C. Woodbury Bowman
Peter Moore, Simon Barnes and Woody Bowman - Focus Study Center, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
In Memory of Peter C. Moore
I have known Peter Moore since December 1967 when my mother discovered he was leading ski camps as a form of Christian outreach and offered me the chance to go skiing in some good company. I went for the skiing. Others on the remarkable teams of leaders that Peter assembled gave the turning-point talks as I returned to Grey Ledges and Carrol Lodge over the two years following, but Peter set the tone for both thoughtful exploration of the Christian faith and great fun. In time – and there was always time in Peter’s world for more questions and more conversations, I made a commitment to follow Christ. For the rest of my high school and college years, Peter and the emerging ministry of FOCUS that he led were a key focal point for my life. (How thankful I am, however, that I also had important, formative experiences and mentorship in my education and summer job as a camp counselor – and the more I grew as a Christian, so greatly influenced by Peter’s ministry, the more I grew as a student and counselor; the correlation has not escaped me.)
Peter went on to perform my wedding when Susie and I married in 1975, and he served as one of three important ministry figures in my life at my ordination in 1980. He was my boss when I joined the staff of FOCUS in 1979, and he continued to inspire me and inform my thinking as a teacher and expositor of the Gospel, even after he left FOCUS. How many roles can one man have?
Peter’s singular impacts as a teacher, a mentor to young leaders, a founding visionary, and a church leader are all well recognized, and I have been deeply blessed by him in each of those roles. As I consider Peter’s legacy right now as I absorb the enormity of his loss, I’m especially aware of his continued growth in humility. When Peter returned to FOCUS in 2005 as interim executive director, it was a moment of singular grace in the history of the organization he had founded forty-four years earlier. How fortunate were we that he was both available, so much a matter of God’s timely providence, and willing, a willingness of a servant heart. And Peter came, somehow, as a changed man, changed by Christ as he had continued to grow in grace and humility over the years. I saw and felt it all instantly as he worked, closely and with great pastoral care, with the staff of FOCUS. Peter did not return to FOCUS as a hero or a savior, but as a servant, and he carried the leadership of the organization for an unexpected three years until Dan Walker could be tapped, someone Peter had closely mentored decades earlier. For me personally, Peter seamlessly intervened to save me from an unexpectedly awkward position on the staff of FOCUS, for which I am eternally grateful.
More recently, I have had the great pleasure of seeing Peter and Sandra return to the FOCUS Study Center on Martha’s Vineyard for a month in September each of the last three years to direct the Anglican Leadership Institute. How they together loved that special place, surely holy ground, and the whole of the island. Peter’s great sense of adventure and fun were still in full swing – treasure hunts for the assembled Anglican leaders, excursions all over the island, and, always, food - beach picnics , special restaurant meals, and ice cream; and the things that drove his staff crazy in the 70s and 80s still drove the Study Center staff crazy (although it seemed Peter almost delighted in laughing at himself and his preoccupations). But Peter also heeded the planning and initiatives of others more closely, deferring more to others, and more patient with others. He led the Institute by investing himself in the leadership of others even as he continued to stand as a preeminent teacher and preacher of the Gospel. He had grown in Christ-like humility, and it shone like a light.
Thank you, O Lord, for the ministry of Peter Moore through which I’ve been eternally blessed and enriched.
Woody Bowman, FOCUS Staff 1979 - 2019