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Beyond Ben Lippen: Richard Moore '94

A Conversation with Richard Moore 1994 (missionary to German-speaking people)

How did BL prepare you spiritually/academically/emotionally for the mission field? Any particular teachers or coaches that made an impact?

During my time at Ben Lippen School, there was quite a diverse student body. It was great to be classmates with people from all over the world. Missionary kids in the resident program, lots of other ethnicities, and a worldview that opened my eyes to the needs of the Gospel in the rest of the world. Many of the teachers and coaches had been or were missionaries, and they deeply impacted my life through their passion for the Lord and sharing the love of Christ through discipleship. I hate to single out any teachers because all of them were so instrumental in my wanting to know Christ and make him known.

Why did you decide to be a missionary?

God called me to be a missionary when I was in 10th grade at Ben Lippen. My youth pastor Phil Jackson took us on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. On that trip, Phil issued a call to dedicate our lives to cross-cultural missions. God touched my heart to respond to that message. At that time I committed my life to cross-cultural missions work. That’s why I encourage young people in high school to be involved in missions work and their local youth ministry program in their church. So often youth ministries can supplement the work that God is doing in your life.

Tell us briefly about your family. 

My wife is German. I met her while doing youth ministry during my seminary studies. We have three kids Ana (16), Lydia (13), and Caleb (10). After a few more years of youth ministry work in California God called us to full-time work in Germany. As a family, we live in the south of Germany. Ana has Down syndrome and attends a special needs school and Lydia and Caleb attend a school for missionary kids called Black Forest Academy. Their mascot is also Falcons! Go Falcons!

What missions organization do you serve with and where? For how long?

We have been working with Teach Beyond (www.TeachBeyond.org) for nine years in the past three years we have been seconded to Antioch Teams (www.antiochiateams.org) a church planting organization in the German-speaking world. We serve with Antiochia Teams all over Germany supporting and equipping church planting, evangelism, discipleship, youth ministry, and theological work. We live and have our home base in the southwest corner of Germany in a town called Kandern.

What is the primary objective for you as a missionary, and what are ways you are working to achieve these goals?

Our primary missionary objectives in Germany are to evangelize, disciple, people and plant churches in the German-speaking world. Much of my personal work is taken up with youth ministry, preaching, teaching, music ministry, and speaking at youth camps. I also have become very involved in theological work supporting and training churches in Germany to have clear theological foundations.

What are unique challenges you face in sharing the gospel in Germany? Are people hungry for the Gospel?

Germany has been described as a “heathen nation with Christian residue.” Secularism is a very big challenge in Germany. People are very self-sufficient and have everything that they need. It is very hard often to help German people see their need for Christ. Also, the land of the reformation which is Germany’s roots have become very post-Christian. Germans are also typically private people. It is often difficult to get “in“ with your neighbors. However young people are quite open to the gospel and spiritual things. They’re very happy to hear when you teach about Christ in an exciting way.

How has serving on the mission field been both challenging and rewarding for your family? What has helped you persevere in the hard times?

The challenges of serving on the mission field are honestly the sacrifices that you make to do the things that you previously enjoyed. Financial challenges have always been a struggle, and often the feeling that your kids are missing something, even though I feel like they are richer and more blessed for the life we live. One scripture that has been particularly encouraging in the hard times has been “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV). The rewards are a more diverse, multifaceted, and wonderfully rich life. No matter if there would be rewards in this life or not, Christ is worthy!

How is your ministry going and what has encouraged you?

We have had a deeply profitable and successful ministry through the power of the Holy Spirit. He has given us much success, probably more successful than we could have had if we stayed in the United States and in youth ministry. We have opportunities more than we can take on. We are forced to say no to stuff that we would love to do but for sake of time are not able. I calculate that many hundreds of people have come to faith in Christ as a result of our ministry. A great encouragement to us is that there are hungry people in Germany for the preaching of the Word, planting churches, and seeing God‘s kingdom grow. We have more opportunity now than ever before and with Christ’s power, we will see long-lasting fruit. “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29 ESV).

Has your original “mission” grown/expanded? How so?

Yes, our original mission has expanded to other agencies and evangelistic organizations. We partner with so many different organizations now that I would never have had the access to, or the opportunity to minister alongside, had we not done the hard work of building relationships and serving wherever God led us. We’ve also done lots of things that we thought we never would’ve done. For instance, involvement in theological training. I always wanted to work with youth, but God led us providentially to such ministries as helping with theological clarity. This has been a good lesson for us to be open to new work and expansion that God would lead us to.

 

Richard Moore is a graduate of Ben Lippen (1994) and CIU (1998, & 2007) and was a recipient of the Ben Lippen’s Patterson Award (1994). If you would like more information about Richard and Simone Moore’s family and their ministry in Germany or connect with them please email Richard at rmoore@teachbeyond.org or visit Richard’s website at www.richardpmoore.net 

 

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