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Saint Paul writes in the fourth chapter of the Ephesians, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Saint Paul felt that putting faith into action by meeting the needs of others is a high calling.

For the past 20 years, according to Kimberly Embry, lay chairwoman of Community Ministries at Greensboro’s First Lutheran Church, Frank Moore has fulfilled, and continues to fulfill, his calling in service to First Lutheran and the greater community. He serves as staff director of First Lutheran’s Community Ministries.

As a way to honor and commemorate Moore’s 20th anniversary in this position, First Lutheran decided to honor him by building a Habitat home in his name because of his “grace, compassion, and love in tireless service to others.”

“In response to Moore’s generosity,” Embry said, “the congregation shared their own generosity by raising the $25,000 required to build a Habitat home.”

The money was raised secretly and Moore was told on Jan. 20 at a reception for his 20th anniversary that the Habitat home would be built in his honor.

On April 10, work started on the house, which will eventually be the home of Lorane McIver and her son, Tyvon Simmons.

Habitat recipients are required to work a certain number of hours on the house they will receive. McIver is now working on her “sweat equity” contribution to eventually owning the house.

This special row of town houses is being worked on by several members of the faith community churches, such as First Baptist, Westover, West Market Street United Methodist, College Park Baptist, Centenary Westminster Presbyterian and the Catholic Partnership.

“We are truly blessed to be the blessings to others through the outreach and mission ministries that Moore has inspired, led and dedicated his time and talents to,” Embry said.

She said it has been an honor to participate in this Habitat project which has given First Lutheran members and others “the patience to notice every day miracles, to face hardships and sufferings with determination, and to begin and end every day with hope.”

Moore said he is thrilled to know that the congregation is building this town house because the mission priority of the church is to help end hunger and homelessness.

First Lutheran also honored its senior pastor, the Rev. Charles Zimmerman, during his 30th year with First Lutheran in the summer of 2009.

To honor him, Moore asked the congregation to collect a can of food for each day he had served their church. The goal was to collect 10,950 cans of food, which would be donated to Greensboro Urban Ministries. Church members went over this amount and collected more than 12,000 cans of food.

Church members also planted a garden so they could donate fresh vegetables as well. Another garden has been planted, and will be harvested later this summer.

Including the one being built, First Lutheran has built four Habitat homes in the past six years.

Moore said a Habitat house was also built to honor Zimmerman upon his 25 years of ministry at First Lutheran.

Homes were built in 2008 and 2009 with the help of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Habitat was its main focus, and Thrivent provided grants that paid for most of the costs to build the homes.

Other Lutheran churches also worked together to build Habitat homes and raise some of the money.

In addition to many other outreach projects, Moore is coordinating Soles4Souls (www.soles4souls.org), an international shoe charity.

Moore said he was trying to think of ways local residents could give without having to donate money. He learned about Soles4Souls, which was also promoted among about 20 churches in the Triad area. That first year, about 5,500 pairs of shoes were donated and collected.

This year, people are asked to turn in any kind of shoes, band them or tie them together and bring them to First Lutheran through May 31.
Of the collected shoes, 25 percent will go to Urban Ministry and 75 percent will go to Soles4Souls.

If lots of shoes are being donated, Moore requests that the shoes be placed in boxes (try to limit to 20 pounds) and write the number of pairs on the boxes.

Some of the other churches participating in the Soles4Souls project and contact names are New Garden Friends Meeting (David Bills), Congregational United Church of Christ (Julie Peeples), Sedgefield Presbyterian (Charlotte Stone or Gin Reid Hall) and Christ United Methodist Church (the Rev. Susan Norman Vickers).

Kimberly Embry expressed the feelings of First Lutheran’s congregation when she said, “Frank Moore has lived out his calling as a person of great faith and love. This Habitat town house in his honor will be a testament to his service full of grace and compassion.”

To suggest a person or organization who is “Making a Difference” in Guilford County, contact Peggy Longmire at rlongmire@triad.rr.com or 288-9040.