Marsha McIntyre Cory has made it her life’s work to inspire and support others as they find their place in the world and to help others form relationships with God. Originally from St. Louis, Mo., Cory moved to Portage to further her ministry work.
Based in Portage, Cory enjoys the small-town feel and the people who make up her community.
“This is how I describe it to my St. Louis friends – I live a very small life and that is so calming and perfect for me. People are down to earth here. I like regular everyday people and that's what I love about Portage,” Cory said.
Cory began as a singer for her church and performed at various Christian concerts before finding her calling as a minister.
“When I first got started I would sing at concerts and would even go to prisons and different places to sing,and that evolved into bible teaching and then it just became my life's work,” Cory said.
Eventually, Cory developed her own ministry called the White Dove Ministries. Here, she did various reach-out programs and even trained those who were interested to be ministers themselves.
“I had a school of ministry where I trained some people for what I call ‘field ministry,’ which is anything outside of the church,” Cory said. “There were 17 people with me and we spent about four years working together. There were all kinds of opportunities for them. Some went to the city jail, some went to the prison, and some did a vacation bible school with some kids in the Gary area. It was just awesome.”
Cory has done extensive work in prisons with incarcerated men. She has visited both the Westville and Rockville Correctional Facilities, with the last outreach being a two-week training program for men that were regular chapel goers at the Westville Correctional Facility.
“God is the only way. He is just absolutely the only way that you're going to make it; that's how you survive, that's how you raise up, and that's how you overcome,” Cory said. “So my mission is just to point them to God in whatever condition they're in.”
Currently, Cory is the only active minister within White Dove Ministries. Cory had given her trainees the materials they need to help others and to promote change on their own.
“It dissipated because they all went out and did what they have been trained for,” Cory said. “I’m a minister on my own; I'm not working for any particular group. White Dove is the name God gave me to call my particular outreach.”
Currently, Cory acts as a source of advice and comfort for numerous individuals. She also runs a bible study group, which for the last six years, has been meeting twice a month in Portage.
“I'm on call for anyone who needs me, ever,” Cory said. “It's who I am. If I couldn't do it I would shrivel up.”
Due to her own background, Cory finds herself drawn towards individuals who are not necessarily involved in church.
“My life was just not going the way it should go and I just felt like I had to get myself straightened out. So I got involved with church and I had a real conversion, a real life-changing 180,” Cory said. “In the process, I found I had a heart for people who were not ‘churchified.’ I had a heart for people who were like me. They didn't necessarily go to church but they really wanted God in their life.”
Cory realizes that nobody is perfect and she strives to help people regardless of where they are at in their life.
“My mission is just to meet a person exactly where they’re at, give them encouragement that I think will help them, and befriend them and point them to a relationship with God,” Cory said. “I’m not trying to get everybody to be all perfect; I want to meet you where you are and help to give you a hand up.”
In the process of offering help wherever it’s needed, she also celebrates the small victories. She loves to see the small improvements the people she works with make.
“My favorite part is when I see a change in somebody, and it can be small, measurable outcomes” Cory said. “You don't have to be perfect you just have to be growing.”
In her free time, you may find Cory teaching as a group water exercise instructor at the Valparaiso Family YMCA, or you may find her researching her latest interest.
“My favorite thing in life is research and study. I will research any given subject that interests me and at any given moment; I’m all over it. I like to research, study the bible, and I write a lot,” Cory said.
Cory focuses on being a positive force in the world. Her impact can be seen in the lives she has touched.
“There's so much hostility in the world, so I want to be a voice for the opposite of that,” Cory said. “My goal is to build people up, not tear them down.”