 It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done, you are loved and the Lord has a plan for your life. From L.A. to a cardboard box home to Nashville, former MTV rock star Bobby Hayden Jr. has played the likes of Hart, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Ozzy Osbourne. He lived the rock and roll dream and it nearly cost him his life, living homeless in a cardboard box. And then he met Jesus and his mission today is the cardboard box ministry. This is his story. This is today's Nashville. This is faith. Bobby, what a blessing it is to have you on my show. I have been wanting you on today's Nashville for a long time. Thank you very much. I'm honored. What a story you have. I've done a little bit of research on you and I have to say you are my first MTV rocker on the show. Well, that's nice but it wasn't always that glamorous. Well, I want to take you back to the very beginning. Let's start from your childhood because you have quite a story. Yes, man. I became a legend in my own mind at a very young age. My mother recognized that there was something special about my singing ability and the world caused it a charisma. And now years and years later, the word anointing and favor comes to mind, which we'll get into later. We went and did the Ted Mac show, the Milton Burl show, the Johnny Carson show, Caesars Palace with Jimmy Durrani. How old were you? I was probably 8, 9, 10 years old. Bobby Kennedy was running for president. I went on the road with Bobby Darren and Leslie Uggums. And I became addicted to applause. No, were you singing? Yes, I was a stand-up little singer like a miniature Frank Sinatra. That's who my parents wanted me to be. Did they get you involved in it? Yes, I didn't go to school for the first eight years too much. I stayed home and I learned Frank Sinatra songs. And my mother, God bless her, she was kind of like a loose seal ball type slice Phyllis Diller. But back then they called her a stage mom. She chased Lawrence Welk across the golf course and said, if you don't get my son on your show, you'll go off the air. And he was on like 50 years. And you were living in LA? I was living in a little town called Evansville, Indiana. Oh, Evansville. And we were traveling. It just was non-stop, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. I became just engulfed with myself. Well, you were eight years old. You started doing all these television shows. What was that like? It was a euphoric feeling. And after that slowed down, I had this empty piece of me. How old were you when it started? About 11 or 12 when the Beatles got on the Ed Sullivan show, music changed. And my mother and father said, you're not going that direction. And it swallowed me up. I wanted to be a rock and roller at that very Sunday night when I saw them for the first time. So they stopped my career abruptly, put me back into Catholic high school, which didn't work out too well. Back in Indiana? Yes, because I had been the center of attention. And as you probably well know, it doesn't work out well with child stars. It's too much too fast. And I was no different. So I went back to Catholic high school and they suggested I go to public high school. And the war had ended Vietnam, the marijuana thing was coming, the rock and roll thing was coming. There I was trying to get as much as I can, as fast as I can. So at 16, I ran away from home and started singing in rock bands. And my life changed. Were you into drugs at this time? Yes, my gateway was alcohol. My gateway drugs was alcohol, marijuana, not so much pills. But those seeds that were planted turned into full blown heroin addiction for the first time when I was 19 years old. Now where were you living? I was in Evansville, Indiana, but I was traveling around the country in rock bands and I'd always end up back home asking mom and dad for a handout because everything I did, Terry, just seemed to go down the drain. And I couldn't, and I had gifts. I was talented. I could sing and play. And I couldn't figure out why I just didn't become the greatest thing known to man. So then how did you get to LA? Well, like I say, I got a heroin addiction problem at 19 in Evansville. And things were, I caught a couple of cases. I got in trouble. I went to jail. My brother was the prosecuting attorney. I went up in front of him. So the best thing I could do was just leave town. And I got a chance to leave with a rock and roll band. And then one night in a bar, a little girl said, you need to go to Hollywood. And I said, when we leave, and she said in the morning, so in about 79 or 80, I went to Hollywood. And by 82, 83, I was living with Ozzy Osbourne's guys and the 80s hair band thing was coming in. How old were you at this time? I was 25. So you met Ozzy and everybody? Yeah. Everybody lived in the San Fernando Valley in North Hollywood. I met John Denver's brother, Ron, who got me involved with Management 3. Management 3 was Jerry Weintraub, Dylan, Diamond and Denver, the 3Ds they called him. And my life was set. I had nothing but stars in front of me. And there was a cocaine pandemic problem in the 80s. And I got sucked in right in the middle of it. You know, it's amazing how many musicians do get addicted. Why do you think that is? Being on stage and having people clap for you, and that is a euphoric feeling. We called ourselves rock gods at the time. And what you're doing is you're standing on a stage and you're being worshipped. And as we well know now, after my lights finally went on and I became my faith got involved, I can just see how the whole thing unraveled. Did you know Jesus at that time? No. I was raised Catholic. But on the other hand, I was introduced to Jesus at a young age. And what does the word say? If you bring them up in the word, they may go south for a while, but they'll come back. So I came back. So you are at LA into the big drug scene on stage. What happened after that? The cocaine addiction led to a heroin addiction in the 90s. If you remember, in Ivana and Seattle, and the drug of choice kind of changed. And it sucked me right into it. I became a functioning heroin addict for a few years. And by the year 1998, I was completely homeless. I moved to Skid Row, Los Angeles. I lived in a cardboard box. I posted up on the side of the road with a sign that said I will work for food. My life was over as I knew it and I didn't care. I didn't take a bath for a year at a time because the worse I looked, the more money I made. And it was, it got dark, Terry. It did get dark, but then something happened to your life. And we're going to talk about it when we come back. Bobby, what was it like to, from going to a stage to a cardboard box? Well, I was unaware really what was happening. It doesn't happen all at once. At first when I start panhandling what they call it, I thought I was still kind of getting over on people by flying the sign and getting the money, taking the money. I had to have the money because I was a drug addict. All the money went to drugs. It happens over a period of time. This went on for seven or eight years. And by the third or fourth year, I had become that guy that was homeless that you see on the side of the road. And then I'm numb and I don't know what I'm doing. I heard a guy one time say that homeless people are kind of just wander around. And that's kind of what I did. I just wandered around. And then I heard a guy say one time, when there's an earthly brokenness, there's a heavenly openness. And I dwell on that all the time now. Who said it? Well, after I got saved, I'll tell you how all that happened, I just, God starts revealing to you what happened because He wants to use you. When God does a big thing in you, He does it to do a big thing through you. So you have to get this for yourself. And it got so dark, the darkness actually pushed me to the light looking for a switch because I couldn't do it anymore. And that creates a heart change. So what happened was I was in my little camp. I was living in a cardboard box, panhandling every day, injecting 10, 15 times a day. And this little homeless guy kept coming to my camp telling me that I was going to die. And he said they're going to come and get you in a body bag. You better pray in the name of Jesus. And I said pray in the name of Jesus. What different? I was 55 years old Terry. And I kept hearing this, saying, look, he'll make you a new creation. I'll give you back years to Maltzate. And he just, and I finally had to run him off. So a few weeks later, I went downtown in Los Angeles to purchase some heroin. I couldn't find any around my camp. And I got some and I got into a dumpster. And when I got into the dumpster, I injected the heroin. And I had been shooting up in my legs and my legs are just mutilated with scars from years of abuse. And there was some pizza laying there in the dumpster. And after I had injected the drugs, I got hungry. So I started eating this pizza and it had ants on it. And the ants started biting me on the inside of my neck. And I'm 55 years old. I've been out there eight years. And Terry, I broke. And what that looks like is just God in the name of Jesus. I can't do this anymore. If you're real, send me some hope. And that was my prayer. And I got out of that dumpster and I went back to my box. And that next morning, a man knocked on my box, gave me a few hundred dollars. He said, purchase you some medicine. You're going to a rehab. And I said, wow. And his name was Mr. Esperanza. And when I got to the rehab in Phoenix, Arizona, the fellow said to me, do you know that man's name that sent you here? And I said, yeah, Mr. Esperanza. And he said, do you know what Esperanza means in Spanish? And I said, no. And he said, it means hope. And right then, you talk about an epiphany. Right then, brilliant Bobby came to the conclusion that there might be something to this Jesus stuff. And that caused me to open the Bible. And there wasn't no pictures, Terry. But there were some red parts in the back. I started reading them red parts. I started watching this on Christian television. And I quit smoking cigarettes. And that was in 2007. And a year to the day I was in the desert rehabbing. My family finds me. They bring me back to Indianapolis in 2008. How long has it been since you started? 15 years. I haven't had a trigger. I haven't smoked. How long was it until you saw your parents? As soon as one year in the desert, I spent in rehab. And then they came and got you? They came and got me. And I went home. And my dad was 80-something years old. And thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. It started working on me. And I knew I had to go home and love all my dad and mom. And it just comes out of nowhere. But what happened is when I started checking out Jesus, when I started fighting out about Jesus, my stinking thinking started to change. And in all actuality, my DNA started to change. And that's the way recovery works. And you have been clean since? Yeah. And they actually loved the hell right out of me. God loved it out of, through my family. When they brought me home, it was just a big new love affair. And he gave me back all the years that the malls ate. And everything in that word, he just revealed to me. And now I just walk into addiction recovery meetings and say, hey, how you doing? And it's in me. So the Holy Ghost does all the heavy lifting. I just have to walk in and love on people and tell this story. It's an amazing story. God is so good, isn't he? During this time, did your passion for your music diminish? No, no, no. I smoked cigarettes for 35 years. And then marijuana was a big, and I got very, I couldn't sing as good as I used to. And I'm singing real good these days here in Nashville. And the people that's playing for me are just, just name guys. And the producer, Mark Fane, he was with Ricky's Gags for 25 years. And he heard this story and he calls John Jorgensen and Blair Masters and Garth Brooks. And these guys show up and I go in the bathroom and just look in the mirror. It doesn't end, Terry. It just, and... A new beginning. It's all a new beginning. Everything that that word says that he will do, he'll do it. And he's given you a new ministry. He brought you from L.A. to Phoenix to Indiana and now you're in Nashville. And we're going to talk about that and the amazing ministry that you've started because of what you've gone through. We're going to talk about it when we come back. Bobby, I love how God is restoring your life. You came back to Indianapolis and what happened? I came back to Indianapolis and I started a music ministry and I taught about 35 kids how to play the guitar and sing and I gave piano lessons and drum lessons. And what happened was, because I had been on MTV for a short stint, these kids would look up to me with them big eyes and all that love. They had that innocent love. And I was noticing that this hell that had been in me that they couldn't preach out of me, they couldn't beat out of me, they couldn't incarcerate it out of me. Love was actually taking this out of me and it started with them children and my family. I was actually being loved back to life and didn't know it yet. So finally I made my way to a church and I told this little story that I just told you in the other, just a minute ago. National television shows started hearing about it and a little lady said you need to form a ministry and I said, well, what's a ministry? And she said, you can call it Cardboard Box Ministries and I said, oh, okay. And they said, you can give your testimony. And Terry, I actually said, what's a testimony? Because this actually happened to me and I haven't been telling people about it yet. But so I told it in church and then a music producer in Indianapolis said I would like for you to come to my studio Monday and we're going to rekindle your career. And I had been homeless on the streets for eight years. I said, what career? And he said, well, just come on to my studio Monday. I'm at the corner of 31 and Broadway in downtown Indianapolis. Terry, my Cardboard Box in Los Angeles was at the corner of 31 and Broadway for eight years. So when this actually happens, you have to get somewhere by yourself like a bathroom and look in the mirror. And this has been happening now for 15 years. He's building my faith. He's letting me know that I'm not in this alone. I'm not qualified. However, he's done qualified me. So I knew I had a ministry of some kind and then as it unfolded more, I started dealing with broken people and broken people fix broken people. And that's what we do now in Cardboard Box ministry. How do you reach out to them? I come in and say, hi, how are you doing? Can I buy you a hot dog? Because the Holy Spirit lives inside of me and I can't do anything. I can't come up with clever messages and I can relate to them in certain ways. But the Holy Ghost does all the heavy lifting and he loves that hell out of these people. It's just amazing. Here's the bottom line. It has nothing to do with Bobby. Bobby's the vessel. But in the book of Revelation, it says, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony. So all I've got to do is come in and just tell my little story and make sure I lift the name of Jesus and people's lights go on. It happens over and over and over again. I mean, after all, what's it say? I will never leave you, I'll never forsake you. It's just... So your seeing lives changed. I got this for myself because it happened to me. He wants to use it. So what an honor. And your music. I listen to some of your songs. I love, love you back to life. Tell me about that song. Was it inspired? I was loved back to life. Now what God perhaps does is he uses us to love people back to life. He needs us. He wants to love this troubled world through us. Because that's how it works. So if you fill up on him and you're carrying him, naturally you're going to fall in love with people. And if you remember in Jesus' ministry he did his miracles not because he's this cosmic vending machine or this super character he did it out of compassion and love. I have a sincere compassion for people on drugs. I know what they're going through. I have a sincere compassion for people that are homeless. They're just wandering around. They're sheep without a shepherd. So it's just a big setup just to bring people and the ministry's about that guy who's sitting right here in front of you. I have to ask you how would somebody like me help a homeless person? Well for God so loved the world he what? He gave. For God so loved the world he what? He gave. So when you give to a homeless person you're peeling the onion. A friend of mine, Bob McLeod who just passed away told me that loving an addict is like trying to love a porcupine. It's hard. But what's the word say? He loves an overcomer. So it's just a big setup. Just giving. Just giving and giving your time. You know a lot of people they see the homeless guy saying well I'm not giving him any money he's going to take it and use it on drugs. That's not your concern. It's about the giving in the first place and the workhouse on Sunday. That's true. Bobby will you sing a song for me? I'll try to explain how this recovery thing worked for me. I could not do right to be right. But I do right because I am right and now I am right because he is making me right. It goes something like this. I don't run away no more I can't do right to be right I do right because I am right because he's making me right. There he is. I don't move in those same circles anymore. I put him down. Took a hard long look around. I was plum wore out. Some of you know what I'm talking about. I don't play in those mud puddles anymore. Feeling sorry. Pity parties just ain't my thing. Shifting blame pointing fingers and all the dangers that it brings well you can lead a horse to water make him drink don't even bother well I can't do right to be right I do right because he's making me right. Love the song. We have a few minutes left. What do you want to say to somebody that is going through what you went through? Well there's always hope. It comes in mysterious ways to people. When you're down and out and when there is an earthly brokenness there is a heavenly openness so it is a setup of sorts. So you're looking for that person that's just going to love you anyway and buy you a hot dog and he's going to maybe say would you like to go to the meeting with me? He's going to be concerned about your brokenness and when your heart is wooed by that holy ghost a little bit you want to spend some time with this person because perhaps that person has been sent to you to bring you out of the hell like he did to me. In my case it was a homeless crack head so it really doesn't matter what it looks like. And that's all I did and I found out about this guy named Jesus Terry. That's as easy as I can put it. I just inquired about this man Jesus and my stinking thinking left and my DNA actually got changed. And he changed your life. Amen. What a blessing. You know Bobby, I'm just going to be praying for your ministry and your life and your music career. I'm so excited you've been in Nashville for four or five years now. Yeah, yeah. I started writing Christian music about 10 years ago and then one day he said go into an apartment, stay in there and write songs about your life and bring them to the light at the end of the song. And that's what I do. I am sure it's going to bring many blessings to people. Thank you so much for being with me today. Thank you so much. My friend, First John 416 says when you live and love you live in God and God lives in you he is love. Let him love you back to life. This is today's Nashville. This is faith.