Jump to content

Beth Moore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Fern71 (talk | contribs) at 21:57, 15 February 2022 (Edited for brevity). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the evangelist. For the Georgia politician, see Beth Moore (politician). For the professional wrestler, see Allysin Kay.
Beth Moore
Born
Wanda Elizabeth Green

(1957-06-16) June 16, 1957 (age 67)
Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S.
EducationB.A. Southwest Texas State University (political science)
Occupation(s)Evangelist, author, bible teacher
Years active1978–present
TitleFounder, Living Proof Ministries
SpouseKeith Moore (m. 1978–present)
Children2

Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore (born Wanda Elizabeth Green, June 16, 1957) is an American evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is the President of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization which she founded in 1994 to teach women to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture. Living Proof Ministries is based in Houston, Texas.[1] Moore is one of the most prominent American evangelical women, speaks at arena events and has sold millions of books.[2]

The ministry, in conjunction with LifeWay Christian Resources, conducts more than a dozen conferences, known as "Living Proof Live", around the United States annually. Travis Cottrell leads worship at the conferences. From 2007 to 2011, Moore, Kay Arthur, and Priscilla Shirer[3] collaborated on another LifeWay weekend conference, "Deeper Still: The Event". Moore also teaches through her radio show, Living Proof with Beth Moore, and on her YouTube channel of the same name. She is of no relation to Baptist theologian and preacher Russell Moore.

Additionally, Moore writes books and produces video resources based on the Bible studies that she conducts at the Living Proof Live conferences.

She has taught at conferences for women in numerous countries, including Ireland, England, Singapore, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and India.[4]

She and her husband Keith converted to the Anglican Church in North America in 2021.[5]

Early life and education

Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and raised in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where her father owned a cinema house, Moore is the fourth of five children, all of whom worked at the cinema from a young age.[6]

Moore was raised in the Southern Baptist Church, regularly attending three times a week.[7] Church was a safe place for Moore as she was growing up, and was the place where she could escape the sexual abuse she experienced at home.[8]

Moore holds a degree in political science from Southwest Texas State University, where she pledged and was initiated into Chi Omega.[9]

Personal life

She married Keith Moore in 1978.[1] They have two grown daughters, Amanda and Melissa.[10] Both daughters, along with son-in-law Curtis Jones, work with their mother at Living Proof Ministries.[11]

She attends an Anglican Church in North America congregation in Spring, Texas.[12]

Ministry

Moore committed her life to vocational Christian ministry at the age of 18. When she was volunteering as a Sunday school teacher, Moore realized she needed to learn more about the Bible.[13] She went to a biblical doctrine class that gave her a deep yearning to know the Bible, and she began sharing her expanding knowledge through a weekly Bible study class. By the mid-1990s that class had grown to 2,000 women, and she was speaking at churches throughout South Texas. Although still without any formal theological education degree, LifeWay Christian Resources' publishing arm Broadman & Holman (later B&H) began publishing her Bible studies in 1994, leading to a national speaking ministry for Moore.[14] With the help of a worship band she assembled, she began holding weekend conferences around the country. As a base for her national speaking ministry, she founded Living Proof Ministries.[15]

In 2008, she held a simulcast of her "Living Proof Live" that is estimated to have been watched by 70,000 people at 715 locations.[16] The sales of her book about Esther were credited as part of what made a "strong" quarter for Lifeway Christian Stores during the height of the Great Recession.[17]

Moore claimed to support the Southern Baptist Convention’s complementarian theology which teaches that males and females have complementary roles and does not allow women to be pastors.[18][19] Male SBC church leaders criticized her for speaking repeatedly on Sundays, which was in contradiction to their understanding of the Bible's position on the role of women in regards to teaching.[20]

Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention

Moore’s adoption of an egalitarian theological position led to her leaving the Southern Baptist Convention, which takes a complementarian approach. In March 2021, Moore announced that, though still a Baptist, she was no longer identified as a Southern Baptist and had ended her publishing relationship with LifeWay Christian.[21] It was subsequently reported that Moore had joined the Anglican Church in North America.[22]

Political and social views

Moore does not identify as liberal, or feminist.[13] She is pro-life.[21]

In August 2020, Moore said, "White supremacy has held tight in much of the church for so long because the racists outlasted the anti racists."[2]

Sexual abuse

Moore was a victim of childhood sexual abuse within her home.[23] After the #MeToo movement and a report in her local newspaper which described 700 cases of sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention, she became an advocate for sexual abuse survivors: sharing her story, listening to other survivors, and urging the church to examine crimes and coverups.[24][8] She called out male church leaders for objectifying women and dismissing sexual abuse claims.[25]

Moore criticized portions of the Evangelical movement that dismissed the moral flaws of politicians accused of sexual abuse, most prominently Donald Trump and Roy Moore (no relation).[26][27] Moore said in a March 2021 interview that after the October 2016 release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Donald Trump was heard making offensive comments about women, she was shocked that fellow evangelicals rallied around Trump, and could not understand how he had become "the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism, the salvation of the church in America." In December 2020 she tweeted, "I'm 63 1/2 years old & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it."[28]

Works

  • When Godly People Do Ungodly Things – book (2002), ISBN 978-0-8054-2465-2
  • Believing God – book (2004), ISBN 978-0-80543189-6
  • Who Will You Trust? – audio/video series (2007)
  • Get Out Of That Pit – book (2007), ISBN 978-1-59145-552-3
  • Songs of Deliverance – CD (2006)
  • Fully Alive: Audio/video series with Beth Moore, James and Betty Robison (2006)
  • So Long Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us – book (2010), ISBN 978-1-4143-3472-1
  • Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance book (2017) ISBN 978-0-71809582-6
  • The Undoing of Saint Silvanus book (2017) ISBN 978-1-49641648-3

Bible studies

References

  1. ^ a b https://www.lproof.org/about
  2. ^ a b Graham, Ruth (March 12, 2021). "With Humor and Biblical Authority, Beth Moore Captivates Evangelical Women" – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ^ "Going Beyond Ministries". Goingbeyond.com. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  4. ^ "Official bio from Living Proof Ministries". Lproof.org. Archived from the original on 2009-08-29. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  5. ^ Ministers Share Different Opinions After Photos Of Former SBC Minister Beth Moore Serving In An Anglican Church Surface, Christianity Daily, 24 December 2021
  6. ^ Morgan Lee, Beth Moore Is Speaking Up, christianitytoday.com, USA, June 12, 2019
  7. ^ Danielle Jarvis (March 3, 2020). "Beth Moore opens up on being sexually abused as a child". My Christian Daily. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Emily McFarlan Miller (December 14, 2018). "At Wheaton summit, prominent evangelicals share stories of sexual abuse". Religion News Service. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  9. ^ Greg Garrison, Author Beth Moore finds insecurity is skin deep phenomenon, al.com, USA, February 6, 2010
  10. ^ ""Beth Moore: Bible teacher and author"". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  11. ^ "Living Proof Ministries". Lproof.org. Archived from the original on 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
  12. ^ https://baptistnews.com/article/beth-moore-is-not-the-first-baptist-to-journey-to-the-anglican-church/#.Yd5KXP7MK71 [bare URL]
  13. ^ a b Emma Green, The Tiny Blond Bible Teacher Taking on the Evangelical Political Machine, theatlantic.com, USA, October 2018
  14. ^ Sarah Pulliam Bailey, Why Women Want Moore, christianitytoday.com, USA, August 13, 2010
  15. ^ Christianity Today: "Breaking Free: How Beth Moore became America's most exciting Bible teacher" Archived March 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "Beth Moore simulcast reaches 70,000". Archived from the original on June 9, 2011.
  17. ^ Rob Phillips TRUSTEES: Christian publisher LifeWay doing 'remarkably well,' trustees told Archived February 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Baptist Press News. Feb 11, 2009
  18. ^ Tom Strode (October 7, 2019). "Beth Moore and Kay Warren address effects of sexual abuse". Baptist Standard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  19. ^ "Beth Moore Says She's No Longer Southern Baptist". Christianity Today. March 29, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  20. ^ Tom Gjelten (June 10, 2019). "Southern Baptists To Confront Sexual Abuse And Role Of Women In The Church". NPR. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  21. ^ a b Smietana, Bob (March 9, 2021). "Bible teacher Beth Moore, splitting with Lifeway, says, 'I am no longer a Southern Baptist'". Religion News Service.
  22. ^ "Former Southern Baptist Preacher Beth Moore Joins the Anglican Church in North America | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism". virtueonline.org. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  23. ^ London, Matt (February 28, 2020). "Living Proof Ministries' Beth Moore opens up about overcoming childhood sexual abuse". Fox News. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  24. ^ Tom Strode (October 7, 2019). "Beth Moore and Kay Warren address effects of sexual abuse". Baptist Standard. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  25. ^ Sarah McCammon (November 1, 2016). "Trump Presents Dilemma For Evangelical Women, Once Reliable GOP Voters". NPR. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  26. ^ Tom Gjelten (December 29, 2017). "2017 Has Been A Rough Year For Evangelicals". NPR. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  27. ^ https://blog.lproof.org/2018/05/a-letter-to-my-brothers.html
  28. ^ Harmeet Kaur. "Popular evangelical Beth Moore says she's no longer a Southern Baptist". CNN.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beth_Moore&oldid=1072083408"