When Dr. Terrlyn L. Curry Avery stepped into the pulpit of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Mass., she had no idea how profoundly her life’s purpose would evolve after turning 50.
She arrived as a visiting preacher in 2017, fell in love with the congregation, and officially became its pastor the following year.
What she could not foresee was that the church would be burned down in a hate crime in 2020, or that she would be the one called to lead its people through trauma, rebuilding and reconciliation.
“It’s a church like any other church in many ways,” she said. “But one of the things that we stand apart on is in the last five years, we’ve been rebuilding our church because it was burned down in a hate crime.”
For Terrlyn, guiding a congregation through devastation required more than sermons and leadership.
It demanded a deep spiritual resilience, a commitment to justice and a willingness to love even while holding others accountable. It also required her to draw on every part of her identity as both a pastor and a licensed psychologist.
“To understand who I am is to understand how to lead a group of people and to lead even myself through this journey of reconciliation,” she explained.
A tapestry woven over decades
Terrlyn didn’t enter ministry in midlife because she was searching for a new direction. Instead, she describes her calling as an expansion of the work she had already been doing for years.
Her first career was in psychology. She had a private practice, worked in schools and was raising two young children when she began sensing God nudging her toward something more. Yet, she resisted that nudge at first.
“I kept getting these droppings throughout my time, such as have you thought about becoming a minister?” she said. “And I’m like, no, I’m already doing ministry.”
But the call persisted. After hearing a sermon titled “Can You Hear Me Now?” she broke down in tears, overwhelmed by the sense that God was asking her to step into something she didn’t yet understand.
“If God is calling you, God will equip you,” a wise clergywoman told her.
That reassurance shifted everything. Terrlyn entered divinity school, where her interests in healing, spirituality and dismantling racism began to intertwine.
She later pastored an all‑white congregation during a period when Black and brown men were being killed by police, an experience that deepened her commitment to racial justice.
Looking back, she sees how each chapter prepared her for the work she does today.
“It’s like a beautiful tapestry,” she said. “It’s not so much that God called me to something totally new after 50. It really just expanded the work that I was already doing.”
Leading through trauma and transformation
Rebuilding a burned church is not simply a construction project. It is emotional, spiritual and communal work. Terrlyn had to help her congregation process grief, fear and anger while also navigating her own.
“There are things that I know now in terms of what it takes to rebuild a structure, what it takes to help people deal with their trauma in a very different way, even while I have my own trauma,” she explained.
Yet, every Sunday, Dr. TLC steps into the pulpit with the same responsibility pastors everywhere carry, and that is to comfort, challenge and inspire.
“When you stand there in that pulpit, it doesn’t matter what you’ve just been through,” she said. “What matters is that you are saying something that will inspire people, comfort them and, when necessary, afflict them as well.”
Her consistent message is that every person is divinely created and unconditionally loved.
“If I bring that into any message, people will feel that,” she said.
The birth of a “pastologist”
Terrlyn coined the term “pastologist” to describe the unique blend of psychology and ministry she brings to her work. Her approach centers on three pillars: the sacred relationship, the selfish relationship and the shared relationship.
The sacred relationship is one’s connection to the divine. The selfish relationship is the honest examination of self, such as a person’s own needs, triggers, boundaries and growth. The shared relationship is how one shows up in the world in a way that impacts others.
Those pillars form the foundation of her concept of sacred intelligence. She describes that as the divine part of us that has us make intelligent decisions which will not allow us to harm ourselves or other people, or allow others to harm us.
Her work in dismantling racism flows directly from that framework. She teaches people to examine their motives, confront their fears and take small, meaningful steps toward healing.
“We don’t know what we don’t know,” she said. “And that’s why we have to engage in the work of healing and reconciliation.”
Healing from the inside out
Terrlyn’s book, “Dismantling Racism: Healing from the Inside Out,” guides people through the process of examining their sacred motives, selfish mindsets and shared movements. She emphasizes that lasting change requires more than outrage or temporary activism.
“What is your why?” she asks. “Your why has to be strong enough to keep you engaged in this work long after a particular thing blows over.”
She also encourages people to take action even when they feel afraid.
“Our faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole stairway,” she said.
Her programs include courses, organizational trainings and one‑on‑one coaching. But her most transformative offering is a journey to Ghana, where participants confront the history of enslavement and colonization while also engaging in deep personal healing.
“It is a reckoning of dealing with your past,” she said. “But it’s also a reckoning where you get to move out of shame and into wholeness.”
Manifesting greatness in the second half of life
Terrlyn’s work extends beyond racial healing. Her Manifest Your Greatness program helps people, especially women, to move past fear, embrace their gifts and step into their fullest potential.
“So often we put limits on ourselves and don’t realize it,” she said.
However, Terrlyn knows this firsthand. Had she stayed in her psychology practice, she doubts she would have written three books, hosted television programs, traveled internationally or led the kind of transformative work she does today.
“My life doesn’t end at 50,” she said. “It really is just beginning because you have so much more wisdom than you had before.”
She encourages others to listen for the sacred whisper that may be calling them into something new.
“What feeds your soul?” she asks. “What did you like to do before the world’s noise got in the way?”
Her own sister, a retired attorney in her 70s, recently pursued her dream of becoming a comedian. Terrlyn loves that story because it proves purpose has no age limit.
“If you want to do a thing, you can do it,” she said.
Living with intention, love and courage
Today, Terrlyn continues pastoring her congregation, coaching leaders, guiding racial healing and helping people manifest their greatness. She chooses her work intentionally, no longer driven by obligation, but by calling.
“I take on the things that I want to take on and those that I don’t want to, I don’t have to,” she said.
Her journey after 50 has been marked by courage, faith and a willingness to step into the unknown. It has also been shaped by a deep belief that healing, both personal and collective, is possible.
“You already have what you need,” she said. “All you have to do is accept the call.”
For more information
People can connect with Dr. TLC on a variety of platforms, including:
- Website = www.sacredintelligence.com
- Church = www.mlkchurchma.org
- Instagram = www.instagram.com/revdrtlc
- Facebook = www.facebook.com/sacredintelligence
- LinkedIn = https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-terrlyn-l-curry-avery
Terrlyn’s book, “Dismantling Racism: Healing from the Inside Out,” is available on Amazon and in other bookstores.
If you order a copy of Terrlyn’s book from a link above, Forward From 50 may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
