MARK & MICHELLE MOORE

How did you get involved in missions?

Mark was involved with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) from 1991 to 1995. In 1992, while with YWAM, he traveled to Northern Iraq and Eastern Turkey. While he was in Eastern Turkey, God spoke to him and told him that one day he would serve in this nation full-time.  Michelle felt the call to world missions at the age of 18.  (She has a missional heritage through her maternal grandparents who spent several years on the foreign field in the 70s-80s.)  We married in 1995 and began pursuing the call to Turkey.  We took our first trip to scout out the land and seek God's plan in the Fall of 2001; 2 more times in 2002 and again in 2003. God released us in 2004 to move & begin full-time ministry.

Did you ever imagine you would be where you are today?

Yes and No. For 12 years as a young man and for 9 years as a couple, we had been praying for release and looking for God's direction when to go to Turkey. So, when the doors opened in 2004, it felt natural...like we belonged here.  But, we never imagined we'd be here for 12 years, nor that we'd be living in modern-day Ephesus.  We thought God was taking us to a totally different part of the nation.  

Tell us about your family.

Do you have kids? Are you married? We've been married since 1995. We have 4 kids: 2 boys and 2 girls, ages 18, 16, 10 and 7. Our two oldest moved with us from the United States at the ages of 6 & 4; our two youngest were born in Turkey. Our 7 year old was born in the modern day city of Smyrna, Izmir, and our 10 year old was born in Istanbul.

What projects/objectives have you been working this year?

We have three major projects right now. Michelle is very involved in working with the Syrian refugees in Turkey. Her team cares for nearly 500 families.  They provide diapers, wipes, formula for families with babies and they gift cards for groceries. They also provide basic medical care when it's needed and, of course, the unconditional love of Christ. Our second project is directly related to our church ministry. We are in the process of raising the funds to purchase property to build a Community Center, Church and Ministry Training facilities. We have located a 2 acre plot of land that is at the gateway to the city. We hope to purchase this property in the coming months.  Our third project is the opening of a ministry training program in January of 2017. To do this, we are partnering with a very successful program which has been running for 12 years in the capital city of Ankara.  We will be the west coast campus of "Filipus".  It is an 11 month program which includes monastic, missional living, discipleship, work & ministry, and of course biblical studies.

How can we pray for you?

You can pray for increased favor in our city, that God will pour out His Spirit on this region...that young men and women will pursue the presence of God.  That there will be prophecy, dreams, and visions; that the heavens will open up and the miraculous will happen. Signs and wonders. We are believing for students to join Filipus and encounter the presence of God in an eternally life-changing way.  Please pray for our children and for health in our home.

What practical needs do you currently have?

This is always a tough question because we live by faith. God has blessed us and we've never been without. We've been blessed to be under the care of Covenant Church and Pastors Mike and Kathy. Our ministry, however, is multiplying and the financial needs grow accordingly. So, we need to see an increase in the investment in our ministry.  We would like to begin an internship program; bringing interns for 6 months to 1 year to assist us in homeschooling, in our home, and administratively.  Michelle (the refugee ministry) is believing God for Arabic-speaking believers to help minister to the Syrian & Iraqi refugees we are serving.

What does a day in your life look like?

That's not an easy answer. We have so much going on right now, that our days look different every time we wake up. Michelle is very busy, daily, with the refugee crisis in this nation and especially in our area, not to mention her work around the house and homeschooling our kids. She is also very involved in the organization/administration of the church ministry and the discipleship of the staff and women & children. Mark works with church leadership, studies for his sermons and works on moving our projects forward, and helps with homeschooling. Every day is a new day full of things to do.  We are hopeful that we will get back in a routine once we settle into the new school year.

Tell us something interesting about you.

Michelle was raised from the ages of 8 to 17 in Germany. Mark won the national collegiate debate championships 2 years in a row.

What’s your favorite Bible verse and why?

Mark's is: Proverbs 16:9, "Man makes plans in his heart, but God directs his steps." God loves to watch us plan. Throughout our time in ministry, we've seen our plans, for one thing, be redirected to something better. But the requirement has ALWAYS been that we plan. It's the motion that moves us so that God can direct us. He can't turn a car that's not moving.  Michelle's has 2: Psalm 119:11, "Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."  AND  2 Chron. 7:14, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Do you have any secret or hidden talents?

Nope (Mark); Michelle does, but it's a secret  :)

Hobbies

Sports (Mark)

Hopes/dreams?

To see the Church reestablished permanently in our city, in our adopted nation; disciples raised up & sent out - until all of Asia again hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and knows the Holy Spirit.  To see the Church in the West actively engaging the Church of the East, pursuing the command to Go into all the world (without fear of the world) to make disciples of All nations. To see our adopted region of the world return to her heritage in the first-century church. To see our children encounter God in a such a life-altering way that they spend every day of the rest of their lives pursuing and serving Him.