Champions Podcast

 In this episode Blake talks about: how he believed in God as a Kid, but wasn’t discipled and didn’t attend church regularly When Blake was 16 his dad had a great testimony and he started sharing it with Blake and that was huge for him. “Who knows where I’d be now if it wasn’t for my dad.” Dad was a big Hollywood producer. He had everything you could want. Big houses, cars, money. But he was just lost and wasn’t happy. Then he changed. God got a hold of his heart and removed everything from his life. He went broke, lost his house, lost his cars, and surrendered and went on to a life of following Jesus. God needed to strip everything away from him to get his attention. Parents were divorced when he was 2. Lived mainly with mom. She was a single mother working 9-5 and barely getting by.  On weekends when he’d be at dad’s he would get anything he wanted, but at mom’s, she was happy to provide food. Even though his dad lost everything he knew God would provide and that has really worn off on Blake. From 20 years old on, any decision Blake had to make, he would call his dad and they would pray. Every race they would pray, before every practice, they would pray. Now as an entrepreneur, they pray prior to every meeting. COME TO JESUS AHA MOMENT - Going to college, starting to party a bit, starting to drink too much here and there, and was kind of distant from God. He admits he was trying to control his life. He was living with his girlfriend at the time. He woke up on a Sunday and was feeling a little rough and his girlfriend said they should go to church. He was working and making good money and was at church and the pastor talked about trying to live life on your own and how that's not something you want to do. When it came time to give he reached in his wallet and grabbed all the cash he had and put it in the offering. Still to this day doesn’t know how much he gave but knows he was working money and wanted to surrender it to God. From that moment on he bought his own Bible, got into a small group, went to church regularly, and now is on fire from the Lord. He attended a Drivers Bible study on race day when he came into NASCAR, and was able to get plugged into a good group of guys who were on the same mission and loved the Lord. Grew up racing dirt bikes. Racing cars at 20. Drove a race car for the first time for fun and then decided he wanted to be a NASCAR driver cause it was fun.  Growing up, NASCAR driver was not a dream growing up. had never watched NASCAR till 2007, drove the car in 2008. Got engaged at 24, moved to NC to pursue racing in 1 bedroom apt from Florida. Was hired to drive in the Xfinity series in 2011. Did that whole year and things were looking good. 2012 signed with a new team and had a big sponsor and after 1st race sponsor pulled out.  Got a job driving his friend Trevor Barnes motor home to NASCAR races. They were buddies, and he stayed with him, they were in the same bible study. Blake started spotting during the race. One of his other buddies Josh wise couldn’t make it to a race and suggested they have Blake ride. He did it, did well, and then gets more opportunities and he hired again 2016 he had a big sponsor come on board, started a racing team, started driving and made playoffs, and finished 6th in the championship. Talks about the emotional toll of being on a team, then let go, then on a team, then let go. He shares experiences speaking at Promise Keepers. Talks about walking with his team owner through putting his faith in the Lord Shares about starting Filter Time and how he partnered with Dale Earnhardt Jr. https://www.filtertime.com/ Talks about his car catching on fire in a race at Talladega Talks about his Dad’s book the firsthour.com

Grew up in a home where faith was the number one thing Most important role we will have (as parents) in our kids life is to lead them to Christ. Being a parent is part of parenting your kids Talks about how his dad was bound and determined when he got saved to raise his kids in a Christian home.  When Don was five his dad took all five kids on a fishing trip and this will be the 50th year of the trip. No one has ever missed. It grew from original 7 to 53 and no one has ever missed. Every person that is of age and understands salvation is saved. The most important thing we can give our children is a legacy in Christ and plant the seeds early. Talks about being the Bills first pick in the 1989 NFL Draft Talks about getting boldness

Talks about putting his faith in the Lord at 8 years old Chaplain at Cal State Heyward where Ted played football began to invest in Ted weekly and would give him scripture to memorize and it was at that point that a fire was lit in him Talks about a when his faith came to a crossroads while umping in the minors Talks about struggles of trying to fit in with the big league umpires and not wanting to be rejected because of his faith Shared how at he had testimony cards made up and handed them out at the umpire union meetings and he came home and told his wife that he thought he committed career suicide because no one wants to hang out with the Jesus guy. A month later the crew chief came into town and told him that he was the most requested guy to be on peoples umpire crews Talks about an umpire retreat he started several years ago where 12 major and minor league umpires attended the first year and now around 60 attend each year. “You think you can’t do it, you’re right but the Holy Spirit can” CFC is the ministry Calling for Christ Talks about the moment he got the call that he was going to be a big league umpire Talks about the Game 6 call Sam Holbrook made Talks about his legacy and how he wants to be remembered Talks about the time Chris Singleton boldly gave him the courage to tell Ted he wasn’t representing Christ the best after he cursed out a coach Talks about umping in perfect games, World Series games and the longest World Series game

Talks about the impact of his mom’s faith was a huge catalyst in his faith journey. Shares about the impact that his Uncle had on his life and how seeing him the hospital lead to Jacquise praying as a 12-year old his first true prayer. He shares about navigating his newfound faith with trying to fit in while in high school and college Talks about the struggle of seeing God as a Heavenly Father, without growing up with an earthly father Talks about the love and validation that he was searching for in God, he found in sports Speaks into how freedom can either be a gift or a curse Talks about his journey to professional football and learning the politics of the NFL Talks about how God is using Empower YOUniversity to reach at risk youth. Link to Empower YOUniversity - https://empoweryouniversity.net/ younversity_ent on Instagram

In the 10th episode of the Champions Podcast, hosts Mike Rubin and Coach Phil are joined by PGA Tour caddie Paul Tesori. Paul currently caddies for Webb Simpson. Here are some notes from the episode. Please rate, review and share the podcast so that more people can hear the amazing ONLY God testimonies. Talks about growing up in the church but how he slowly walked away from faith as he entered college. He calls it the 3 G’s, girls, golf and good times! Working for Shawn O’Hara and he was doing well. He was considered one of the top caddies in the world, but was still feeling completely empty. He had money, homes, relationship with a girl he wanted but nothing filled the whole inside. Summer of 2010 he decided to do something about it. He was the reason for the broken relationship sand broken problems and he was baptized. That was his transformational moment Talks about how once he was saved he thought everything would get better, but it didn’t  Talks about how Webb Simpson won the ACC Championship and that was his goal as a college player, his senior year he won, he had accomplished what he set out to do and woke up the next morning and had this massive feeling of sadness and depression and didnt know what it was. But later was told by a mentor that this is what it was like to have an idol, accomplish and idol and realize that the idol will never satisfy us Talks about how he got into being a caddie and what a day in the life of a caddie looks like Talks about his son Isaiah who has Down syndrome He talks about the Tesori Family Foundation. Raised almost $1 mil since 2014. All Star Kids Clinics for kids with Special Needs. Visit at tesorifamilyfoundation.org