Our Beloved Pastor Kevin Corey

“Did you have a good day at church?” I asked my twelve-year-old son on our way home, about a year ago.

“Yes, I did. I always do. Pastor Corey is the best children’s minister ever. And I would know because I have had a lot of them!”

He’s right. Our moving all over the country every couple of years means Daniel has had several children’s pastors.

Daniel went on to talk about what makes Pastor Corey great. He is so funny, and he tells the Bible stories well, so everyone listens and understands. He was kind and fun to the kids. Every week he and his wife, Becky, taught the kids together, and they were the best team.

Pastor Corey and Becky treated all the kids with love and respect. Not everyone does that with children. Kids can tell who cares about them and who doesn’t.

Any time someone is dear to your children for being a shining light in their life, you love and appreciate that person.

I am so thankful I thought to tell PC about what Daniel said at a church event a year ago. So often, we mean to tell people how much they mean to us and never get around to it.

Last week our boys’ mentor, teacher, pastor, and friend, Pastor Kevin Corey, was laid to rest.

He was in a horrific backyard fire pit accident and died several days later. No one saw this coming. Pastor Corey was only in his fifties.

The boys knew him better than I did. For the past two years, PC (as the kids called him) profoundly blessed our family.

He blessed many families for decades through his ministry. He was one of those people who everyone felt like they knew.

Pastor Corey was a mentor and friend to my oldest son.

Joshua went to camp, to Kentucky, and on other church trips with him. Joshua and Daniel witnessed to people at Kingstowne shopping center with Kevin on Wednesday nights.

Our sons have had very few mentors who aren’t related to them. I think PC and Buzz are the closest mentors (who aren’t relatives) our oldest son has ever had.

One week when I dropped my son off at church for youth group, he said he needed to talk to Pastor Corey about something. I was like, “About what? What is it?”

He wouldn’t tell me, but he did get right out of the car and head straight over to PC. (The youth hang out outside the building, playing basketball or talking, until the class starts.) I saw them talk briefly and then move to chairs outside to sit down and discuss whatever was on my son’s mind in depth.

That was another moment I felt a deep appreciation for this man of God.

Plus y’all, Pastor Kevin Corey was genuinely hilarious, without trying very hard. Even his facial expressions were funny.

This is the pastor who baptized Joshua. He is also the one who convinced us to join Calvary Road Baptist Church when we moved back and recruited us to work in the young adult college and career ministry.

How Pastor Corey got us to stick with Calvary Road Baptist

We were members of this church twice before. This is our third time living in the area because the military life is a wild ride.

After we visited the church this time, I received an email from Pastor Corey, asking us if we would please consider helping Buzz lead the college and career ministry.

I liked the sound of Alan and I working in a ministry together. We have not done that in ages. Usually, we teach separate Sunday school classes.

However, I had to write Pastor Corey an email letting him know we were not actually sure we could come back to church at CRBC. No one spoke to our teenagers on our first visit, and I strongly wanted them to like whatever church we chose and feel welcome. Our younger children loved PC’s class, but the older kids disliked the youth Sunday school class.

Pastor Corey immediately emailed me back asking me to please call him.

Now I rarely call anyone ever. I’m a shell shrinker, as in I like to shrink into my shell, like my son’s turtle.

But this felt important, so I called PC.

He said, “Listen, please please, come back again. That Sunday was all off. It often is like that in the summer. Chip is our youth pastor now, and he was not there that day. If Chip had been there, I promise it would have gone better.”

He also explained that it took everyone a while to recognize us, especially the teenagers. They grew up a lot in the three years we were gone, and no one knew who they were.

I assured him we’d try again, and if all went smoothly, we’d see about committing to the college class.

I’m sure Pastor Corey fully informed Chip and who knows who else about our situation because they were ready for us the next Sunday, and the boys felt much more welcome.

PC took his job seriously, and that genuine care he had for people and his ministry shined through loud and clear.

We need to talk about his life, grieve this loss, and appreciate and learn from all he did for everyone.

PC left behind a wife and daughter, and I cannot even fathom the depth of their sorrow.

Our church community came together on Friday for his funeral, and it was a packed house. I would guess there were around five hundred people there, of all different age groups.

The funeral crowd itself was a testament to Pastor Corey’s great impact on our whole community. He spent his life serving young people for the Lord, and it showed.

Even today, the young adult Sunday school class was full with several more people than we usually have. Our usual group of ten or twelve was more like seventeen today, and it is probably because of how many of them came back for the funeral. We had three faces with us who had not been among us since their high school days.

The thing is that loss and grief like this pulls us together.

Pastor Corey was the minister of students at our church, from the elementary kids on up through the college young adults. He loved eating out, music, Diet Coke, laughter, and telling people about Jesus.

There were many speakers at the funeral who had so many more stories than we do. I think it is so important to recognize the incredible impact that one person on fire for the Lord can have. His influence will be felt long after he’s gone. What he taught us lives on in us and in the choices we make.

Pastor Corey did not go around blessing people for no reason. He invested in people because he loved them and wanted to see them find Jesus.

Even deciding whether or not to write this, I felt like Kevin Corey would say, “Yes! Write it. Use whatever platform you have to tell people about Jesus. Tell them.”

Telling people about the saving love of Jesus was his greatest mission. It matters. When you bring people to peace with God, through what Jesus did for us, you bring their hearts peace, hope, and salvation to eternity in Heaven.

So I can’t end an article about Pastor Corey without telling you how much he would want you to know Jesus. Jesus came into this world to pay the price for the sins of all of us.

You need only to believe and confess your belief in Jesus to be saved. All of those who believe will spend eternity with God in heaven and will no longer need to fear death.

Pastor Corey didn’t fear death. You don’t have to either.

The Bible says that if you seek the Lord, you will find Him.

I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me.

Proverbs 8:17

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10: 9-10

Also, please feel free to share any thoughts about Pastor Corey in the comment section below. Our family is pretty new to the church family. I know this goes so much deeper for many of you.

We as a church will continue praying for his family. Becky and Jenna spent most of their lives as part of this church body. I hope we can continue to be a blessing to them.

And if you did not know Pastor Corey, you probably have some people like him who have blessed your own family. Be sure to tell them about your appreciation.