Stan Moody:
On Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2018, Rev. Stan Moody, then pastor at Columbia Street Baptist
Church (CSBC) in Bangor, ME, stepped into the pulpit wearing a hoodie with the Jewish Star of
David. One year later, his book, “I’ve Met the Enemy: Journey of an All-American Sinner” fired
a shot across the bow of American Evangelicalism. He followed in 2021 with “Finding Our Way
Home: Reclaiming the Kingdom in Post-Evangelical America”.
I wore the Star of David in reaction to the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue
in Pittsburgh and to make two statements,” he says. “The first is to affirm deep
Christian roots planted in historic Israel. The second is to condemn the
nationalism practiced and preached by all too many evangelical Christians in
America.
I cannot remain silent while prominent evangelical leaders are manipulating the
political system in opposition to the Gospel.
Moody, now Pastor Emeritus at CSBC and founder of Columbia Street Project, a resource center
in Bangor for outreach mission, has a long history of fighting against what he refers to as “cheap
grace.” After serving two terms in the Maine State House of Representatives, one in each party,
in 2006 he published, “McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry”, stating,
We who claim citizenship in the Kingdom of God through a divine act of
unconditional love have become divided racially, economically, doctrinally,
denominationally, and spiritually. I call on the faith community to dare trust the
God in whom it professes to believe. That demands of us that we crawl out of our
comfort zones and into the business of sacrificial service.
Moody is open about his own weak faith and putting too much trust in the American Dream of
prosperity and success. Here is an excerpt from “Finding Our Way Home”:
It is not the evangelical movement that will preserve gospel truth in America. It is
the prayers and lifestyles of broken, humbled, no-account followers of Jesus who
hold in their hearts the destiny of the Kingdom of God over all national
boundaries.
What goes on in America that is held up with the pride of rightness is by the
permissive will of God and nothing else. Those who in their feeble humanity
would take credit for its success or blame others for its failure - such as is the
dominant focus of the two major political parties - are fools at best, and we are
fools to place our hope in them.