BUCKNER’S BELIEF: ‘ALWAYS ENDURE!’

FAYETTEVILLE — God gave Corey Buckner a battle cry in 2013 when he was fighting cancer: always endure.

Little did Buckner know that diagnosis would spark a mission that has grown into a multifaceted nonprofit helping children and families overcome barriers to adoption, medical care, and foster care.

“Everything we do comes from our story,” said Buckner. “The support we received during my cancer journey made a huge difference, and we wanted to reciprocate that blessing to others.”

Buckner was diagnosed with Stage 2A Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at age 27, and the community rallied to help cover his medical expenses not covered by insurance and to meet other needs. People delivered home-cooked meals, mowed his grass, and even took him to work when he was unable to drive himself during treatment weeks.

All of this support allowed him to emerge debt-free from treatment at the beginning of 2014, grateful and thankful for all the Lord had done for him.

The following year, 2015, Buckner and his wife Brittany launched the Always Endure 5K to help families facing major medical diagnoses. The annual race, held during Fayetteville’s Slawburger Festival, targets residents of southern Middle Tennessee and North Alabama who are enduring a major medical diagnosis.

In 2021, Always Endure began sending major medical patients and their families on all-expenses-paid respite vacations.

Their nonprofit currently has access to a beach house for weeklong trips and an Airbnb in the area for weekend trips – each trip giving the patient and their family the ability to make memories and rest during a challenging season.

Additionally, Always Endure partners with a local cancer institute and hospital to cover a myriad of expenses for their patients each month.

Since incorporating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Always Endure has distributed more than $170,000 to over 200 medical patients.

‘Beautiful Faith’

But the couple’s nonprofit expanded dramatically after struggling with infertility and loss.

From 2014 to 2018, the Buckners faced multiple pregnancy losses despite having only a 1% chance of conceiving naturally. After one natural pregnancy ended in miscarriage at six weeks, two additional pregnancies from reproductive medical procedures also resulted in consecutive miscarriages.

“We had questions about why [God] called our four babies home before we ever met them,” Buckner said, “but knew, as hard as it was, that He was working for His glory and our good.”

By then, Buckner was serving as a bivocational youth pastor while Brittany was working as a nurse.

The couple turned to private adoption in 2017, becoming active in January 2018. They were passed over by five birth mothers before receiving an unexpected Facebook message from a pastor’s wife about a baby girl in California who had been placed for adoption. The couple immediately said yes despite the $20,000 financial need, the 48-hour deadline to travel to the baby’s location across the country, and the expected month-long stay in California.

“I just said, ‘God, you’re mighty. You’re sovereign. Glorify your name… Make a way where there’s not a way. And again, would you get all the glory in doing it?’” Buckner recalled.

Within 24 hours after saying yes to adopt this newborn, the Lord used their community to provide the funds needed for the adoption — airfare, hotel, rental car, food and other fees.

Between their adoption agency, this adoption attorney, and their travel expenses, the Buckners total adoption costs totaled around $60,000, funded largely by community support. “We started our adoption journey without any saved funds, just faith that God was leading us and would provide.”

“When we met our girl in NICU for the first time, years of heartache, tears, questions and discouragement instantly dissipated,” Buckner said of meeting their daughter, Bella Faith, which means “beautiful faith.” “We pray that her faith would be beautiful to the Lord as she lives for Him.”

Always Endure expanded in 2020 to award adoption aid grants, addressing the financial barriers that prevent families from adopting. Over $100,000 has been awarded to fifteen adoptive families who have provided children their forever home.

In 2021, Corey and Brittany followed the Lord’s leading to run the nonprofit full time.

House of Hope

The Buckners’ nonprofit grew again in 2023 to address foster care placement barriers. Always Endure now operates House of Hope that opened in May 2025. It’s a transitional home for children waiting for placement.

“What’s happening is children are being removed from their home because of unsafe circumstances, and they are going to the office of their social worker and they’re sleeping on the floor,” Buckner said.

Buckner had a clear vision of what was needed to make House of Hope happen.

“We prayed very specifically, ‘God, if you want us to build this home, would you provide the land that is five to ten minutes from our house, off a major highway, within three miles of the ambulance service, the grocery store, and the fire station,’” he said. “‘Not only that, would you move in the heart of a builder to be passionate for kids in foster care and donate all of their time. I also pray you would provide the funds so that at the end of this project, we are debt free.’”

All those needs were met. A small church in Fayetteville with eight members heard about Always Endure’s project and collectively decided to sell them 1.27 acres of land for $1.00 and donate $60,000 to help jumpstart the House of Hope building campaign.

“We had prayed for it to be five to ten minutes from our house. The land was two minutes from our house, off a major highway, and within three miles of the ambulance service, grocery store, and fire station,” Buckner said.

A month later, a local builder reached out to the Buckners, and in the meeting said, “Hey, [I] just want to say we’re passionate for these kids… the price per square foot we talked about is without any of our costs. We want to donate our time.”

“I got in the car after that, and thought that’s exactly what we prayed,” Buckner said.

Community donations continued — many building materials and labor costs were discounted and donated and funds from the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s Golden Offering for Tennessee Mission were granted.

“I think $10,000 is what we ended up getting, which was a huge blessing,” Buckner said.

House of Hope has since cared for several children in foster care. They are waiting now for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) to contact them again to utilize the house.

“We want to serve as many kids in foster care as we can,” Buckner said. “It’s a comfortable, safe place for them.”

Additionally, Always Endure has a Backpacks of Hope program that provides new backpacks filled with hygiene essentials, school supplies, a blanket, and a Bible to children and teens in foster care. So far, they’ve given nearly 600 backpacks to youth in the area.

In July 2025, they began supporting area foster families by giving them needed items for the children and teens in their care. According to Tennessee Kids Belong, 50% of foster families burn out after the first year due to a lack of support.

Another ‘Yes’

And God gave the Buckners another task before opening House of Hope this year: becoming foster parents.

An unexpected text message from a stranger in February asked Buckner if he could help a sibling set of five children who were removed from their home due to severe neglect. Not long after being removed from their home, the children’s birth parents were incarcerated.

“Becoming foster parents was not in our 2025 plans,” Buckner said. “But we knew what God was saying. My wife didn’t think twice about it.”

By the end of March, they officially became foster parents to one of the siblings, a 5-year-old girl — a little girl who didn’t know the warmth of an extra blanket.

“There’s a lot of things that she’s been exposed to and we’re working through. She’s made a lot of progress since we first got her,” Buckner said, adding his daughter Bella has even shared the gospel with her several times. “We are thankful for the family who cared for her before she came to our house. The Lord has placed each sibling in a gospel centered home who is involved with a local church.”

“God’s always working for your good and ultimately His glory,” said Buckner, who serves bivocationally as an associate pastor at Grace Falls Church with the William Carey Baptist Association.

“He was working for our good and His glory in the cancer season. Our good, His glory through the infertility and miscarriages. We are stronger believers, and we are better people having walked through the things that God has led us through.”

The Always Endure 5K, currently called the Slawburger Chase 5k/10k, continues annually, serving as the flagship fundraising event for the organization’s expanding mission to remove barriers for children and families navigating adoption, medical crises, and foster care placement.

“I don’t know why the Lord our God chose us to start this nonprofit ministry,” Buckner said. “There is literally nothing good in us but Jesus. All I can gather is that He knows that whatever He does in and through our family and our board, we will be faithful to give Him the glory and the praise.”

For more information on Always Endure and House of Hope, visit www.alwaysendure.com. B&R