Welcome to the latest edition of SGN Scoops Fast Five. Recently we tracked down Doug Corum and gave him our Fast Five quiz. Now we all can learn a little more about this gifted Gospel singer! Doug makes his home in Stoneville, North Carolina.
1. Tell us how and when your ministry began.
Reign and Fire Ministries came together about three years ago as a result of God causing the paths to cross of three “misfits” saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Joshua Patterson and his wife Wendy had just come to our church, Saving Grace Ministries. Josh was the assistant pastor at that time and Wendy and I just seemed to speak the same language when it came to music. We would attend church services together and often stay late just talking about how the Spirit had moved in the church during the service and how we wanted to spread the gospel beyond the walls of our church. Pretty soon God began to open doors that would lead us to minister to folks that I believe could best relate to us, due to our own past mistakes and shortcomings. We just try to keep things simple and straight from God’s word and the Holy Spirit takes care of everything else.
After the founding pastor of Saving Grace Ministries, Gary Grubbs, passed away, Josh became the senior pastor. That did slow things down some as far as opportunities for all three of us to go out and minister. I have done my best to push forward with Reign and Fire Ministries to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ through any and all open doors to bring glory to the name of Jesus and see souls saved.
2. At what age did you feel God calling you into the ministry?
I have felt like God gifted me with a special talent since I was very young. I started singing solos in church when I was four and playing ukulele and guitar when I was seven. I sang all through high school and college and music was a huge priority in my life. However it wasn’t until the Holy Spirit began to make a change inside of me to make Jesus the number one priority in my life, that I began to understand what God’s calling on my life was truly about. I remember the Spirit waking me up around 3:00 am one morning . I started listening to music on youtube and soon found myself watching and listening to Gerald Crabb preach. I clicked through several of his videos and they all seemed to speak to me a message that was loud and clear: “Go! And don’t look back because faith doesn’t have a back up plan, a plan B, or a lifeboat waiting behind you just in case you fail.”
At 42 years old, sitting in my garage at 3:00 am in the morning, I asked God to give me the strength, courage, wisdom, and the necessary resources, to make the best record that I could make, and to guide me wherever He would have me to go to sing and tell people about Jesus. This was a huge step outside of my comfort zone but the only way that I knew I could fully understand and submit to God’s calling. At that point I knew I would be fine even if I failed big for Jesus but I couldn’t live with the regret of not knowing in my heart that I had given Him my very best effort.
I walked away from a 20 year career working in various human services roles. I had worked as an addictions counselor, a child protective services investigator, and as a school social worker. I truly believe that God is going to use all of those experiences I have had, to connect with people of all walks of life to see souls won and to let people know that there is always hope, if they keep their eyes on Jesus.
3. Tell us about your current radio single.
My current radio single is called, “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.” It was released to radio by Hey Ya’ll Media. This is a song that my pastor and I ran across and used to joke about it because it made us want to dance or move to the groove a little, but as the time came to decide which songs would be recorded on my debut album “Jesus is with Me,” this song was so different that it made the final cut. I sing hard and I love to sing in the Spirit, so this song seemed to fit me well. Praise God that the battle is His and the victory is ours, as we are no match for the devil without the blood of Jesus. I recall so many times in my own walk when a tiny compromise allowed the old devil right in and before you know it, the devil wants to drive and control your thoughts and actions, steering you away from God and into the darkness. Its a fun song with a very serious message.
4. Share your testimony.
When I was 13 years old, I lived with my grandparents because my parents had seperated and it was the only place that I could live and stay on a good schedule to attend school. I was an only child and just had to grow up really fast at age 13. My grandparents lived about a half mile up the road from a church and I would walk to church every time the doors opened with several of my neighborhood friends. I wish I could say it was all about the good preaching we heard and the choir music, but to be honest, it was the only thing we had to do, and the only place in walking distance that we got to see a lot of pretty girls that were our age. We had a great youth group of about 25 kids and very godly man, Hylton Webb, was our youth leader. I got saved and was baptised at age 13, there at Osborne Baptist Church. I have often thought back about the friends and fun we had in that youth group and now I can see how God used that youth group to keep many of us safe from the world. As I grew up and finished high school, I went on to be the first person from my family to graduate from a university. In 1997, I graduated from Appalachain State University in Boone, N.C. and moved back home to Eden, N.C. to go to work and settle down. I met my wife Vickie, and we were married in 2003. Before we were married we had started to attend Trinity Wesleyan Church. I led worship at Trinity for nearly 14 years before our pastor Wayne Johnson passed unexpectedly from a heart attack. In those 14 years we had gotten married in that church, adopted our two daughters who were dedicated and baptised in that church, and many other good memories were made there. After Wayne passed, God had a different plan for us as a family. We had already been down a very difficult road with our youngest daughter as she delt with severe emotional issues as a result of severe neglect prior to us adopting her. We had been through countless hopsitalizations with her and our home life was turned upside down. Before I knew it, I was drinking really bad in an effort to block out the pain and feelings of worthlessness. I had exhausted myself trying to figure out what it would take to fix our daughter and fix our family. Being a luke warm Christian is one of the most dangerous places that anyone can be. I look back now and if I had died during those 14 years that I impersonated a praise and worship leader, I would have been bound straight to a devil’s hell!
God moved us on to another church, Saving Grace Ministries, that we now call home. I reconnected with pastor Gary Grubbs who was a close friend from back in my much wilder days. Gary used to get me into the bars and clubs to play music when I was a teenager. The Lord had changed Gary and called him to preach. We would often joke that Pastor Gary used to get me into the clubs and now he was trying to make sure that I stayed my course to get into Heaven. On November 15, 2015, my wife and I, along with our oldest daughter, went to the altar and I asked Pastor Gary to anoint me on behalf of our youngest daughter who was in the hopsital. I also asked Gary to pray that the Lord would remove every seed of doubt from my faith. A change took place inside of me that day that I cannot explain. The Lord delivered me from drinking and listening to any worldy music. The Lord gave me His strength and helped me to stand even when we were getting terrible news from the hospital concerning our daughter. There were so many days and nights that all I could do was pray and cry out to God to help us as a family, to touch our child and calm the rage that was going on inside of her spirit. Through it all God never failed us! I can remember getting calls from counselors at the facility where our daughter was being treated, and they were basically stating that there was no hope of her ever living outside of an institution. I would hang up and pray that God would make a way. Praise God He did! On April 20, 2018, we picked our daughter up and we arrived at home at 2:00 am on April 21, 2018, on her 15th birthday. I praise God today for the trials and the valleys that He had to bring me through for me to see how much I desperately need Him everyday. I really don’t know how I used to make it through a single day without Jesus being number one my life. Not just the obvious things, but every ounce of that old man had to die before I could become the man that God wants me to be today. I had known Jesus as my Savior since I was 13 years old, but it really came down to making Jesus the Lord of my life, trusting Him with every aspect of my life that placed me on the solid rock that I stand on today. Praise God for the precious blood of Jesus that paid my sin debt in full on the cross at Calvary. Nothing is impossible if you believe and trust in the finished work of the cross.
5. If our readers would like to book you or purchase product, how can they do that?
Feel free to call me directly (336) 613-8796, or email me through the website dougcorummusic.com for booking or other related questions.
CDs can be purchased through iTunes, CDBaby, or through the website.
