BE A BALLER -"Building a lifelong legacy"

The Mallory Legacy: Building Strong Sons Through Faith

• Coach Tim Brown, Uncommon Life • Season 5 • Episode 16

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Scott Mallory grew up in the "Mallory Nation of Men" who loved both the Lord and football, Scott witnessed firsthand how shared passions create pathways for deeper connection. Scott stands at a remarkable vantage point—the middle link in a five-generation chain of faithful men. Looking back to his grandfather and forward to his grandsons, he offers unique insights into building a legacy that transcends time. 

His family's annual Fourth of July gatherings became more than mere celebrations—they were intentional traditions that strengthened bonds across generations. This commitment to family unity provided the foundation upon which their shared faith could flourish.

While Scott met Jesus as a young boy, it wasn't until his twenties that he made the conscious decision to truly follow Christ rather than simply obey religious rules. This transformation shaped his entire approach to manhood and fatherhood. Now co-founder of Fort Columbus and Pray for Ohio ministries, Scott works to activate believers to serve their communities as a unified body of Christ.

The wisdom Scott shares about fatherhood is both simple and profound: model authentic faith, love your wife well, maintain integrity, and abide in Christ. His favorite image for spiritual growth comes from John 15—staying connected to Jesus as branches to a vine, drawing life from that relationship rather than striving in our own strength. This principle requires humility and the willingness to surrender control—qualities essential for effective fatherhood.

Scott's transparency about his own journey reveals valuable lessons. Looking back, he urges fathers to slow down and be fully present with their children: "Sit down and listen, wrestle a bit more with those boys, laugh a little longer, because life will happen. You don't need to get there. Be present for the day." His three successful sons—Isaac, Noah, and Peter—stand as testament to these principles in action.

Whether you're just beginning your fatherhood journey or looking to strengthen your family's legacy, Scott's five-generation perspective offers timeless wisdom for raising children who will continue passing the torch of faith to future generations. Listen now to discover how your daily choices can create a lasting impact that extends far beyond your lifetime.

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Speaker 1:

I like to go back to this idea of abiding abiding in the vine. I think that's to me such a powerful image of what it means to truly follow after Jesus, to be connected to the vine, to get your life from the vine, to be surrendered to the vine. That takes humility. It also takes this desire to put Jesus ahead of you, put him on the throne of your heart and to abdicate that, which is not necessarily something we want to do.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Be A Baller where we're building a lifelong legacy for our families, communities and the world. Your host, coach Tim Brown, is excited for you to join him on this journey. On each episode, we'll be talking about how to be intentional about building a lasting legacy. We'll be exploring what it means to leave a mark that goes beyond just our lives, but has a positive impact on those around us and even generations to come. So if you're looking for inspiration, guidance and practical tips on how to build a lasting legacy that makes a difference, then you're in the right place. So grab your earbuds, get comfortable and let's dive in. It's time to be a baller.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for joining me today on Be A Baller Podcast Today as we continue our series on fatherhood during this month of June about passing the torch to the next generation. Our guest today is my good friend, scott Mallory. Scott is blessed to be a part of the Mallory Nation of Men who love the Lord and they love football. All kinds of football roots through that. We'll get into that in a little bit. Scott and his wife Christine have three wonderful sons, adult sons. Scott is involved in Christian ministry and co-founder of Fort Columbus and Pray for Ohio. Scott, welcome to the show.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, coach Brown, great to be here.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I want to jump right in and you know this is a fatherhood series about generations of men. Can you talk about the Mallory name and the Christian value lessons you learned from your dad and uncles and brothers?

Speaker 1:

You know, I almost have to go back to my grandfather really, and I am in that, my generation. I'm in that interesting place right now where I can look back two generations to my grandfather and now look forward two generations to my son. Wow, grandson, sorry so, five generations, five generations of Mallory's, and I think my grandfather really set the bar high when he called us to accountability and I really think that then my father and my uncles, they lived that call of accountability and of course that was following Christ, that was working hard, that was being a man of integrity, being a man of courage, standing when that's called for and honoring the legacy of family and name and country.

Speaker 3:

You know, as you think about your role now as being a father of three sons, how do you think being intentional about legacy has impacted their life so far?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think a couple of things, tim. One is that they had the privilege of watching my dad live. They had the privilege of watching my dad live and even, to a degree, my grandfather, who was alive when my oldest was around. So, and my uncles, they've seen that life, lived to those values and so well modeled that I think in a sense you know it's caught, not taught. In a sense they lived through that and that also set the bar for me as well to live to that standard and by God's grace, I hope I'm doing that, amen, amen.

Speaker 3:

You know, as we think about the Mallory name, we think about football and faith. Can you talk about how you watch even yourself being involved in football, your son being involved in football, your dad, uncles and all that? How did you see them balancing that football and faith?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, football is funny. It was always kind of a common ground for our family in a sense that we came around together around that and that then, of course, rolled into a shared faith that we've had, you know, across my cousins and my family, my father and brothers and uncles. We had a common language. The football connected us across geography and in generations as well, and I think that also just created a place for us to build deep relationships. As a result of that and through that, then our shared faith also helped to amplify it.

Speaker 3:

You talk about faith and I know you guys had faith and love of country. I know you guys had a big was it 4th of July celebration. Yeah, can you talk about that big 4th of July when everybody came together?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. 4th of July was always for us, the time when our family gathered. Time when our family gathered. My uncle, who was the oldest of three, was a Division I football coach and the only month that he really got off was July.

Speaker 1:

So that was a time when our family came together, a family. My grandfather and grandmother set the bar. They called us together, they called my, my father and my uncles together and of course, we came um and it was a time where, uh, we were together, uh, shared experiences, shared life. I mean, we, we grew up together. In a sense, with that as well, my, my father, his brothers were very intentional every year about bringing us together, and so as we celebrated our family, we celebrated our country, and that kind of brought the two together. And that continues even today.

Speaker 3:

Wow, you know, I know you're a strong man of faith. Can you talk about your faith personal journey? You know when God became real for you?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, personal journey. You know when God became real for you? Yeah, I think journey is probably the best word for it. I met Jesus as a young man. My parents came to faith probably in their late 30s an active faith in their late 30s. So I met Jesus probably when I was eight or nine years old, didn't really get to know Jesus until I was in my 20s and at that time I started to make a decision, or consciously made a decision, to truly follow him. I knew the rules, read the commandments, but I hadn't taken them into my life and said you know what I want? To be a man who's following after Jesus, following his footsteps. And so that really fundamentally changed my faith. And it changed also just how I my worldview, how I really looked at what it meant to be a man of God.

Speaker 3:

You know, as you've gone a step further now in this faith journey, being the co-founder of One Columbus and Pray for Ohio I mean Pray for Ohio and Columbus. What's the vision behind those ministries?

Speaker 1:

I think you know it started out very simply actually as half a dozen people coming together and praying for revival in Columbus and in central Ohio, and that started now, probably about 14 years ago, and it's grown from that. But the idea is really to activate the body of Christ to come together as one community to love, serve our city, but also bear witness to our hope, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make it real. I think I read that Tim Keller once said that disunity in the church breeds atheism in the world. And if I'm looking at the church and the church is all broken up and going after each other, why would I want to be a part of that? And so we felt very strongly that it's time for the church to come together or serve together and to love each other.

Speaker 3:

That's good. You know I've watched you be intentional about passing that torch. You know, watching your sons it's that next generation. Can you elaborate on what that means in practical terms? What are some things you've done to make sure that those young men were grounded, you know, in the word and their faith? And just being protecting that Mallory name I just go back to that name.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think, early on, and again you know, I had a father and a grandfather who I was following. So in truth, I can look back now, as I'm almost 60, and say what a blessing that was, because I was following men of faith. So modeling that was essentially just giving it to my sons, um, in a very similar way. But I I think probably the greatest gift that you can give your children is to love your wife. Love your wife um, honor your wife and and and and uh, stay committed and faithful to her so that, I think, is the centerpiece of family. And then, being a man of your word, your children look up to the integrity that you set and being present to that. And then I think the final piece is to humbly seek after your Lord and and put him first, or work towards or try to put Him first in all things.

Speaker 3:

I heard a man say this once. He talked about his dad and the most important thing that he's most thankful for, his dad was coming home every night. Just coming home every night, just being in the home, just coming home every night, his presence, just being there, just being there.

Speaker 1:

I think that's so true. That presence, you know it, speaks louder than words.

Speaker 3:

Yes, Can you share any personal antidotes or wisdom from a spiritual perspective that you've shared with your children? What are some of those sayings that when they see you, when you say that they know here we go again, or whatever. You know those things that we say as dads. What are some of those things?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm always, I guess probably too many things, and if you get them started, they'll say please, no. I like to go back to this idea of abiding abiding in the vine. I think that's to me such a powerful image of what it means to truly follow after Jesus, to be connected to the vine, to get your life from the vine, to be surrendered to the vine. That takes humility. It also takes this desire to put Jesus ahead of you, to take Jesus off the throne of your heart I'm sorry to put him on the throne of your heart and to abdicate that, which is not necessarily something we want to do.

Speaker 3:

You know we have some fathers, some young and older fathers, listening to this. Can you share with them some advice on how to balance the demands of parenting with building a legacy for your family? I know you've been in real estate and just being busy. How were you able to balance all this, especially with three boys? We had three boys with different demands and guys are just different, so how were you able to balance that?

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm still learning, so I've got it down perfect, but I do think a couple things that you said earlier I mentioned earlier Tim is, I think, coming home every night. Now I can't say that I did that perfectly. I might have been home physically but my mind was elsewhere. But I try to be very intentional about coming home every night, being present for dinner, having that time of fellowship, trying to build relationships, getting to know each one of my sons individually and collectively, but being present to respecting the gifts that God has given them and instead of trying to drive them or bring them into my world, I've really tried to be present to what God has called them to and support them in those spaces.

Speaker 3:

You know, we know that being a good role model as a dad is critical in shaping our children's values and character. How did you intentionally model those behaviors and values that you want to see in your sons? You know, we as dads there's certain qualities that are something we don't want, but there's some others that we want them to see and become. How were you intentional in building that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think early on I heard somebody say that if you want to be a godly man, you've got to start with God, and so I have tried to be in God's word consistently every day, um, and and and be a man of prayer, you know, spend time in the presence of the Lord. Um, I think if you invest yourself deeply in the word of God and into, and give yourself and seek him, god changes you. He brings you into a place where you can be that model, and hopefully one that reflects the light of his hope and truth.

Speaker 3:

You know you've been involved in experiences in both ministry business. Take care of you.

Speaker 1:

You can't do that and be a generous person In some place. If you decide to be generous, god will call you to a deeper generosity, almost a sacrificial generosity. That's a sweet place. It's a sweet place and if you think about what Jesus gave for us, there's no sacrifice, right? Really, it's not really. You're giving yourself away for God's kingdom, for God's glory, and if you're willing to do that, he will provide opportunities for you to be present. Wow.

Speaker 3:

You know what advice would you give to fathers who may be struggling to balance their own personal legacy with their responsible parents? You know something we're working on our own, which you just talked about. What advice would you give to those who are struggling with that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think again, I really would just go back to spending time in the Word, spending time in prayer and be intentional about it. I think there's such beauty in the Psalms. You listen to the heart of David and there's a man who's pursuing God and he didn't do everything perfect, but he kept going back to God. He kept going back to God, and so I think there's a humility in that. I also think there's a real desire to build a relationship, and I just I know that if you commit yourself to that deep relationship with Jesus, that it will then create balance in your life. It happens. And how that happens, I can't say that perfectly, but God will make a way.

Speaker 3:

Make a way. Amen, Amen. Let's go back in time. If you can go back in time. What question would you ask your grandfather first? What question would you ask your grandfather? What would you ask?

Speaker 1:

What question would I ask? What's it like to be 60 years old? Come on, man, that's good, yeah, I mean, you can't know what you know until you get there, and there's something so sweet about what you've learned through walking in life and, by God's good grace, taking you to that point. There's just a wisdom that comes from that and I think if I had known or had the opportunity, I would have said you know, tell me what you've really learned, share with me those things. But I didn't ask that.

Speaker 3:

Now let's go a little further up in life. Let's go to dad.

Speaker 1:

You know it's interesting. My dad was a man of action and was always going and was very gifted and was able to do that and in his 60s my dad got Parkinson's and everything changed then because he could no longer go. And you know, parkinson's is a is a thief, as he would say every day. It takes a little bit from you, but I learned so much from my father in the last 20 years of his life of what it means to truly pursue Jesus, to surrender and to follow and learn what it meant to be weak but so strong, so joyful. My father really became my friend, friend, my brother in the last 20 years. So I think I would ask him dad, teach me how to abide. And I think he did.

Speaker 3:

But I was so grateful for those years think about the word when it talks about when Paul had that thorn, you know, and he said my grace is sufficient as we that thorn, you know, and he said Lord said my grace is sufficient. Yes, as we go through those things, you know, until we're in there we don't really understand that you don't know. When we're in there, you know, we begin to realize that, yeah, I think God's grace is sufficient, It'll get me through.

Speaker 1:

That's all I need to get through, you know that trust and that belief you, you realize too that I was putting my hope in some other things. Maybe it's my physical strength, my schooling, whatever it is, and when those things all go away, you just got Jesus.

Speaker 3:

And that's enough, and that's enough, and that's enough. You know, as we talk about your sons, I want to give you some time to brag on those three boys. Just take a moment, just brag on those three boys. Just take a moment, just brag on those three boys.

Speaker 1:

Wow. Well, that's an easy thing to do. God has given me three amazing boys, three amazing young men. My oldest son is Isaac. Isaac's just finishing up his MBA at Ohio State, spent a few years in the Marine Corps and I have the pleasure and grace to be able to work with him daily. Now he's working in our business and he's an amazing husband and father and I'm grateful for his leadership. My middle son, noah, is a doctor, graduated from Ohio State Medical School last year. He's in his first year of residency at Ohio State Orthopedic Residency and he's just doing amazing work.

Speaker 1:

It's incredible to watch your um, your, your children, um I mean, he's run so far past me, um. It's amazing to watch him um love and care and be in a space or a place where God's gifted him and in shepherding that so well, god's gifted him in shepherding that so well. And my youngest son, peter, also, is just a man after God's own heart. I love the way he seeks after the Lord and we have such great conversations. He's going deep, he's thoughtful, he's generous, he shares my love for the country and for community and he's such a blessing in my life. It's so fun to be able to talk to him about these things and get his perspective on life.

Speaker 3:

Wow, boy, I can't let you get out of here without sharing the secret sauce. What did you and your bride, christina do to get these guys where they? Love the Lord? Serve the Lord. What's that secret sauce?

Speaker 1:

Well, that secret sauce, you've got to go back to that. An amazing mother Amen, christine, my wife is incredible, an amazing blessing in my life and blessing in my family's life. Uh, she's an incredible leader. Um, she loves the Lord. Um, she just lives in such um, such a way that um brings peace and harmony and uh, so the boys responded well to her. Uh, well to her leadership.

Speaker 3:

Wow, as we kind of come around the corner. There's some, some lessons that I think you've learned along the way that you could leave with our listeners about building a family legacy, particularly as a as a father. You know what are, what are some of those, what are some of those things, or that you would leave some, some nuggets you would leave with our listeners.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean, I look back and you just can't believe how fast your kids grow up and you're so busy and you're just, you know, trying to make things happen and support your, your family. Um, and at least for me, during that time it just kind of got like a. You know, I'm just in this, I'm just working my way through it and I'll tell you I missed moments. I really missed the moments. And now I look back and I know they're gone. But if I could speak to my 30-year-old self, I'd say slow down, go back, sit down and listen, wrestle a little bit more with those boys, laugh a bit a little longer, because life will happen. You don't need to get there. Be present for the day.

Speaker 3:

That's a good word. That's a good word for your sons, that's a good word for them. You know from your wisdom. That's how we pass this wisdom on to that next generation. You know about life and how to live life. Well, that's all we have time for today.

Speaker 3:

Scott, I want to thank you for being on the show and being a father who's committed to seeing the next generation of Malarys continue to serve the Lord in their families. You have truly raised, you've truly been a Joshua family, and the Bible, joshua, says for me and my house we will serve the Lord. It's me and my house, we will serve the Lord. It's me and my house. We will serve the Lord. And because you and Christina, your house, has served the Lord, then that's all those guys know. That's all they know. It's the same thing for them and for their kids and for their brides. And their brides know too. As far as this house, you know we're going to serve the Lord.

Speaker 3:

That's the greatest gift we can give our children is that we teach them how to serve the Lord one. And then we leave them a faith file. Always talk about this faith file where they've seen us and they see all this success. But they have to know it ain't about it. We're not that good, but God is. But God is truly that good, and so we have to remind them. All these things that you see and do and have is because of God, it's because of the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. So, scott, as we wrap up, could you pray for me? Could you pray for fathers?

Speaker 1:

Father, thank you for this time. Thank you for Coach Brown for his leadership. Father, you've placed such a call on his heart. Father, I thank you for his obedience, his faithfulness in this place. Obedience, his faithfulness in this place. Well, I thank you that you've created this platform for Tim to share all that. You've given him, the wisdom and the legacy as well.

Speaker 1:

I pray, father, for fathers. You are the father, you're the father of all Lord. Pray, father, that you would meet the fathers where they're at. Yes, fathers right now, maybe, lord, who are struggling. Fathers right now, who are trying to figure out what next steps are. Lord, I pray that you would just give them a sense of peace and wisdom and that they would be drawn to you, that they would put their eyes on you, lord, and recognize that you're there with them. They're not alone in this work, father, and I do pray for those right now, lord, also, that don't have fathers, father, I pray that you would step in mightily into that space, lord, that you would give them a sense that they are loved, they are cherished, father, that you made them perfectly fearfully, lord, and that they are your child, lord, and you will never leave nor forsake them. Thank you, lord. Father, we just pray for this continued ministry and for Tim and his family. Your blessing over them as well. These things we ask in your name.

Speaker 3:

Amen, Amen, Amen. I want to thank the audience for joining me today. Remember to honor your father or father figure in your life during this time and all year long. Please subscribe to the podcast and share with others. Happy Father's Month. Coach Tim Brown Thanks Scott for being here. A blessing, A blessing.

Speaker 2:

If you've enjoyed this episode, please share it with family and friends. The Be A Baller podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. This podcast was created by Coach Tim Brown and recorded and edited by the video production class of Worthington Christian High School. Be sure to come back next week as we continue to discuss on how to build a lifelong legacy. Until then, don't forget to be a baller.