Blindness enabled clear vision of God, says retiring pastor

Feb 10, 2009
CAROLYN NICHOLS
Newswriter

THANKFUL Blind for 10 years, pastor Jerry Moore (pictured with his wife Amy) regained his sight at 18. Courtesy photo

PANAMA CITY (FBW)—Pastor Jerry D. Moore, 78, retired late last year after a 60-year career in ministry and 31 years with Northside Baptist Church in Panama City. Of the hundreds of sermons he has preached in his long history of ministry, his personal testimony continues to be the sermon most “used by the Lord,” he said.

Courtesy photo

“It is exciting to share every time, and even I find it new every day,” Moore told Florida Baptist Witness.

For most of Moore’s young life, hospital stays occupied most of his days. Beginning at three months, sores multiplied over his body, and at eight years of age, blindness was added to his affliction.

What began as pink eyes became “flaming red eyes” that filled with tears continuously for 10 years. His “poor widowed mother” took him to dozens of eye specialists, none of whom could diagnose his illness, he said.

After missing five years of schooling because of hospitalizations, 13-year-old Moore moved from his native Birmingham to the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega. The school taught Braille, and instructed students as they wrote on “slates with awls,” Moore said.

Moore first sensed God’s calling to preach in Talladega when he was 17 and began sharing God’s Word with his fellow students, and frequenting Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center near Talladega, where he worked.

Eventually, Moore accepted his blindness, and made his peace with God on the issue.

“I prayed to ask God to help me prepare for ministry. I didn’t ask Him to let me see—but God always does ‘exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine,” he said.

THE MOORES

When Moore was 18, God “miraculously restored” his sight in a sudden and instantaneous act. As he realized that he could see, he rushed from his Birmingham home, down the street to tell his aunt of the miracle. On his first day of sight in 10 years, Moore said he looked into the sunlight, and looked around to see green grass and spring flowers blooming.

“Then I saw a bird flying,” Moore exclaimed. “I still get excited when I see birds flying in the sky.”

Moore’s aunt called his mother at work, and she rushed home to find her son anxious to see her and his 16-year-old sister.

“All of this is just as exciting today as it was then,” he said. “I wake up every morning praising God for the gift of sight. I think now that God took away my physical sight so that I could see Him.”

Preparation for ministry at Samford University in Birmingham and at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, was made easier with good vision. He also was able to see the sights of Europe and North America while serving as an evangelist. For 19 years, Moore served as the staff evangelist at Northside Baptist. At every opportunity, Moore told his story.

“I think people need to be reminded that God is able, even in impossible situations. God can heal even Baptists. You know, some have stopped believing in miracles,” he said.

When a pastor resigned at Northside, church leaders called Moore while he was leading a revival in Tennessee to ask if he would be interim pastor. He cancelled planned engagements to return to Florida to preach at Northside. When the congregation invited him to become pastor in 1995, Moore, at almost 65 years old, told them they needed “a young warrior” instead.

“Then God dried up my revivals. After a while, I said, ‘OK, God, I get your message,’” he said.

Moore said he marvels that he served as pastor of Northside for 13 years. He said the “kind and gracious” people there have made his tenure joyous, as was serving and working in Florida, where he said “God’s hand rests” among the people and churches.

“It just seems like a few years,” he said of the 13. “If you enjoy what you are doing, the time just flies by.”

He and his wife, Amy, will maintain a home base in Lynn Haven within driving distance of their daughters in Montgomery and Birmingham, Ala., and their son in Bay County, and their six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

Although officially retired, Moore already has invitations to preach in revivals in the spring, and he plans to work two days a week on The Baptist College of Florida campus in Graceville counseling students away from home for the first time.

“It looks like the Lord is going to keep me busy,” he said. “That’s Ok. I hope He wears me out real good.”

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