Our Founder’s Story

The Lord gave me, Corey, the phrase Always Endure to be my battle cry just before I began treatment for Stage 2a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (cancer) in 2013. I knew treatment would be extremely difficult, yet I was determined to never give up! Though treatment days were very hard on my body, I endured, clinging to my Lord and His daily deposits of grace and strength. My girlfriend and soon-to-be fiancé, Brittany, was my primary caregiver during this difficult season. She gave me the best care, taking me to chemotherapy treatments while simultaneously pursuing her RN BSN degree. When I was declared to be in remission in 2014, I was debt free from all treatment expenses, which FAR exceeded $100,000. This was only possible because the Lord provided through members of our community who had come together to cover every need I had throughout the many months of cancer treatment.

The following year, Britt and I created the Always Endure 5k as an annual April 5k run. Our town was starting a new festival that year called the Slawburger Festival, and our race began all of the family-friendly fun. Our desire was, and still is, to remove barriers to care for families and individuals from southern middle Tennessee and North Alabama who are enduring major medical diagnoses, which includes a myriad of expenses not covered by insurance. The support we received during my cancer journey made a huge difference, and we wanted to reciprocate that blessing to others.

From 2014 through 2018, we tried to grow our family. Though we were told that we had a 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally, we eventually did! Britt & I were so excited to see the Lord work this miracle after healing me from cancer. However, six weeks later, the pregnancy ended when Britt miscarried. We were filled with so many emotions. We navigated through anger, confusion, and bitterness as we clung tightly to each other and our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ongoing infertility led us to pursue reproductive medical procedures., but these too ended in miscarrying three more children. We didn't know what God was up to, but we trusted Him. We had questions about why He called our four babies home before we ever met them but knew, as hard as it was, that He was working for His glory and our good. He ministered to our hearts as we ministered to other couples enduring infertility and miscarriage.

Many months went by as we continued to seek the Lord and desired to grow our family. Eventually, He got us both on the same page to pursue private adoption. We began fundraising and saving money in Fall 2017 and became an “active” adoptive family in January 2018 (active meaning birth mothers could choose us to parent their child). Over the next six months, we were presented to five different birth mothers, each ultimately choosing a different family. Each time we weren't chosen, we were heartbroken but continued to rest in God's sovereign plan for our family.

Then, one night at church, Brittany got a Facebook message from another pastor’s wife and friend. She said that the Lord had told her to send us a case about a baby girl in California even though she wasn't through our adoption agency. We thought we were crazy for entertaining the idea because it was across the country and required an additional $20,000 plus travel, which we did not have at the time. However, we felt the Holy Spirit's leading to pursue this child. We stayed up late to create a mini profile to send to the law firm and went to bed saying, "This is crazy. What did we just do?" The next evening, we got a call from the adoption law firm in California that the birth mother had chosen us! We were told that if we didn’t choose to parent this child, Child Protective Services (CPS) was there to take the child into foster care. Furthermore, we needed to be in California in 48 hours with the $20,000 cashiers check, planning to live there for a month. Brittany and I looked at each other and said yes in faith to adopt this newborn baby girl. In the midst of hugging and celebrating, we prayed, giving the Lord our need and trusting Him to provide.

God provided all we needed financially to adopt our daughter. In less than 24 hours, He moved within our “village” of adoption supporters, providing the needed $20,000 plus airfare, hotel, and other funds!! And within the given timeframe, we made it to California. When we met our girl in NICU for the first time, years of heartache, tears, questions, and discouragement instantly dissipated. Bella Faith, "Beautiful Faith", had captured our hearts, and we gave God glory and honor and praise for His unending faithfulness!

All in all, our adoption cost around $60,000. We praise the Lord often for our “village” of family and friends who generously gave to our adoption. We expanded our nonprofit in 2020 to help remove financial barriers for adoptive families the Lord has led to pursue adoption through awarding adoption aid grants. There are well over 100,000 children waiting to be adopted in our country, and we desire to help as many as possible receive their forever home by making adoption more affordable for adoptive families.

As the Lord continues to write our story for His glory, Always Endure expanded again in 2022 to remove barriers to placement for children in foster care. Before following the Lord’s leading to pursue private adoption, we had prayed about becoming foster care parents. Now, several years later, the Lord has moved in our hearts (and those on our Board) to revisit foster care and build a transitional home for children waiting for placement.

I don’t know why the Lord our God chose us to start this nonprofit ministry. There is literally nothing good in us but Jesus. I suspect that He knows that whatever He does in and through our family and ministry, we will be faithful to give Him the glory and the praise. It is so humbling to be used as an instrument in His hands, a small brush adding a little color onto the beautiful canvas He’s painting for His glory throughout redemptive history.