Corey

“I was a 40-time convicted felon, head-stomped in prison, when God asked me: 'How long will you run from me?'”

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What they struggled with

Drug addiction Incarceration Father wound Childhood domestic violence Childhood sexual abuse Shame Bereavement / grief

False refuges

Drugs Power / status / wealth

What this story reveals about God

Relentless pursuit Patience Father's heart Restorer Faithful to his word Shepherd's heart

Religious background

Protestant Christian

Main testimony theme

Secondary theme

How they came to faith

Supernatural encounter Hitting rock bottom

God accusation

Content advisory

Before you watch

This testimony contains graphic descriptions of childhood domestic violence, sexual abuse, drug addiction, and years of violent incarceration. What makes it worth watching is not just the rescue — it is the precision of God's timing: a dream given at 19, a voice in a cell at 30, and a promise fulfilled to the letter years later in a prison hallway.

What this story teaches

People often stay away from God not because they don't believe in him, but because they believe he requires a version of them they can never become — and that lie, more than any addiction or crime, is what keeps people running.

How God moved

The lie Corey carried

I never thought I could be good enough to please him — and like my father, I thought God would abandon me too.

What Jesus showed him

Corey carried the core wound that he was too broken, too sinful, and too far gone for God to want — a belief rooted in his father's abandonment and a stepfather who launched him into destruction. He believed God required perfection before he could come, and that like his earthly father, God would abandon him too.

Go Deeper

I always thought you had to be perfect to come to Jesus. I always thought that when you went to church, you were saying your life is aligned to the tea. There ain't nothing in your closet. There ain't no drama, there's not no sin, there any wrongs in your life, you're good. That's why you're in church. And I want to tell you, a lot of Christians have made it sound like that. But that's not the case. The church is a place for the sick. It's a place for the broken. Now, it is a house of healing. It is a place where you can come and get healed. And the word and the spirit will transform your life. Things will change in your life. But it is not up to you to do the changing when you walk into this relationship with Jesus. It's up to you to surrender. It's up to you to believe. It's up to you to fellowship and have union with him. It's up to you to believe what God has said even when you can't see it in the mirror. You can have the most vilest, sickest charges. You can be a serial killer. You cannot out sin and out wrong and outrun God. You can literally wherever you're at, whatever you've done, you can bow your knee and give your heart to Christ and you begin to walk with him. And listen, he don't mind walking with people that have limps. He don't mind walking with people that have flaws and wrongs in their life. He doesn't agree except them, but he totally accepts you as is. The blood of Jesus washes. It eliminates, it removes everything. And there is not an amount of you can't out sin the mercy and grace of God.

People often stay away from God not because they don't believe in him, but because they believe he requires a version of them they can never become — and that lie, more than any addiction or crime, is what keeps people running.

What you can take from this

This week, if you have been telling yourself you are too far gone or too broken for God to want, write down the specific thing you believe disqualifies you — and then ask God directly whether that is true.

Generational demon

I personally believe that prisons are filled with men and women who have callings on their lives. And because of the callings on their life, the enemy has ran through their generations, ran through the bloodline. They didn't start with them. They were working on their daddy's daddy.

Progressive entrapment

By 11, I had a drug habit. I would break into places, clean out people's pill cabinets. By 14, I never even entered school again. From pills to weed to ecstasy, acid, club drugs, smuggling from Mexico, and finally K2 spice in prison — swimming around in our own vomit, whacked out, gooking and puking, just losing our minds.

Core lie

I stayed away from God because of the fact that I never thought I could be good enough to please him. I also perceived God in the same light as my father — like he would abandon me too.

Other

The devil tried to come at me in every avenue. He came at me through cops, through friends, through my dorm. I literally walk into my dorm that day and my dorm starts clapping for me because they think I'm about to flood it with drugs.

Spirit of condemnation

A lot of times when you're in prison, you feel like becoming turning to God is just jailhouse religion. The lies of defeat, the lies that the enemy has sewed into them over the years of them being unworthy, of them being too far gone, of them being too broken for you.

1

I jumped up from my bed, ran, dropped down on my knees, and I cried out. I said, 'Jesus, I'm all in as is. Here I am. I'm yours. Do whatever you want to with me.'

2

I went out by my bunk in the middle of a dorm in front of 90 men. And I got down on my hands and knees and I lifted my hands to heaven and I started praying.

3

Over the next nine months, I dived into the word. I began to fast. I feasted on worship music and theology. And I read my Bible. I began to hide the word in my heart.

4

A chaplain offered me a job in the chapel and I got a job in the chapel and all of a sudden prison became seminary.

Psalms 119:11

Corey describes hiding the Word in his heart during his post-conversion prison season, echoing this verse.

Jeremiah 20:9

Corey quotes 'fire shut up in my bones' after his first time preaching in the prison chapel, knowing God called him to preach.

Proverbs 18:16

Corey references 'your gifts will bring you before great men' as God opened political doors for his prison ministry.

Psalms 127:3–5

Corey cites 'children are arrows in their father's quiver' to describe how his stepfather launched him into destruction.

Genesis 50:20

Corey states 'what the enemy meant for evil, God was intending and allowing for good' — direct echo of Joseph's declaration.

2 Samuel 24:14

Corey quotes David: 'Don't let me fall in the hands of man. Let me fall in the hands of God' — as his closing declaration about God's character.

Luke 15:4–7

Corey's closing prayer references Jesus carrying the lost lamb over his shoulder and rejoicing — the lost sheep parable.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Corey declares 'I was set free. I was delivered. I was a new person' — new creation language.

Like Joseph, Corey received a prophetic dream in prison, was raised from captivity to leadership, and saw his suffering reframed as divine preparation.

In Corey's dream, dead men walked out of cells and came to life as shining lights — a direct parallel to the valley of dry bones resurrection.

Like Paul, Corey was a violent man running from God when a divine voice arrested him and redirected his life to preach the gospel.

Corey hit bottom in a cell, came to himself, ran back to the Father, and was restored to purpose — the prodigal arc in a prison setting.

God changing Corey's captive uniform to a captain's dress uniform mirrors the divine exchange of filthy garments for clean robes.

The accusation

God is unfair

What they said

“God, I know you was going to release me. I knew you were going to set me free today. Why am I going back?”

How God answered

Corey came to understand that God never required perfection — 'that was so far from the case' — and that the additional prison time was not abandonment but equipping: '17 years of incarceration was really 17 years of equipping.' He chose to serve God regardless.

Resolution

Fully resolved in testimony

Corey's Christian Walk

Married a woman God brought to him while still in prison; gained two stepdaughters. Released from prison August 11, 2018 and preached the next day. Voted in unanimously as senior pastor within 6 months of release. Received a free home near the ocean. Had a son after a stranger funded his wife's tubal reversal. Full-time ministry income for years without grants or offerings. Badged access to federal prisons.

I went in single. I came out married. I went in bound. I came out free. I went in aimlessly and came out with so much purpose.

Prayer

The power of Prayer — praying mother stood in the gap for Corey.

Corey's mother prayed for him throughout his years of incarceration and rebellion, fought for her children, tried to pay them to go to church as teenagers, and eventually surrendered them to God in prayer: 'You gave me these kids. Lord, I'm giving them back to you cuz you're the only one that can do anything.' She also stored the prophetic dream Corey had at 19 in her heart for years, believing God would fulfil it. A prison ministry called Inmate Encounter also came into the institution shortly before Corey's conversion, with speakers who shed light on a Jesus Corey had always believed in but never thought would want him.

Is today your day?

Yes — I'm Ready

Absolutely, He will.

You don't have to figure everything out right now.

You don't need to have all the answers.

If something stirred in your heart while you were watching or reading — that's not nothing.

That is the Holy Spirit gently knocking on the door of your heart.

Stay right here. There's no rush. The Spirit doesn't pressure or hurry.

Watch another video. Read a little more. Take your time.

When you're ready — even if “ready” just means a little curious — Jesus is ready to meet you.

You don't have to clean up your life first.

You don't have to pass any test.

You only need to say a simple “yes” to Him.

He will take care of the rest.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Luke 11:9

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