Good News - January 2019

LOCAL 38 JANUARY 2019 Good News • South Florida Edition Dr. Jess C. Moody, founding president of Palm Beach Atlantic University, died Friday, Dec 7, 2018. He was 93. “As the University cele- brates its 50th year, we give thanks for a giant of a Chris- tian crusader, a Bible preacher, a visionary dreamer and our founding president,” said President WilliamM. B. Fleming, Jr. “Dr. Moody’s mark is on every Palm Beach Atlantic gradu- ate and student. His sweet love and unlimited devotion to young people is legendary. Stories will continue to be written and told about Dr. Jess Moody, a servant for all seasons and all mankind.” Moody came to West Palm Beach in 1961 as a member of an evangelistic team with the Rev. Billy Gra- ham. Members of a local church liked his charismatic style of preaching and called him to become the pastor of First Baptist Church of West Palm Beach (now Family Church Downtown). A few years into that role, he shared his dream to start a Christian college in the Palm Beaches and asked the members of his congrega- tion to pray for “Project X.” Over several years of starts and stops, including raising money and community sup- port, Palm Beach Atlantic welcomed the first students in 1968 with Moody as its first president. He along with his late wife, Doris, were the archi- tects of the PBA’s award- winning Workship program, which requires all full-time undergraduate students to volunteer at least 45 hours annually at nonprofit agen- cies, schools or churches. Workship has become syn- onymous with PBA as uni- versity students to date have volunteered more than 3.3 million hours of community service. Serving in those early years both as a church pas- tor and college president, Moody presided over Palm Beach Atlantic’s first gradua- tion in 1972, culminating his presidency. During his 15-year tenure as pastor, the Chapel by the Lake opened in 1963 and the new church sanctu- ary was completed in 1965. Some years later in a let- ter to Moody on the occasion of his 50th anniversary in ministry, Palm Beach At- lantic’s founding board chair- man, Dr. Donald E. Warren, wrote “Despite all of these accomplishments for God, I still feel that the largest, most illuminating ‘star in your crown’ will be Palm Beach Atlantic. You and Doris worked extremely hard to not only start it, but to nurse it along and this one accom- plishment will affect the world in a dynamic, favorable way until Christ comes again.” A Texas native, Moody was a graduate of Baylor University and The Southern Baptist Theological Semi- nary. He received a doctor of divinity degree from Camp- bellsville College in Ken- tucky. Moody studied under C.S. Lewis at Oxford Univer- sity and he was a speaker at the first National Payer Breakfast in 1948 in Wash- ington, D.C. In the 1950s, he was a member of the Eu- ropean evangelistic team that included Billy Graham, and he was one of the founders of Youth for Christ. Prior to his arrival inWest Palm Beach, Moody was pastor of First Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky. Moody also served as presi- dent of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastor Confer- ence in 1965. In 1976, he left Florida to become pastor of First Bap- tist Church in Van Nuys, Cal- ifornia, which later moved to nearby Porter Ranch and be- came Shepherd of the Hills Church. He returned to Texas in 1995 to become an adjunct professor of religion at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He taught six years at Southwestern Bap- tist Theological Seminary and two years at Dallas Bap- tist University. The Moody Chapel at the LifeWay Glorieta Confer- ence Center in Glorieta, New Mexico, is named in honor of Jess and Doris Moody for their service to thousands of visitors over the years. Palm BeachAtlantic University de- clared April 5, 2011, as Jess Moody Day. A 7-foot-tall statue in his honor created by Pennsylvania-based sculptor Zenos Frudakis was dedicated overlooking the Rinker Green in the heart of the campus. By this time, the Moodys had returned to West Palm Beach and he was an adjunct professor and frequent campus speaker. Among his other accom- plishments, Moody was the author of seven books, in- cluding “A Drink at Joel’s Place.” A collection of uplift- ing, real life stories about fa- mous people including Rose Kennedy and Burt Reynolds, ”Club Sandwich Goes Great with Chicken Soup” was pub- lished in 1999. He preached at the White House, the United States Air Force Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, the American Church in Paris and the Baptist Church in Rome.” Riding the Pulpit,” a biographical film of Moody’s life, was created in 1966. Moody is the father of two children, Martha and Patrick, a 1976 graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic. Moody also has three grandchildren: Jessica, Chris, a 2007 grad- uate of Palm Beach Atlantic, and Sean, a 2010 graduate who went on to earn an MBA in 2013 from PBA. Services were held on Dec. 15 in the sanctuary of Family Church Downtown, 1101 South Flagler Dr., in West Palm Beach. Memo- rial gifts can be made to The Jess and Doris Moody En- dowed Scholarship for Min- istry at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Man of Spectacular Dreams, Dr. Jess Moody, Founding PBA President, Dies Palm Beach County