Dan Moore is known for his gentle presence, kind words, faithful service, and cheerful encouragement for the believers around him. Getting to know his and Sharon’s story of 44 years on the mission field makes it clear why the man we know these days is still such a man of God.

Dan Moore was a somewhat devout Catholic Army radar operator stationed near McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, when he first met Sharon. While he was assigned to watch the radar for Russian rockets during the Cold War, he soon had Sharon on his radar! In those days, the local newspaper would not deliver the daily editions up to the mountain-top base, so five soldiers had planned to each take turns going down the mountain to get a copy of the paper from the local pharmacy. Dan took the first day’s turn and met Sharon, a senior in high school who was working in the pharmacy that day. When he returned to the base, he graciously told his fellow soldiers that he would make the trip down each day so they would not have to take turns. And that was the beginning of their friendship, which may or may not have gotten Dan removed by the pharmacist a few times for being too much of a distraction!

Sharon’s family had been Presbyterians, but while she was still young, they had attended an Independent Baptist meeting that met in a schoolhouse. Sharon soon realized she was a sinner that needed Jesus to come into her life and save her. Later, she surrendered to be a missionary at youth camp but felt embarrassed and a little stubborn when people began asking where she would go to study and where she would be a missionary, so she went to nursing school instead. Little did she realize at the time that nursing school was indeed part of God’s plan for her, and that He was directing her, despite her feelings of embarrassment and stubbornness. When she met Dan, she knew marrying him was not an option if he was not a believer in salvation by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. She and her mom began praying for him as he sorted through biblical truth versus the Catholic traditions he had been taught for so many years.

Dan would attend weekly mass and then attend church services with Sharon and her mom. During this time, President Kennedy was inaugurated, and his Catholic faith was frequently discussed in the media and in churches, which added to Dan’s struggle. But the Lord brought a pastor across their path who had been a Catholic street kid in Philadelphia. This pastor was able to explain the Scriptures more fully to Dan and on Easter Sunday, 1961, Dan trusted Christ alone for his salvation.

The next year was a whirlwind. Dan’s transition out of the Army was delayed almost two months because of the Cuban missile crisis, but once that was resolved, he moved back to his native state of Ohio, where he searched for a biblical church while trying to understand exactly what that would look like. Dan’s heart was to serve the Lord to the best of his ability, and he soon began teaching Sunday School to Junior High students for a while at an Evangelical United Brethren Church (now known as United Methodist).

Dan and Sharon married, and in the next few years, the Lord brought them to Cook Road Baptist Church in Mansfield, Ohio, where Dan learned about the biblical authority for baptism, and he was finally biblically baptized. They had just begun tithing when they first heard about Faith Promise missions. On the way home from their first missions conference, Dan and Sharon decided to start giving a dollar a week over and above their tithe, which felt like a large sacrifice. They both dove headfirst into serving at Cook Road in the nurseries, youth group, and in the choir. He also became the treasurer and a deacon. Four years and two babies later, Dan and Sharon surrendered to full-time service, feeling certain the Lord was calling them to a mission field.

They drove their little family in a Volkswagen Beetle to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and Dan completed his four-year degree in 1971. While in Springfield they served faithfully at Cherry Street Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Kenneth Gillming, Sr. in similar areas as they had served in at Cook Road. During the third year of college, they became burdened for the field of Indonesia. The Lord was opening the door to missionaries in that country and the people desperately needed the Gospel. The two years after graduation included an internship at Central Baptist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia, the birth of their third child, as well as a miscarriage. Their pastor was U.G. Robertson, a very missionary-minded man who helped further equip them for missionary service during their busy internship. They never had the benefit of a survey trip, but the Lord was now ready for them in Indonesia.

When one reads the pastor’s recommendations submitted with the Moores’ missionary applications to Dr. Boonstra and the missions committee back in 1973, one realizes the same character traits are vital for missionaries today:  Dan and Sharon at that time already had testimonies of faithfulness, Christian character and convictions, and endurance. They were well-liked by others, they did not need constant supervision to perform their ministries, and they were “absolutely reliable.”  Both showed a deep interest in others, and they demonstrated excellent self-control. The pastors testified that both were very cooperative with authority, that they showed excellent fiscal management and planning, and that they already had strong unity in their family of five. These traits proved to serve them well throughout deputation and when they arrived in Indonesia in the early fall of 1975, now with four children.

The privilege of reading decades of monthly or bi-monthly prayer letters cannot be overstated. One sees the hand of God guiding the Moores, using their own past experiences and upbringing to minister to similar spiritual needs in the lives of the people around them in Indonesia. They ministered to those with Catholic, Presbyterian, and Muslim backgrounds. They counseled with empathy those struggling to understand biblical Baptism and encouraged with joy those seeking to dive into Christian service. Soon after arriving, Dan began a church for English-speaking businesspeople and for missionaries in language studies, but he never actually pastored a church for nationals on the mission field. Instead, he immediately began discipling young Indonesian believers from the moment they trusted Christ and then walked alongside them as some, in turn, began Bible studies (and eventually churches) in their own homes and neighborhoods. He taught the new believers the doctrines of the faith and how to win others to Christ. Dan translated discipleship materials and those materials were used again many years later by a missionary in East Timor (now Timor-Leste).

Through the years, along with shepherding their own family and welcoming the addition of their fifth and final child, Dan and Sharon collaborated well with other missionaries, ministering together to teach willing young leaders in two Bible Institutes in Indonesia and in another in Singapore in later years. Dan would teach special series in the churches and cover for national pastors in their absences. When pastors and their families were struggling, Dan and Sharon were holding them up in prayer and giving them wise biblical counsel.

As Dan and Sharon ministered during pivotal periods in world history in the 1980s, 90s, and into the new millennium, Dan wrote, “The billions spent on foreign aid, no matter how necessary (or unnecessary) cannot be compared with the sacrificial giving by dedicated Christians to send the most priceless commodity that America has to offer – the Gospel.”

Their years of service were anything but easy. We are all familiar with the Apostle Paul’s list of hardships endured, as recorded in I Corinthians 11. Dan and Sharon’s list would look something like this (though Dan would be appalled at being compared to the great Apostle Paul!):

In very serious health issues often and painfulness often; three times in car accidents not their fault; in perils by home burglaries; in opposition by the Muslim neighbors and even by Protestants, in perils by the restrictions of government regulations, in perils of their visas needing extensions often; in ministering during a cholera epidemic;  in each of their children being many hours away in boarding school at different times over the years; in caring for growing, struggling, or wayward believers . . . “besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon [them] daily, the care of all the churches.” But they endured and thrived, understanding that difficult things happen even when one is actively in God’s will.

They were not afraid to keep learning and growing. After they completed their Indonesian language training, Dan decided to learn an additional dialect to reach more souls. Through the years of prayer letters, one can see what an impact that decision and sacrifice of time and effort made on their ministry. Many of the souls reached through the years were members who spoke that very dialect.

Sharon’s nursing training was greatly beneficial as she cared for her own family, others, and even herself through various health crises, including a rabies exposure, ongoing heart issues, thyroid problems, and tropical skin conditions like shingles, lupus, skin cancers, and more.

When the Indonesian government finally stopped granting them visa extensions after 24 years of ministry, the Moores were forced to return to the States for two years while they sought God’s will for the next phase of their ministry. During this time, they reported to churches and Dan also worked on his Masters in Intercultural Studies, realizing the additional education would help them gain entry into certain countries. They prayed about two different mission fields during this time of waiting and sought the prayer and counsel of their sending pastor and nine other supporting pastors. All ten pastors came to the same conclusion that Dan and Sharon did:  Singapore was where God would have them go next. This proved strategic, as it allowed them to maintain contact with the three churches and two Bible Institutes that they had helped birth and grow in Indonesia. Their trips in and out of Indonesia in the following years strengthened the believers and allowed them to continue periodic training of the national leaders.

For twenty years in Singapore, Dan and Sharon continued the same type of ministry:  filling the pulpit for national pastors and missionaries on furlough, training pastors and lay leaders in the Bible Institute, and teaching workshops for believers in both Singapore and Malaysia. The Malay language was remarkably similar to Indonesian, so they were able to communicate with Malaysians rather easily. The multi-cultural membership of the churches in Singapore allowed them to minister to those who were only there temporarily and who would take the Gospel back to their own countries and communities.

Upon their entry into the empty nest years, the Moores deeply felt the separation from their children and grandchildren. At the same time, they also longed to be with their aging mothers and to help their siblings care for them in their final years. They did what they could as much as they could, trusting the Lord with their loved ones and being present for major life events when possible. Even after Sharon’s rather-unexpected graduation to Heaven shortly after their retirement in 2017, Dan’s ongoing relationship with all five of his children to this day is a gracious gift from God as visible fruit of his and Sharon’s continued investment in the lives of their families through the years.

Now Dan continues to serve the Lord in his local church, encouraging new missionaries, senior men, and even military veterans, both young and old. Dan has clearly continued to take comfort in a verse he shared many years ago in a prayer letter:

“Serahkanlah segala kekuatiranmu kepadaNya, sebab Ia akan memelihara kamu.” Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7.

-by Janette Lange