Many of you will know that Dean Moore was the Director of Fresh Start’s Southeast Region from July 1999 until his untimely death on April 9, 2004. Dean was an unusual man, one who walked tall, spoke with a gentle yet firm voice, and had an air of peace and tranquility about him. He was stricken with multiple brain tumors last year and maintained a strong sense of God’s sovereignty and the fact that he was always held lovingly in God’s hands. I recall when he told me last Fall that he was anxiously looking forward to what God was going to teach him through this illness. Fully aware of the seriousness of his condition, he was most excited about how it would draw him close to the Father.
I first met Dean when he attended a Fresh Start seminar where I was the speaker. He told me that he had been divorced for many years and had, in fact, been remarried for over fifteen years. Dean was a Licensed Professional Counselor and had seen many people who struggled with divorce, as he himself had in his past. Someone had recommended Fresh Start to one of his clients and he wanted to see first hand what it had to offer before he sent anyone to a seminar. If you knew Dean, you will know that he was cautious like that, not just taking someone else’s opinion, but wanting to know for sure if it was as valuable as it had been billed.
Over many months I learned that Dean Moore was a complex man, a stream that ran deep, but with clear convictions and a vision for helping hurting people. He was an elder at Mt. Paran Church of God in Atlanta and was respected as a man who thought through issues before speaking his mind, yet a man who spoke with strong conviction and elicited respectful responses when he did so.
Dean sang in the choir along with his wife, Debbie, for many years, and drew great satisfaction from that form of worship. It was not about performing for Dean, it was in essence his truest form of worship of the God who sustained him throughout his life. Dean was also very active in the Tres Deis movement, serving on the board for a number of years as well as leading many weekends in the role of Rector.
Dean led the ministry of Fresh Start in the Southeast for almost five years and left a mark on many hundreds of people’s lives. I had the privilege of doing many seminars along side Dean and was able to watch as God used him to minister to hurting people in such a tender way. As a member of Fresh Start’s Board of Directors, he brought a quiet yet strong presence to our Board meetings, often putting a unique perspective on something that we struggled with. One of his greatest attributes was that he never took himself too seriously. He could laugh easily, often at himself. Dean was mostly all about compassion and hope, but always directed at someone else, not himself.
We will miss Dean Moore, yet we will carry him always in our hearts. All of us at Fresh Start send our love and prayers to his wife, Debbie, and son Christopher. At Dean’s home going celebration, and that is what it really was, Debbie asked that people who wished to honor Dean send donations to Fresh Start in his memory. What better, more fitting tribute could we make to this man who lived his life in service to others?
