Danny Gokey in Studio with the JOY FM Morning Show

Danny Gokey in Studio with the JOY FM Morning Show

You have to listen to this interview with Danny Gokey where he talks about how his organization, Better Than I Found It, is blessing an unsung hero doing good work in our city! You can’t miss this!

Sandi:
We get to say good morning to somebody who was in concert last night, and you kicked off the JOY FM Summer Nights Concert Series. Danny Gokey, good morning.

Danny Gokey:
What’s up, Sandi? Good morning, St. Louis.

Sandi:
Whoa! Look at you. You were on last night, the radio, 12 hours ago, and now here you are on the radio this morning.

Danny Gokey:
Again and early, but thank God I’m awake. Thank God Jesus is alive because we need him right now this early in the morning.

Sandi:
Have you had any caffeine yet? This is just truly Danny or this is Danny and a cup of coffee?

Danny Gokey:
This is true Danny. No coffee. Suffering for the gospel of Jesus. Help! Rescue me, please.

Sandi:
Man, I liked you five minutes ago, but now I really, really like it. You’re coming in like no caffeine or anything?

Danny Gokey:
No caffeine. I mean, roll out of bed. Barely made it in here. Scrape by, get to the finish line. Hey, almost didn’t make it on here, but here we are.

Sandi:
You don’t even have bed hair or anything. I mean, you’re looking good. You’re sounding good.

Danny Gokey:
I took a shower this morning. Trust me. You need me to take a shower in the morning. That’s like my other caffeine is like get some water on me because I need to wake up.

Sandi:
Do you know St. Louis kind of likes you? Do you get that vibe? Because you’ve been to town a few times.

Danny Gokey:
I have, especially when I come to the radio station, especially when you open up the phone lines and people start calling.

Sandi:
You remember that? It makes me so happy.

Danny Gokey:
You kind of think, will people call? Do they care? And all of a sudden, the lines lit up and I’m like, oh, actually people, they do like my music. And that made a difference. As an artist, sometimes we can just really overemphasize our rejection if people don’t like us. We’re in our heads and our emotions a lot, by the way.

Sandi:
That rings loud and sticky, doesn’t it? Whatever the little negative gnats try to throw your way. It just get sticky.

Danny Gokey:
It does. This is why we need to know our identity in Christ Jesus. We shouldn’t be defined by a lightboard and calls lighting up. But when you’re put on the spot, you want the calls to come in.

Sandi:
Well, and that’s one of the things we like to do when we have an artist here, play your songs. But while they’re playing is allow listeners to call in and just one-on-one say, hey.

Danny Gokey:
What a cool thing and a risky thing at the same time.

Sandi:
For everybody.

Danny Gokey:
For everyone. You never know what can happen in that moment.

Sandi:
We’ll give that phone number out, 866-969-4569, if you want to say hey to Danny. Now, you were in town last night to kick off the Summer Nights Concert Series. This is not the first time you have sang over our city.

Danny Gokey:
No.

Sandi:
Is that any different for you? Because you’re on a stage regularly, but how often do you get to actually have your show shared with the entire city?

Danny Gokey:
On radio. Well, I don’t. That might be a first, where actually the whole concert was aired on radio. I mean, I guess I’ve done it on a different radio station. That’s the second time.

Sandi:
You’ve done here on a Sofa Show before.

Danny Gokey:
Yeah, Sofar Show. I’ve done other radio station I will not mention on air, XM. I’ve done that. The thing is you’re nervous because you’re like, man, how good will I sound over the radio? Well, we’ll never know because we didn’t record it, right?

Sandi:
Well, I know.

Danny Gokey:
Oh no, we don’t want to hear that.

Sandi:
No, it’s really good. But thanks for kicking off the series last night. And then you’re in town today for some really fun things. We’re going to give an announcement, get a little bit of traffic because there’s some stuff going on the highways this morning. And then will you share why you’re hanging out in our city for a little bit longer today?

Danny Gokey:
Yes. It’s exciting stuff.

Sandi:
All right, so more with Danny Gokey on JOY FM. Danny Gokey, not only in town last night to kick off the Summer Nights Concert Series, but hanging around today. I love when artists come to town and want to dig in and give back to a community. You’re not only doing that in St. Louis, but beyond. Give us the 30,000 foot view of what your foundation does and then we’ll dig into what you guys are going to be doing in St. Louis.

Danny Gokey:
Better Than I Found It, it’s an organization where we find the good, we shine the light, we leave it better. There are people who in their corners of the world are making a huge difference. When we find these stories, we like to shine a light on it. We like to tell people about it. And then we like to see what they need, what’s the need here, what could keep them going and go to the next level of their mission and their organization, and then we do a give back when we come back.
That’s like the 30,000 foot view. We wrapped my bus. We have the Better Than I Found It bus. We went to several cities on my tour this past spring. We’re here in St. Louis to do a give back today to highlight a story, TJ Tetson. We can’t wait to share with people what we’re doing.

Sandi:
Can you give us a glimpse? Because I know there’s some surprise elements later on today, but basically you, your team, here in St. Louis, and we’ve had a peripheral view, but you guys have just been working really hard to try to find somebody in St. Louis who’s doing good, and then you want to come in and, as you said, shine a light. What else can you say for listeners who may not know who TJ is?

Danny Gokey:
All right. TJ Tetson, he is a veteran. We’re right on 4th of July, right? He is a veteran that served our country for years, and he ended up going homeless. He was trying to get himself back together. He got his barber license. As a veteran, that’s got to be a hard thing. You serve your country and then you come back and you go back in the struggle. To make a very long story short, he got his barber license, got a barber’s shop. He put his chair outside and he started cutting hair for the homeless. Now, why hair? What’s the thing with hair? When he was younger, his mom had suffered some mental illness, but he only got two haircuts a year.
One of the things that he realized is that brought dignity to people was a haircut. It brought value. The first time he puts his chair outside on the sidewalk, there’s a line of 25 people and he cuts 25 people’s hair and there’s still more people. One of the guys that he ended up cutting hair for ended up saying, “I’m on my way to a job interview right now. I can’t afford a haircut.” He cuts his hair, but then he comes back later and he pays him for the haircut because he got the job. TJ, he’s got 25 volunteers who are working for him volunteering. They’re washing hair, doing braids, cutting hair, doing all kinds of things.
TJ wants to advance his mission and cut more people’s hair around all of St. Louis. We’re going to help him with that in Jesus’ name. We won’t say all the givebacks yet, but we have some really big surprises, because he bought a trailer. I think I mentioned that already. We’re going to outfit some of that trailer. He needs something to pull that trailer around. I’ll just put it that way.

Sandi:
This is so cool, because TJ’s right here in our backyard.

Danny Gokey:
Yes, he is.

Sandi:
I imagine for the first time we’re hearing about him for many of us and going, whoa, I had no idea. Thank you, Danny, for coming in, shining a light on one of our own unsung heroes here in our area, and then putting your arms around. This is good stuff. Because as I understand, I’ve not met TJ, but some of our team has, he’s more of an evangelist than he is a barber. He’s telling people about Jesus when they’re in the chair.

Danny Gokey:
He’s cutting their hair. He’s feeding them. He’s giving them hygiene kits. I mean, he’s doing all these different things. Think about this. It’s not just cutting people’s hair which restores value. I know when I get a haircut, I feel like a million bucks. But when he’s doing that, he’s giving them food, he’s giving them hygiene kits, and he’s spreading the gospel. Now, think about that. Jesus said, let your light so shine before men, that they may see what your good works and glorify him, your Father in heaven.
TJ is doing this in the name of Jesus and people are coming to Jesus. St. Louis, we got to get around this guy because he is doing a great work and people’s lives are changing people. I mean, think about that. When you have hope, you don’t commit suicide. When you have hope, you don’t give up on life and go on drugs. When you have hope, you don’t fall into addictions. He’s giving people hope and it’s connected them to their future and their destiny.

Sandi:
Danny Gokey in studio with us this morning, reaching out to our community. More on all of that this morning. If you want to say hey to him while we’re playing a song, 866-969-4569. He’ll be sticking around for a few more minutes. Here’s Love God Love People on JOY FM. Danny Gokey, Love God love People. Good morning. It is 7:30. Danny is here in studio with us. I know you’ve just got about 15 more minutes because you’re heading off to Great Day St. Louis, Channel 4 here, because everyone wants to know about this cool give back thing that you just mentioned a moment ago that are still some surprises.
We’ll celebrate the full story when the surprises have all been unveiled. But can I ask you about, clearly there’s some passion in this, what you’re doing, right? If you had to say aside from music, aside from family and your relationship with God, what are some passions or things that bring purpose to your life? This is the glimpse into Danny Gokey that we may not hear on the radio, but what are some of your passions or purpose outside of those things?

Danny Gokey:
I actually like to teach the word of God.

Sandi:
Someone last night leaned over and goes, is he a minister? Because you were just like, scripture, scripture, scripture.

Danny Gokey:
Many people don’t know this, I got ordained this past February under a ministry and a column because I like teaching the word. I don’t know, there’s so much hope in the word of God and there’s so much direction. The Bible says that people perish because of a lack of knowledge. People just know, if they get into the word of God, the word has transforming power. The world has conforming power, but the word of God has transforming power, which is much different. When you jump into the word of God, it can change you from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Sandi:
You can see your love for God’s word, right? Because again, when you’re here just talking or when you’re on stage last night, how he just brings it forth. You’ve hidden his word in your heart. Your passion for God’s word is evident. I also think because I’ve spent a little bit of time with you that some of your love for God’s word is that it has been your anchor.

Danny Gokey:
Yeah, for sure.

Sandi:
It’s not just something you know intellectually. It has been grounding and anchoring for you. You’ve had sorrow and grief and loss. You’ve been honest about maybe some anxiety and fear and things like that. What would you say to somebody who might be in those places of wrestling and go, “But I don’t know, God’s word is intimidating,” or whatever. What would you speak that is hopeful and anchoring to somebody who’s been where you’ve been?

Danny Gokey:
I think it’s simply this, we need the Holy Spirit to understand the word of God because he’s the one who wrote the Bible. I think a lot of religions have been birthed out of just people reading through their flesh what the Bible says. And then there’s been obviously relationship with the king and miracle signs and wonders when people actually interpreted it through the spirit. Jesus said this, when people are following Jesus in John 6, Jesus said this, he said, “You’re only following me because I fed you. He makes that comment right? And then he goes on. He says, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me.”
He says this six times. The Bible says that people got offended, that people started quarreling. What does he mean? Because they thought he meant he had to cannibalize them. These are people who interpreted Jesus through their flesh. When he said it again, everyone left, except the disciples. Jesus made this comment. He said, it’s the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. Meaning people will follow God until they don’t understand him anymore. Then they’ll deconstruct or they’ll runaway when things get tough. But he said, “Listen, it’s the Spirit that gives life.” He looked at disciples, he said, “Are you going to leave too after everyone left?”
They said, “Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus didn’t backtrack. He didn’t cookie cut it. People misunderstood Jesus in that moment. Many people misunderstand the Bible. When you fast-forward some chapters, Jesus is in the upper room and he lifts up the bread and he lifts up the wine and he said, “This is my body. This is my blood.” People who left him missed that. They thought that he wanted him to eat his body, like cannibalize. But Jesus was saying, “No, no, if you’d have stuck with me, you’d understood that there was a greater purpose and a greater thing. It was actually much easier than you thought.
You just got in your flesh about it.” Don’t read the Bible in the flesh. That’s my whole point. Read the Bible in the Spirit. You need the Holy Spirit. Ask him the help you.

Sandi:
Danny Gokey on the show today. Again, well, he got about 15 more minutes. There’ve been people calling in, 866-969-4569. A few moments ago, referenced this song, Haven’t Seen It Yet. We have so many listeners who say it’s been kind of an anthem through a season where they’ve not seen it yet. And then some are saying, “And now I can see it.” Some are still saying, “I still haven’t seen it yet.” But this is an anthem. Is that why it’s a big song for you or one that you like to share?

Danny Gokey:
I wrote that one because I wasn’t seeing some promises in my own life. I’m not lying. I walked into the writing session and I told the writers, I don’t want to be here. I’m discouraged. I’m depressed. I’m hurting right now because some of God’s promises that I thought would happen by now didn’t happen by now. I’m kind of stuck empty. And as I started saying that, I noticed myself going in, but God did this in my life, but God did this, but God did this.
All of a sudden, I talked myself happy in that room and I’m writing a song. This song was birthed. And that’s why that bridge, he’s moving with the love so deep. Hallelujah for the victory. Good things are coming even when we can’t see. We just haven’t seen it yet. I just had to remind myself, stay strong, stay the course.

Sandi:
Danny, I mean, come on. It was a late night for you. I know how much trouble I had going to sleep. I can’t even imagine the adrenaline. You talked to 600 people after the show. And then here you are here this morning. And from here you’re going over to Great Day St. Louis, the CBS affiliate. And then you’re not done. Then you’re going to be blessing our city later on this afternoon. If someone just tuned in and joined in, you kind of as you’re able city by city find ministries in the towns and then you do a give back.

Danny Gokey:
The idea was we’ve been praying about God, how do we let our light so shine before men? We threw in a lot of ideas. When you came up with this, we said, well, we have… We started with some bigger ideas. What can we do? Then we looked at how big these ideas. We’re like, man, this could kill us. This could kill us. We want to see people come to Jesus, but we’re also not responsible for the world coming to Jesus. My team’s here sitting in the studio with me and we just said, what can we do that could have a great impact?
Maybe it’s not the biggest thing, but it would let our light shine. We started going back into cities. We started finding people, finding the good, shine that, leave it better. We started unpacking these stories, putting them on social media. We’re sharing them at the shows that we’re doing. TJ’s the guy who we found in this city. We’re helping people try keep moving forward and getting the gospel out and showing the love of Jesus, so it has a great impact even after we leave.

Sandi:
He’s a vet and he has a passion for… He does haircuts, but he shares Jesus when he does it. You guys are going to be stepping into that in some ways we can’t quite reveal.

Danny Gokey:
Well, we could. Hopefully he’s not listening. I mean, if anyone knows me, they know that I love my country. The Bible says in Galatians that people right now, they don’t know what to feel about America. Sometimes people do, sometimes don’t. But I know this, the Bible says that all nations will be blessed through us, the Abrahamic Covenant. If they know me, I want to bless our veterans, and TJ is a veteran.
Our nation is blessed because us Christians live here, right? We want to bless TJ. TJ’s got this mobile barbershop he wants to launch. He needs something to pull it. He needs some chairs and basins to put inside of it. Today, we just might have some of those things to give TJ.

Sandi:
I love that you’re wanting so much to share, but you also want to keep this a surprise. Can I just say something, piggybacking off what you said a second ago? I am so thankful you’re not chasing big, that you are chasing after just obedience and stepping into where God calls you. I think we get in our way sometimes by thinking, well, I’ve got to do something big and I’m going to chase after big and I’m going to build big things.
He needs fish and bread. That’s all he needs. He needs what we have right now. And then he will feed the many because that’s what he does. Not to preach, but just to say, I appreciate Danny that you went, you know what, I’m not going to chase after big. I’m going to start right here, right now with people who are already being faithful with their fish and their bread and let’s just see what God does.

Danny Gokey:
Amen. That’s encouraging. Thank you.

Sandi:
I don’t know.

Danny Gokey:
You almost made me sing. Hallelujah!

Sandi:
I appreciate that. It’s easy for us all to chase after big.

Danny Gokey:
It is because you feel like you’re not doing anything if you’re not doing something on a huge scale. But we just realized that when you even do it in secret, most of the times we don’t get on air. We just go to the cities and we just do it. We just want people to be aware there’s good happening. There’s a lot of negativity. That’s what sells.

Sandi:
That’s right.

Danny Gokey:
But we need to know this. Why did he say let our lights so shine that I may see our good works? Because so that people realize there is a God and that he’s a good God, and then they turn their eyes from glorifying evil and they turn it to glorifying God.

Sandi:
Danny, I know you’ve got to run out because you’ve got to go look all pretty on TV and stuff.

Danny Gokey:
Without coffee. I’m not sure that’s possible, but we’re going to do it.

Sandi:
But we’re going to play one more of your songs here. You did it last night. It had the video with Koryn Hawthorne. I love this song. Love that you guys do it together. But anyway, I appreciate you. Thanks for singing to us and for us and for blessing our city and just as you as a man. Appreciate you. I love you, Danny Gokey.

Danny Gokey:
Thank you, Sandi. I love you and I’m excited to read your book. I started reading it last yesterday and I can’t wait to finish it. You have a good testimony.

Sandi:
Well, thank you. Here is Danny, We All Need Jesus, on 99.1 JOY FM. Yes, later on today, we’ll tell you all the secrets that Danny couldn’t tell you right now.