Today we’d like to introduce you to Traie Odom
Hi Traie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started using drugs and drinking at a very young age. If I remember correctly it was around the age of 12-14. At the age of 15 I left my parents house and went to go live with friends or whoever would let me stay at their house. By this time I was drinking and smoking weed daily and was quickly introduced to meth. Once I was introduced to meth there wasn’t anything else that motivated me besides meth and my life quickly began to spiral out of control. By the time I was 17 I had been charged with 3 felonies (breaking and entering, property damage, and possession of a controlled substance.) While on probation for those charges I was charged (but never convicted) of a drive by shooting and was sent to prison for the first time. I did 4 months in prison and was released but quickly went back to prison and that time I did a year and a half. It was during this stay that I started to try and find my place in prison and became gang affiliated.
Once I was released from prison I just picked up where I left off and continued to find ways to get into trouble and I was charged and convicted with more felonies and was sent back to prison. (Most of my charges consisted of possession of a controlled substance.)
I was in and out of jail and prison serval times from the time I was 18-30 and the last time I was released from prison I did 3 years in there and got out with no probation or parole so I was a free man.
I was only out for a few hours until I started getting high on meth again. I was able to settle down a little bit and get a job and eventually get a house but soon my addiction to control of me again and I went from selling a lot of meth to using a lot of meth and it wasn’t long until I lost my job and my house which led to me being homeless and nowhere to turn so I started breaking into peoples houses and stealing anything I could get my hands on. I broke into a house while the some people where out of town and was caught the next day and sent to jail. For this I received 5 years probation with a 17 year backup and I moved in with my sister.
While living with my sister everything was good for a little bit but then I started drinking and using meth again and my life slowly started to spin out of control once again.
It wasn’t long until I stopped reporting to my probation officer and then covid happened and during covid I caught 5 more felonies in 3 different counties and during covid they had to book and release you and after covid died down I had warrants that started to pop up all over and eventually I was pulled over one night and sent to jail and at this point I was facing 70 years in prison due to prior and persistent offenses.
My probation officer didn’t want to send me to prison because she did not think that would help me and she found a program called Freeway Ministries and sent me an application which I filled out and was eventually accepted into. Upon being accepted into the program by the grace of God all 3 counties dropped their holds on me and I was released to the program.
I came Freeway with a really bad attitude and no relationship with Christ. But slowly God started to work in my heart through the consistent encouragement of others in the program and the daily reading of the Bible. It was about a month into the program that God saved me and gave me a purpose in life.
Once being a Christian God started to reveal things to me such has letting go of the things in my life that were holding me back from growing in my relationship with him. So I let go of all the bad habits I once had a disconnected from all unhealthy friendships. But the most profound moment is when God restored the relationship between my parents and me.
Halfway through the program I was given more probation for the 5 felonies that I had been charged with so then at that point I was on probation with a 30 year back up (which means if I messed up my probation then I would go to prison for a percentage of 30 years.)
I graduated the program and felt the Lord leading me to pursue full time ministry so I went through and internship with Freeway call “The Timothy Project” which trains men and women up and prepares them for ministry. In the meantime Freeway also gave me a full scholarship to Baptist Bible College (which is now called Mission University) and I graduated with a 4.0
During the internship and going to school a met a woman by the name of Savanna Brockman (which is obviously Savanna Odom now) while preaching at a small church one night and 4 months later we were married on October 2nd 2022. Shortly after that on February 14th 2023 we found out Savanna was pregnant and shortly after that we were presented with the opportunity to move to Florida to run our own Freeway in Sanford. We spent many hours in prayer about this and we even flew to Florida to visit and made the decision that we felt God leading us to move to Florida and run the ministry.
In August of 2023 we moved to Florida and in September of 2023 we had our son Ezra Odom.
We have now been here for almost a year and a half and God has grown us in so many ways and showed us over and over again that none of what we are doing is for us but it is all for His glory.
Recently we also found out that Savanna is expecting another child and our due date is August 11th
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely been a very difficult road. We have struggled being 1200 miles away from everyone we know and love and even though we are part of a church family here it took some time to build on those relationships but we love our church family now!
Also when we first moved here we lived in a very small 1 bedroom studio house that was 350 square feet with a newborn baby which was very difficult
Another struggle we faced was in November when my dad passed away which has been rough…even though I was able to go home and preach my dads funeral it was still very hard being away from my family during that time.
Ministry itself can be very difficult and can take a toll on you and your family if your heart is not aligned properly so it has taken a lot of work by God to sanctify us and get our hearts properly aligned.
Plus wanting to be in ministry and being in ministry are two very different things. Adjusting to life as missionaries has been difficult but I believe we have overcome that obstacle.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I run a ministry called Freeway Sanford.
We are a recovery ministry and our Moto is: “Reaching the Hard to Reach With the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Our goal is to help those who are homeless, addicted, or incarcerated to find hope in the power of Jesus Christ.
We have a 1 year long live in discipleship house where men can come from the streets, rehab, prison, etc. and can come and be discipled for a year and we teach them how to live as godly men according to what the Word of God says.
We pride ourselves on being a Christ centered program. We are not faith based we are Christ centered. Everything we do flows from what the Word of God says and how it instructs us and I believe that is what sets us apart from others.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Websites:
www.restorationsanford.com
www.freewaysanford.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.freewaysanford.com
- Instagram: Freeway Sanford
- Facebook: Freeway Sanford
Image Credits
Freeway Sanford
