Dr. Sarah Lebhar Hall
Dr. Sarah Lebhar Hall
Adjunct Professor of Hebrew and Hebrew Bible, Gordon Conwell Seminary & Trinity School for Ministry
Director of Children's Ministry, Incarnation Tallahassee
Peter Moore is one of the most alive people I have ever known. His energy, humor, reason, and affection pointed so clearly to his master, who came that we might have life abundantly.
As the child of FOCUS staff, later FOCUS staff myself, then a student at Trinity School for Ministry, and eventually adjunct faculty member at Trinity, much of my Christian formation and ministry has occurred in the context of communities that Peter built and shaped. For this I am eternally grateful. Peter lovingly shepherded vibrant communities of faith in which I learned to know, follow, and serve Jesus. And I am one of hundreds who can say the same. What an amazing legacy.
Perhaps the thing I most appreciated about Peter's leadership was the humility and warmth that characterized his interactions with people, great and small. He cherished relationships and their histories, as I discovered on several occasions when he introduced me to others by referring to the FOCUS house party at which I was conceived! Despite the many demands on Peter and Sandra while serving Trinity, they opened their home with surprising regularity. There was a season in which I found myself in their Sewickley living room twice a week to lead Bible studies - on Sunday nights for St. Stephen's youth group kids, and on Tuesday mornings for Sewickley Academy students. And I remember discovering to my surprise that my next-door neighbor, a preist from Rwanda, had spent the entire Thanksgiving break staying at the Moores' house - a balm for his lonely heart. Peter and Sandra practiced kingdom hospitality unrelentingly.
I think my favorite memory of Peter is a small, but telling, one. It happened one day in late December when I was a seminary student, living in the row houses on Sherman St. The semester had finished and the campus had mostly emptied out. I was still in Ambridge for another day, and managed to badly cut my hand while cooking. I knew I would need stitches, but was too woozy to drive myself to the ER. I walked across the street to the Trinity offices in hopes of finding help before I fainted! Peter walked through the lobby as I arrived, and immediately offered to drive me to Sewickley Valley Hospital himself, insisting that it wasn't any trouble. I suggested I call a cab instead, but he wouldn't hear of it. When I think back on that afternoon, knowing more now of all the responsibilities he was shouldering at the time, I find it so lovely that he made it a priority to bundle me into his car and drive me down 65 to help. Praise the Lord for his loving, servant's heart.
Thank you, Jesus, for Peter Moore. Thank you for all the ways we learned of you through his faithful ministry and gospel witness.
