For Beth Moore, leaving the Southern Baptist Convention was like falling off a cliff and not knowing if anyone would catch her.
At times, she’d walk through the woods near her Texas home and have some pretty candid conversations with Jesus.
“I would say to him over and over, I hope you know where we’re going,” she told Religion News Service in a recent interview released April 10. “I hope you know where we’re going, because I don’t have a clue where we’re going, and I don’t know where I’ll ever belong again.”
It’s been five years since Moore, bestselling author and Bible teacher, left the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, a church that had been her refuge while growing up in a troubled home and that gave her a life she loved. Since then, Moore has found a new church home as an Anglican, rebuilt her ministry, written a memoir, recovered from spinal surgery and kept doing what she’s always done — helping women learn how to dig deep in the Bible.
Winding down
But last month, Moore announced she’d begin winding down Living Proof Ministries, the nonprofit she’s run for 30 years, and will stop hosting major public events. Next spring, she’ll hold her last major event, in Nashville, Tennessee. She plans to still accept some speaking engagements, but it’s the first step toward retirement for Moore, who will turn 70 next year.
“I could not turn back the hands of time,” said Moore, acknowledging that all good things come to an end and it’s time to pass the baton on to younger leaders and to cheer them on. That’s not an easy thing to do — especially for Christian leaders who have long been in the spotlight.
“I’m getting closer and closer to the day that I’ll see his face,” she said, referring to Jesus. “What are we going to do? Take our big old egos with us?”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Bob Smietana and originally published by Religion News Service.
