A senior Bible and ministry major, Bethany Moore came to Harding as a psychology major because she thought that would be a good way for her to get involved in church work. As she left for the summer after her freshman year, she felt God tell her to stop being scared.

“I always said if I was a guy I’d be a preacher – if I was a boy I’d be a preacher – and God was like, ‘Hi, you don’t actually think that I’m telling you not to be one’, and I was like ‘good call’,” Moore said.

During that summer Moore decided to switch her major to Bible and Ministry.

“I feel like God called me to do ministry, and he called me to be brave with my ministry,” Moore said.

After taking two preaching courses at Harding, Moore was nominated by her preaching professor, Dr. Philip Thompson, to speak at this year’s lectureship.  After she was nominated, Moore had to meet certain criteria, and then she was asked to speak.

This year Moore plans to talk about the celebration of God, and discuss two ways God is involved with celebration.

“I will be looking at both a God who is celebratory, and us celebrating that celebratory God. That is something that he has commanded for us,” Moore said. “He created a life, and he made rules for the Israelites to celebrate. We have lost a lot of that celebration, especially celebration in terms of communion.”

Moore would like to bring celebration back to communion and back into the community at Harding, as she has noticed a disconnect between the things Christians enjoy in life and in their faith.

“I feel like we have been taught systematically to stop enjoying our faith, and if you are having fun with it you’re wrong,” Moore said. “I want to bring celebration and faith closer back together – the way I believe God intended them to be, so we can enjoy our faith and be happy.”

One thing that Moore would like for people to take away from her lecture is that being a Christian means that you can also enjoy the life that God gave you.

“Part of the reason I am a Christian is because it’s a good time, and that’s okay.” Moore said. “I think we should increase the positivity there and decrease the shame that comes with being happy and a Christian.”