Written by Elijah Burris
My Dad The DOSO
(Director of Secondary Operations)
Da Priest. Construction Cody. Master Griller. Pastor Brownie. Coach Poppy. He goes by many names, but the name that I know him by is…Dad. Let me begin by telling you a little bit about my dad’s back story. He was born and raised in a small East Texas town named Corrigan. Actually my dad Is very similar to me in many ways. As a kid, he played basketball, football, baseball, golf, ran cross country and powerlifted. My dad loves to hunt and he has always enjoyed the outdoors, especially snow-skiing.
My dad (Cody) grew up in a family that prioritized going to church. The summer before his senior year in high school he decided to go to youth camp with his church. It was there that he felt convicted of his sin and placed his faith in Jesus as his Savior. A short time after that he felt that the Lord was calling him into the ministry. When he graduated he attended East Texas Baptist University in Marshall Texas. It was there that he served on the Rec Team, led the evangelism team for the Baptist Student Ministries, and worked at three churches serving as youth minister. While at ETBU he also met and fell in love with my mom, Reese. I have to mention that when my mom was a sophomore in college she was a foriegn exchange student at Hong Kong Baptist University (thanks to the relationship between ETBU and HKBU). What’s pretty stinking awesome is that my dad flew over to see my mom to show her how much he loved her (even though he had never flown before). A few months after my mom got back to ETBU, my parents got engaged and were married while still at college. My dad would go on to serve as a youth minister in two more churches totalling twelve years in student ministry. He has also been a pastor for the past ten years as well. Three years ago, Cody took on a second job teaching and coaching at Bay City ISD where we have lived for the past sixteen years. Thankfully the Lord brought him to Brazosport Christian School as an administrator and a coach this year. There is so much more I could say about my dad, like how even though I can at this age beat him at most everything we compete at, he still dominates me in bowling…but those stories are for another time.