Speaker urges giving at Wayensburg observance
WAYNESBURG – Col. A.M. “Sonny” Moore III said the Bible story of Jesus multiplying one boy’s lunch to feed a crowd has a message for today’s hungry world. Moore, a member of the Southern Baptist Church and the Protestant chaplain at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, spoke Tuesday for the celebration of the 153rd anniversary of the granting of a charter for Waynesburg College.
The annual event that marks the founding of the college by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was held at First Presbyterian Church on the outskirts of campus.
Waynesburg College President Timothy Thyreen presented Moore with the Presidential Medallion for his service to God and country and said Moore is an example of the college’s mission in faith, learning and serving.
An animated speaker, Moore said he was “born excited and I never got over it.”
“The Bible says whatever you do, do it with all of your might,” he said.
He directed his speech, “A Lad and a Lunch,” to a group of students who were being honored, telling them the hungry world today has a spiritual hunger and challenging them to give what they have just as the lad gave his lunch that day to Jesus.
“Will you share? Would you give your lunch?” he asked.
He said God spoke to his heart when he was a 17-year-old boy in high school in Mississippi. He said he has given what he could since then and has been blessed in return, talking specifically of his wife, children and sons-in-law.
“God is so good to me today because I was able to say, ‘Lord, here’s my lunch. Here’s my life,'” he said. He cited the multiplication of the lad’s lunch as life’s blessings.
He said he has lived his life to “preach the Bible and love the people.” He encouraged his audience to do what they do with passion.
“God’s going to multiply and bless your efforts,” he said.
Moore has been on active duty since 1982 as the Protestant chaplain at the U.S. Army War College and previously served as pastor and chaplain in various military assignments and his awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (40LC), Army Commendation Medal (30LC), Army Achievement Medal (20LC), Liberation of Kuwait Medal with three combat campaigns, Overseas Service Ribbon, Humanitarian Service Medal, Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge.
“The colonel has not shirked his duty,” Thyreen said when he introduced Moore. Thyreen also spoke about the college’s roots and he offered prayers for “our troops and the people of Iraq” for a quick resolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom.