Hello everybody, I hope you all are doing well. This month’s story is near and dear to my heart, because I relate to it so much. We are going to be talking about recovery and redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The story involves rebellion, ambition and notoriety. I think we as humans all want to give and receive love; sometimes we find it in different ways.

Here, we’re gonna be talking about a friend of mine named Joe Gates who lives here in Murfreesboro with his family.

He is an inspiration and a pillar for many. Joe was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in a very impoverished, drug-ridden area.

This year, Joe will be 48 on Oct. 5. Happy birthday, Joe!

His parents were both from Indianapolis. I’ve known Joe for some 23 years—we met in the rooms of recovery. This is just a part of Joe’s story.

I asked Joe if he remembered his last drink. He told me he was pulling out of an apartment complex here in Murfreesboro at 5 a.m. one day and in his car he had six pounds of weed, 1,200 pills of ecstasy and an illegal firearm. He had just gotten off probation and knew if his car got searched he was going to prison for a long time. A police officer pulled him over, and Joe was worried about the officer smelling the weed and arresting him. The officer takes his license, looks at him and tells Joe to go home, now. Joe then broke down and began to weep. This was his Holy Spirit moment.

He knew that it was a divine intervention.

He gave the weed and the pills back to the dealers and got rid of that firearm as well. Joe has not had any drugs or alcohol since that early morning.

Let’s go back a little bit to Indiana, when Joe was in a country-rap group with another teenager. Joe called in after seeing an advertisement regarding music in Nashville. He sent his music to a record producer. The record producer listened to the music and called Joe’s house. Joe answered the phone and the producer asked to talk with Joe’s dad. After the producer spoke with his dad, he resumed his conversation with Joe. His dad had given him permission to go and talk to the producer. So Joe and his buddy got on a Greyhound and came to Nashville, where they signed a production agreement.

However, that did not last long, so Joe went back to Indiana.

As he was finishing up high school, Joe got arrested in the biggest drug bust in Montgomery County, Indiana. The SWAT team showed up at his parents’ house and knocked the front door in. Joe’s dad paged him. Joe called him back and his dad asked him if he had killed someone. After talking to his dad, Joe went to the police station and turned himself in. Joe’s name was in all the papers and was on the news. Joe was supposed to graduate from high school the following day.

His parents bailed him out of jail. He changed into his cap and gown in their car and did graduate. The year was 1996. Joe got three to four years’ house arrest with a six-year probation. After violating his probation by drinking liquor and taking pills, Joe went back to jail.

While serving his sentence, his best friend shot the cop who arrested Joe. The police officer was not killed, but the shooter was charged with attempted murder and was sentenced to prison for 35 years.

Soon after, Joe’s parents drove him to Nashville, where his music career was waiting. He did well for a year, but continued to drink and use drugs and was in and out of jail and treatment centers.

After being sober for three years, Joe moved to L.A. to pursue acting. Not only was he acting, he got into being a bodyguard to support himself. Some of his bodyguard clients ended up being Condoleezza Rice, General David Petraeus, Stevie Wonder and CIA director Michael Hayden.

I asked him what would he rather do, rap or act: he replied, “Act.”

Among his acting credits include an appearance in a Ricky Burchell movie called 3 Days 3 Nights.

Joe was living in L.A. from ’05 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017 he lived in Atlanta, where he met his future wife, Teairra. They married in 2014 and now have four kids together.

Joe remains sober and is making sure his family is well taken care of. He is still pursuing acting and music. He plans to soon release two songs, one of which is about his best friend, Travis, who committed suicide. It was in 2020 when Travis’ mom called Joe and said Travis had committed suicide by shooting up heroin. What’s wild is that Joe wrote a book in third grade about his best friend called Travis and I, about them being best friends. Joe recently also lost a friend who was murdered.

I asked Joe what recovery looks like to him.

“Working every day as hard as I can to please God, and I fail most days,” he said.

“My wife and my kids mean the world to me,” he continued. “I remind my kids when they get out of line that ‘Daddy’s been in jail.’”

Do you see yourself staying in Murfreesboro? I asked.

“Yes, I love Murfreesboro because the city is thriving,” Joe said. “I love the people and everything about Murfreesboro. It’s a great place to raise a family.”

You can follow Joe at TikTok and Instagram @ItsReallyJoeGates.

Joe has a passion for life and the pursuit of happiness. Yes, he had some rough years, but because of God’s grace and mercy he’s making up for it today. I can relate to that.

I wish everybody well; remember to go out and do something nice for somebody. God bless you!