware of that all day long. Like it's just not me who did this. We had amazing characters. In fact, the book, as you saw, it's not me on the front of it. It's a mirrored image so that people, when they hold the book, can see themselves as the hero of even my book. And then when you look at the film poster, uh the first one Sony did was a picture of the guy who plays me. His name is Joel Courtney from the kissing booth with his arms on the air celebrating success. But if you look at it now, his back is turned toward the camera. And if you look more closely, it's a mosaic of all the folks from the entire film who came alongside of him and made his story a possibility. It's it's their story, not not his, not ours.
SPEAKER_02:Did you help to produce the movie?
SPEAKER_10:We d I did, yes.
SPEAKER_02:How did that feel? What is that? There's so many questions to my question right now. First, you have shared your story, and I know the first time you shared it, truly shared it, speaking to these little girls. And then, of course, like you said, you've spoken to millions of people. We've watched you a couple times. You're constantly reliving what happened to you. You have are doing it with such grace. Um, and then now you're watching on the big screen. Is it completely healing for you? Does it bring back memories that are hard to handle? How do you react to all of this?
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, so when I first started speaking, whether to the three Girl Scouts or in the movie, they they gave me a few extras. I had like eight in the movie, so now I'm I'm famous with Girl Scouts. And then the 21 Rotarians and then and then Quanis, and then Into the Prison and Beyond. Every single time I was nervous about how they would feel about me. And now when I speak, we're 2,700 plus speeches in. I'm still very nervous about how they will feel about this message in their lives. So I don't care, please take this the right way. I don't care how they feel about me anymore. Not even remotely, but I care deeply about how this message moves them to do more in their lives.
SPEAKER_13:Yeah, absolutely. I had to ask you too, because you relived your so many times, like Kelly says. During the process of doing this movie, was there something that jumped out at you from redoing doing this movie that maybe didn't hit you at the time that this incident took place in the reactor? Having to go through it piece by piece by piece by piece something that just uh I never realized that. Or I just you know where it's a great question.
SPEAKER_10:So the scenes that you see in the film are filmed in the places where they happened. So the bars where we had the conversation, whether it's Saratoga Lane's or Humphreys, and are in the film. The spot where my dad had a conversation with me about living forward took place in Keener Plaza, to where it happened. The dorm room conversations with my college roommate, and on and on and on, it took place there. The shrine of St. Joseph, where I got married to Beth, is where they shot me getting married. All this to set us up for, and the house where I was burned as a kid is the house where my mom and dad still live. So to go back into this house, they moved out all of my parents' furniture. They moved in all the furniture we would have had back in the 1980s, and we redid a scene where little John O'Leary gets burned. So to see a moment in time, capture it perfectly like it actually happened with an actor portraying it, that was hard. What made it far more difficult was recognizing the girls who were screaming. Those are my sisters, and they're portraying my actual sisters, and I'd never seen it through their lens before. The story had always been told through mine, but now I'm seeing it through two little girls. My brother Jim coming up from the basement where he slept, had always told it from my experience, but now I'm experiencing it from my brother Jim's experience. So that was radical to feel the pain and the agony of that morning again. Then we take a lunch break. And there's a there's about 500 people part of making this film. Your daughter is one of them. There are 499 others around her, so it's a huge group. We all take lunch, come back, and now it's time to film homecoming because they don't want to move 500 people to the arch and then Bush Stadium. So they keep them on set. So we filmed the scene where John comes back, and a cool thing that happened was two of the firefighters in the film are actual grade school friends of mine. So these are kids I went to grade school with. They were at the homecoming when I returned, the real homecoming. And now they're at this fake homecoming in Hollywood's lens, portraying firefighters. And I think that matters for two reasons. One is the people who are in the front yard were all in the front yard in real life. So you're looking at a real story again. And yet the story that could have been so tragic, you know, what's what could possibly good come out of a nine-year-old being burned on 100% of his body? Well, now there's two firefighters in the front yard saving lives, talking about fire safety, keeping kids from getting burned, putting out fires when they actually happened, pulling kids out of car accidents when that happens, because they went through it with their classmate. So from our own struggles in life, not only does it influence our life, it influences the life of everybody around us. And in our case, for good. Everyone who was part of our tragedy was redeemed for better because of it. So to be on the back end of a camera watching this unfold in real time, Kelly, like it just it continues to blow me away.
SPEAKER_02:My chest is actually a little like tight because I'm listening and I'm feeling it so much. The the empathy, the story. Um, I I literally, it's like takes my breath away listening to it. And someone who might be listening right now, um, it could be, you know, from across the world, wherever it might be, might not know John O'Leary. We were lucky enough if you if you recognize this, you're on the cover of our men's issue. Um where's my oh it's not on me, so I can't show it. Sorry. Um, but there's uh it was the cover of our men's issue, and we were telling your story, you had a different book out at that time.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And then from there, it is I mean, you have just taken the world by storm. But let's somebody that is not um from somewhere else or doesn't know yes, that was the book that was actually in the magazine and all. Um, and now you've written this book on fire. Let's give them a little bit of story, a little bit of background of you, of kind of jumping around talking about things, but um, Jack Buck played an incredible role in your life, and that quote um uh that one life can can and always does change the world. Right. And Jack Buck changed your world. And of course, I'm sure everyone knows Jack Buck from the St. Louis Cardinals, and I love the fact that your family you are you, you at least have to listen by radio for sure.
SPEAKER_10:Which you know what's wild is I would imagine half your listeners, whether they're they're local or not, don't know the name Jack Buck. And then you drop in the name. Well, what about Joe Buck? And then the other half jump forward. Jack Buck passed away in 2002. So a lifetime ago, we lost this heroic human being, a phenomenal radio announcer, and a man who changed my life. And why he showed up is part of the story. So you're interviewing a guy right now who was burned, we didn't really tell the backstory on 100% of my body. So 87% of those burns were third degree. That is an absolute death sentence. Jack hears about it the night that I was burned, and he was told that same evening that the kid is going to die. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. And rather than just saying, All right, I'll keep him in my thoughts and my prayers, he goes to the hospital, walks in, sees a child laying there, mummified, and sits down next to Mikelli and says, Kid, wake up. You are going to live, keep fighting. John O'Leary Day at the ballpark will make it all worthwhile. He hears that I'm going to die as he walks out of that room that night, and then Jack has the audacity to come back, sit with me again, and say, Kid, wake up, I'm back. You are going to live. The wild thing is he did this for five months. He kept showing up in my time of great darkness into that space with me, loving me forward. He never told anybody about it. It wasn't on the radio, it wasn't on the news outlets, it wasn't on the podcast of the day. Jack just kept serving quietly. And on August 26, 1987, he lived into the promise of John O'Leary Day at the ballpark. We went downtown, man, met all the Cardinals, had the time of our lives, broadcast the ball game together. This man, and we could talk more and more about what Jack did, but needless to say, I'm not seated with you today. If Jack Buck wasn't seated with me the night I was burnt.
SPEAKER_02:A hard time getting my words to come up, you know, listening to that. And I love the fact that you said he wasn't doing it for any kind of a media stunt. He truly felt it in his heart to serve you and come to you and make a difference to your life, which changed your life forever. And then you had all these other transitions throughout it, and just seeing you when you're when you're talking to your uh the person who is your wife uh now, um who you felt when you would you want to date me and you show up your hands.
SPEAKER_15:Right.
SPEAKER_02:You know, so take us past Jack Buck and then your life at college and and meeting your now wife with four children later.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_09:Well, there's a lot there. We'll we'll go through it step by step. So grab a stiff drink. You'll need it for this version of the happy hour. Wish I had one myself.
SPEAKER_10:Maybe, maybe some other time. I went off to college completely unsure of who I was. And so in the movie, and some people have had an issue with this during the testing, it's like John drinks way too much. But it's not to celebrate and glamorize drinking, it's because it was my crutch. It was to allow me to fit in. And so the only person who really saw past that was this gorgeous brunette named Beth. So I'm I meet her at a party, we dance at that party, we become friends after that party, but I never had the belief that she could actually love me in spite of my brokenness. So I I never fully got that. And so when I finally in the real life, it was years later, asked her out, uh, we were too far into it. We we were friends at that point. So she says to me, Why didn't you ask me out when we first met? And uh she was offended that I would believe it would be physical as to why she would not say, you know, yes or no. So my my wife has the ability to see past people's brokenness. She works today as an occupational therapist, serves in our special school systems with kids who have special needs, and where you and I might see amputations or brokenness or whatever the thing is, that's so easy. Beth sees potential. She does that professionally today. She did that back when we met in college. And the turning point in our story for me was the conversation. I mean, it's the movie's real. It's the strangest thing to see a movie about your life that's real. But I walked on Keener Plaza with my dad, and we started talking about living the life you've got. And uh one of the quotes was, You can't always choose the path you walk in life, but you can choose the manner in which you walk it. And he started then talking about the he talked about the car, but what he was really talking about was was Beth. And it was this idea of stop trying to get things from it, start investing into it, let go of expectations. And this little conversation that I had with my dad in Keener Plaza, it's the arch grounds for those of you not from the St. Louis area, about loving unconditionally changed the way I treated Beth. And so finally, Kelly, here's the answer. I stopped trying to get anything from her. Most relationships, in particular in the early parts, are all about like, what do I get out of this thing? And I'll invest to that degree to get something in ROI on it. And what I started to do was love her for who she was, expecting nothing in return. And that little pivot with no expectations changed the way she began to perceive me. I I wasn't needy anymore. I was just loving her as a friend, and I think that's why full circle moment, she came around years later and and asked me out. So in the film, it does a great job of portraying that in real life. It was awesome. But uh I asked my wife out first, and second, and third, and fifth, and eleventh, but at some point stopped pursuing, started loving, and it changed her heart too.
SPEAKER_02:I love love. I'm always in love story. For sure. Absolutely love it. And and and so again, with your story, um, we talk about you know, you as a child, Jack Buck, uh coming to you each day, serving you later on. Here you are. Um, you even learn to play the piano. Right. I think you even have a little clip because what we're gonna do, let's let's watch this, and then we're gonna have to take it to a break, um, of course, and then we're gonna come back and talk more about you, the movie, the rapid fire questions, and have some fun. Let's see that.
SPEAKER_14:Yeah, you didn't want to, did you?
SPEAKER_11:Are you are we talking about this right now? Yeah. Do we have to go to break or can I talk about my mom?
SPEAKER_02:Let's let everybody know that, of course, again, John's mentioned that he was burnt over 100% of his body. Um, if you're watching virtually, of course, he has you know held his hands to show um his hands and that if you're listening radio, um, you know what that entails being burnt like that. And here, nothing, you haven't held your back, held yourself back from anything. I and what I feel so bad about myself when I have those boo-hoo victim mournings whime me, and and it might be something as stupid as I couldn't find something to wear, I'm having a bad hair day. I have no right to ever be upset about anything in my life again, whatsoever.
SPEAKER_10:Well, Kellyanne, you you're giving me the credit, and I appreciate it, and it's unearned. My my mom is why I play the piano, not me. My dad is why I choose to be a victor, not a victim, not me. And so I've had incredible leadership and guidance in my life, and we could unpack both of those stories when we come back. But listen, you're you're not interviewing a hero, you're interviewing a guy who's been loved by heroes. So much so that in in time, and this is the beauty of the film, in time, John begins to see beauty in the reflection. And our hope in other people watching Soul on Fire is one day they may be able to see beauty in their own brokenness. That's the goal.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, what a great way to go to great. All right. Well, you are listening to InYourCity Show right here at LouInfo.com and the beautiful new K-L-I-S 590 a.m. Go ahead. You can turn on the audio from there at LouInfo.com. You can also watch virtually 24 7 there at LouInfo.com. We'll be right back with more with John O'Leary. Lifestyle magazines, of course, and show is presented by City Lifestyle Magazine, Chesterfield Clayton, and St. Charles County City Lifestyle Magazine. As you mentioned, John O'Leary great star covers back 2020 on our men's issue, and he's with us here today. We are gonna go ahead and we want to give a big shout out to Jennifer Williams. 35 years almost, I think it's coming up this September month. It's 35 years for Jennifer in business with the St. Louis Closet Company. She supports local, she's all about local, she gives back to local. If you take a drive, go over there to Big Bend and go into the St. Louis Closet Company building, which is absolutely beautiful. You are gonna see where they manufacture everything right on site. Her team is there to serve you. It's not a one-size fits all. Whatever your needs is, whether it's small or large, um, whether it's outside business need, it's her mud room, maybe it's a small pantry, or maybe it's Nellie who got his entire studio um redone by Jennifer Williams. Her team is there for you every step of the way. You will love it. Go in, say hello to her, say hello to the team, have them come out, give you an estimate. It will change your world. As she says, go from chaos to calm, go from chaos to clarity, and that is with St. Louis Closet Company. Thanks, Jennifer, for being part of the In Your City show. Now, back to someone who has definitely inspired our life. I love the first time I got to hear you speak. Do you remember what building that was, Gordon? It was over the PBS building next to the CBS.
SPEAKER_13:I remember the, I can see the room, but I couldn't remember which one. Oh my gosh, back with Joe Cloak was there a meeting. Yes. You were doing uh speaking engagement back um in Kansas City. We were in Kansas City doing one.
SPEAKER_11:Remember while Joe's a great guy.
SPEAKER_02:He is a great guy. And then got to hear you again. You came and spoke for the Coldwell gun day. Their new year, you know, how to motivate them, and you were incredible. It's both you bring both laughter and tears, and you can tell you have a great sense of humor.
SPEAKER_09:And you always No one's ever said that to me before. In particular, my wife and kids, they're like, Dad, you are not funny, dude. You know, hang it up.
SPEAKER_10:Oh, dude, yes. And they are apparently not funny. But I've I've always played the kind of humor where the fun the funnier they don't think it is, the funnier I think it actually is. So I play to an audience of one, you know, and it works.
SPEAKER_02:So you have your family of four, but we were talking before we went to break about your mom and dad, who just incredibly changed your life as well. And she is the one who made you take piano lessons.
SPEAKER_10:That's right. Well, right before we went to break, and you know, for the folks on the radio, maybe they don't know this, but that that piano song was played in front of 28,000 people. So that's Las Vegas, it's the MGM Grand, it's a huge, huge event. And I you I before that I rarely play the piano live because I hit the wrong keys all the time. But the lady had said, John, I read that your mother loves when you play the piano. Will you play for my family? So I said, Well, what song would you want to hear? And she goes, What was your mom's favorite? So I said, My mom loves Amazing Grace. Not what I would have played that day. And I would have played Coldplay or Imagine Dragons or Garth Brooks or something a little bit more lively. And she goes, Play your mom's favorite. So in front of all these folks, I had the honor of playing my mom and dad's favorite song, Amazing Grace. And it was captured on that video. For those who check up the movie Still on Fire, you may see that near the end of the film. It's uh it's a callback to that moment when we played that song. But how did it happen? You know, so I was at home, unable to go to school, and the doorbell rang, and the lady came in was our piano teacher. And I said, Mom, why is she here? And my mother says, Um, because you can do anything in your life, like you can still do mighty things. And she rolls me down a hallway, locks the brakes. I don't have fingers for the listeners. They have not yet grown back. This lady puts her arm around me and she says, John, this is going to be hard, but we can do it together. And with that, she ties a little pen onto my hand. My left arm, Kelly, was off in an airplane splint. I'm on a morphine drip. I'm 10 years old now, and I'm playing one key at a time with a pen, sticking out of my right hand, the entire time thinking, I hate my mom. You know, like this woman's evil, man. Like, have I been through enough? I hate my mom. Why would she do this? And the the answer is because it wasn't about piano, it was about possibility. He was teaching a kid who was making every excuse in the world why he could not do things, that that was all a lie. It's all a lie. And so my mother insisted over the next five years, this little boy not just learned the piano, which is a fine little bar trick, but really how to grab onto life and not let go. And like, what a gift.
SPEAKER_02:Incredible, truly, truly incredible words. Now, let's back up a little bit. So your mom did that to you, but when Jack Buck, uh, the famous announcer here uh in St. Louis, came into your room, he also told you he would get come back and bring you assigned baseball, right? Yeah, if you would write. For the folks who if making you do stuff, John.
SPEAKER_10:Tell me about it. That's why when you made me say uh, you know, talk about it, the heroes. What an honor it was to celebrate these folks because I'm the recipient of it. Jack Buck was the great broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals, shows up the day I was burned, comes back the following day, even though he's told repeatedly I'm going to die. Comes back for the five months I'm in hospital. We have afterwards John O'Leary Day at the ballpark. And that evening he learns I can't use my hands. So just like my mother, he's trying to put something in front of me that was difficult but possible. And uh for me, it was a baseball sign by Ozzy Smith. Below the ball was a note that read, Kid, if you want a second baseball, write a thank you letter to the man who sent the first. And I can't write, listeners and viewers, but I want a second baseball, Gordon. So with the help of two therapists, they push my hands together. We write the note, we mail it off, and two days later, I got a second baseball. And because I know you're gonna run out of runway on this one, I'll I'll shorten it. He sent 60 baseballs. So one radio announcer, busy with his own life, sends to a little nobody named John O'Leary 60 baseballs. Again, not really teaching him how to write, that's part of it, but really teaching him how to live, teaching him to stop making excuses, teaching them to your first question, to stop playing victim.
SPEAKER_14:Yeah, I'm so emotional right now. Every time I see John, I say, do not make me cry. Oh my god. Five times are watering and I like that.
SPEAKER_13:But I think the reason we get so emotional is because we get to see it's it's almost like you know, life has gotta be one of your favorite movies. Yeah. Because what that movie shows and what your movie's probably gonna show as well, is like you just said, the people in our lives, we don't realize the major part they play in our lives until we really sit back and look at our look at our lives as a movie. Look at like, how did I get here? You know, because I mean, how did I get to this point? I got to this point, I learned how to write because of Jeff Buck, you know, I learned how to play the piano because of my mom. Yeah, you know, it's all these little pieces that just create who you are. But then your gift that you're giving back to everybody is now going to play a part in their life. It's gonna change them forever.
SPEAKER_02:We were talking through break too to to bounce off of that, that um you have this podcast, if you'd uh please mention, and I love listening to it because this podcast isn't John getting on every day and reminding everybody of his story. You're using your platform to bring other stories to people that that are out there being heroes and motivating, inspiring, and changing lives and telling their stories.
SPEAKER_10:So we started that back in 2017 before the podcast movement was cool, you know? So like we were doing this work, and one of our guests was Mitch Album, who wrote a book called Five Ordinary Five The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which is about five people that this guy impacted without even knowing it. Back to your earlier point, Gordon. You never know. I interviewed a guy named John Burke a couple years ago who uh was an atheist, and then his dad had a near-death experience, and he didn't believe that his dad was right. So he did the research, and it moved him so deeply that John Burke became a pastor and he wrote a book. I think it's called Imagine Heaven. And um, it's an incredible book, but it goes back to your question earlier. Everyone who has a near-death experience also has this quick rewind in their lives. And they see all the people that they had seen throughout the course of their life, all these experiences. Like it's part of everyone who dies journey to have a quick review of your life. Uh and what I've been blessed with over the last 20 years of doing this work is I get that review almost every day of my life. I get to remind people of the folks who showed up for me, what they did, what they said, how it influenced me, and what we can do in our lives afterwards. And right before we went to break, you talked about my dad and this victim versus victor mentality. So I'm 10 years old and I don't want to go back to school. I never liked school in the first place, but in particular after getting burned and having 18 months at home, and I knew I was going to be made fun of because I'm different. I'm in a wheelchair, I can't move like I used to. So I'm like, dad, please don't make me go, and why me? And all these questions. Why me, dad? Why me? So finally my dad stands, he shuts the bedroom door, he comes back in, he puts his hands on my legs, looks me in the eyes and says, John, darn it, why not you? This terrible thing has happened in your life, and if you want to be a victim to it for the rest of your life, have at it. No one's gonna blame you, man. You've been through the worst. Or you can be a victor. And every room you roll into, or maybe one day you walk into, people will look up in awe at what you've overcome and how you lead your life now. And he said to me, John, victim or victor, your choice, not mine. And my dad, 36 years ago, leaned forward, kissed me on the forehead, stood up and walked out of that room. And Kelly, like that, that is something I wrestle with every day. It's not something you get over. Uh, I mean, for the viewers, they see it. Like, I have scars over my entire body, victim or victor. I'm raising four kids, not always easy. Victim or victor. You mentioned losing a brother recently. I lost my dad two months ago. Victim or victor. But but in every engagement, the big ones and the little ones, you get to decide what do I do with this? And if you want to be a victim to it, the world will back you up. They will retweet your victim statements. They will. We love this stuff. Or you can recognize that God is in the midst of the struggle too, and you can use that struggle and the rest of your life afterwards for good. And it determines your choice on this, not only how it affects your day, but every day thereafter. It's like a really big deal how we decide to choose to lead our lives. And I don't get the credit for that my dad does for putting that choice in front of me.
SPEAKER_02:And he did get to see your movie, right?
SPEAKER_10:Man, what a gift. So, in fact, that's the quote. So I had a client of ours who wanted to buy 3,000 tickets for their people, but they wanted to watch the movie ahead of time to see if it's worthy. So in early May, we showed this at a local theater, and the executive team came in, and I realized we have open seats. Should I take my mom and dad? Like, uh, that's kind of weird because it's corporate. But on at the last minute, I texted my mom and I'm like, hey, mom, uh, there's this client who they're gonna be watching the movie. Would you like to see it? And she's like, Dad and I will be right there. So they got him into the car, man. He's got Parkinson's disease, could not speak, could not move, in constant pain. But he sat down next to me in this film, he held my hand the entire time. And at the very end of it, you know, the the audience is clapping, which is surreal when you see people you don't know clapping your life.
SPEAKER_02:Definitely clapping.
SPEAKER_10:Right. Like I think they're clapping for them. But they're they're clapping. And I lean over and I say, Dad, what do you think about our film? What do you think about our film, man? And these are like the last words he ever spoke to me. He says, John, what a gift. What a gift. And I I don't think Kelly, he was reviewing Soul on Fire. I think for him, Gordon, it goes back to this life review, man, where he he probably knew before the rest of us he was near the end of his life. I didn't know that then. I would have done things differently. Had you had, if you know you're in the last days with your family, you just do things differently. And I didn't know that at the time, I would have it would have been different. But um, my dad reviewed the film, he reviewed his life and he recognized Parkinson's disease, a house fire, a burned child, a second house fire, losing his job, financial hardship, constant pain. What a gift. What a gift. What what a cool way to go through life.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Well, 100%. You talk about seven choices, and it really, gosh, I wish we had like two more hours. And I know we don't have um a lot of time, but I I just want to talk about, because you just talked about you have the choice, you know, victor or victim, which I think I'm gonna ask myself that nothing. I always ask myself every morning when I wake up, all right, Kelly, you gonna be a victim or are you gonna be victor today? Let's do this. I think I'm gonna constantly hear those words in in my mind. Um you talk about seven choices, and I read those, and they're very um impactful, I guess I should say. You to you talk about choose accountability, take ownership. Uh, can you talk a little bit about the seven choices?
SPEAKER_10:Sure. Do you have them all listed in front of you or no? Just pick one and say, John, tell us more about um well, of course.
SPEAKER_02:You talk about honesty, you talk about surrounding yourself with you know the people who you're with, but I think the one that got me the most was actually your first one about choose accountability, take ownership of your life. Um, something that I don't want to do and I don't uh value in someone else is the blaming uh circumstances, the you know, on others or using excuses for where you're at. But taking ownership, I think that is just hugely important before you can do anything else.
SPEAKER_10:So the the and by the way, I wrote that book eight years ago. So I'm going to put don't be sorry. No, it's good. But I I each chapter begins with little nine-year-old John O'Leary not understanding what's happening.
SPEAKER_15:Yeah.
SPEAKER_10:And so chapter one begins with me saying, It's not my fault. And it's not none of this is my fault. I didn't mean for this to happen. It's not my fault. And our first negative review on Amazon, we had 200 plus five-star reviews, which is like crazy. Um, but the first negative one star was I can't believe this guy can't take responsibility for his life. And what that taught me was a couple things. One is stop reading reviews. And secondly, that guy did not get to page two of the book. Because on page two, it goes from the nine-year-old to what happened? What happened? And then the people who step forward and reminded John to become accountable. Because that guy who wrote rated that, get to page two, man. Keep walking with me because you're gonna see a very different side of accountability here. So, where did I learn that? And there's two cool bookends of this chapter one. It begins, yeah, with the explosion, but it begins really with mom coming into this room. She takes my right hand. I look up and I say, Mom, am I gonna die? And this beautiful young mother who'd never been through anything like this at all. She's not equipped for this.
SPEAKER_15:Who is?
SPEAKER_10:Right? I mean, really, you can't train up. She looks back, she looks back at this dying child and she says, John, do you want to die? It's your choice. So 100% your choice, not mine. And I looked up and I said, Mom, I don't want to die. I want to live. And her response was, Good. Then look at me, baby. You take the hand of God, you walk the journey with him, and you fight like you never fought before. You're not alone, but do your part and fight. So that's where chapter one begins. I wish the reviewer had got to that part. Do your part, man. Do your part. Chapter one ends, though, not in the hospital, but at home. And it ends with me struggling with the homecoming night because I can't eat. I can't pick up a fork. And my sister Amy, who realizes I'm wrestling with this fork, grabs it, picks it up, scoops up the potatoes, and says, and then she hears from her right, Amy, drop the fork. If little John's hungry, he'll feed himself tonight. And it's the voice of my mother, this stalwart, who insisted people recognize they can do hard things in their life. She didn't tell me that that evening. But I look at my mother in disbelief, look back at Amy, who then drops the fork, and I realize there's this plate of food in front of me, and I can't do anything with it. So I start trying to scoop up the potatoes and the chicken and whatever else is in front of me, can't flip the plate a couple times. Our overweight dog gets fed a couple times and it gets worse. The point is, my mother ruined dinner. But by the end of the night, two hours in, a nine-year-old boy with no fingers had figured out a way to wedge a fork between his two hands, use the splint to kind of back up against the plate, scoop those potatoes toward my mouth, and eat. And there's a really cool scene in the film where John is wedging the same thing as I just described. And the viewers left thinking, his mom is evil, which is exactly what I thought. But then in the film, it jumps forward to when John is now a motivational speaker. There's seven employees in this chaotic room. He's eating spaghetti with one hand now. Life is awesome. It wasn't, it wasn't easy at all. He couldn't take accountability at all. Read the first review on Amazon, that's a one star, you'll see it again. Hey man, take some responsibility. Well, guess what? I did. I did. And what a gift it is in our life when we do.
SPEAKER_13:Because if we don't, life will always be hard. Life would have always been hard for you if you wouldn't have had to you know have that accountability. Right.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_13:It's not because of that. I like, I know real quickly here, I love choose love because one reason I love choose love is because your wife and you both now have that love like Christ has where he sees the person, the soul, not anything else.
SPEAKER_09:How about that?
SPEAKER_13:Yeah. And the other thing I like when we heard you last time, you were talking about being full. What I love about choose love is being fully involved in a relationship and in the moment. I remember you talking about being in the moment when you're with people.
SPEAKER_10:Well, gosh, you said a lot, but I think it's really the same thing. One is I've always wondered what it would be like to seriously see Jesus. You know, I can you imagine the way he looked into people's eyes and he knew your past and he loved you anyway. So I've always strived to be a little bit more Christ-like in the way I walked. And then I recognize Jesus wasn't looking at the phone. Jesus wasn't looking at where he said he was going. They're going off to one place, they get called to the left, they go. Jesus took the interruption at all at every moment. And you can't do that if you're tethered to your obligations in life, to the ringing in the bells and the emails and everything else. And so, to your second point, Gordon, the way I try to be present is there's a quote from Agmondino who says, How do I greet every person I meet? And he says, In silence into myself, I say, I love you. Those spoken in silence, these words unwrinkle my brow, they shine through my eyes, they bring a smile to my face and they echo in my voice. I love you. I love you. And so I am so far from being able to love the way Jesus did and does, but I recognize when I can step forward as love, when I can put away all my old bowl, all that stuff, man, and just be present with the people in front of me for them. All that stuff fades, the clock disappears, and I can love the one in front of me like Jesus did. And it led to Agmondino being the world's greatest salesperson, but it will lead to you being the best grandpa, the best leader, the best servant. That's the call.
SPEAKER_02:We are sitting here with John O'Leary. You are going to have to get your tickets and be ready for. So his book is on fire. The movie is soul on fire. It is going to be released on October 10th, where we all get to sit inside the theater and watch this beautiful movie that tells such an incredible story right here, locally here in St. Louis, where it all takes place. And of course, it's going to be played around the world for everybody to be able to see, which has just got to be incredible. What is, can you give us before we have to go now? But leave us with a word of what you hope this movie does for others and inspires.
SPEAKER_10:So two things. One is I hope you go get your tickets right now. They're already for sale, man. Ronnie's is packing up. So get your tickets. Whether you run out a whole theater for your church and school, your business, or you go by yourself and meet some new friends. So go to soul on firemovie.com, please. Go to soul on firemovie.com. Hollywood is a democracy. If you vote by watching squirrels who shoot laser guns and curse, they'll give you more of those. And if you vote by saying, I choose these types of films about real heroes, they will give us more of those. So let's choose Soulon Firemovie.com. What I hope your listeners and viewers walk away with is recognizing John O'Leary is not the hero. And Jack Buck, as great and mighty as his voice was, is not the hero. It is ordinary people who step forward, who love the one in front of them, and anybody can do that. So don't wait for the next film. Don't wait for Soul on Fire part two to come out to be a change agent for someone else. Do it now.
SPEAKER_02:Fantastic. Well, John O'Leary, you heard it from his mouth. And we thank you so much. You've inspired us. It's been an emotional hour. I've laughed and I almost cried a few times, but why don't you end with us by saying cheers? Because that's how we end in your city show here at Lou Information Station. Are you ready?
SPEAKER_06:Cheers.
