LifeWay Glorieta honors Jess and Doris Moody

When Jess Moody first came to Glorieta in 1953, he stood in a tent surrounded by tents and led sessions during Discipleship Week. On Friday, Aug. 29, he stood surrounded by buildings in the Glorieta chapel now named "The Jess and Doris Moody Chapel."

"It is completely humbling to me that we are having the chapel named for us," Moody said. "It caught me totally off guard and I’m in shock. Glorieta is a place we’ve loved and I believe the presence of God is here on this campus. It has been our privilege to see Him working through people’s lives through all these years."

LifeWay Christian Resources, which operates LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center, honored the Moodys during a dedication service recognizing them for a lifetime of service to thousands of Glorieta visitors over the years. The ceremony included family members and special guests.

"Jess and Doris Moody are icons of Glorieta," said Hal Hill, executive manager of Glorieta. "They are two of the people that guests of all ages expect to see each summer. The devotions and stories that Jess has shared through the years are inspirational, filled with humor and reflective of his lifelong service to Christ.

"Doris has personified graciousness in the way she has greeted and encouraged families and leaders that visit our campus," he added. "Naming this chapel in their honor is an appropriate recognition of their lifetime contribution of ministry at Glorieta."

Since 1953 the Moodys have spent every summer except one at Glorieta and own a cabin on the property, which they named "El Rancho Not So Grande." Thousands of people have attended his daily 6:15 a.m. devotionals in the prayer garden. In additional, every one of the five books Moody has authored was written at Glorieta.

"I recall a number of times while growing up when somebody would wander up to my parents’ porch in need of encouragement," said the Moody’s son Patrick, pastor of The Village Baptist Church, West Palm Beach, Fla. "They knew there’d be coffee and a listening ear. They cried, they laughed, they shared their hearts and when they walked away they would have a spring in their steps.

"These were people who were leaders within the Southern Baptist Convention, pastors, missionaries and friends," he said. "When they set foot on that porch they knew there’d be unconditional love."

LifeWay President and CEO Thom S. Rainer mentioned a number of current world events, but said that it was more important to pause from life’s events to honor "two of God’s choice servants."

"I am honored to be in the Moody’s presence," Rainer said to the 100 or so people gathered for the ceremony. "I look at all God has done through your lives and realize I am standing on holy ground. God has used these two in a mighty way both here and around the world. There will be millions of people in heaven who one day will approach Jess and Doris Moody and say, ‘Thank you for giving to the Lord.’"

Jess Moody married Doris Wade Cummins in 1949, and the two have shared ministry for more than 59 years. He has been pastor of churches in Florida and California and founded and served as the first president of Palm Beach Atlantic University. In retirement, Moody taught six years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and two years at Dallas Baptist University.

Doris Moody was the first dean of women at Palm Beach Atlantic University, as well as PBA’s first alumni director. She initially directed and lead Palm Beach Atlantic’s "Workship" program which has (as of 2008) accumulated more than 1.6 million hours of volunteer community service and mission work by students serving all over the world.

The Moodys have two grown children; Patrick Jess Moody and Martha Kit Moody.