Lifeway Celebrates 20 Years of Ministry with Beth Moore

Twenty years sounds like a long time, but in actuality, it’s just a blip on the screen.

At that time, Beth Moore was a wife and mother teaching Bible study in her local church. She knew beyond the shadow of a doubt at the age of 18 that God had a purpose for her, a calling, and she sought to honor Him with an intense drive.

Lifeway Christian Resources partnered with Beth 20 years ago—each following God down an unknown path. Together they have honored the Lord with Bible studies, teaching videos, books and live events for women. The past 20 years have been filled with surprises and blessings. As a result of the faithfulness of Beth, millions of lives—men, women and children—have been affected around the world.

Beth Moore, A Student of the Word

“The huge turning point in my spiritual journey was at 27, when I took my first Bible doctrine class and a man walked to the podium, opened His Bible and taught with a passionate love for Jesus and the Scriptures that I’d never beheld in my entire life," Beth said. "I got in the car and cried out to God, ‘I don’t know what that was, but I want it!’ My love affair in those sacred pages began that very day and was still with me this morning all by myself at my kitchen table.”

In the early 90s, Beth was teaching a women’s class at First Baptist Houston (Texas), where they asked her for homework. Knowing that knowledge and understanding of the topic is a must, Beth obediently began to study, teach and eventually write.

Beth was not only a student of the Word, but she became a student of the art of writing. Dale McCleskey, her content editor, shares that Beth researches and studies for the better part of a year before writing. She has always put an enormous amount of time into researching her topic. She reads everything she can get her hands on and knows the content thoroughly.

Beth the Spiritual Leader

Beth has a commitment to the message. She doesn’t undertake something unless she is sure that God is in it. When she is convinced that God is in the message, she pursues it with her whole heart and holds nothing back.

God has richly blessed Beth’s time and effort. She has written and Lifeway has produced 17 Bible studies for women. Lives have been changed as a result.

In addition to the multiple Bible studies, Lifeway and Beth partnered together with (LINK) Living Proof Live events. It was through these events that Beth was introduced to, and began to work with, a worship leader she now says is like her son, Travis Cottrell.

Together they have shared the love of Jesus with women at events all around the country for more than 17 years. It’s undeniable that God had a master plan that involved a willing woman with a team of friends and a multitude of women who needed to hear about the love of Jesus Christ.

Beth the Cherished Lifeway Family Member

Early in the relationship between Beth and the Lifeway video crew, her protection became priority.

The team promised her husband, Keith, that wherever she was, she would be safe. Beth was their leader and friend; and eventually, they became more of a family.

This team has traveled together all over the world and found themselves in exotic places for the purpose of creating a perfect video experience.

Beth and her team have driven mopeds in Patmos, ridden camels through a makeshift opening in the gate to the Pyramids in Egypt (where Beth, with her best Southern lady manners, told the camels, “No biting, now, no biting”) and encountered bears and moose in Wyoming.

“Beth Moore is the real deal and we would take a bullet for her," said producer and director Bill Cox. "She is our friend and our family.”

When you see Beth speak, she is contagious, funny, wise and engaging. She brings a warmth to the platform that draws the audience in, and you can trust that she is the same person face to face. She radiates the love of the Lord and desires with every ounce of her being to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. She will go anywhere to reach that goal.

Beth Moore the Wife

You can’t listen to Beth on a platform, on a video or face to face and not know immediately that this is a woman who loves her family.

Beth has a husband, Keith, two daughters, Amanda and Melissa, a son-in-law, Curtis and two grandchildren, Jackson and Annabeth. Beth glows whenever she mentions their names.

When God calls a person, He calls the family, too, and this family proved to be up to the call. They have sacrificed much through the years—writing and travel times. God doesn’t call us to something without equipping us for it, and this family is equipped with love, determination and understanding.

Keith has trusted Lifeway with the safety and protection of his wife when he couldn’t be with the team. He is her rock, her “man.” When asked for her number-one piece of marriage advice, Beth responds, “Be willing to fall back in love again. And again. And again. And again. And, yet again.”

Beth the Mom

The girls have watched their momma leave for writing retreats, video shoots, and women’s events. God knows the sacrifices and He has blessed them. Now, Beth’s daughters, Amanda and Melissa, are grown women with ministry roles.

Beth says her greatest challenge as a mother of adult girls is “watching my children encounter and walk through the disappointments, devastations, betrayals, criticisms and sufferings of life that no Band-Aid® can fix. I can no longer rock them in my arms and sing to them until they still themselves and fall asleep, oblivious to the cares of this world.”

Beth the “Bibby”

Amanda and Curtis are the parents of their “Bibby’s heart,” as described by Beth. (Her grandmother name is “Bibby.”) What does she love most about being a Bibby? “The double portion of love: this glorious concoction of loving them for their own sakes and in all their distinctiveness, and also loving them and being so fascinated by them because they are my child’s children,” Beth said. “They will make certain facial expressions or say certain figures of speech that remind me so much of their mother. I’m just nuts about them. There is nothing I don’t love about being a grandmother.”

“My grandmother lived with us in my childhood home and she used to say something that my mother took up saying about her grandchildren, and now I say it about my own: ‘We’re just drunk over these babies.’ That is a healthy drunk if you’ll ever find one.”

Beth Moore the Loyal Servant of Christ

Referring to Acts 20, Beth points to Paul as an example of how to live out God’s ministry calling. To fulfill our calling, she shares, we must make an emotional investment, be compelled by the Spirit and be determined to finish the task.

“Our temptation is to be compelled by our culture,” Beth said. “But if you and I are compelled by culture and not by the Spirit of God, whatever we produce will have the shelf life of a head of lettuce. Only what is compelled by the Spirit will last.”

“It’s been a blast to look back on these last 20 years," Beth said. "But now let’s go onward in the name of the living Lord Jesus Christ, who is worthy of it all; we shall not hold back.”

Article courtesy of HomeLife magazine. Read more articles.

Learn About a New Bible Study from Beth Moore

Centered on DVD-based teaching from Beth Moore, Breath examines the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Its title is drawn from the words of John 20:22, which records that Jesus "breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" The booklet features fill-in-the-blank outlines to use as you follow along with the video teaching as well as lined, blank pages for recording notes from each session. It also includes writings from Moore's daughter Melissa that takes readers deeper into the teaching. (6 sessions)