Mark Moore
12 min read ⭑
“Where we take control of our own lives, where we have everything handled, where we risk little, the Holy Spirit seldom intervenes. It’s only when we need him most, when we step out in faith, when we risk big that he shows up loud.”
Mark Moore’s mission in life is to make Jesus famous — whether through his preaching at Christ’s Church of the Valley, mentoring young men or his many books, including “The Master Leader,” “Quest52” and “Core52.” As a pastor and author, Mark infuses his teaching and writing with his great love for in-depth Bible study, transparency and, of course, off-the-wall dad jokes.
Below, you’ll discover a behind-the-scenes look at the way Mark approaches life and relationships, how he exercises physically and spiritually every day and the biggest weaknesses that hold him back (plus why he considers his wood shop a sacred place). Read on to take part in a conversation full of honesty, inspiring life lessons and supernatural stories of God moving through ordinary moments.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
Food is always about more than food; it's also about home and people and love. So, how does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?
Living in the Phoenix valley provides a broad culinary landscape from authentic Mexican cuisine, to Native American Frybread, to five star steakhouses in Scottsdale. I love it all, but how do you top the Taco Guild in a converted Methodist church. This combines my love of food, culture, and faith.
If I'm honest, however, special events are all in my own backyard with salmon, steaks, and gourmet pizza fresh from my own Big Green Egg. The dress code is a swimsuit next to my pool. I'm no iron chef but I would put my cedar plank salmon up against Bobby Flay's.
For me, meals are spiritual. They are part of our Imago Dei, differentiating us from all other species. Perhaps that's why Jesus did so many of his major works around meals and why the first thing we will do in the New Jerusalem is celebrate the marriage supper of the lamb.
As an aside, the church I serve as teaching pastor, Christ's Church of the Valley, has food service on each of our eighteen campuses around the City. Families bond, friendships are forged, new relationships are formed, and old wounds are healed.
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QUESTION #2: REVEAL
What “nonspiritual” activity have you found to be quite spiritual, after all? What quirky proclivity, out-of-the-way interest, or unexpected pursuit refreshes your soul?
My woodshop is a sanctuary of worship. It is an oasis of Sabbath. But it's not just relaxation. Whether I'm crafting a jewelry box for my three granddaughters, a dining table for a friend, a night stand for my bride, or a pen from Bethlehem olive wood, I'm exercising a spiritual gift.
In fact, the first person in the Bible to be identified with a spiritual gift is a man named Bezalel. He was an expert craftsman in woodworking, metallurgy, interior design, and fabrics. He was tasked with creating the Tabernacle of Israel.
Our penchant for creating goes back much further, however, to the beginning of creation. God embedded his nature in us--his married to design, create, and effect his own goodness in his handiwork. We're are partners with God in making a world out of the earth on which he placed us.
This thought is extraordinary to me. God didn't merely create us with the earth; he invites us the partner with him in improving his creation. And so we have through art and music, families and governments, education, science, medicine, and sports.
My personal contribution is through wood, taking his raw material and making memories and partnering with God in creating beauty. In this space, I can be creative, meditative and productive. The design in my head flows through my hands. And when it is done, it is complete. That’s a unique experience that I need in my life.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness; every human, too. We're just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So, what’s your kryptonite and how do you confront its power?
I grew up a skinny little kid. I wasn't super athletic or stunningly, gorgeous, but I did have an above average intelligence. That's how I stood out in school. I'm not sure whether my insecurities came from my physical appearance, my parents, divorce, or our meager economic status. But it was real and often times thick.
My compensation was to use big words and excel academically. That took me through college. And got me hired as a professor. My classes tended to be full and active, but I did have a kryptonite, a criticism that kept appearing—my students accused me of being arrogant, not all the time but enough that I couldn't deny it.
Do you want to know the truth? I've not been arrogant a day in my life. I've been insecure! The big words and bravado are simply a thin veil to try to conceal my insecurity.
As I wrestled that to the ground in my late 50s, I began to share more openly in my public addresses what was really going on inside. The strangest thing happened. The more I criticize myself publicly the more people praised me privately. It was counterintuitive.
It really came to ahead two years ago when I was asked to preach on the topic of boasting. One of my colleagues challenge me to tell my church the very thing I would be most terrified to confess. Here's what came out of my mouth in that message, "My greatest fear is that you will think of me what I think of myself."
The response to that message was unprecedented. So many people could relate. And I learned that the antidote to this kryptonite was confession.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
It began when a friend of mine flew in to see me. He said he needed two hours in my office. He laid out two ideas. Both were massive. The first I was familiar with. It was this: eternal life is defined by Jesus in John 17:3, "This is eternal life that they know you, and Jesus, the Messiah whom you have sent."
Eternal life is not what you get when you get to heaven. It's what you get when you get Jesus. If that's true, and it is, then why do so many of us go throughout our days completely oblivious to the eternal life we possess right now?!
I would suggest that it is because we don't know Jesus, the Messiah. And because of that, we don't know God, the father, personally, intimately. Oh, it's not that we know nothing of Jesus. We know when he was born and where. We know how he lived and much of what he said. We can cite his commands and rehearse his history. But we're missing a major aspect of Jesus and that is his messiah ship.
That's when my friend introduced a new and powerful concept that I should have known. He said the word Messiah and the word Christ do not mean the same thing. I challenged him because in the dictionary they do. Both mean the anointed one. It was a title in the Old Testament for those three occupations that were established through anointing: king, Prophet, Priest.
Of course, there is a whole history of predictions about this coming Messiah, and what he would mean to the nation of Israel. Specifically, he would be a conquering warrior that threw off the shackles of their enemies.
The problem came when the Gentiles flooded into the church. They had no concept of the Jewish Messiah. That's why the word Christ, the Greek translation of the Hebrew word, Messiah, morphed in meaning. It shifted from a king who saves a nation to a savior who saves your soul.
Both are, of course, true. But if we only latch on to one of them, we will miss half of what the Messiah offers. That seems to be the state of affairs of the modern church. To clarify all he is, and what that means, my dear friend and former student, Kyle Idleman, and I have written a book entitled “The Missing Messiah.” It is our hope and prayer that this allows modern Christians to experience today, the eternal life Jesus intends for us to have.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Whether we're Cashiers or CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need God's love flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it's God when it happens?
Well, many find the Holy Spirit working in personal or even internal ways, what is impressed me about the Holy Spirit's role in this work, “The Missing Messiah,” is that it could never have been done by one person.
It took my friend, Phil Smith, to fly out and lay these ideas before me with a challenge to write about them. It took decades of training and work and my mentors to guide me in the necessary study. It took Kyle Idleman and his wizardry with words to craft a manuscript that is engaging and inviting. It took Don Gates to be the engine and the connection to the right publishers.
We all gathered in Kyle's office in Louisville, and as I looked around the room, I was thunderstruck by the talent that God assembled. Each person in their own way contributed in a way that no one else in the circle could. Yet all of us with humble devotion to God and deep gratitude to the Holy Spirit sensed a movement in the making.
It seems to me that the greatest work of the Holy Spirit is not through individual gifts, but the corporate body of Christ relying on each other with desperate need and dependency. It is then that the fullness of both the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit are manifest. In a world hell bent on individualism. God's church, in contrast requires the collective in imperfect unity, and sometimes cacophonous harmony, to sing the melody of God.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So, let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you in this season?
My days begin at 5:30 in the morning when I sit at my computer and write for an hour. Afterwards, my wife and I gather for breakfast and prayer and then I'm off to work. My days, like yours, are filled with chaotic encounters and a variety of tasks. So to prepare for my day, I commute on my bicycle. Partly to burn fat rather than fuel. But mostly to allow my body to be frenetic so my mind can be calm. This is necessary both going into work and coming home from work. Three of those days, I will also hit the gym for a workout.
Then come Sabbath. I sleep eight hours a night. I'm not bragging but my sleep score is usually between 87 and 96 on my Apple Watch. I need that to perform optimally. I never apologize for sleeping or napping. Then comes Friday, my day off since as a pastor. I work on the weekends. It is sacred for me and I refuse to violate it. Even if I'm preaching that weekend, I will not work on the message on Friday. That's a day for God to work on me.
This past month I had a revelation about Sabbath. It's been embedded in the Bible since the beginning. But I just now noticed it through the help of a friend. When God created the world, he counted the days in Genesis one from evening until morning. Not from morning till evening. In God's economy, your day begins with rest. It doesn't end with it. Your week begins with rest. it doesn't end with it. We should not consider rest a reward for work but a preparation for it. Before God can do something through us, he needs to do something in us.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and changed your heart?
When I was a young man in middle school in high school my mind was inflamed by the apologetics of Josh McDowell, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.” I was also wildly influenced by the writings of C.S. Lewis.
In my college days, it was the classic commentaries on scripture in the study of Greek and Hebrew, as well as the practical preaching of the men and women who trained me. It was the life of Seth Wilson, who founded our little college in Joplin, Missouri, as well as Ken Idleman who led the school as its president.
As a professional, and this may sound surprising, it is not so much the Christian literature that has in but the sociology of men like Rodney Stark in his “The Rise of Christianity” and the sociology of Jordan B. Peterson. The ability to combine biblical studies with observations of the modern world and history show that God's sovereignty is above one discipline, but is indeed embedded in the universe we inhabit.
Certain things can be godsends, helping us survive, even thrive, in our fast-paced world. Does technology ever help you this way? Has an app ever boosted your spiritual growth? If so, how?
I do live with technology. My Apple Watch, integrated MacBook Air, YouVersion Bible App, and Logos Bible Software our daily companions along with the burgeoning weaponry of AI. All of these have made me better, faster, stronger. But I also recognize the inherent dangers of them. For that reason, I am a social media monk. I have hired someone to post things for me, but I never actually get on myself. It is not because I'm morally superior, but because I know my own limitations and dangers. Hello, my name is Mark, and I am an attention addict.
QUESTION #8: dream
God's continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
The older I get the more I'm aware that the larger your audience, the smaller your impact. Our church currently has 18 campuses across the Phoenix metro area, with an average weekly attendance of over 55,000. I would be kidding myself if I thought I was making an eternal impact simply through a screen. It is through my wife, my two children, my seven grandchildren that I will make the greatest lasting impact.
My temptation is to go bigger and broader. My calling is to go smaller and deeper. So the dream got his stirring in me is more international mission trips with tend to 12 men who I can truly Disciple. In addition to that to spend more quality and time mentoring the younger people on our staff, are residence and new hires, as well as business men because we know that this world will not be reached through a weekend worship service, but through the workforce used as a platform for Christ. If I could be known for one thing before I pass from relevance, it would not be books or sermons but individuals whose lives I deeply invested in by doing life with.
Earlier in his interview, Mark said, “Where we take control of our own lives, where we have everything handled, where we risk little, the Holy Spirit seldom intervenes. It’s only when we need him most, when we step out in faith, when we risk big that he shows up loud.”
This is a truth that the apostle Paul understood well thanks to what he called “a thorn” in his flesh (see 2 Cor. 12:7). He writes:
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:8,9, ESV).
What weaknesses in your life does God want to use to display his power? How can you boast in your weaknesses instead of being ashamed of them?
Mark E. Moore is the teaching pastor of Christ Church of the Valley in Phoenix, Arizona and a former professor of New Testament at Ozark Christian College in Joplin Missouri. His books include Core 52 and The Missing Messiah. His website is filled with free material for Bible studies and small groups.