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Community Corner

He Exchanged One Classroom for Another

Pastor Carl Moore's path to Allen Temple A.M.E. Church started in education, corporate worlds.

Pastor Carl Moore is the grandson of a Baptist minister, and grew up attending church. He led music programs, directed church choirs.

But it wasn't until he was 40 that he came to know the Lord.

"My son was in middle school when I came to the Lord," Moore said. "He was 13 or 14, my oldest daughter was 11. They had seen me in church, leading the choir. At home, they had seen the other side of me, the hypocritical side."

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His path to salvation in 1982 wasn't an easy one. Moore grew up in Beloit, AL, during the civil rights era. Beloit is less than 10 miles from the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of one of the movement's seminal moments: Bloody Sunday.

Moore was expelled from Montgomery's Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) because of his involvement in demonstrations with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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Moore left Montgomery and enrolled in the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He was a talented singer and pianist, and performed in college musicals and sang in nightclubs.

"Back then, I loved the pats on the back and the accolades," he said. "Because God gave me a decent voice and music ability, I was thrust into the limelight. In that limelight, if you're not grounded in the Lord, the devil will work on you."

After graduating with a degree in music education, Moore taught music in high school for three years before taking a job as a sales rep for IBM. He stayed for 24 years as he climbed the corporate ladder. Promotions led him to Texas, then Atlanta in 1978.

He was 40 years old, working at IBM in 1982 when he came to Christ and felt a call to ministry. He started taking courses at the New Orleans Seminary and the Interdenominational Theological Centerin Atlanta, and accepted his first pastorate at a small church in Rome.

When he joined the staff at  in 1993, there were 97 members on the roster. And 19 years later, close to 1,400 call Allen Temple their church home. He retired from IBM in 1994 and focused on ministry fulltime.

Throughout Moore’s diverse career, there was a common thread. After teaching in high school and teaching as he trained IBM employees in the corporate world, he is now teaching from the pulpit on Sundays.

Moore, who said he was always the life of the party in his other life, now has a different dance floor.

"I was the first on the dance floor and the last to leave," he said. "I've just changed partners now. It's all for the Lord. He has blessed me so much, I just wanna praise him."

ABOUT REV. MOORE

Hobbies:  The pastor enjoys puzzles, and has about 35 of them. He took up golf about eight years ago, and tries to play each Monday.

Family: Carl and Gloria Moore were married 45 years ago on Nov. 26, and they have three children. Moore said he is blessed that his children, who experienced his transformation when he became a Christian, never rebelled and accepted the Lord when they were in high school. Each one works in the education field.

ABOUT THE CHURCH

Allen Temple A.M.E., 232 Arnold Mill Rd., offers 8 and 11 a.m. worship services every Sunday. On fifth Sundays, the church holds one service at 11 a.m. For more information, call 770-926-6348 or go to www.allentempleame.org.

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