Cory Williams - Being Restored & Made Whole
Exploring faith journeys and inspiring ministries that embody the good news of God, this is the Cumberland Road. I'm your host, TJ Malinoski. Today, Cory Williams joins me on the podcast. Corey is the senior minister of the Dyersburg Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Tennessee, and Cory is a graduate of Bethel University. He is a graduate of Memphis Theological Seminary, both with a master of divinity and a doctorate of ministry. Cory comes from a background of ten years in a corporate world dealing with marketing and sales. He served the Brunswick Cumberland Presbyterian Church for eleven years. He also worked at MTS, Memphis Theological Seminary, as the chief information officer, and he's been at the Dyersburg Church for five years. Corey also has a family. His his wife, Peggy, and they have two children, Luke and Ben, and they have some pets indoors and outdoors around their home.
T.J.:Cory, thank you for joining me today.
Cory:Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here.
T.J.:It's been a long time since we've seen one another. It has. It has. Now Corey and I go back to Bethel College. We're both students there at the same time.
T.J.:And at that point in your life, you were already a candidate for ministry. Correct?
Cory:I was. I came under the care of presbytery as a candidate when I was 16, I believe. Matter of fact, I remember meeting with the committee on the ministry. I wasn't old enough to drive myself. I think somebody drove me.
T.J.:Well, okay. Well, we are probably gonna go even further back and reflecting back upon your life and your relationship with Christ. Can you recall your first encounter with God?
Cory:Alright. So I grew up in a small town, in Middleton, Tennessee in, South Rural West Tennessee. It's in Hardiman County. And the church that we attended when I was growing up was the Bolivar Cumberland Presbyterian Church. And it was a small church.
Cory:And for most of the time, we didn't really have a lot of kids or youth. So at this one time, you get invited by your buddies at school, right, to go to church with them. And so I would go hang out the youth group at the Methodist Church, and I'd hang out with the youth group at the Baptist Church, Church of Christ a little bit. But I remember going to this, evangelism conference in, I guess, the Southern Baptist do it. I think it was at Vanderbilt maybe.
Cory:And I remember having a very good time. I remember, enjoying the music and enjoying the speakers, and I wasn't invited to give my testimony. I'm probably, like, 13 or something like that at the time, at the at the Baptist Church on a Sunday night. So lots of kids that were basically sharing our experience with being on the trip and how God spoke to us there or whatever and to give our testimony. Well, my buddy, you know, Alex, he gets up, and he's rededicated his life for, like, the eighteenth time.
Cory:People go nuts. Everybody's just pooping and hollering, folks crying, women throwing their babies up in the air. It was a big old deal. And then my, another buddy gets up and talks about how, he's giving his life to Christ. People are crying, and everybody's amen.
Cory:And then it comes to my turn, and I'm like, I was raised Cumberland Presbyterian. I've always grown up in a church. Grew up in a Christian home. I can't remember a time that I didn't know that about God and about God's love and being taught about Jesus and his sacrifice and his grace and his mercy. And, it was nice to get to go to this trip and and experience that in some different ways.
Cory:You know? I gave my life to Christ a couple years ago, and, you know, it it wasn't it didn't have the, the chutzpah that the other stories did. And so after I've shared this out loud, really bore my soul here about my life, testimony about Jesus in my life, and it's just crickets, man. It's just silent. No nobody cried.
Cory:Nobody's throwing babies in the air. Nobody's happy. But I'm very thankful for that because I was raised in a Christian home. I was raised in church in a loving church family that was very supportive of of me and loved on me and taught me. And I got to go to Cam Clark Williamson here in West Tennessee growing up, starting actually got to go early because Vernon Sansom was our pastor at the time, and he was directing a junior camp.
Cory:And I think I was maybe a year too young to go. And I think that I think his youngest son, David, was maybe a year too young to go or something like that. And so I got to go with him, and that was pretty cool. So I even got to start camp early. So to answer an earliest memory, it's more like being steeped in it, raised in it.
Cory:And I remember meeting I guess, the two from my my youngest memories, the two things that I remember two or three things that I remember the most are a lovely, lovely lady in our church, Ms. Anderson, who would do the children's time. And she was just so sweet, and she would speak right to you. She would look in your eyes and talk to you, not use it as a time to talk to the congregate. She was really talking to the kids.
Cory:You know? And she was just miss Janice, she was sweet as she could be, and she would tell me about God's love for me, and I believe her. You know? And later in life, Cam Clark Williamson, there were lots of of folks that would that would speak and and teach. But I remember having, I don't know if it was a junior camp or a junior high camp, but I can remember it was a very emotional and real time for me where you could feel like that was a thin place and the spirit was talking to me.
Cory:And I have words for that now. I didn't, you know, then. But that was those were very formative times, and that's where I made a a public profession. Mhmm. But I also I also remember we had several ministers that came to the church.
Cory:Bill Herringlake, Earl Phelps, Vernon Sansom, again, who were happy to spend time with me answering my questions and talking to me. And so, like I said, it's not a very interesting story, but it's a very it's one I'm very thankful for because I was steeped in in the teachings of God and about the grace of Christ from birth. It just kinda felt like a natural fruition of things, a natural progression, I guess, I should say.
T.J.:Mhmm. Well, if you were steeped in it from early on, what are some of the things about the Christian faith that has given you purpose, has given you meaning in your life that you've carried through? And even if you wanna mention to where you are now, this is the things I identify with in my relationship with Christ.
Cory:Yeah. So I think that one of the benefits in being steeped in the faith and raised in it like I was is your identity formation. Like, as a pastor now, I meet people whose understanding about God or are really based a lot out of fear or or loathing, who I am, the kind of person I am, the things I think, the things I've done or left undone, the things I've said or left unsaid.
T.J.:A of guilt. A lot
Cory:of regret. God hates me for that. Like, God doesn't and being steeped in it, you were like, no. I I never I never felt like now I did have a very profound experience where I had made a a bunch of just bonehead choices all in a row and where I was in my life and where I was in my faith. And this was, you know, adulthood.
Cory:And I was like, God's not happy with this. God's God is probably straight up unhappy, angry with me about this. But even in this, it was a very dark time in my life. But even then, it wasn't like God straight up forsaken me. It wasn't that God God God's not happy, and God may even be letting me know that, that this is not what I've called you to be.
Cory:This is not who I've called you to be. This is not suitable. But that's that is still different than, like, I can't even approach God or or God doesn't doesn't care for me or, you know, that the the the grace of Christ is for these other people, but I'm so bad. It it's not. And I run into people that experience those feelings.
Cory:And I and so that's probably the the most interesting juxtaposition I would say in being raised in it is I never knew a time that God did not love me. I never knew a time that I did not believe that God was my advocate, that God was while I had this free will and choice, that God was constantly working with me to shape me into something better despite, you know, my shortcomings and my my brokenness.
T.J.:So what do you tell folks who are coming from a sense of guilt and remorse and and regret knowing the background that you've just shared coming from a very different place? So what words of encouragement do you give someone who's coming from a different place?
Cory:I I think the the go to default would be to share probably more deeply about that broken time in my life. You know? Mhmm. Give them some juicy details. Let them let them let them see the the the truth of of we all fall short.
Cory:Yeah. Right?
T.J.:Let them see the broken Corey.
Cory:Yeah. Yeah. And and give them my testimony, which is God took me when I was broken and through people that looked after me and and his people, people that were taking care of me, giving me perspective, loving on me, helping meet some needs that I had that the whole time were saying, it wasn't like they were they were just doing it. They were doing it and saying, God's doing this for you. Like like, it was very clear that this was God working through these people to me.
Cory:Over time, you know, you get restored. You get made whole. It's not like you don't carry some scars and be like, hey. See that? That's when I was really stupid.
Cory:And did you see that? That's when I was stupid here. See that? That's when I ran away from there. And, and the reason I say that is because I think particularly for ministers, you're the one that's doing that kind of having that kind of conversation, it's very easy for people to make assumptions that put you on pedestals that is not healthy for them or for you.
Cory:Like, it's not true. And that's a way of of sharing. This is what this is not what I did through some self help or through some therapy or like, god restored me in this way, and this is what it looks like. And, if they wanted to get super technical about it the re only reason I bring that up is because there are those people that do. Like, they're really litigious about things.
Cory:Well, then we got a whole book full of scripture of people that ran away, people that were unfaithful, people that couldn't do what, what God asked of them to be in covenant with him, and still God makes a way through Christ. Right. So those would be my two go tos.
T.J.:And and I and I believe others as well, we are a messy restoration in progress.
Cory:You know?
T.J.:You know, it's not a completed and go, ah, you know, it's like a a rebuilt car. You know? It's been restored to its former glory. No. I mean, mine is just didn't I put that on you?
T.J.:Now you've broken it again, TJ? What are you doing? And that would God god continues to provide me that grace. Sure.
Cory:And that that was just since this morning. Right? And I wake up and do it again tomorrow. And I probably got eight 20 more before the day is through. Absolutely.
Cory:Absolutely. Work in progress.
T.J.:So our faith journeys have us going all over the place. Each each of our journeys is unique and different. Yours has you in ministry. So what's happening in your life in ministry right now?
Cory:Right now, I am pastoring a lovely church full of just really cool people in Dyersburg. This is my first time being in the full time pastorate. I've always been bivocational in the past. And the the call to do this was was very strong. And the way that it was not my plan, I guess.
Cory:Let me say that. I didn't I didn't wanna be a full time pastor. I wanted to be bivocational. I think there's a lot of really cool aspects, a lot of benefit official aspects both for clergy and for churches if you can do bivocational. I know it's hard, and I always got got its own pitfalls, but I did it for such a long time.
Cory:It was it was comfortable to me, and I I liked how that how that went. And the churches that I served did too. When this came along, my wife and I were looking at, needing to move into a different house because our we had two little ones at the time that were starting to be not so little, and we were living in a smaller house. We're like, we need some room for them. We also had a Great Dane.
Cory:So between the the kids running around and skateboarding on everything and riding down the banisters along with the dog, It was it was just too much. So we were looking at at at another house, and we were wanting to do something, more rural than where we were living in suburbia. My my wife Peggy has a love for, and has done studies. She has an MAR from from MTS also, and her emphasis is on care of creation. And, so, you know, thank Wendell Berry kind of stuff.
Cory:That's the that's Joe Salatin. She reads that stuff all the time. So she wanted to have critters and and crops, and we weren't doing that on our eighth of an acre lot in Lakeland. So, it was against the the the home association to do any of that. So we were looking for something more rural, but we weren't looking at leaving the area.
Cory:And we had an opportunity through a lady that we had, met in our church at the time who was looking at she she had gotten married, and she was looking at selling her property, and he was gonna sell his property, they were gonna go buy something new and start a life together. And so we went out there, and we're we're looking at her place and kinda making plans and thinking about it. And this was gonna be like, we would go to the same grocery store. We would go to the same doctors. It was just right down the road.
Cory:It was a beautiful setup for us. Kids would go to the same school, no upheaval except for the moving. And, I'm like, look, if we're gonna move, if we're gonna have this kind of change in our life, we need to be prayerful about that and listen to what what that God may want that to be. Mhmm. And that turned into if if you're slowly, the steps.
Cory:If you're willing to move seven or 10 miles away, would you be willing to move 20 miles away? And so we got to looking at houses that were 20 miles away. It still wouldn't interfere with my job at the seminary. I could still drive in. And a lot of folks in that live in the the corner of West Tennessee there, folks that work in Memphis, some of them live in Mississippi and drive over or Arkansas and drive.
Cory:So so the the the ranging is not uncommon to do that. So we were looking at North Shelby County, and we looked at, some some of the other area. And our radius got more and more and more. And in the middle of this conversation that we just had about, well, if we're willing to move 20 miles or 30 miles away, I mean, if we're willing to upheave that much of our life, then we it could be a hundred. It could be another state.
Cory:It could be another country. Like, what does that look like now? Now so now we're open And we're having this conversation, and I hear from a friend of mine that the Dyersburg church is open, and then they're looking. And we my family, were at it was a it a Baskin Robbins that had just opened, and we were, like, their, like, twelfth customer. And, we're sitting there eating ice cream, and we're we as a family are talking about, well, what about should I look at at this church?
Cory:Should I send them my stuff? Is this is this a thing? And in the middle of that conversation, a person from that church calls me or sends me a text that says, hey. We're open now. Would you be willing to to look at that in the middle of conversation?
Cory:This is in this is in July because it was my son's birthday right after that, and we're at Minifigs doing a Lego party for my son and his friends. And he had met someone from Dyersburg at at a junior camp at Camp Clark Williamson and had invited him to his party. And his parents, his mother, who I knew from when I was a kid going to camp, graciously drove her son, Sam, down to to Luke's party. And she was like, hey. We're, you know, we're looking for a a minister.
Cory:So it was all, like, all at once. And so I took it seriously and and sent the thing in. So I feel like God has led, my family to where we are. And, personally, like, professionally, like the stuff that I'm interested in, I don't know really how to express it other than, like, I'm interested in a lot of things, man. I like to I like music.
Cory:I like fishing. I like hunting. I like hobbies. I like learning something new. My son and I, my youngest son and I are starting to work on a nineteen seventy nine k five Blazer right now, which I hope that I get to drive.
Cory:I'm afraid when he turns 16, he's gonna take it from me. But I like learning new things. I like the experience. I like the the struggle, the working out the puzzles. I like the the growth of it.
Cory:And so I'm kind of a utility guy. I have a lot of varied interests. What what my dad used to say, like a a jack of all trades, a master of none. Right? In the in my life, in this church as a pastor, over and over and over and over again.
Cory:Weird stuff that I read, studied, worked on, was interested in, played around with has come up and been uber helpful in my service at this congregation. And it's like like, all this stuff that I've experienced was to build me up for this time, a place a time just as the just like this.
T.J.:Even your magical illusions?
Cory:Even the magical illusions, man, which the little kids love it. You know? You got a kid with some sort of, maybe social anxiety or super super shy that's having a difficult time being around the crowds that might come on our Wednesday night children's services or our our children's programming or our, like, a BBS. Or we do a big trunk or treat that, like, 14% of the con of the of the county shows up and goes through. It's thousands and thousands of people.
Cory:And you get to meet all these kids, man. Doing a little magic goes a long way.
T.J.:I bet it does. I bet it does.
Cory:Just don't pull anything out of anybody's ear. That's old school and cliche, and it scares kids. Okay. So, you know, just so you know.
T.J.:Alright. If I get into the art of illusions, you'll be the
Cory:first one to call. Please do.
T.J.:So we've talked a little bit about you've shared how God has been working in your life today and and what's happening in your ministry. I wanna ask you, where do you see God working in the world today beyond you?
Cory:I don't think that it would be a big stretch for most people to understand, to agree with the sentiment that we're living in some pretty difficult times. I mean, that's that's probably true of of every culture, of every time, of every person could sit down and go, wow. This world we're living in. Ain't it ain't it tough? You know?
Cory:But it is tough out there, and there's there's so much discord. There's so much divide. There's so much polarization in our culture all the way you know, you can't even like a sports team that's different from somebody else hardly anymore without it making you evil. It's not just that you know? It's you know, twenty years ago, I felt like, you know, if you like one team and someone likes the other they just think you're stupid.
Cory:That's okay. But but now I'm evil. You know? That's a whole different kinda premise. And yet
T.J.:Well, Corey, what, sports teams are we talking about here? This could be
Cory:See, I use that as a generic thing for other people because I'm not really a sports kinda guy. But I know other people are, so I have to I have to I was just I was just trying to connect with your listeners, TJ. Please, please. Go ahead. Too.
T.J.:Yeah. Okay. Discord.
Cory:Yeah. Discord. So what happens is the, I'm also, at the same time, noticing a great deal of people responding to that. They don't actually get the press. I don't know that the Discord does, but it's been my experience that, there are people out there, a lot of young people with a great deal of patience for folks that are different than they are, with a great deal of compassion.
Cory:Like, I'm I'm hearing people be able to say things like, yeah. I don't know anything about that, or that's not my life or my experience or whatever. But, you know, she's she's sad. Let's go cheer her up. He's hungry.
Cory:Let's give him some like, they they're they're getting past the minutia and looking at the the core kind of things, the reality, the the the trueness of things, and it makes people do some pretty holy stuff. And I I've just I've really witnessed that a lot lately. And I'll tell you as a parent, it's pretty cool to hear hear that in your kids. Mhmm. You know?
Cory:The the that they can talk about the person that that makes them feel aggravated at school and then turn around in the same breath and talk about something that they're really good at or very cool about. You know? That's so in particular, you asked, and that's where I see God working a lot right now is in a time of discord that there are there's a remnant of people, little pockets here and there that have, I think, a holy sense of grace about them and a holy sense of unity about them and a care for the other, and I'm very appreciative of that.
T.J.:Well, moving towards the church. So we've talked about god working in your life today where we see god working in the world today. The church that you and I both serve, what hopes, ideas do you have for it moving into this new year and moving into the years to come?
Cory:The pandemic has really done a number, certainly on my church and many others. The the congregation that I serve. It's not like it's my church. I don't I don't pay any mortgage bills or anything there. There's no there's no charter with my name on it.
Cory:Right? The church that I'm very blessed to serve, and and many others have had to make make changes out of necessity because of COVID nineteen. And there is a perspective that I have often or I think we should be really appreciative of that because my congregation and many others often become very insular and nearsighted. And when things are going well and when a church has been doing very well and, imagine I'm holding up quote fingers for well because that's that's kind of a moving target depending upon who you're asking about it. Right?
Cory:Traditionally, I think that that that churches have measured their health based on numbers of people or the amount of money that they have in their budget or the size of their, youth group or their children's programming or how many buses they have or what you know, all kinds of of or the size of their campus. I guess that would be another big one. That's not what we're here for. I believe that we're here to be servants for Jesus Christ to make disciples, to help others come to know him and love him and give their lives to him. And I'm not saying that our churches aren't doing that, but I think that we had a lot of obstacles because of our blessings, because of our success that make us make us flabby, make us, you know, fat and happy and comfortable and, and like culturally in our country.
Cory:I mean, it actually meant that not that long ago, if you moved into a small town like Dyersburg and you wanted to have any kind of respect in the community, open a business or, you know, be a respected person in the community, you would be a part of a church like that's that was part of the deal. So our our churches, I think, enjoyed a great deal of success in a lot of ways that they would market as success because culturally, we were supported that people needed to be in church. It was the social center. I mean, there's all these all these expectations for folks to be in church. Now none of that exists, but a lot of the people that, I'm not saying none of that.
Cory:I mean, I still live in the Bible Belt and there's there's portions of that. But at the end of the day, it's not nearly just fractionally as prevalent as it used to be. And so the churches kept kinda living that way. The people that come to us, We don't have to go serve anybody. If they wanna get their crap together and be right with God, they'll we'll stand here on the corner in front of our brick edifice and our steeple, and they'll come be with us.
Cory:We're here. They know where we're at. That's not what Jesus calls us to do, to go into the world and to meet people and to go where they are and to tell them about him and how he loves them and what he's done in his, his teachings, in his death, in his resurrection, what, the the promise of the resurrection hope for them, like, all of that. We're called to go and make disciples of folks to show them Christ, and we're not doing that when we're serving ourselves. COVID has made us made us for many churches.
Cory:Now there are some that didn't didn't respond that way, but for a lot of churches, we had to lay down on purpose because of laws of where we live, because of, safety concerns for our people. We've had to put down habits and biases and preferences of how we do church, how we worship, how we congregate, of how we communicate. We've had to lay a lot of our golden calf idols aside in order to continue to even exist. And I am really hopeful that this is gonna be a revival opportunity for churches to, kinda get their stuff together and be white hot on mission for what Christ has called us to do, which is missional, which is looking out, not insular, taking care of ourselves. And that's I'm starting to see some of that in my own congregation.
Cory:I have some, other minister peers that when we talk, they're starting to see some of those changes happen in there. And I I think that's exciting and might be might be the best thing that's happened to the church in The United States in a very long time.
T.J.:So some of your hopes and aspirations are actually have some fruit to them.
Cory:Yeah. Already, you know, low hanging fruit so far, but but I I think that they'll I think at least the the ground is ready for something new.
T.J.:Corey, I appreciate you sharing your your afternoon with me. How can the listeners continue to follow you on your faith journey?
Cory:Well, they could come to Dyersburg. We'd love to have them. Great town. That being off the table, if that's not an option, certainly our, website, CumberlandChurch.com, is for the Dyersburg Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and it has access to our services every week. We livestream them.
Cory:They're interactive. You can chat with pastors, during the service. You can chat with other people in the church or whatever.
T.J.:Okay.
Cory:Share your prayer concerns, that sort of thing. I'm preaching there just about every week. Unless I don't know. Unless you're hearing something I haven't heard yet. That that's my plan, is to be there.
Cory:And if if you're if you're kind and wanna be friends, I'm on Facebook too. Look me up.
T.J.:Alright. Corey, I appreciate it. It's good seeing you. It's been a long time.
Cory:Thanks for sharing.
T.J.:Yeah. Thanks for sharing your faith journey, and thank you for joining me today. Tell a friend and travel with me on our next journey down Cumberland Road.
