Cody Winingear: From Collapse to Calling
For our Christmas newsletter, we’re excited to share a wonderfully encouraging recovery story. Meet Cody Winingear!
Cody recently joined CORE as our men’s intake coordinator at the Branson Recovery Center. His wife, Karli, who has performed in Branson shows for years, also sings with the praise and worship team at CORE Church. Together with their adorable furbabies, they have called Branson home since they married three years ago. We’re thrilled to have Cody on our team!
Because Cody is new and working hard to make a good impression, he seemed a little cautious when asked to share his story for this holiday edition. We got the sense he preferred to be seen as a man of serious mind who is dedicated to helping newcomers. We reassured him we would take good care of him. So, here goes.
To be candid, Cody’s addiction was anything but merry. Alcohol had always been at the center. “Alcohol was the constant,” he says, “but there were always drugs involved at various stages.”
When they first met, Karli knew nothing about addiction or how difficult life could become if Cody used again. When he eventually fell off the wagon, “it was a big surprise for her.”
Inside, Cody had been unraveling long before anyone noticed. He was “not working steps… a sitting duck,” and he stayed busy with work and video games to outrun the restlessness, irritability, and discontent he did not want to face. “If I stayed busy, I didn’t have to pay attention to life.” He filled his days with money, vacations, and gadgets, but each distraction failed just as quickly as it arrived.
Eventually the obsession returned in full force, and he relapsed. His addiction escalated quickly, and his world shrank to “just me and my job of avoiding people.” At home, secrecy and manipulation took over. “I was always intoxicated. By the three-month point it was constant.” He hid bottles, drank before getting home, and even provoked arguments to keep Karli away from his behavior. Eventually, she moved out. “It’s not what she bargained for,” Cody says.
His body and mind finally gave out, and he landed in the hospital. Damage had been done at home, at work, and within his family, yet he still could not see the depth of his problem. He had been to treatment centers and recovery housing before and believed another “twenty-eight day program” would fix everything. Happily, something larger had other plans for him.
What happened next can only be described as a divine setup.
A friend urged him to come to CORE’s one-year recovery program, which Cody remembers as “the last place I wanted to come to.” He checked into a rehab, but his insurance would not cover the stay. A caseworker then asked, “Have you ever thought about going to CORE?” In August 2024, Cody finally arrived to CORE, broken, exhausted, and out of solutions. Still, fate was not finished with him, not just yet.
“My first thirty days here, I was planning my exit,” he says. He wanted to go home, his thought still being that he could fix everything on the outside without changing anything on the inside. On day thirty, bags packed, he arrived at the recovery center ready to check out. A conversation with our program manager, Dallas Conaway, gave him a much needed reality check. Dallas reminded him of the consequences of leaving without working a real program. At Dallas’s suggestion, Cody wrote a list of reasons he wanted to leave. The first was “be with my wife and try to fix things.” He prayed over the list alone and with a sponsor.
Then a CORE client walked in with Chinese takeout and tossed him a fortune cookie. It read, “A distant relationship is beginning to look more promising.” The message spoke directly to Cody’s greatest fear.
That night, visiting pastor and friend of CORE, Jay Scribner, preached on finishing the race you have started and the importance of committing to one full year of true recovery. As Cody listened, everything went still. “There was a presence there,” he says, “I wasn’t supposed to go.”
After the church service, Cody told Karli he was staying at CORE. She responded with relief and her support, saying “Whatever we have to do, we will make it work.” In retrospect, that moment became the turning point of Cody’s life.
Once Cody surrendered, he threw himself into the work. “My step work, I took it seriously,” he says. He studied the Big Book, listened to speakers, and sought out the men “you could tell by their walk” had recovered. With guidance from graduates of CORE’s program, he worked the Steps thoroughly.
Resentments lifted. Shame fell away. “I could move again and breathe freely. I had mental clarity. And a sense of peace,” Cody recalls, citing a “miraculous change” happening within himself. In fact, Cody had recovered and was freed from the obsession that had dogged him most of his life. The man who once panicked in restaurants with bars could now walk through stores that sold alcohol and feel nothing. Not fear, not craving, not pull. Only freedom.
As part of his progress, he also set about repairing his relationships with Karli, with his employer, and with his family, and he succeeded.
He also began teaching 4D recovery classes at CORE. With this experience came a significant change in his perspective. “I was always in the mindset of I have thirty days to fix my life, or six months,” he says. Now he knows better. “That isn’t possible, not even a year. It takes time. I’m still in this wonderful process of the transformation.”
Spiritually, Cody says everything still feels new, but in the best way. His early prayers were “fox hole prayers,” but over time he sensed a dramatic shift. “God is everything to me,” he says matter of factly. He now sees God at work in every part of his life. Scripture, worship, and prayer have become central. “Only He can fill it. He’s everything to me.”
Today, Cody’s vision for the future is full of hope. In five years, he sees a happy, healthy family where he and Karli continue to put God first in their marriage. He imagines a home where Karli can garden, where the pups can run, and where a child can grow up safe and loved.
Professionally, he sees himself “somewhere within CORE,” still working alongside Dallas. “I get a lot of joy seeing it work for others. There really is something special about living the selfless life.” He also loves being on staff, remarking “I’ve never had a job where all my coworkers were like me. That’s really awesome.”
For Cody, what began as reluctance has now become purpose. What began as survival has transformed into a calling. What began as collapse has grown into a life rebuilt, marked by willingness, honesty, spirituality, and service.
We at CORE are deeply grateful to have Cody on our staff. It’s been a joy to watch him recover and grow into a mentor who now guides others through the same journey. We’re committed to supporting his success every step of the way.
And because he’s definitely one of us, we think he will appreciate a little holiday cheer to show that recovery comes with joy, laughter, and a spirit made new.
Here’s what Cody looks like as Santa Claus!
