Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore (born Wanda Elizabeth Green, June 16, 1957) is an American Anglican evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is president of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization she founded in 1994 to teach women to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture. Living Proof Ministries is based in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Moore is "arguably the most prominent white evangelical woman in America," speaks at arena events and has sold millions of books. The ministry, in conjunction with

LifeWay Christian Resources Lifeway Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Christian media publishing and distribution division of the Southern Baptist Convention and provider of church business services. Until the end of their physical retail presenc ...

, conducted more than a dozen conferences, known as "Living Proof Live", around the United States annually.

Travis Cottrell Travis Cottrell is an American contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist, songwriter, author, and worship leader. Biography Cottrell was raised in Boone, North Carolina. In 1990, he moved to Nashville to study at Belmont University. After gr ...

lead worship at the conferences. From 2007 to 2011, Moore,

Kay Arthur Kay Lee Arthur (born November 11, 1933) is Christian author and bible teacher and co-founder of Precept Ministries International. Early life and education Kay Lee Arthur was born on November 11, 1933, in Jackson, Michigan. She grew up in a r ...

, and Priscilla Shirer collaborated on a LifeWay weekend conference, "Deeper Still: The Event". Moore teaches through her radio show, ''Living Proof with Beth Moore'', and on her YouTube channel of the same name. Moore writes books and produces video resources based on the Bible studies that she conducts at the Living Proof Live conferences. She has taught at conferences for women

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. She and husband, Keith, joined the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba ...

in 2021.

Early life and education

Born in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea le ...

, and raised in

Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Hender ...

, where her father owned a cinema house, Moore is the fourth of five children, all of whom worked at the cinema from a young age. Moore was raised in the Southern Baptist Church, regularly attending three times a week. Church was a safe place for Moore as she was growing up, and was the place where she could escape the sexual abuse she experienced at home. She studied political science at

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

and earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

, where she pledged and was initiated into

Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chap ...

Personal life

Moore and husband, Keith, married in 1978. Keith came from a Catholic family and continued his father's plumbing business. They have two daughters, Amanda and Melissa. Both daughters, along with son-in-law Curtis Jones, work with their mother at Living Proof Ministries. Moore and her husband attend an

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

in Spring, Texas.

Ministry

Moore committed her life to vocational Christian ministry at the age of 18. When she was volunteering as a

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. ...

teacher, Moore realized she needed to learn more about the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

.Emma Green,
The Tiny Blond Bible Teacher Taking on the Evangelical Political Machine
theatlantic.com, USA, October 2018 She went to a biblical

doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...

class that gave her a deep yearning to know the Bible, and she began teaching a weekly Bible study class. By the mid-1990s that class had grown to 2,000 women, and she was speaking at churches throughout

South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

. Although still without any formal theological education,

' publishing arm Broadman & Holman (later B&H) began publishing her Bible studies in 1994, leading to a national speaking ministry for Moore. With the help of a worship band she assembled, she began holding weekend conferences around the country. As a base for her national speaking ministry, she founded Living Proof Ministries. In 2008, she held a simulcast of her "Living Proof Live" that is estimated to have been watched by 70,000 people at 715 locations. The sales of her book about

Esther Esther is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther. In the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus seeks a new wife after his queen, Vashti, is deposed for disobeying him. Hadassah, a Jewess who goes by the name of Esther, is chosen ...

were credited as part of what made a "strong" quarter for Lifeway Christian Stores during the height of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. Moore claimed to support the Southern Baptist Convention’s complementarian theology which teaches that males and females have complementary roles and does not allow women to be pastors. Male SBC church leaders criticized her for speaking repeatedly on Sundays, which was in contradiction to their understanding of the Bible's position on the role of women in regards to teaching.

Leaving the Southern Baptist Convention

Moore’s adoption of an

egalitarian Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...

theological position led to her leaving the Southern Baptist Convention, which takes a

complementarian Complementarianism is a theological view in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, that men and women have different but ''complementary'' roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership. The word "complementary" and i ...

approach. In March 2021, Moore announced that, though still a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

, she was no longer identified as a

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptists, Baptist denomination, and the Protestantism in the United States, largest Protestantism, Protestant and Christia ...

and had ended her publishing relationship with LifeWay Christian. It was subsequently reported that Moore had joined the

. The news, along with photos of Moore vested as an

acolyte An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...

and

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

during an Anglican Eucharistic service, triggered criticism from some Baptist ministers. In response, Bishop Clark Lowenfield of the Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast posted on Twitter: "As her Bishop, is an honor to serve God as Beth Moore’s spiritual oversight and covering. She is humble and grace-filled. And we pray for those who have been treating her in unChristianly ways over this past week."

Political and social views

Moore does not identify as liberal, or feminist. She is opposed to abortion. In August 2020, Moore said, "

White supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White ...

has held tight in much of the church for so long because the racists outlasted the anti racists." Moore criticized portions of the Evangelical movement that dismissed the moral flaws of politicians accused of sexual abuse, most prominently Donald Trump and

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed fr ...

(no relation). Moore said in a March 2021 interview that after the October 2016 release of the ''Access Hollywood'' tape, in which

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

was heard making offensive comments about women, she was shocked that fellow evangelicals rallied around Trump, and could not understand how he had become "the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism, the salvation of the church in America." In December 2020 she tweeted, "I'm 63 1/2 years old & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than

Trumpism Trumpism is a term for the political ideologies, social emotions, style of governance, political movement, and set of mechanisms for acquiring and keeping control of power associated with Donald Trump and his political base. '' Trumpists ...

. This

Christian nationalism Christian nationalism is Christianity-affiliated religious nationalism. Christian nationalists primarily focus on internal politics, such as passing laws that reflect their view of Christianity and its role in political and social life. In coun ...

is not of God. Move back from it."

Sexual abuse

Moore has said she was a victim of

childhood sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whethe ...

within her home. After the #MeToo movement and a report in her local newspaper which described 700 cases of sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention, she became an advocate for sexual abuse survivors: sharing her story, listening to other survivors, and urging the church to examine crimes and coverups. She called out male church leaders for objectifying women and dismissing sexual abuse claims.

Works

*''When Godly People Do Ungodly Things'' – book (2002), *''Believing God'' – book (2004), *''Who Will You Trust?'' – audio/video series (2007) *''Get Out Of That Pit'' – book (2007), *''Songs of Deliverance'' – CD (2006) *''Fully Alive'': Audio/video series with Beth Moore, James and Betty Robison (2006) *''So Long Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us'' – book (2010), *''Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance'' book (2017) *''The Undoing of Saint Silvanus'' book (2017) * ''All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir'' book (2023)

Bible studies

*''To Live is Christ: The Life & Ministry of Paul'' (1997), *''Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit'' (1998), *''Breaking Free'' (1999) *''Jesus: The One and Only'' (2002), *''When Godly People Do Ungodly Things: Arming Yourself in the Age of Seduction'' (2002), *''The Beloved Disciple: Following John to the Heart of Jesus'' (2003), *''Believing God'' (2004), *''The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob'' (2005), *''Daniel: Lives of Integrity, words of prophecy'' (2006), *''A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place'' (2007) *''Stepping Up: Psalms of Ascent'' (2007), *''Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman'' (2008), *''Here and Now – There and Then: A Lecture Series on Revelation'' (2009) *''David: Seeking a Heart Like His'' (2010), *''James: Mercy Triumphs'' (2011), *''Children of the Day: 1 & 2 Thessalonians'' (2014), *''Living Free: Learning to Pray God's Word'' (2015), *''Entrusted - Bible Study Book: A Study of 2 Timothy'' (2016), *''The Quest: An Excursion Toward Intimacy with God'' (2017), *''Delivered: Experiencing God's Power in Your Pain'' (2019) *''Chasing Vines: Finding Your Way to an Immensely Fruitful Life'' (2020)