Check Out Bobby Hayden, Jr.’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Hayden, Jr.. They and their team shared their story with us below:

He spent nearly 10 years on the streets of Los Angeles as an addict, but now Bobby Hayden Jr.’s Cardboard Box Ministries helps people across the United States to find hope again. The faith-based recovery ministry moved to Hendersonville only four years ago, but the program has been working with the homeless and the addict for over a decade.

It all started, Hayden said, when he first began sharing his story. At the young age of eight, Hayden was already becoming famous as a singer. He appeared on several national television shows, had a contract with Ed Cummings and the Gerald Purcell Agency, and became a rock and roll star. It gave him a desire for fame, Hayden said, but it did not end well. “My five minutes of fame just took me down a road that was just full of despair, and drugs, and self – mostly self,” Hayden said. “It was a very trying part of my life, but without that, I wouldn’t be where I am right now.” Hayden’s sister rescued him from the streets, taking him back to Indiana where he recovered from his addiction, in the process becoming a Christian.

Cardboard Box Ministries followed soon after, as Hayden’s experiences with addiction and homelessness are the basis of what he does. “I had a lot of compassion for people who were homeless and battling addiction,” Hayden said. “In about 2010 or 2011, after starting to go to church, my faith was being expanded – and when I told this story to people that were suffering from addiction, I noticed that they would lean in and their lights would go on… they understood what I was trying to tell them.” Hayden’s story is powerful, but so is his music.

He often plays at graduations for organizations like the Nashville Rescue Mission, as well as in the churches and recovery meetings he visits. “The ministry’s growing through the music because it gives us a different way of communicating with people that are broken,” Hayden said. “They hear the music, they like it, so what that does is it opens a door.” Currently, Hayden is working with producer Mark Fain to produce a new album called “Love You Back to Life,” which chronicles Hayden’s journey through homelessness and addiction. Several big-name artists have collaborated on the project, Hayden said. “There are lots of musicians that live here in Hendersonville [that] have battled with addiction and [seen] what it did to their friends,” Hayden said. “They’re all for getting a positive message out.” Those aren’t the only things Cardboard Box Ministries does – they also help place people in recovery homes, and meet one-on-one to help recovering addicts move forward.

Often, Hayden said, the ones who are most difficult to talk to are the ones who do the most after their recovery. “We’re finding the ones with the hard hearts, once they get involved, they are the ones that realize wow, how wrong they were,” Hayden said. “It affects them in such a way where they look to start helping other people, and when they become involved in other people’s recovery it strengthens their recovery – so it’s a revolving circle of success and victory.” Change comes from making a person feel wanted, listened to, and encouraged – because often there was a love that was missing. When he was an addict, Hayden said, he had begun to interpret correction as rejection, and it was only love that broke through that. “They tried to preach the hell out of me, they tried to incarcerate the hell out of me, they tried to beat the hell out of me, but when this man by the name of Jesus came along and I was introduced to him somehow this man loved the hell right out of me,” Hayden said. “What God wants to do is he wants to love this troubled world through us. So, I’m just a vessel with a story.”

While he would like his music to become more known and reach more people, Hayden ultimately just wants to give people a better chance at becoming better. Cardboard Box Ministries will be successful if even one person is helped. “It’s all about the one person that’s standing right in front of you,” Hayden said. “I mean sure I would like the ministry to grow, but this is about that broken one person who if I can just get them to a point where they’ll listen a little bit and receive love and consideration and compassion from our ministry, that could be the difference of them overcoming what they’re battling.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
With any Ministry starting, the road is slow and steady. The constant touring and TV exposure help indeed. Our goal is to get our message of hope to as many folks as we can.

In this particular case, the message is just as valuable to the one as it is to the masses. Recovery is on our hearts because we are one of the hurting people that we are trying to reach. The challenges are worth it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a singer/songwriter. I have the opportunity in Nashville to work with the very best in the business. I record with the people that make the records you hear on the radio every day. The message on nearly all our material is positive. The stories we tell are true life experiences of addiction, homelessness & recovery.

This truly sets the music apart because the content usually doesn’t make it to the masses. The odds of a recovering homeless addict making it out alive to record and tell the story are astronomical. What floats our boat at Cardboard Box Ministries is being able to see firsthand someone who receives our message of hope and in turn, changes their life for the better.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
YES, during the COVID-19 (time). We noticed families spending more time together.

We recorded a single here in Nashville titled “A Man Who Cares” This song was about the crisis and can be found on all social media outlets. A Man Who Cares by Bobby Hayden JR.