Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Faith in the Zone.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app,
I'm Mike Mcgiverren flind solo this week, Pastor Ken Keltner
from Brookside Baptist Church should be back in studio here
in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to having
him back in studio. We're coming from the Donovant and
Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you're having with
(00:21):
your furnace, man, it's cold, so have them come out
and take a look. The largest employee owned HVAC company
in the state of Wisconsin. So, guys, if you listen
to Faith in the Zone, you've heard me say this
a number of times. There are a number of guests
that we have on this show. The worst thing they've
ever done in their life is steel a candy bar.
(00:41):
And then you've got guys like Pastor Derris Strawberry and
myself that have done things that not proud of, for
sure not proud of. And I came across Joe Stanley.
He is a co founder of war Path Ministries. He's
much more like me and Pastor Darryl Strawberry that he
is some of the guys that we have had on
(01:03):
in the past that the worst thing they ever did
was steal a candy bar.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And I got to tell you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I found Joe on Twitter and I can't stop watching
his stuff and it's it's man, he thinks the way
I think, and he says things that that that I
would say had it had it come to me at
that moment. And I can tell you that I'm a
big fan of Warpath Ministries. I think what they what
(01:30):
they are trying to accomplish and they are accomplishing, is
really pretty incredible. To be honest with you, And I
ask you, as we talk to Joe for the entire hour,
if you google Warpathministries dot org, Warpathministries dot org, you
can go on a website that really man. They they
tell you what they are, they give you that mission statement,
(01:51):
they tell you what they're trying to accomplish. And I
welcome Joe Stanley to Faith in his own Joe, how
you doing today.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I'm doing great, man. I appreciate you having me on. Man.
I hope you're doing good too.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I'm doing really good. Hey, let's talk a little
bit about your background where you were born, and raised.
I know you played a little college basketball, and we'll
talk a little bit about that part of your life
probably in segment three, but let's talk a little bit
about where you were born and raised to where you're
living now.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I was born and raised in Clayton, North Carolina. It's
about twenty minutes outside of Raleigh. I grew up on
a farm. Was more of a ranch than anything. We
did more in the livestock building. We did growing crops,
a lot of summers in the hayfield, things like that.
You know, I've kind of been here and there all
over the country for a little spell, and I have
(02:46):
set back in Clayton, North Carolina. That's where I am
currently today.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, we're on a sports station, so you know, I
got to ask, are you're a tire healer or a
duke fan.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I am a duke fan, man, Man, I would never
cheer for the Tar Hills. No.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The fact that I'm wearing light blue today would not
go well. If we were doing like a zoom meeting.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Right hey, man, I'd let you slide. But you know,
I definitely wouldn't be cheering for people wearing that colored uniform. Man.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I love that I do and I told you that.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
When I was at a different radio station, our boss
hired a new guy from North Carolina. They had that
same draw that you have, and he walked into a
full company meeting and he said, y'all, there's only one
four letter word you cannot say in this building, and
that's duke.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I don't like duke.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm a tarhel through and through Michael Jordan all of
the you know, you could tell you what happened in
the game, and you know, nineteen ninety five in the
middle of winter, and yeah, he was something else. Hey, Joe,
growing up where you were, you a multi sport athlete
or you a straight basketball guy.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I stuck mainly the basketball I played, and I played
some football. You got in the power lifted and mixed
martial arts and all of that stuff a little bit
later in life, but it was mainly basketball. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
If I was a football coach at the school you
were at, I would I would come see you a
couple times a day. You got the size of it
by an offensive lineman for sure. Yeah, you look about
six four sixty five to be am. I pretty close.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, six five, about two hundred and seventy two and
seventy five pounds a day.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, hey, don't come to Milwaukee. You don't want to
mess with a boy like me. I'll tell you that.
I'm only kidding, Joe. If you ever come to Milwaukee,
I'll buy dinner. I'm not messing with you that martial
arts stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
No, I'm not. I am not gonna mess with you
for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Hey, talk to me about playing high school basketball, and
where did you play in college?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I played high school at Clayton High School. You know,
we weren't a very good program when I got there,
and uh, you know, by the time that I was
a senior year, you know, we were we were starting
to make the playoffs and and win some games. And uh,
you know they've continued that that after I left. I actually,
(05:14):
you know, I was off state in my senior year
and finish high school. Was the leading scorer and rebounder
in Clayton High School history. And then, uh, I signed
before my senior year. I ended up having a big
senior year, but I signed before the senior year at
the Division two school Les McCrae UH College out in
Banner Up, North Carolina. I played their four season and
(05:36):
then transferred to Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I
played another season and then I kind of, you know,
went down some bad roads.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well as we all have.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And and and I would assume if you look back
when you decided to step away from playing college basketball,
if you had to do that all over again, I
got a feeling you would you would stick it out
and play another two years.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
If I could do it all over again, man, I
think I would have stuck stuck to it on the
football field. Uh yeah, I think it'll be a little bit,
uh in a different place in life if I if
I stuck the.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Football So yeah, I mean, you know what, I was
gonna maybe bring that up.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I could tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I don't know if I could get you on faith
in the zone if you were, you know, playing for
the Packers or the Lions or somebody like that. For sure, Hey,
talk to me about the decision to step away from
playing basketball. Was it was it that you wanted to
focus more on grades or was it outside influence?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
It was outside influence. I you know, I grew up
with a real strict upbringing. You know, it was work first,
and then you know, I got to play sports. After
that and didn't really venture far with the with the
crowds back in high school. Alongside I got a little
bit of freedom in college, uh you know, started experimenting
(06:57):
with some some things and decided after myselphomore year that
I wanted to become a drug addict and also a
drug dealer. So I kind of went that road. I mean,
I ended up graduating college and all that stuff. But
you know, I didn't make it easy on myself.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
No, I can tell you we you and I have
talked a number of times, and we'll get into your
testimony in the second segment, and and I can tell
you that one of the more powerful testimonies that hits
really close to home for me. And I can tell
you that on this show, I've said this along time
a lot, that that that the Lord is willing to
(07:38):
meet me where I was at. I always thought back
then I had to get myself fully cleaned up and
then I could present myself to the Lord and say, hey, look,
can I be part of your family?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And that's not the way it works.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's okay, he will come and meet you at a
very dark place.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And when we get.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Into Joe's testimony the second segment, you'll understand what I
what I mean from that. Hey, can we talk a
little bit about Warpathministries and how that was started. I
know that you're a co founder of it, and I
love the term trauma Recovery specialist. I think that that
really tells people what you are and look as a
(08:15):
pastor and a speaker and a co founder of Warpath Ministries.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
And on your website.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Look, if you go to the website and you click
on about and you take a look at some of
the blogs, I can tell you this that if you
spend some time on this website again, Warpathministries one word,
Warpathministries dot org. And if you go to the blog
and you start reading some of this, it's not going
(08:41):
to be where you're going to read it. In five minutes,
you're going to be out of there. I got caught
and I probably spent a good hour reading a number
of these blogs, looking at some of the events, some
of the things that they do and they offer to people,
and it's really impressive. And on their homepage it gives
you a lot of different things on where to find them.
(09:03):
I found him on Twitter, and I can tell you
this that when you're watching Joe sometimes doesn't look like
the typical guy that's going to be sitting in his
car and and going to the Book of Ephesians. He
doesn't have that look, and I think that makes it
even more powerful. He looks like a guy who is
tougher than nails, and that you wouldn't you you'd want
(09:26):
to have with you when you walk in a dark
alley in a tough neighborhood. And as he starts opening
his heart to you on Twitter and telling you what's
going on in his life today and what happened last
week and what he feels, it's really impressive. Hey, how
comfortable were you starting that part of Warpath Ministries where
(09:47):
where you were comfortable enough to be able to go
and talk to people you know, in your car about
what's going on with you on an almost a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well, you know, that kind of that part started before
the ministry started. I mean, yeah, I mean you can
call it a ministry, but you know I started. You know,
during my testimony you'll hear a little bit more about this,
But I was in North Dakota for a spell and
working in the old fields, and you know, trying to
stay sober and just I didn't have any friends, nothing
(10:21):
much to do, and I came across that TikTok app
A bunch of the guys that have worked with would
mess around on it and just you know, watch videos,
and so I started just kind of doing like a
little recovery type blog, like a video blog on there,
just like treated like a diary almost, and uh, just
(10:42):
get up there and start talking. And you know, one
night I was just I felt really low, and you know,
I just got up there and just was one hundred
percent raw, authentic, transparent and just expressed exactly how I felt. Man.
I think I ended up in tears on the video
and I ended up going to sleep, and I woke
(11:02):
up the next morning I was like, man, I got
to take that down. And when I pulled the video
up to delete it, it just that was so much
like so many people had resonated with it and commented
on it, shared it out, and then just reacted to it,
and it was just such a big thing. And I
was just like, man, I kind of got that tast
(11:26):
like I'm not helping anybody by containing everything that I've
been through and what I'm feeling and what God's doing
in my life, it's here for me to give away.
So you know, that's kind of where it started with
the video stuff, and that's just carried over into when
we decided to go full you know, full time ministry
(11:50):
on that aspect. I mean, given I got a quote
unquote real job. But your ministry, you know, your ministry
can be in your home and your church and in
your workplace wherever you are, you know. But keeping keeping
myself contained and my experiences and my testimony, I don't
(12:11):
share that with somebody. I'm not I'm not sharing the
glory and the power of Jesus Christ with them. I've
got a duty to do that. Man. I never waste
the opportunity to give somebody a meaningful encounter with the Gospel.
And uh, you know, the Gospel carries on the day
in my regular life because Christ still saves people.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
One hundred percent. He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
And I can tell you Joe from an old grandfather
of six in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who, like all of us,
struggle every day.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We try to put the full body of arm around
before we get out of bed in the morning, and
sometimes I fail before I even get out of bed,
and I ask you to continue those because they're so powerful.
And there are times that you know, you might not
think that that today this isn't a real powerful one,
but man, the way it comes across and there are
(13:02):
people all over the country that follow you that whether
you think it's going to be powerful today, they may
see it in a week and it might be right
where they're at. And I love that as we talk
to Joe Stanley again, if you go to Warpathmanistries dot
org and you look at their mission statement, our mission
is to empower individuals through discipleship and the truth of
(13:27):
the Gospel. That's the first line of their mission statement.
So they're not running from any of this. If you
want to get involved with Warpath Ministries, by reading that
first line of their mission statement, you don't have to guess.
You don't have to guess what are they What are
they trying to accomplish?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
What is their mission? And they're not running from it, guys.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I can tell you that they're looking to help and
guide people to help them overcome hardships, trauma, and mental
health challenges with faith, community and biblical wisdom. Man, that
first sentence of what they're trying to accomplish is so
well written, and I know exactly who Warpathpath Ministries are
(14:13):
by reading that first statement of their mission statement on
their website and again it's Warpathministries dot org. There's a
number of things that you can do when you go there.
You can read about Joe, you can you can read
about his co host or his co founder Jeff, and
their bios and what they've been through and what they're
(14:34):
trying to accomplish. And then there's a way to join
their team. There's a way to donate if you're feeling led,
because this ministry is doing really good work and if
you can donate ten bucks or one hundred bucks to
help them continue or even on a monthly basis, would
be great. Warpathministries dot org. And when we get into
(14:54):
Joe's testimony on the other side of the break, trust me,
you're going to feel the way that I have. I
have goosebumps in my arm right now because I've heard
part of his testimony and it rings really true to
not only in my life, but people I've talked to
the last twenty or twenty one years that I've been
cleaning sober, and I can tell you don't leave, you know,
(15:17):
wait for the other side of the break as we
continue our conversation again Joe Stanley. He's a co founder
of Warpath Ministries, trauma recovery specialist, and we'll get to
that part, I'm sure, either the next segment or the
third segment. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
(15:38):
to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty
and your iHeart Radio App.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Again.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
This is Mike mcgiffern flying solo this week, Pastor Ken
Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church hoping to get back in
studio here in the next couple of weeks, coming from
the Donovan and Jorganson Heating and Cooling Studios. Our special guest.
He is the co founder of Warpath Ministry Again. Warpathministries
dot org is the website you need to check out.
(16:05):
I'm asking you to check it out because the work
that these guys are doing not only in their neighborhood
right in North Carolina, but throughout the country. And they're
doing some really great work. And when Joe tells you
he's a trauma recovery specialist, and what that means. It's
really powerful and guys, he has been through a lot
(16:26):
of tough things in his life and I'm excited for
you to hear his testimony. So, Joe, second segment is
our favorite where we get the most response from people
that come up to me in a grocery store or
gas station and they talk about the stories, but then
they talk about segment two on faith in the zone
and if you would be so kind to share your testimony.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
With us, absolutely, you know, like I said, I grew
up kind of ranch and forming a lot of hard
work as a kid, and I had th rest in dynamic,
you know, I had. I had a father that didn't
really want me, and I guess to compensate for that,
(17:08):
I had a mother who loved me too much, if
that's the thing. So you know I was I was
always living in these extremes like I was either the
biggest pos in the world or the greatest thing that
ever happened. And you know, just I couldn't find a
middle ground on this. My first suicide attemph, I was
(17:28):
six years old and I didn't really understand what death was.
But what I did know is I didn't feel like
I belonged here. I didn't feel like I fit in anywhere,
and I just wanted out. And obviously that's about that.
You know, got into sports and kind of learned a
(17:49):
family dynamic through sports, and I had a lot of
male role models through coaches and things like that. And
you ended up going to college on a basketball scholarship
and did well when I was giving it my all.
And right at the beginning of my sophomore year, I
(18:11):
got introduced to marijuana. You know, I was nineteen years old,
and you know, you'll find this kind of repetitive in
my story, but there was no progression from the first
time I tried a substance to me being a like
a full blown hothead or appeel head or you know,
meth addict or heroin act or whatever it is. Like
(18:33):
the first time I tried it, I was all in
with it. And it's interesting today, man, you know, the
first time I gave Jesus a real shot, I've had
the same zeal for that. You know, I've gone full
full blown Jesus addict, you know, and that you know
that that addiction has been very good for my life.
But graduated college, had to get a job so I
(18:57):
put down the marijuana and picked up the drink. And
h you spend a lot of nights in barrooms. You
might not know this about me, but I am a
big deal when it comes to karaoke, and uh, every
every Thursday night at this local bars, I was always there, uh,
starting off with a double sketch on the rocks and
(19:19):
found my way on the karaoke stage. And but you know,
even in that process of being in bars, you know,
I'm the type of person that can be in a
room full of people and still feel like I'm unseen,
I'm alone, I've got nobody. You know, That's that's a
part of my ego. Like I've kind of learned that. Man,
(19:41):
the ego doesn't just mean you feel like you're the
greatest in the world. It also means that you think
you got the biggest problems in the world. And uh,
you know, given my size, you know, after I got
out of college, I started training mixed martial arts and
and uh powerless and so you know, I'm walking around
two hundred and ninety five pounds and just completely jacked.
(20:04):
And you know, even today, I would not want to
cross paths with the person I was back then like
I was, I was dangerous back then, and then you
pour alcohol on top of it and you got something
really volatile. But I go in these places and somebody
might be looking at the girl behind me, and my
ego is so big that you know, it's what are
(20:25):
you looking at me for? And I never had a
problem taking the first punch. I had gotten a ton
of bar fights. It's interesting, like I haven't been in
a bar fight since a quick going to the bar,
so you know for me, But I got tons of
bar fights, man. And you know it's like all kinds
(20:46):
of stuff. Man. Like the bar that I would go
to the most was about a block from the police
department Clayton, and that was nice. You know. One occasion,
like I walk in with a snubnose three eighty pistol,
whip a guy right in front of everybody, like pointing
the gun at him, all that stuff, and I had
this reputation. I don't know if people I thought it
(21:09):
was cool, or you know, didn't like the other guy
or was just afraid of me. But like you know,
the cops pulling the parking lot as I'm trying to
get out of there, and you know, I got the
window half rolled down, and the cops like hey and
just asked me if I had enough room to get out. See.
You know it's like at the time, I was thinking
God for that, and you know I should have been
(21:31):
thinking the devil because I was playing on his team.
And you know, I think he thought I was doing
more good outside of jail than I was inside. And
you know, I'm over here thanking God for avoiding the
consequences of my own actions. And uh. You know one
thing I know about God is you know he he
doesn't not discipline people. He doesn't spare you from from
(21:56):
That's how people learn.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Hey what what?
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And I don't mean to move forward.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But when we when we talked, can we talk about
the car accident and and you know, going to see
your son after and and that part of it, because
I think that that was so powerful.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Oh yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you know, a lot
of stuff happened. I was telling them. I could probably
feel a hour or two if I was to go
through every detail of this, but you know, just to
build up to it, you know, lose a job, I
get strung out on Isa Cotten, I go through this
(22:36):
whole deal where I'm running security and and doing collections
and getting contracted by games, and then to find out
that I've got this girl pregnant, and uh I remember,
you know, finding out that news, and I was I
was in this trap house one night. Shall them know
what that is? Just google it? But I was watching
(22:59):
these two kids played with plastic guns. That's about eighteen
years old. And I ended up passing out in the
pilot dirty laundry and one of these kids kicks me
on my foot and I opened my eyes and he's
got this little gun pointed at me. And you know,
I looked past that little orange tip on the gun
into this kid's eyes and they were just completely jet black.
(23:20):
And I remember thinking, you know, this is this is
going to be my son, like no innocence whatsoever. This
is going to be my get my life together. I
had a couple of years past, and you know, I
got into that same state of mind that I got
in at six years old in suicide. A repetitive part
of my story attempts at it, and I was just
(23:41):
got in instealing it. You know, he'd be better off
without me. The world would be a better place without me.
Nobody wants me. You know that whole victimhood song and dance.
And I went to my bedroom and I usually keep
this picture on my wall of my son, and I
didn't like this is where guys starts coming up. I'm
gonna get to the wreck real quick after this. But uh,
(24:05):
I walked past that picture. I couldn't even look at
it because of the shame I felt. And I ended
up taking a big dose of heroin and laid down
to my bed and the dog I had started licking
my face as I was going away, and I opened
my eyes and rolled over and that photograph was sitting
(24:25):
on my night stand, and I remember my eyes locking
on my son's eyes and there was still light there.
It was still innocence. And I thought back a little
boy in that trap house. And I guess I called
nine one one. I don't remember it, but one of
the police officers that showed up for that call was
the one cop that would actually treat me like a
(24:46):
human being on the Clayton Police Department, officer Mark. And uh,
you know, they took me to the hospital, did the
narcan process on me beforehand. The hospital turns me out
in about five hours. And you know, for anybody, I
don't know, if you're in an overdose and they apply
NARCND to you go into this thing called precipitated withdrawal,
(25:06):
which is, you know, heroin withdrawal is awful, but you
get the full week of heroine withdrawal compressed in about
twenty four hours, and you're not going to die, but
you wish you were dead type feeling. And the next
day he had a football game, so I couldn't make it.
You know, he's all upset about it, and I ended
(25:29):
up trying to offer myself again, and you know, get
put in his place and in the hospital, and you know,
while I'm in the air, cops rade my house. I
get kicked out of the house. It's a whole long thing.
And my mom ends up taking me to this Homo
Sheulder and dropping me off and I spent some time
(25:49):
there and I got sobered for a while. And in
January twenty twenty, I was I was selfish, and you know,
I had some friends of mine overdose and die. I
had a friend of mine, you know that he relapsed.
She's in in stage liver failure. So I decided to
make it about me, and I don't want to feel
(26:11):
this way, so I called my drug dealer and go
pick up some stuff. Well, that one time that I
was going to do that not to feel that way anymore,
turned into about ten months, and within two weeks I'd
lost my job. I started working eye jobs construction during
(26:33):
the day. I'm back selling drugs again during the night,
taking meth amphetamine now, so like I don't need sleep,
I don't think I need water or food either, and
just you know, things are getting real bad. And on
June twelfth of twenty twenty, I was on the way
to pick up some meth amphetamine. And I've always been
(26:53):
a pure product. So I get there, I've been up
for about seven days straight and I took a shot
of that methamphetamine before I left, and I was, you know,
I'm gonna be okay. This is gonna give me the
energy to get home. And it did for about twenty minutes,
and then I realized really quickly they had cut this
(27:14):
methamphetaminem fentanyl and I started kind of nodding off behind
the wheel. When I was about five minutes five miles
from my house. I remember coming to the sideways in
the ditch. I remember seeing the RPCD type and under
the driveway ahead of me, and I remember the dashboard
saying sixty miles an hour, and then just everything goes
(27:38):
black for an instant and then it's just light. And
I don't I used to not believe these people when
they would talk about out of body experiences or after
life experiences and things like that. But like this light.
It was so bright and so warm, but you could
(28:00):
look directly into it and it didn't hurt your eyes,
and I could see everything that was going on below me.
Like I watched them put staples in my head, I
watched them put me on the ambulance, I watched them
drive me away, and then you know, I'm seeing these
things in my life that I wish I could do
over again, you know, not being there at my grandma's
(28:21):
funeral because I wanted to go get house, making it
about myself, you know, getting messed up, taking you know,
when I had my son, taking my son to go
meet the drug dealer. Just so like all these things
that I wish I could have, I can do over.
And then I woke up in the hospital and they
had handcuffed me to the hospital bed and the police
(28:44):
department was nice enough to take my d UI sticker
and my d U I ticket to the hospital bed.
So it was almost like a get well soon card
from the the Johnson County Police Department. And when I
woke up three days later, this nurse comes in and
she says, mister Stanley, he should be in a cemetery
(29:05):
right now. She said, ninety five percent of the people
to come in with your injuries die and the rest
are quadriplegic. I broken my neck, I fractured my spine.
I had a piece of my skull compressed on my
crany on nerve, like half of my face still don't
work one hundred percent right today. So you know, I
(29:25):
had to wear an eyepass and neck brace. And she says,
you're going to have to learn how to walk again.
And she says, so you got a purpose and you
need to figure out what it is and hold on
to it. And I don't remember that nurse's name, but
I remember her saying that because it was like the
first time in so many years that somebody had believed
(29:47):
in me, like I had a purpose, Like I don't
know what it is, but this woman says, I have
a purpose, Like I need to figure this out. But
about six days after that, the doctor comes in. He says,
I got you. I want more narcotics than I've had
anybody in my care in the last thirty years. I'm
scared you're gonna die in my hospital. I'm not going
to allow that to happen. So I'm taking you off.
(30:08):
And like I immediately, I'm like, dude, I'm about to
go in the withdraw. I please don't take me off,
and he did, and you know, within a few hours,
bones start hurting, I get clammy and sweating and just
still miserable. And that woman that told me I was
going to have to learn how to walk again, like
(30:30):
when you take away from an attict the thing that
they need to function, like, they start figuring things out.
And I grabbed the that illuminum walker that they had
by my bed, and I drugged myself on my stomach,
down the hall and out of that hospital against medical advice,
because I knew I had something at my house that
(30:50):
would make me feel better. Not physically, like I was
gonna hurt either way, but just like that pain that
I had in my heart that I was trying to
fill with everything but the one thing that could fill it.
And you know, I got back home, and you know,
spend another four months and just selling drugs, basically selling
(31:10):
everything I have. You know, I sold my trug, I
traded all my furniture, my TVs, everything I had to
get more, one more. And when I when I ran
out of the means to get more, my plan was
end my life. And early October I get a call
from my son's mom saying he wanted to see me.
And I was able to get around a little bit.
(31:32):
You know, I had to walk with a cane or crushes.
Still had the neck brace and the eye pass and
all that stuff, and you know I was I'd lost
seventy pounds, so I didn't look anything like I do now.
My skin was green, my eyes were yellow. And I
had a friend take me to the park and I'm
standing in the parking lot watching my son play from
(31:56):
a distance, and I remember thinking, he's gonna know who
I am, but there's no way he's going to recognize
me because he hadn't seen me since before I relatted.
And about the time that thought crossed my mind, he
looks up at me and he just like comes running
up to me and he's like daddy, and he said,
(32:21):
did you almost die? And I'll say yeah. And he said,
if you die on the very outside of my bedroom window,
so you always be there. And so you know, you
hear about rock bottoms a lot like I've been shot
at and I've been stabbed, I've been slashed and cut
suicide at tents, overdoses. I've been in jail more than
(32:44):
a few times. It's all these bad things, and you're homeless.
I've eaten out of trash cans before. Like all these
things that have been through were never enough to make
me want to be different. But when my son said that,
it was like I felt every bit of pain that
ever felt my life in one moment, because in his mind,
(33:04):
I'd be more present as a father in the ground
outside of his bedroom windows than I would have been
walking on top of it. And I think it finally
broke me enough for some light to come in. And
I remember going home and get myself on my knees
and praying real humbly for the first time, and I
asked guys, and I said, Lord, just fix me, or
(33:27):
just take me home. I don't want to do this anymore.
And I laid down and took enough of that pustance
to help me fall asleep, and soon as my eyes
up in the next morning, my phone rings and it's
somebody on that line offered me some help, and he says,
(33:49):
you know, do you do you want to go get
some help? And I said, yeah, I ain't got no insurance.
He says, well, let me run your information just to
make sure. And that job that let me go in
January of that year had been paying my insurance just
in case I decided to get some help. Now this
is October, so they've been paying my insurance for ten
(34:10):
months now without me working for them. And he said,
I found the policy goods through the end of the year.
You want to go to California or Florida. I've been
to treatment eleven times. Like I already checked Florida off
the box. So I said, try California out this time.
And you know, I'd go out to California and God
just starts putting people in my past. Man. I completed
(34:33):
the treatment program, was there ninety one days, and I
went to this quote unquote sober house, and this is
part of the things that kind of led to what
we're trying to get to with war past ministries. I
was the only sober person at the suber House, and
this tech that we worked at the rehab place, she
calls me and she's like, how are you doing? So
(34:53):
I don't think I'm gonna make it here, and she,
without hesitation, she said, pack your bags, I'm on the way,
and that her and her husband let me stay with
him for the rest of the time. I was in California.
Took a job in the old field that took me
up to North Dakota. I had saved up enough money
(35:14):
for a car working at a lumber mill and end
up in North Dakota. That was real difficult, you know, cold,
fifty below zero, fifty million dollars winds, it's nothing to
do but work and go to the bar. But all
I did was work and go to the gym. At
this gym was this old man that was a pastor
at the local church, and uh, yeah, I was still
(35:35):
so angry. Man, I was just bitter, wanted to blame everybody.
Is just didn't want to take a drink and didn't
want to do a drug, you know. But with that,
I was just so angry. And every day going this
gym and this guy eighty years old will come up
to me and say Joe, I love you, and Jesus
loves You've been praying for you. And I would start
(35:59):
hiding from him, like see him when I walk in.
But man, just let me alone, let me be miserable
by myself. And I would hide from him and he
would he would find me. And I think he was
just going up there every day and waiting for me
to walk in the doors.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, Joe, that's what those old guys do.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Man, just see you know, that's what us old guys do.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
And I'm sorry to stop it right here, but we
have to get to a break. I'm telling you, I'm
telling you right now that this is not this is
the first time that Joe Stanley's going to join us
on faith in the zone.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
It is not the last.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Because I've got probably fifty questions for him and we
don't have the time today.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
But I can tell you that we're going to have
him back.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
But when you when you hear you know, Jacob his
son say if you die and want you buried outside
my windows, she can always be with me. That there's
the turning point right there. And this eighty year old
guy in the gym, I love him. I don't know
the man but I'm telling you I'd love to ug
him and buy a cup of coffee. We're going to
get to a quick break. Will continue our conversation with
(37:04):
Joe Stanley again. If you can't Warpathministries dot org. Warpathministries
dot org. I'm on that website right now and I'm
about to order a hoodie, an arbor hoodie with Warpath
Ministries on the front, and you'll see me around town
here in Milwaukee with it. And when you see me
wearing it, you'll say, Man, I want to meet Joe
(37:28):
Stanley one day.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I want to meet this man.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
We're going to get to a break on other side
of the break, will continue our conversation again. Joe Stanley
is a co founder of Warpath Ministries. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio App.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Welcome back to Faith.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
In the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeartRadio App. Coming from the Divan of Jorgansen, Hitting and
Cooling Studios, our special guest you get it now, and
my listeners, you get it. Why I wanted Joe Stanley,
co founder of Warpath Ministries, to come on the show
because there's a lot of guys that we've had on
(38:05):
that their testimony is, you know, born and raised in
a Christian home, and I love those I'm envious of
those guys where their testimony is. Look, I was in
church every time the lights were on, and when I
was seven, I walked down.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
And I accept Jesus Christ my personal savior.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
And then we've got guys that I Look, I was
not at the point where Joe was, but I was
more like him than I was some of the other guys.
And I thank him for his willingness to be so
open with his life because he understands there are people
struggling with the same stuff him and I were struggling
with years ago, and they're looking for a way out.
(38:48):
They're looking for that eighty year old guy at the
jim to say, hey, look, I love.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You and Jesus loves you.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
They're looking for that nurse in their life that to say, look,
you know what, you should be dead, you should be
in the ground, but God's got something for you. That's
that's what she was saying to him. For Officer Mark,
who treated him like a human being, to say, hey, look, man,
we gotta go. You gotta get get get this thing right, man,
You gotta get this thing right. And I appreciate all
(39:15):
these people that were in in his life, and I
appreciate Emily. You know, we're gonna record this a little
bit earlier, and he said, look, I'm going to get
Emily a cup of coffee. You're gonna have to hold on.
So there's the love that this man has. He's going
out to make sure his wife has a hot cup
of coffee. And the fact that Jacob as a five
year old said this to him again, I have goosebumps
(39:37):
on my arm because of the just his story. And
we will have him back on in six to eight
weeks and I'm gonna ask him if I can get
a hold of Jeff, who is his co founder of
Warpath Ministries, would love to have him on as well.
And I am asking people as they continue this ministry
and they are helping through trauma recovery. He's a trauma
(39:58):
recovery specialist. You want to talk about a guy who
understands trauma. If you listen to segment two, you understand
he understands trauma a lot. Six years old, for the
first time he tried to attempt suicide and he didn't
even really know what that was. And he tried a
number of times. And the Lord now was using him
in this platform with war Path Ministries to continue to
(40:21):
spread the word and do really good and in his
community and communities.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Hey, I know that last time we talked, you said, look,
we're hoping to maybe find a building and to have
a twenty four to seven place that people can come
and get sober and we can we can share the
Bible with them. Is that something you think in twenty
twenty six the Lord might put in your path?
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Ye? If he does, man, we've already given him our years.
So we're praying for that. And you know, we kind
of we moved to polom back because you know, Jeff
and I both come from the diction part. You know,
we kind of moved it back. So Okay, where does
the diction come from? What a self harmed? Where does codependency?
And you know all these all these things come from
(41:09):
the near or shame base that lead us away from God.
And it's all that trauma piece, you know, So like
we're looking it's not just for addicts, it's for domestic violence,
for in child abuse, for human trafficking, you know, sexual assault,
like anything that you've been through that's causing you to
(41:31):
go in a direction in your life that it's towards
the darkness. We're just we're broken people that found a solution,
that's trying to bring a solution to broken people age
and you know.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Jesus christis that Well, there's a there's a bumper sticker
right there for war Path Ministries right there.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
On this website, they have zoom meetings Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Friday eight thirty Eastern type that you can join
Trauma recovery, mental health, addiction, suicide prevention.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
If you go to that website.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
They also have the five to five one one group
and that's in person if you happen to be in Clayton,
North Carolina, in person Bible study. Look on that website
all this information and a place for you to donate
or a place for you to shop and buy a
hoodie like I'm gonna buy here in the next couple
of minutes. You can join their team as in the
(42:23):
event team and outreach team, the fundraising team, the Prayer
ten team. There's a lot of ways that you can
help them, even from here from the state of Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
But on the.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
iHeartRadio app there are people all over the country that
listen to the show, and I thank them for that,
and I ask you do me a favor, do yourself
a favor, do Joe a favor. Go to Warpathmistries dot org.
And if you read about what they're trying to accomplish,
and they are accomplishing, you're gonna want to help them
in one way or the other. And I pray that
(42:55):
there's somebody in the Milwaukee area that says, look, we
need to get Joe Stanley here to Wisconsin, get him
here for a couple of days, and have him work
his magic here and tell his story. Look, I'm there
if we can get him to come up to Milwaukee
and do a couple of men's groups at local churches
to be able to talk about what he's been through
(43:17):
and what got him through it and what he's doing now,
to thank God, to say Lord, thank you for allowing
me to still be alive. Guys, we got to get
to a break the other side of the break. It's
a short one. We're gonna ask him. He played college basketball,
played high school basketball, what uniform he would take out
of the closet to get one more game with that team.
We'll get to that question on the other side of
(43:38):
the break. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty
and your iHeartRadio App. Our special guest, he's Joe Stanley,
co founder of Warpath Ministries. Go to Warpathministries dot org.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Hey Joe.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Very short segment we ask our guests to for years.
He's a throwaway question, but I love the answers. All
the uniforms you ever put out, right from from from
playing little little kid basketball, high school basketball, to a
couple of years in college. We put all the uniforms
you ever put on your entire life and put them
in the closet and you get to pick one uniform
(44:18):
out to get one more game with that team.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
What uniform do you pick? Who do you play against?
And why?
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Uh? Yes, that's a hard, hard question, man is I'd
love to get another game with Clayton High School. We've
gone to road ymc A. My AU team had a
lot of great memories and I mean this may be
a cliche answer, But the uniform that I pick is
the one I wear today with war Pass. You know,
(44:50):
it's it's such an important thing, such an impactful thing
that we get to do. It's a blessing. Uh. The
opponent never ceases, and we got to take the same attitude.
But you know, not just the people I work with,
like Jeff Dominic, Brandon Duckworth out in Tennessee, bex Howe
and Florida. Yeah, we got a great team there, but
(45:10):
you know the people that we meet along the way,
you know, Pastor Roy McGee, uh, Steve Steve mccrawl with
Band the Outlaw Ministries, Craig uh course I and Blade
Sauners with Lighting the Wilders Ministries. Like that, those guys
like it have been such a blessing and and such
an uplifting presence of my life. Jordan Wilson uh Nick Sergeant.
(45:34):
He goes by Holy Beard's on social media. Like, these
guys have been amazing friends of mine that I've made
through doing work for Christ and being on this team.
So you know, I love the uniform I have on today,
and I don't think I traded for any of the
ones from.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
My past to be honest amen to that he is
Joe Stanley. Guys, I I have such look. I I
will do what it takes to meet this man in person.
If they're going to do another golf event wherever it is,
I'm gonna fly out to North Carolina and play in
the golf event.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
I just ordered a hoodie from them.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
And I ask you, if you're feeling led right to
help the help this organization, in this ministry. Go to
Warpathministries dot org. One word Warpathministries dot org and and
and help Joe Stanley and help the these guys in
doing what they're doing and and continue to make a
difference in people's lives, and and and I thank him
(46:34):
first time. Hey, Joe, I certainly marry Christmas to you
and your family, and I can't wait to shake your
hand one day, have a cup of coffee, buy lunch,
by dinner, whatever it is, and just say hey, thank
you so much for the work you're doing to spread
the work.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
I appreciate it. Man. I have a merry Christmas you
and your family and everybody around you right now. And yeah,
I'm looking forward to meeting you.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Hey, Hey, I'm gonna get you up to Wisconsin, but
hopefully in the spring or summer. I don't think you're
tough enough to come up here in the dead of winter,
but you know, maybe you are.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Who knows he is Joe Stanley again. He's a co
founder of war Path Ministries.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet
twenty in your iHeart radio app
Welcome to Faith in the Zone.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Fox Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app,
I'm Mike Mcgiverren flind solo this week, Pastor Ken Keltner
from Brookside Baptist Church should be back in studio here
in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to having
him back in studio. We're coming from the Donovant and
Jorgensen Heating and Cooling Studios. Any issues you're having with
(00:21):
your furnace, man, it's cold, so have them come out
and take a look. The largest employee owned HVAC company
in the state of Wisconsin. So, guys, if you listen
to Faith in the Zone, you've heard me say this
a number of times. There are a number of guests
that we have on this show. The worst thing they've
ever done in their life is steel a candy bar.
(00:41):
And then you've got guys like Pastor Derris Strawberry and
myself that have done things that not proud of, for
sure not proud of. And I came across Joe Stanley.
He is a co founder of war Path Ministries. He's
much more like me and Pastor Darryl Strawberry that he
is some of the guys that we have had on
(01:03):
in the past that the worst thing they ever did
was steal a candy bar.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And I got to tell you.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I found Joe on Twitter and I can't stop watching
his stuff and it's it's man, he thinks the way
I think, and he says things that that that I
would say had it had it come to me at
that moment. And I can tell you that I'm a
big fan of Warpath Ministries. I think what they what
(01:30):
they are trying to accomplish and they are accomplishing, is
really pretty incredible. To be honest with you, And I
ask you, as we talk to Joe for the entire hour,
if you google Warpathministries dot org, Warpathministries dot org, you
can go on a website that really man. They they
tell you what they are, they give you that mission statement,
(01:51):
they tell you what they're trying to accomplish. And I
welcome Joe Stanley to Faith in his own Joe, how
you doing today.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I'm doing great, man. I appreciate you having me on. Man.
I hope you're doing good too.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, I'm doing really good. Hey, let's talk a little
bit about your background where you were born, and raised.
I know you played a little college basketball, and we'll
talk a little bit about that part of your life
probably in segment three, but let's talk a little bit
about where you were born and raised to where you're
living now.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I was born and raised in Clayton, North Carolina. It's
about twenty minutes outside of Raleigh. I grew up on
a farm. Was more of a ranch than anything. We
did more in the livestock building. We did growing crops,
a lot of summers in the hayfield, things like that.
You know, I've kind of been here and there all
over the country for a little spell, and I have
(02:46):
set back in Clayton, North Carolina. That's where I am
currently today.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, we're on a sports station, so you know, I
got to ask, are you're a tire healer or a
duke fan.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
I am a duke fan, man, Man, I would never
cheer for the Tar Hills. No.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The fact that I'm wearing light blue today would not
go well. If we were doing like a zoom meeting.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Right hey, man, I'd let you slide. But you know,
I definitely wouldn't be cheering for people wearing that colored uniform. Man.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I love that I do and I told you that.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
When I was at a different radio station, our boss
hired a new guy from North Carolina. They had that
same draw that you have, and he walked into a
full company meeting and he said, y'all, there's only one
four letter word you cannot say in this building, and
that's duke.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
I don't like duke.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
I'm a tarhel through and through Michael Jordan all of
the you know, you could tell you what happened in
the game, and you know, nineteen ninety five in the
middle of winter, and yeah, he was something else. Hey, Joe,
growing up where you were, you a multi sport athlete
or you a straight basketball guy.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I stuck mainly the basketball I played, and I played
some football. You got in the power lifted and mixed
martial arts and all of that stuff a little bit
later in life, but it was mainly basketball. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
If I was a football coach at the school you
were at, I would I would come see you a
couple times a day. You got the size of it
by an offensive lineman for sure. Yeah, you look about
six four sixty five to be am. I pretty close.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Yeah, six five, about two hundred and seventy two and
seventy five pounds a day.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, hey, don't come to Milwaukee. You don't want to
mess with a boy like me. I'll tell you that.
I'm only kidding, Joe. If you ever come to Milwaukee,
I'll buy dinner. I'm not messing with you that martial
arts stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
No, I'm not. I am not gonna mess with you
for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Hey, talk to me about playing high school basketball, and
where did you play in college?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I played high school at Clayton High School. You know,
we weren't a very good program when I got there,
and uh, you know, by the time that I was
a senior year, you know, we were we were starting
to make the playoffs and and win some games. And uh,
you know they've continued that that after I left. I actually,
(05:14):
you know, I was off state in my senior year
and finish high school. Was the leading scorer and rebounder
in Clayton High School history. And then, uh, I signed
before my senior year. I ended up having a big
senior year, but I signed before the senior year at
the Division two school Les McCrae UH College out in
Banner Up, North Carolina. I played their four season and
(05:36):
then transferred to Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I
played another season and then I kind of, you know,
went down some bad roads.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Well as we all have.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And and and I would assume if you look back
when you decided to step away from playing college basketball,
if you had to do that all over again, I
got a feeling you would you would stick it out
and play another two years.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
If I could do it all over again, man, I
think I would have stuck stuck to it on the
football field. Uh yeah, I think it'll be a little bit,
uh in a different place in life if I if
I stuck the.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Football So yeah, I mean, you know what, I was
gonna maybe bring that up.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I could tell you that.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
I don't know if I could get you on faith
in the zone if you were, you know, playing for
the Packers or the Lions or somebody like that. For sure, Hey,
talk to me about the decision to step away from
playing basketball. Was it was it that you wanted to
focus more on grades or was it outside influence?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
It was outside influence. I you know, I grew up
with a real strict upbringing. You know, it was work first,
and then you know, I got to play sports. After
that and didn't really venture far with the with the
crowds back in high school. Alongside I got a little
bit of freedom in college, uh you know, started experimenting
(06:57):
with some some things and decided after myselphomore year that
I wanted to become a drug addict and also a
drug dealer. So I kind of went that road. I mean,
I ended up graduating college and all that stuff. But
you know, I didn't make it easy on myself.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
No, I can tell you we you and I have
talked a number of times, and we'll get into your
testimony in the second segment, and and I can tell
you that one of the more powerful testimonies that hits
really close to home for me. And I can tell
you that on this show, I've said this along time
a lot, that that that the Lord is willing to
(07:38):
meet me where I was at. I always thought back
then I had to get myself fully cleaned up and
then I could present myself to the Lord and say, hey, look,
can I be part of your family?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
And that's not the way it works.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It's okay, he will come and meet you at a
very dark place.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
And when we get.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Into Joe's testimony the second segment, you'll understand what I
what I mean from that. Hey, can we talk a
little bit about Warpathministries and how that was started. I
know that you're a co founder of it, and I
love the term trauma Recovery specialist. I think that that
really tells people what you are and look as a
(08:15):
pastor and a speaker and a co founder of Warpath Ministries.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
And on your website.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Look, if you go to the website and you click
on about and you take a look at some of
the blogs, I can tell you this that if you
spend some time on this website again, Warpathministries one word,
Warpathministries dot org. And if you go to the blog
and you start reading some of this, it's not going
(08:41):
to be where you're going to read it. In five minutes,
you're going to be out of there. I got caught
and I probably spent a good hour reading a number
of these blogs, looking at some of the events, some
of the things that they do and they offer to people,
and it's really impressive. And on their homepage it gives
you a lot of different things on where to find them.
(09:03):
I found him on Twitter, and I can tell you
this that when you're watching Joe sometimes doesn't look like
the typical guy that's going to be sitting in his
car and and going to the Book of Ephesians. He
doesn't have that look, and I think that makes it
even more powerful. He looks like a guy who is
tougher than nails, and that you wouldn't you you'd want
(09:26):
to have with you when you walk in a dark
alley in a tough neighborhood. And as he starts opening
his heart to you on Twitter and telling you what's
going on in his life today and what happened last
week and what he feels, it's really impressive. Hey, how
comfortable were you starting that part of Warpath Ministries where
(09:47):
where you were comfortable enough to be able to go
and talk to people you know, in your car about
what's going on with you on an almost a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well, you know, that kind of that part started before
the ministry started. I mean, yeah, I mean you can
call it a ministry, but you know I started. You know,
during my testimony you'll hear a little bit more about this,
But I was in North Dakota for a spell and
working in the old fields, and you know, trying to
stay sober and just I didn't have any friends, nothing
(10:21):
much to do, and I came across that TikTok app
A bunch of the guys that have worked with would
mess around on it and just you know, watch videos,
and so I started just kind of doing like a
little recovery type blog, like a video blog on there,
just like treated like a diary almost, and uh, just
(10:42):
get up there and start talking. And you know, one
night I was just I felt really low, and you know,
I just got up there and just was one hundred
percent raw, authentic, transparent and just expressed exactly how I felt. Man.
I think I ended up in tears on the video
and I ended up going to sleep, and I woke
(11:02):
up the next morning I was like, man, I got
to take that down. And when I pulled the video
up to delete it, it just that was so much
like so many people had resonated with it and commented
on it, shared it out, and then just reacted to it,
and it was just such a big thing. And I
was just like, man, I kind of got that tast
(11:26):
like I'm not helping anybody by containing everything that I've
been through and what I'm feeling and what God's doing
in my life, it's here for me to give away.
So you know, that's kind of where it started with
the video stuff, and that's just carried over into when
we decided to go full you know, full time ministry
(11:50):
on that aspect. I mean, given I got a quote
unquote real job. But your ministry, you know, your ministry
can be in your home and your church and in
your workplace wherever you are, you know. But keeping keeping
myself contained and my experiences and my testimony, I don't
(12:11):
share that with somebody. I'm not I'm not sharing the
glory and the power of Jesus Christ with them. I've
got a duty to do that. Man. I never waste
the opportunity to give somebody a meaningful encounter with the Gospel.
And uh, you know, the Gospel carries on the day
in my regular life because Christ still saves people.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
One hundred percent. He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
And I can tell you Joe from an old grandfather
of six in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who, like all of us,
struggle every day.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
We try to put the full body of arm around
before we get out of bed in the morning, and
sometimes I fail before I even get out of bed,
and I ask you to continue those because they're so powerful.
And there are times that you know, you might not
think that that today this isn't a real powerful one,
but man, the way it comes across and there are
(13:02):
people all over the country that follow you that whether
you think it's going to be powerful today, they may
see it in a week and it might be right
where they're at. And I love that as we talk
to Joe Stanley again, if you go to Warpathmanistries dot
org and you look at their mission statement, our mission
is to empower individuals through discipleship and the truth of
(13:27):
the Gospel. That's the first line of their mission statement.
So they're not running from any of this. If you
want to get involved with Warpath Ministries, by reading that
first line of their mission statement, you don't have to guess.
You don't have to guess what are they What are
they trying to accomplish?
Speaker 1 (13:45):
What is their mission? And they're not running from it, guys.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I can tell you that they're looking to help and
guide people to help them overcome hardships, trauma, and mental
health challenges with faith, community and biblical wisdom. Man, that
first sentence of what they're trying to accomplish is so
well written, and I know exactly who Warpathpath Ministries are
(14:13):
by reading that first statement of their mission statement on
their website and again it's Warpathministries dot org. There's a
number of things that you can do when you go there.
You can read about Joe, you can you can read
about his co host or his co founder Jeff, and
their bios and what they've been through and what they're
(14:34):
trying to accomplish. And then there's a way to join
their team. There's a way to donate if you're feeling led,
because this ministry is doing really good work and if
you can donate ten bucks or one hundred bucks to
help them continue or even on a monthly basis, would
be great. Warpathministries dot org. And when we get into
(14:54):
Joe's testimony on the other side of the break, trust me,
you're going to feel the way that I have. I
have goosebumps in my arm right now because I've heard
part of his testimony and it rings really true to
not only in my life, but people I've talked to
the last twenty or twenty one years that I've been
cleaning sober, and I can tell you don't leave, you know,
(15:17):
wait for the other side of the break as we
continue our conversation again Joe Stanley. He's a co founder
of Warpath Ministries, trauma recovery specialist, and we'll get to
that part, I'm sure, either the next segment or the
third segment. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty in your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
(15:38):
to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty
and your iHeart Radio App.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Again.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
This is Mike mcgiffern flying solo this week, Pastor Ken
Keltner from Brookside Baptist Church hoping to get back in
studio here in the next couple of weeks, coming from
the Donovan and Jorganson Heating and Cooling Studios. Our special guest.
He is the co founder of Warpath Ministry Again. Warpathministries
dot org is the website you need to check out.
(16:05):
I'm asking you to check it out because the work
that these guys are doing not only in their neighborhood
right in North Carolina, but throughout the country. And they're
doing some really great work. And when Joe tells you
he's a trauma recovery specialist, and what that means. It's
really powerful and guys, he has been through a lot
(16:26):
of tough things in his life and I'm excited for
you to hear his testimony. So, Joe, second segment is
our favorite where we get the most response from people
that come up to me in a grocery store or
gas station and they talk about the stories, but then
they talk about segment two on faith in the zone
and if you would be so kind to share your testimony.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
With us, absolutely, you know, like I said, I grew
up kind of ranch and forming a lot of hard
work as a kid, and I had th rest in dynamic,
you know, I had. I had a father that didn't
really want me, and I guess to compensate for that,
(17:08):
I had a mother who loved me too much, if
that's the thing. So you know I was I was
always living in these extremes like I was either the
biggest pos in the world or the greatest thing that
ever happened. And you know, just I couldn't find a
middle ground on this. My first suicide attemph, I was
(17:28):
six years old and I didn't really understand what death was.
But what I did know is I didn't feel like
I belonged here. I didn't feel like I fit in anywhere,
and I just wanted out. And obviously that's about that.
You know, got into sports and kind of learned a
(17:49):
family dynamic through sports, and I had a lot of
male role models through coaches and things like that. And
you ended up going to college on a basketball scholarship
and did well when I was giving it my all.
And right at the beginning of my sophomore year, I
(18:11):
got introduced to marijuana. You know, I was nineteen years old,
and you know, you'll find this kind of repetitive in
my story, but there was no progression from the first
time I tried a substance to me being a like
a full blown hothead or appeel head or you know,
meth addict or heroin act or whatever it is. Like
(18:33):
the first time I tried it, I was all in
with it. And it's interesting today, man, you know, the
first time I gave Jesus a real shot, I've had
the same zeal for that. You know, I've gone full
full blown Jesus addict, you know, and that you know
that that addiction has been very good for my life.
But graduated college, had to get a job so I
(18:57):
put down the marijuana and picked up the drink. And
h you spend a lot of nights in barrooms. You
might not know this about me, but I am a
big deal when it comes to karaoke, and uh, every
every Thursday night at this local bars, I was always there, uh,
starting off with a double sketch on the rocks and
(19:19):
found my way on the karaoke stage. And but you know,
even in that process of being in bars, you know,
I'm the type of person that can be in a
room full of people and still feel like I'm unseen,
I'm alone, I've got nobody. You know, That's that's a
part of my ego. Like I've kind of learned that. Man,
(19:41):
the ego doesn't just mean you feel like you're the
greatest in the world. It also means that you think
you got the biggest problems in the world. And uh,
you know, given my size, you know, after I got
out of college, I started training mixed martial arts and
and uh powerless and so you know, I'm walking around
two hundred and ninety five pounds and just completely jacked.
(20:04):
And you know, even today, I would not want to
cross paths with the person I was back then like
I was, I was dangerous back then, and then you
pour alcohol on top of it and you got something
really volatile. But I go in these places and somebody
might be looking at the girl behind me, and my
ego is so big that you know, it's what are
(20:25):
you looking at me for? And I never had a
problem taking the first punch. I had gotten a ton
of bar fights. It's interesting, like I haven't been in
a bar fight since a quick going to the bar,
so you know for me, But I got tons of
bar fights, man. And you know it's like all kinds
(20:46):
of stuff. Man. Like the bar that I would go
to the most was about a block from the police
department Clayton, and that was nice. You know. One occasion,
like I walk in with a snubnose three eighty pistol,
whip a guy right in front of everybody, like pointing
the gun at him, all that stuff, and I had
this reputation. I don't know if people I thought it
(21:09):
was cool, or you know, didn't like the other guy
or was just afraid of me. But like you know,
the cops pulling the parking lot as I'm trying to
get out of there, and you know, I got the
window half rolled down, and the cops like hey and
just asked me if I had enough room to get out. See.
You know it's like at the time, I was thinking
God for that, and you know I should have been
(21:31):
thinking the devil because I was playing on his team.
And you know, I think he thought I was doing
more good outside of jail than I was inside. And
you know, I'm over here thanking God for avoiding the
consequences of my own actions. And uh. You know one
thing I know about God is you know he he
doesn't not discipline people. He doesn't spare you from from
(21:56):
That's how people learn.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Hey what what?
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (22:01):
And I don't mean to move forward.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
But when we when we talked, can we talk about
the car accident and and you know, going to see
your son after and and that part of it, because
I think that that was so powerful.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Oh yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you know, a lot
of stuff happened. I was telling them. I could probably
feel a hour or two if I was to go
through every detail of this, but you know, just to
build up to it, you know, lose a job, I
get strung out on Isa Cotten, I go through this
(22:36):
whole deal where I'm running security and and doing collections
and getting contracted by games, and then to find out
that I've got this girl pregnant, and uh I remember,
you know, finding out that news, and I was I
was in this trap house one night. Shall them know
what that is? Just google it? But I was watching
(22:59):
these two kids played with plastic guns. That's about eighteen
years old. And I ended up passing out in the
pilot dirty laundry and one of these kids kicks me
on my foot and I opened my eyes and he's
got this little gun pointed at me. And you know,
I looked past that little orange tip on the gun
into this kid's eyes and they were just completely jet black.
(23:20):
And I remember thinking, you know, this is this is
going to be my son, like no innocence whatsoever. This
is going to be my get my life together. I
had a couple of years past, and you know, I
got into that same state of mind that I got
in at six years old in suicide. A repetitive part
of my story attempts at it, and I was just
(23:41):
got in instealing it. You know, he'd be better off
without me. The world would be a better place without me.
Nobody wants me. You know that whole victimhood song and dance.
And I went to my bedroom and I usually keep
this picture on my wall of my son, and I
didn't like this is where guys starts coming up. I'm
gonna get to the wreck real quick after this. But uh,
(24:05):
I walked past that picture. I couldn't even look at
it because of the shame I felt. And I ended
up taking a big dose of heroin and laid down
to my bed and the dog I had started licking
my face as I was going away, and I opened
my eyes and rolled over and that photograph was sitting
(24:25):
on my night stand, and I remember my eyes locking
on my son's eyes and there was still light there.
It was still innocence. And I thought back a little
boy in that trap house. And I guess I called
nine one one. I don't remember it, but one of
the police officers that showed up for that call was
the one cop that would actually treat me like a
(24:46):
human being on the Clayton Police Department, officer Mark. And uh,
you know, they took me to the hospital, did the
narcan process on me beforehand. The hospital turns me out
in about five hours. And you know, for anybody, I
don't know, if you're in an overdose and they apply
NARCND to you go into this thing called precipitated withdrawal,
(25:06):
which is, you know, heroin withdrawal is awful, but you
get the full week of heroine withdrawal compressed in about
twenty four hours, and you're not going to die, but
you wish you were dead type feeling. And the next
day he had a football game, so I couldn't make it.
You know, he's all upset about it, and I ended
(25:29):
up trying to offer myself again, and you know, get
put in his place and in the hospital, and you know,
while I'm in the air, cops rade my house. I
get kicked out of the house. It's a whole long thing.
And my mom ends up taking me to this Homo
Sheulder and dropping me off and I spent some time
(25:49):
there and I got sobered for a while. And in
January twenty twenty, I was I was selfish, and you know,
I had some friends of mine overdose and die. I
had a friend of mine, you know that he relapsed.
She's in in stage liver failure. So I decided to
make it about me, and I don't want to feel
(26:11):
this way, so I called my drug dealer and go
pick up some stuff. Well, that one time that I
was going to do that not to feel that way anymore,
turned into about ten months, and within two weeks I'd
lost my job. I started working eye jobs construction during
(26:33):
the day. I'm back selling drugs again during the night,
taking meth amphetamine now, so like I don't need sleep,
I don't think I need water or food either, and
just you know, things are getting real bad. And on
June twelfth of twenty twenty, I was on the way
to pick up some meth amphetamine. And I've always been
(26:53):
a pure product. So I get there, I've been up
for about seven days straight and I took a shot
of that methamphetamine before I left, and I was, you know,
I'm gonna be okay. This is gonna give me the
energy to get home. And it did for about twenty minutes,
and then I realized really quickly they had cut this
(27:14):
methamphetaminem fentanyl and I started kind of nodding off behind
the wheel. When I was about five minutes five miles
from my house. I remember coming to the sideways in
the ditch. I remember seeing the RPCD type and under
the driveway ahead of me, and I remember the dashboard
saying sixty miles an hour, and then just everything goes
(27:38):
black for an instant and then it's just light. And
I don't I used to not believe these people when
they would talk about out of body experiences or after
life experiences and things like that. But like this light.
It was so bright and so warm, but you could
(28:00):
look directly into it and it didn't hurt your eyes,
and I could see everything that was going on below me.
Like I watched them put staples in my head, I
watched them put me on the ambulance, I watched them
drive me away, and then you know, I'm seeing these
things in my life that I wish I could do
over again, you know, not being there at my grandma's
(28:21):
funeral because I wanted to go get house, making it
about myself, you know, getting messed up, taking you know,
when I had my son, taking my son to go
meet the drug dealer. Just so like all these things
that I wish I could have, I can do over.
And then I woke up in the hospital and they
had handcuffed me to the hospital bed and the police
(28:44):
department was nice enough to take my d UI sticker
and my d U I ticket to the hospital bed.
So it was almost like a get well soon card
from the the Johnson County Police Department. And when I
woke up three days later, this nurse comes in and
she says, mister Stanley, he should be in a cemetery
(29:05):
right now. She said, ninety five percent of the people
to come in with your injuries die and the rest
are quadriplegic. I broken my neck, I fractured my spine.
I had a piece of my skull compressed on my
crany on nerve, like half of my face still don't
work one hundred percent right today. So you know, I
(29:25):
had to wear an eyepass and neck brace. And she says,
you're going to have to learn how to walk again.
And she says, so you got a purpose and you
need to figure out what it is and hold on
to it. And I don't remember that nurse's name, but
I remember her saying that because it was like the
first time in so many years that somebody had believed
(29:47):
in me, like I had a purpose, Like I don't
know what it is, but this woman says, I have
a purpose, Like I need to figure this out. But
about six days after that, the doctor comes in. He says,
I got you. I want more narcotics than I've had
anybody in my care in the last thirty years. I'm
scared you're gonna die in my hospital. I'm not going
to allow that to happen. So I'm taking you off.
(30:08):
And like I immediately, I'm like, dude, I'm about to
go in the withdraw. I please don't take me off,
and he did, and you know, within a few hours,
bones start hurting, I get clammy and sweating and just
still miserable. And that woman that told me I was
going to have to learn how to walk again, like
(30:30):
when you take away from an attict the thing that
they need to function, like, they start figuring things out.
And I grabbed the that illuminum walker that they had
by my bed, and I drugged myself on my stomach,
down the hall and out of that hospital against medical advice,
because I knew I had something at my house that
(30:50):
would make me feel better. Not physically, like I was
gonna hurt either way, but just like that pain that
I had in my heart that I was trying to
fill with everything but the one thing that could fill it.
And you know, I got back home, and you know,
spend another four months and just selling drugs, basically selling
(31:10):
everything I have. You know, I sold my trug, I
traded all my furniture, my TVs, everything I had to
get more, one more. And when I when I ran
out of the means to get more, my plan was
end my life. And early October I get a call
from my son's mom saying he wanted to see me.
And I was able to get around a little bit.
(31:32):
You know, I had to walk with a cane or crushes.
Still had the neck brace and the eye pass and
all that stuff, and you know I was I'd lost
seventy pounds, so I didn't look anything like I do now.
My skin was green, my eyes were yellow. And I
had a friend take me to the park and I'm
standing in the parking lot watching my son play from
(31:56):
a distance, and I remember thinking, he's gonna know who
I am, but there's no way he's going to recognize
me because he hadn't seen me since before I relatted.
And about the time that thought crossed my mind, he
looks up at me and he just like comes running
up to me and he's like daddy, and he said,
(32:21):
did you almost die? And I'll say yeah. And he said,
if you die on the very outside of my bedroom window,
so you always be there. And so you know, you
hear about rock bottoms a lot like I've been shot
at and I've been stabbed, I've been slashed and cut
suicide at tents, overdoses. I've been in jail more than
(32:44):
a few times. It's all these bad things, and you're homeless.
I've eaten out of trash cans before. Like all these
things that have been through were never enough to make
me want to be different. But when my son said that,
it was like I felt every bit of pain that
ever felt my life in one moment, because in his mind,
(33:04):
I'd be more present as a father in the ground
outside of his bedroom windows than I would have been
walking on top of it. And I think it finally
broke me enough for some light to come in. And
I remember going home and get myself on my knees
and praying real humbly for the first time, and I
asked guys, and I said, Lord, just fix me, or
(33:27):
just take me home. I don't want to do this anymore.
And I laid down and took enough of that pustance
to help me fall asleep, and soon as my eyes
up in the next morning, my phone rings and it's
somebody on that line offered me some help, and he says,
(33:49):
you know, do you do you want to go get
some help? And I said, yeah, I ain't got no insurance.
He says, well, let me run your information just to
make sure. And that job that let me go in
January of that year had been paying my insurance just
in case I decided to get some help. Now this
is October, so they've been paying my insurance for ten
(34:10):
months now without me working for them. And he said,
I found the policy goods through the end of the year.
You want to go to California or Florida. I've been
to treatment eleven times. Like I already checked Florida off
the box. So I said, try California out this time.
And you know, I'd go out to California and God
just starts putting people in my past. Man. I completed
(34:33):
the treatment program, was there ninety one days, and I
went to this quote unquote sober house, and this is
part of the things that kind of led to what
we're trying to get to with war past ministries. I
was the only sober person at the suber House, and
this tech that we worked at the rehab place, she
calls me and she's like, how are you doing? So
(34:53):
I don't think I'm gonna make it here, and she,
without hesitation, she said, pack your bags, I'm on the way,
and that her and her husband let me stay with
him for the rest of the time. I was in California.
Took a job in the old field that took me
up to North Dakota. I had saved up enough money
(35:14):
for a car working at a lumber mill and end
up in North Dakota. That was real difficult, you know, cold,
fifty below zero, fifty million dollars winds, it's nothing to
do but work and go to the bar. But all
I did was work and go to the gym. At
this gym was this old man that was a pastor
at the local church, and uh, yeah, I was still
(35:35):
so angry. Man, I was just bitter, wanted to blame everybody.
Is just didn't want to take a drink and didn't
want to do a drug, you know. But with that,
I was just so angry. And every day going this
gym and this guy eighty years old will come up
to me and say Joe, I love you, and Jesus
loves You've been praying for you. And I would start
(35:59):
hiding from him, like see him when I walk in.
But man, just let me alone, let me be miserable
by myself. And I would hide from him and he
would he would find me. And I think he was
just going up there every day and waiting for me
to walk in the doors.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Yeah, Joe, that's what those old guys do.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Man, just see you know, that's what us old guys do.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
And I'm sorry to stop it right here, but we
have to get to a break. I'm telling you, I'm
telling you right now that this is not this is
the first time that Joe Stanley's going to join us
on faith in the zone.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
It is not the last.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Because I've got probably fifty questions for him and we
don't have the time today.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
But I can tell you that we're going to have
him back.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
But when you when you hear you know, Jacob his
son say if you die and want you buried outside
my windows, she can always be with me. That there's
the turning point right there. And this eighty year old
guy in the gym, I love him. I don't know
the man but I'm telling you I'd love to ug
him and buy a cup of coffee. We're going to
get to a quick break. Will continue our conversation with
(37:04):
Joe Stanley again. If you can't Warpathministries dot org. Warpathministries
dot org. I'm on that website right now and I'm
about to order a hoodie, an arbor hoodie with Warpath
Ministries on the front, and you'll see me around town
here in Milwaukee with it. And when you see me
wearing it, you'll say, Man, I want to meet Joe
(37:28):
Stanley one day.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I want to meet this man.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
We're going to get to a break on other side
of the break, will continue our conversation again. Joe Stanley
is a co founder of Warpath Ministries. This is Faith
in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeart Radio App.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Welcome back to Faith.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
In the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty and your
iHeartRadio App. Coming from the Divan of Jorgansen, Hitting and
Cooling Studios, our special guest you get it now, and
my listeners, you get it. Why I wanted Joe Stanley,
co founder of Warpath Ministries, to come on the show
because there's a lot of guys that we've had on
(38:05):
that their testimony is, you know, born and raised in
a Christian home, and I love those I'm envious of
those guys where their testimony is. Look, I was in
church every time the lights were on, and when I
was seven, I walked down.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
And I accept Jesus Christ my personal savior.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
And then we've got guys that I Look, I was
not at the point where Joe was, but I was
more like him than I was some of the other guys.
And I thank him for his willingness to be so
open with his life because he understands there are people
struggling with the same stuff him and I were struggling
with years ago, and they're looking for a way out.
(38:48):
They're looking for that eighty year old guy at the
jim to say, hey, look, I love.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
You and Jesus loves you.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
They're looking for that nurse in their life that to say, look,
you know what, you should be dead, you should be
in the ground, but God's got something for you. That's
that's what she was saying to him. For Officer Mark,
who treated him like a human being, to say, hey, look, man,
we gotta go. You gotta get get get this thing right, man,
You gotta get this thing right. And I appreciate all
(39:15):
these people that were in in his life, and I
appreciate Emily. You know, we're gonna record this a little
bit earlier, and he said, look, I'm going to get
Emily a cup of coffee. You're gonna have to hold on.
So there's the love that this man has. He's going
out to make sure his wife has a hot cup
of coffee. And the fact that Jacob as a five
year old said this to him again, I have goosebumps
(39:37):
on my arm because of the just his story. And
we will have him back on in six to eight
weeks and I'm gonna ask him if I can get
a hold of Jeff, who is his co founder of
Warpath Ministries, would love to have him on as well.
And I am asking people as they continue this ministry
and they are helping through trauma recovery. He's a trauma
(39:58):
recovery specialist. You want to talk about a guy who
understands trauma. If you listen to segment two, you understand
he understands trauma a lot. Six years old, for the
first time he tried to attempt suicide and he didn't
even really know what that was. And he tried a
number of times. And the Lord now was using him
in this platform with war Path Ministries to continue to
(40:21):
spread the word and do really good and in his
community and communities.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Throughout the country.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Hey, I know that last time we talked, you said, look,
we're hoping to maybe find a building and to have
a twenty four to seven place that people can come
and get sober and we can we can share the
Bible with them. Is that something you think in twenty
twenty six the Lord might put in your path?
Speaker 3 (40:48):
Ye? If he does, man, we've already given him our years.
So we're praying for that. And you know, we kind
of we moved to polom back because you know, Jeff
and I both come from the diction part. You know,
we kind of moved it back. So Okay, where does
the diction come from? What a self harmed? Where does codependency?
And you know all these all these things come from
(41:09):
the near or shame base that lead us away from God.
And it's all that trauma piece, you know, So like
we're looking it's not just for addicts, it's for domestic violence,
for in child abuse, for human trafficking, you know, sexual assault,
like anything that you've been through that's causing you to
(41:31):
go in a direction in your life that it's towards
the darkness. We're just we're broken people that found a solution,
that's trying to bring a solution to broken people age
and you know.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Jesus christis that Well, there's a there's a bumper sticker
right there for war Path Ministries right there.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
On this website, they have zoom meetings Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Friday eight thirty Eastern type that you can join
Trauma recovery, mental health, addiction, suicide prevention.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
If you go to that website.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
They also have the five to five one one group
and that's in person if you happen to be in Clayton,
North Carolina, in person Bible study. Look on that website
all this information and a place for you to donate
or a place for you to shop and buy a
hoodie like I'm gonna buy here in the next couple
of minutes. You can join their team as in the
(42:23):
event team and outreach team, the fundraising team, the Prayer
ten team. There's a lot of ways that you can
help them, even from here from the state of Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
But on the.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
iHeartRadio app there are people all over the country that
listen to the show, and I thank them for that,
and I ask you do me a favor, do yourself
a favor, do Joe a favor. Go to Warpathmistries dot org.
And if you read about what they're trying to accomplish,
and they are accomplishing, you're gonna want to help them
in one way or the other. And I pray that
(42:55):
there's somebody in the Milwaukee area that says, look, we
need to get Joe Stanley here to Wisconsin, get him
here for a couple of days, and have him work
his magic here and tell his story. Look, I'm there
if we can get him to come up to Milwaukee
and do a couple of men's groups at local churches
to be able to talk about what he's been through
(43:17):
and what got him through it and what he's doing now,
to thank God, to say Lord, thank you for allowing
me to still be alive. Guys, we got to get
to a break the other side of the break. It's
a short one. We're gonna ask him. He played college basketball,
played high school basketball, what uniform he would take out
of the closet to get one more game with that team.
We'll get to that question on the other side of
(43:38):
the break. This is Faith in the Zone on Fox
Sports nine twenty and your iHeart Radio app. Welcome back
to Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports nine twenty
and your iHeartRadio App. Our special guest, he's Joe Stanley,
co founder of Warpath Ministries. Go to Warpathministries dot org.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Hey Joe.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
Very short segment we ask our guests to for years.
He's a throwaway question, but I love the answers. All
the uniforms you ever put out, right from from from
playing little little kid basketball, high school basketball, to a
couple of years in college. We put all the uniforms
you ever put on your entire life and put them
in the closet and you get to pick one uniform
(44:18):
out to get one more game with that team.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
What uniform do you pick? Who do you play against?
And why?
Speaker 3 (44:27):
Uh? Yes, that's a hard, hard question, man is I'd
love to get another game with Clayton High School. We've
gone to road ymc A. My AU team had a
lot of great memories and I mean this may be
a cliche answer, But the uniform that I pick is
the one I wear today with war Pass. You know,
(44:50):
it's it's such an important thing, such an impactful thing
that we get to do. It's a blessing. Uh. The
opponent never ceases, and we got to take the same attitude.
But you know, not just the people I work with,
like Jeff Dominic, Brandon Duckworth out in Tennessee, bex Howe
and Florida. Yeah, we got a great team there, but
(45:10):
you know the people that we meet along the way,
you know, Pastor Roy McGee, uh, Steve Steve mccrawl with
Band the Outlaw Ministries, Craig uh course I and Blade
Sauners with Lighting the Wilders Ministries. Like that, those guys
like it have been such a blessing and and such
an uplifting presence of my life. Jordan Wilson uh Nick Sergeant.
(45:34):
He goes by Holy Beard's on social media. Like, these
guys have been amazing friends of mine that I've made
through doing work for Christ and being on this team.
So you know, I love the uniform I have on today,
and I don't think I traded for any of the
ones from.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
My past to be honest amen to that he is
Joe Stanley. Guys, I I have such look. I I
will do what it takes to meet this man in person.
If they're going to do another golf event wherever it is,
I'm gonna fly out to North Carolina and play in
the golf event.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
I just ordered a hoodie from them.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
And I ask you, if you're feeling led right to
help the help this organization, in this ministry. Go to
Warpathministries dot org. One word Warpathministries dot org and and
and help Joe Stanley and help the these guys in
doing what they're doing and and continue to make a
difference in people's lives, and and and I thank him
(46:34):
first time. Hey, Joe, I certainly marry Christmas to you
and your family, and I can't wait to shake your
hand one day, have a cup of coffee, buy lunch,
by dinner, whatever it is, and just say hey, thank
you so much for the work you're doing to spread
the work.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
I appreciate it. Man. I have a merry Christmas you
and your family and everybody around you right now. And yeah,
I'm looking forward to meeting you.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Hey, Hey, I'm gonna get you up to Wisconsin, but
hopefully in the spring or summer. I don't think you're
tough enough to come up here in the dead of winter,
but you know, maybe you are.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
Who knows he is Joe Stanley again. He's a co
founder of war Path Ministries.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
This is Faith in the Zone on Fox Sports ninet
twenty in your iHeart radio app
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