Beeson Podcast, Episode #
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Date

>>Announcer: 

Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your host, Doug Sweeney. 


>>Tennant:

Welcome to the podcast of Beeson Divinity School. I'm your host, Timothy Tennant. I'm filling in for our beloved Dean Sweeney, and I am so delighted to be joined today by Dr. Carolyn Moore. She's one of nine bishops in the Global Methodist Church. Many of you may have heard of the new emerging GMC. You'll learn more about that. But she oversees all of the global Methodist churches in North Alabama, where Beeson is located, as well as South Carolina and five Western states, as well as overseas and wonderful new context there, Uganda, India, Philippines. And so, Dr. Moore, we're just so delighted that you could be with us today and thank you for joining us. You've been now a frequent visitor to Beeson, so thank you for being here. 
>>Moore:
My absolute privilege and to have the chance to have a conversation with you because we're old buddies. 
>>Tennant:
We're old buddies, we go back a long way. We're both Asbury folks and thank God for that heritage. And today, Dr. Moore preached in chapel, and I tell students when they preach that a single is good, a double is good, but today we got a grand slam. And so it's nice every now and then to get a grand slam. You don't get it every bat, but today we had a grand slam from Carolyn Moore, wonderful job. 
So just tell me how you came to faith and what pathway. I know you obviously are a church planter, you mentioned that today in chapel at Evans, Georgia - this is just northwest of where they play the golf.
>>Moore:
Yes, yeah, that's right. Actually, I mean, we're pretty much the same town.
>>Tennant:
Northwest of Augusta, yeah.
>>Moore:
Yeah, that's right. The Masters Tournament is played at the Augusta National. Yep, so, but I was raised in Augusta. And you know, I'm raised in the birthplace of the Southern Baptist Convention and the birthplace of the Georgia Baptist Convention. So you'd be hard pressed to not be raised in what would be considered at least a culturally Christian home. And I was. But it was when I was in, I went to a youth group, and it was just kind of a crazy beginning. The youth pastor, the first night I went there, sort of by accident, I was 11 years old, so I was a little young to be there, but I was there by accident, and the youth pastor made a joke. And I can remember, like it was yesterday, thinking, I didn't know Christians laughed. I didn't know they had a sense of humor. If they have a sense of humor, I'm in. And that's where it started for me. I didn't give my life to Christ that day, but that was the pervenient grace moment for me. That is where God really reeled me in. 
And so, from there, I became very involved in the youth group. The next year, we went on a mission trip to Blairsville, Georgia. And I, in a room at Young Harris College, 12 years old, in a mystical moment, I won't describe all of it, but I gave my life to Jesus.
>>Tennant:
Wow.
>>Moore:
And then...
>>Tennant:
Did you know that I'm a graduate of Young Harris College?
>>Moore:
I knew you were in that area, but ... and I knew you served in that area as well.
>>Tennant:
So, yeah, I'm a 1979 graduate of Young Harris College.
>>Moore:
Stop it. Well, so it was Young Harris College, 1970-, I don't know, four, five, six, somewhere in there that I was sitting in a dorm room by myself. And I looked out at a tree and I thought, that tree can't, it's not an accident. And then this sort of theological tumble for a 13, I was 12 year old at the time, theological tumble sort of just led me down the steps to Jesus from that moment. And I walked out of that room and I told everybody in the hallway, I just became a Christian.
>>Tennant:
Oh, praise the Lord.
>>Moore:
That's how that happened. So a year later, 13 years old now, I was in a ... we used to have Sunday night worship, remember that? And it was the youth groups night to lead worship that night. And I had the devotional that I was sharing for the whole church, but it was the youth service. And during that devotional ... I still have the little piece of paper that I read from ... but during that devotional I heard the voice of God and he said, “This is where you belong.” I was 13 and I was a concrete thinker and I was standing in a pulpit and that's how I came to believe that God had called me to preach. I heard that voice. 
And so, from there, it was quite a journey. I don't know how much you want me to tell the rest of it, but from there it was quite a journey. 
>>Tennant:
You came to Asbury Seminary of course. 
>>Moore:
I came back to Christ when I was in my late 20s. And at 30 years old, I kind of reclaimed the call. And then at 32, went to Asbury. 
>>Tennant:
And what was the gap between after you graduated from Asbury when you planted the church in Evans, the Mosaic Church?
>>Moore:
Yes, because while I was at Asbury, I got intensely interested in what did Jesus mean when he ascended and left the church to us? Is the church that we have right now, is that the church he meant? And I got kind of obsessed by that question and started calling people all over the country asking where have you seen the church? Where have you seen what you would call the true church?
And over and over and over again. Now remember this is the ‘90s and Gordon Cosby was still alive. He planted a church called the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. And they had a resident writer, Elizabeth O'Connor. And so, he was kind of ‘70s, ‘80s, maybe even into the ‘90s, kind of a deal. And when I would ask people, where have you seen the church at work? They would point back to the Church of the Savior. 
And as it turns out, big churches back in that day, like Saddleback and North Point and Willow Creek, those pastors had looked to what Gordon Cosby did for their models of small group, especially small group models, but also missional community. And I just became obsessed with this whole idea of the Church of the Savior, their model for doing ministry, which really is heavily built on small groups and missional living. And I went and visited them. I read every Elizabeth O'Connor book that was in the Asbury Library. 
And when I got out of seminary, I wanted to plant. Steve and I sensed the Lord say to us, the Church of the Savior does not need two more members. We would have been happy with that, just move to Washington, D.C. and be part of them. But the United Methodist Church needs a Church of the Savior. And so I thought when I left seminary that I could do that. But the person in charge of church development for the North Shore's annual conference at the time did not think that women could plant churches. 
>>Tennant:
Just to put that in context, an overwhelming number of church planters, even to this day, are so often men. So it was, especially in the 90s, a paradigm that must have blown their minds.
>>Moore:
Right, right. So they said no. And so I became an associate pastor at a large, Athens First United Methodist Church. And the first thing they wanted me to do was to start a congregation across the street. So I spent five years doing church planning on training wheels there. And then a district superintendent in Augusta, she heard through the grapevine that I'd wanted to plant a church and she wanted to see a woman plant. So she's the one who gave me the first invitation. And that's how I ended up back in the Briar Patch. I grew up in Augusta, and the church that I planted was in Augusta. And that's not normal in the United Methodist Church, it's not usual, but that's how I ended up there. It's because that's where she was. 
>>Moore:
Wonderful. And so obviously you spent many years there and then I know from our conversations other places that you some point decided to step down. You attended St. Chapel. Yeah. And what was it like to be elected a bishop and now you're a bishop of the Global Methodist Church. 
>>Moore:
Yeah. Well, I'll tell you that I really did not assume that was my lot. You and I had had this conversation and I just thought, well, I mean, that's a couple of, I skipped a couple of steps to get there, you know, so I just didn't assume it was my lot at all. And I had a great plan B. I really had a very exciting, Steve and I were going to go to the Czech Republic and be part of a church that's there, this English speaking church. All of my evangelism tinglys were fed by that idea. But that was when the first person mentioned to me, before you do that, you might consider that you might be called to be a bishop. 
And so by the time I got nominated to be a bishop, or at least heard that my name was going to be in that hat to be nominated, I decided to just wait. I didn't think, I didn't know that that could happen for me, but I just thought, I'll just wait and play this out. It's a matter of a couple of months from the time I stepped down to then. I'll just let this play out and then we'll go to Czech Republic, which was my plan, my plan B. 
And so the convening conference in Costa Rica was a bit anxious for me, anxiety producing for me, because do you remember, they decided to change things up completely in the middle of convening conference and to have a different way for bishops to be elected or a different pool of candidates, or not candidates, but nominees in the mix. And I just was looking at that going, oh, this is a train wreck. And I don't know where I'm going to land on this. And I just kept saying the Czech Republic people were there. And I was like, just give me a minute. I'll see you at lunch. As soon as this is over, I'll be at your lunch table and we'll just move on forward because I truly felt like that might be the better option for me and it felt like a better next step for me, more my size. 
>>Tennant:
Well let's go back a little bit to the Global Methodist Church founding conference because many of our listeners won't be really familiar with the GMC and kind of what's happened. But I want to come back ... if you know this podcast, you'll know that Dr. Sweeney has a great interest in church history, and American church history, especially his specialty. And of course, many of you will know that December of 1784 was a very historic moment in the history of Methodism in the U.S. And that's called the Christmas Conference, a 10-day conference. I don't know if you've been there to that location, lovely Lane Chapel in Baltimore.
>>Moore:
Yes.
>>Tennant:
And you have this, they basically were starting a new church, and you had three bishops that were put out there, and Francis Asbury, one of those, Thomas Coke, and Richard Whatcoat. And what you may not know is that Francis Asbury was made a bishop from a layperson to a deacon to bishop in three days, one after the other. 
>>Moore:
We’ve done a few of those that are almost like that!
>>Tennant:
What's it like to start a new denomination? So I want to really get your thoughts on that a little bit, because many of us in the Western world have a lot of imagination about what it would have been like to be at the Christmas conference in 1784. What it would have been like to be there when they laid hands on Francis Asbury. Well, effectively, you were there. I mean, you were there in Costa Rica. The GMC equivalent of that. 
What was it like to be part of the rebirthing of a Wesleyan movement, people called Methodist in North America, in the world? And also I just wonder, we look back on those conferences and we don't really realize they too were kind of messy. And they're trying to figure it out. And there's a lot of stuff that we learned from the diaries. It wasn't nearly as ... we have this idea of what it was like and what it was actually. So what was it like being in Costa Rica and being on the front row of that? What was it like?
>>Moore:
I would say that for me personally, Costa Rica was the culmination of nine hard years of work. And so for me, that was the big story. The big story for me was being in that room in Houston and nine years before when we said we're birthing the Wesleyan Covenant Association and we are going to apply the kind of pressure that will either be the beginning of something new and the existing, the predominant Methodist denomination in the U.S., or we will either be the beginning of something new within or we will be the beginning of something new beyond. 
And nobody knew in that moment all those years ago in Houston which would rule today. But we spent the first couple of three years maybe really hoping that pressure could be applied that would provide for renewal within that predominant Methodist denomination. I want to say it that way because there's more than one Methodist denomination in the world and Methodism is happening and flourishing all over the world with or without that particular denominations presence. But that's the predominant one in the United States and in Africa as well. 
When we saw that start to erode, that the possibility of renewal within eroding, I can remember being in the room when we ... like, let's start dreaming of what can be. And that's a harder thing than you think. Everybody, if you've got 15 United Methodists in the room, there's 30 opinions. Or you have one opinion this morning, you've got another opinion this afternoon. And so that was a kind of really shaping what can be and watching the teams form that each kind of went off and you were part of some of those teams yourself, shaping what can be was very exciting. And as that built, the pressure against us built. And there was a lot of questions from the denomination that we were emerging from. There were a lot of questions and a lot of pressure there, but man, just watching it build. 
And I can remember the day when somebody first pitched a vision for an historic episcopacy where the smaller assembly, and the emphasis was on teaching, preaching, and guarding the faith. It was a spiritual or apostolic leadership. And when I heard that, I didn't put my name on it. I just thought, I want to be under that. I want to be in that. That sounds like the kind of leadership we have starved for, have wanted. 
>>Tennant:
Just a clarification for our listeners, I mean, in the Methodist Church, the Episcopacy had become mostly administrative work, right? And so, there was really not a lot of ecclesial space for visioning and for really thinking biblically and missionally about the church. 
>>Moore:
And guarding the faith was gone. 
>>Tennant:
It was long gone. 
>>Moore:
The ethos was stay neutral, because you have to serve the whole conference, or you have to serve the whole denomination, so stay neutral. And so yeah. 
>>Tennant:
So orthodoxy was lost often in this situation. So, yeah, I think, just to clarify, what the GMC now has is not local bishops, but regional bishops. So these bishops oversee a much larger group of churches, not because they have relinquished that work. There are other people that are in the conferences that do that. But this gives space for the bishops to guard the faith and envision and pray.
>>Moore:
Exactly. And really, we're not just regional, we're global. I mean, the assembly is a global body. And our primary responsibility is to teach, preach, and guard the faith. It's kind of funny that when I first was nominated to be a bishop, somebody from the North Georgia Annual Conference called me. And you just mentioned that taking the administrative place in a conference is called the conference superintendent now.
And then the bishop is doing more spiritual leadership and vision casting. And so this person called me and said, “I love that you've been nominated to be a bishop. That's the right place for you. As a conference superintendent, you'd have been a disaster.”
(laughter)
And he's right. And what I love about the Division of Duties now is that they do lean more heavily on gifts and call. So what are my spiritual gifts? Don't put me in an administrative position. I mean, that is a disaster. But is vision casting your gift, is apostolic that gifting, is that where you sit? Well then, here's the role for you. If what's really right for you is taking a smaller geographical area and working to build a system, an accountable system, and then holding that accountable system to account, building teams into it, then conference superintendency is where you need to be. If you're really meant to pastor, then the presiding elder role gives you the opportunity to pastor because you not only get to keep your role inside your church, but you're really meant to be a pastor to the people and not the administrator handling the stuff the old system has.
>>Tennant:
Well, now that the GMC has been formed and there are, of course, thousands of churches that are united with it, many new being planted. What do you believe are really the distinguishing marks of the Global Methodist church? Some of our listeners may not really know much about the Wesleyan tradition in general, but particularly they wouldn't know about the GMC. We had a long battle. I mean, I was part of this battle for 40 years myself. We are amazed that this has happened. We didn't think it would happen and here it is. What would you say, someone who doesn’t know anything about the GMC, what are like the three, four, five marks that really distinguish it from other denominations, other church bodies?
>>Moore:
Two that are remarkably distinctive in terms of the difference between us and maybe some other Methodist movements in the world are, the first one maybe not so much, although there's an emphasis here, our mission statement is that we make disciples of Jesus Christ and spread scriptural holiness across the globe. So for us there is a sense of returning to that historic vision, that historic mission of Methodists, and that is to spread scriptural holiness across the land. 
And we've tried, we've attempted to really emphasize that. This is another kind of funny thing. We came out of the convening conference and we had ratified this mission statement. This is going to be our mission statement, spread scriptural holiness across the globe. And everybody went, yes. And then they turned to each other and said, what's scriptural holiness?
>>Tennant:
What did we vote for?
>>Moore:
Nobody had been using that language. Nobody had been using the language of holiness. And so the Assembly of Bishops has done a teaching on it, but we've also seen Matt O'Reilly, who some of folks who are listening to this podcast will know that name. He's written a book on free to be holy, and we're all kind of just regenerating our heart and our hunger for holiness, which is what God has called it. I am to be holy. You are to be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. So that's exciting, to spread scriptural holiness across the globe. That is a Methodist message. 
The other part of that is also embedded in our mission statement, is that we are doing this globally. In our former denomination, and my apologies to the listener for referencing the former denomination as often as I am, it's a reference point for us still. In our former denomination, Methodism was for us an American institution with three appendages: Africa, Europe, anemically, and the Philippines. The global Methodist Church really wants to be global, and so we're doing some really interesting things, like every conference in the Global Methodist Church, and when we talk about conferences, we're talking about geographical areas, every conference has to relate to another conference on another continent. So with one exception, and that's the Western States, they have two American conferences that are relating to them because the Western States is quite its own mission field. But except for them, every other conference in the world is relating to a conference that's not on the same continent. 
And that gives everybody all the way down to the local church this wanting to do mission work, the opportunity to know a particular people and to get involved in their story and to encourage each other, to pray for each other, to care for each other's souls. And that has really helped us to shrink the world in a sense. And so folks in South Carolina are relating to people in North Africa, and folks in Texas at the Trinity Conference are relating to people in India now. And so they have faces and names to go with their prayers. And that's exciting. That's exciting. 
We also are reaching beyond those four geographic areas that defined us previously in the other denomination. Now, we're truly seeking to be global. And so there are churches in Vietnam, there are churches in India, there are churches in Cuba, there are churches in South America, there are churches in the Pacific Basin, among some of those islands. It's just amazing. I mean, obviously, I get so excited, I can't think straight. It's just so exciting.
Every time you get another inquiry and you find out these are people who have been waiting for this. I don't even understand how somebody in Fiji hears about it. And somebody in your hometown probably has never heard of the GMC. But I would say globally, the Lord is doing a new thing. He genuinely wants to see a fresh move of the spirit with a Methodist message, scriptural holiness spreading across the globe.
>>Tennant:
Do you think that the GMC can recapture, let's put global side of it aside for a moment, and you know how much I'm committed to global Christianity, but I just want to come back to the US. The 19th century miracle where the Methodist Church had planted a church in every county in America. No one's ever done that before or since. And I do think there's a sense where the GMC has emerged, particularly in Texas, the Southeast, etc. But New England, Western states, do you think that the GMC can also recapture a national presence? So somebody who lives in Utah, California, Washington State-
>>Moore:
Idaho, where there's not a single GMC church yet.
>>Tennant:
Massachusetts, where I lived. Whether the GMC can spread in those places?
>>Moore:
What I can say is: that's the intent. That's the intent. And until you get that kind of vision and settle for nothing less, I don't think you have even a prayer. But once you get that kind of vision, I would say God says, this is kind of my sense of it, my thing is God says, I don't care whether you get there or not, I just want to know do you think I can? Do you think I can have a resurgence of faith in Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life in Idaho, in Washington State, in Oregon, in some of those places where the ground really is hard, in New England? Do you think I can? 
And until we say, yeah, actually we do, then the next question is, who? It's not a how, it's who? Who's called? Who's called to go to the West? Who's called to go to ... and not just church plants, but teams, sorry, not just parachute drops, but teams. What are the teams being called to that?
I believe, with all my being, I believe God is shaping teams right now. He is calling people. And at some point, there will be a tipping. At some point, there will be critical mass. The Western states, for instance, one of the annual conferences that I serve has 28 Global Methodist churches in nine states. And that includes Hawaii and Alaska. But the Los Angeles district of that conference is the most diverse conference district of the entire denomination. 
So, God is doing something huge. He is making a statement in Los Angeles that's really beautiful. So, what's to say that he's not just planting seeds and now going to do a huge thing one day will get critical mass.
>>Tennant:
Amen. And I think with the dramatic growth of immigration, a lot of the churches that are that are exploding on the world will, of course, be planning churches here as well.
>>Moore:
Exactly. Half of those 28 churches in the Western States are non Anglo. Yeah, there's a tremendous opportunity.
>>Tennant:
So, as you know, there have been six schools that have been approved to train GMC pastors, and one of those is Beeson Divinity School. We're delighted about that. And we have students that have been inquiring about it. We have quite a few, several new GMC students that have joined Beeson this year. We have some scholarships dedicated just for Methodist students, GMC students. 
So how do you see GMC students from Beeson helping the mission and right here in North Alabama? I think a lot of our people here are interested in what is happening in North Alabama because the gospel is always global and local, as you know. And so we talk a lot about the world and global Christianity, but what about Alabama? Do you see, is there a need for pastors in North Alabama? What's the situation with the GMC in Alabama?
>>Moore:
Well, first I want to congratulate Beeson for luring you in, because I think that your presence here is such a grace for the Methodist movement. Tim Tennant being here, knowing what you know, having the background in Methodism that you have is just such a grace. So I just want to congratulate Beeson for that win and that's a win. So for any student, obviously the first step is come talk to you because nobody knows more than you do about the whole the movement as a whole. 
For the student who is wondering about what might be possible in North Alabama, I want to just plant a seed of interest in the larger cities. North Alabama Annual Conference of the Global Methodist Church has something over 200 churches. I don't know, 95% of those churches are in smaller towns. There are almost no churches in our big cities. And for instance, the church that Matt O'Reilly serves, Christ Church, is the largest church in the North Alabama Annual Conference and really the only large church that came out of Birmingham. But look at all the inner city ministry that could happen in Birmingham, in Montgomery, and in some of these, and even in college towns, you know, in Auburn. And some of these, these are the places where we're starving for students, where you could make a huge difference. And you'd be in a city. What's not to love about that? You'd be in an area where you're not alone. So, plant a church in a large city and that's needed in North Alabama.
>>Tennant:
Absolutely. In Christ Church, they just recently launched a vision team to plant a church in Birmingham. I was just on Sunday night in a beautiful church in downtown Birmingham. It's a church called Iron City Church. But it's just a classic what's happening all across this country. It's a large Baptist church that had gone downhill, downhill, very small numbers on the morning service. And they said, can we plan a church at four o'clock in the afternoon? And I was there on Sunday night, I've been there twice now, but it probably has, you know, there's like 500 people in the room or 400 people in the room, and they're all 25 years old. I felt like an old man in there. 
But the point is that we should not think that Gen Z is resistant to the gospel. There's a new openness to the gospel and to go to the cities, they're modeling reconciliation with obviously Birmingham and Alabama has a lot of opportunities to model what does it mean when a new creation breaks into an area. So we're definitely praying for church plants in urban areas all across the country, but certainly here in Alabama.
>>Moore:
And where we've failed, especially I think in the ‘80s, ‘90s, early 2000s, it was all this parachute drop model where you push somebody out all by themselves and you hope for the best. Where today, a whole other model is really being championed, and that's with teams and missional community. And missional community is exactly the right model for the inner city. So with a team, with that model in your mind, what incredible work you can do. Never mind. Just set aside all your ego stuff and just serve and you can find there's no lack of people in need of the gospel. 
>>Tennant:
Amen. That's such a good point and sometimes we forget and lose that basic perspective that God's called us to serve people that are hurting and Bob Tully used to say that you know everyone's walking around you can guarantee that they're he calls it “HALT” - they're hurt, they're angry, they're lonely, and they're tired. If you can't minister in a world where people are hurt, angry, lonely, and tired. They can't receive the goodness of the gospel because they're filled up with all that. And so until that gets out and someone enters into their story and bears that burden, they can't hear the gospel. That's the power of urban ministry. It's wonderful.
>>Moore:
One of the biggest lessons I had to learn as a church planter was I had to stop waiting for God to send the “other ones,” the functional ones, the middle and upper class ones. I had to wait for God to get that mindset out of me so I could minister to the people who are right in front of me and to the people Jesus himself ministered to, the least, the last and the lost. And everybody deserves a church. If you could just get that mindset in you, everybody deserves a church. Oh, here's somebody who doesn't have a church. I'm going to minister to them at the point of their deep need. And before you know it, you've got a team of people around you wanting to do the same thing. And now you've got a church. Do it. 
>>Tennant:
That's great. Well, I know that one of the things that we, those of us who are in favor of the Bishop model that you mentioned, we all just love it. But I think one of the concerns we had about it was how it would be borne by those who had it. I know that you obviously have to travel a good bit. You mentioned Western states: North Carolina, Alabama, etc. What is it like? And just how can we pray for you? Is this a position that you feel like is a joyful one? Is this something that's like, well, yeah, it's joyful, but it's unsustainable? Is it is this the kind of ministry that you think is going to work? Because people are so used to having bishops show up at everything. And now we're saying, well, let the conference superintendent show up. Is that working? Is it is it something sustainable? And how do you feel about this role? And how can we pray for you?
>>Moore:
Yeah, that's such a kind question. I would say the joy is indescribable. It's been such a joy. And part of the joy comes in knowing that this thing is so big that I can't control it. So let's just have fun because there's no control in this. But in that sense, there's just a freedom in that. There's just a great joy and freedom in the experimentation and in the sense of coming back to movement and not to guarding the institution. Let's just have a movement and it will be messy and it's okay. So, it's like my wheelhouse. It's just fun. 
And the travel is a joy because there's a sense of mission behind it. And I happen to be in a season of my life where I can do this. So there's just this sense of mission. And there's a sense that while I am woefully underqualified, God has prepared me for this moment. So that's a joy. I thank God for the privilege of being able to serve for as long as I am able to serve.
>>Tennant:
Wow. Thank you. 
>>Moore:
The prayer request would be just weighing the opportunities because you can't be every place at once. And being able to, for me, really stepping back and letting the leaders lead, that's important. That's important. And so it's a mind shift. It's not even so much my mind shift, it's the mind shift of everybody around me. Because people do still send their complaints to the bishop, and people do still want the bishop to show up at their thing. 
Boy, if we could get that mindset shifted to the place where this is just a person, just set the title aside. Here's a person who's living out their gifts and call, and they have a particular set of responsibilities that they're going to add to the mix. You have some gifts and call that you're adding to the mix, and this other person also has gifts and a call that they're adding to the mix, and all of us together are getting it done. And if we could change it back from this hierarchical thinking to this - all of us in partnership together, everybody just living out their spiritual gifts. My goodness, what health could emerge and what joy everybody could have.
>>Tennant:
Amen. Well, what a joy to have you here, Bishop Moore, and thank you for just the joy to share with you in this birth of a new movement of God. I travel around a lot like you do. I've put over a million miles on Delta in just that one airline. And I've spoken to hundreds of leaders. 
>>Moore:
We should shout out to Delta because they are a different level.
>>Tennant:
One thing I love about both of our roles is just that, you know, you get to talk to a lot of leaders and you get to see a lot of congregations and you get to feel the energy and excitement. And there's just a lot of enthusiasm all over the world about what's going on. I'll be in the Philippines next year and I think you'll be in India. We're going to be doing a lot of traveling. And I just thank God that He is doing something that we could not have orchestrated on our own. 
We couldn't have made it happen, but God just made a way in the wilderness. Praise the Lord for that. 
>>Moore:
Praise God. 
>>Tennant:
So thank you so much for joining us today and thank you listeners for being a part of it and this conversation. And we thank you for praying for us here at Beeson. May God help us to be faithful to Him and the gospel here in this place. And I want you to know all those who are listening, especially our beloved alumni, we are praying for you and we thank God for you. And so God bless you and goodbye for now.

>>Mark Gignilliat:

You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mark Gignilliat. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our Producer is Neal Embry. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, and Spotify.