The Rev. Dr. Robert Moore was Senior Pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church from 1994 to June, 2016. Pastor Moore joined the ministry staff of the congregation in 1994 as Associate Pastor and Director of the Melanchthon Institute. He was elected Senior Pastor in January 1999. He served as Associate Pastor at Second Baptist Church of Lubbock, Texas from 1985 until 1989 and as university minister at South Main Baptist Church of Houston from 1977 until 1980.

The Christian faith came to Robert in the context of the Baptist tradition. His parents raised their seven children in the life of the church which Robert loved and enjoyed. Even as a child Robert wondered about the biblical stories and loved to sing in worship. He began to think in theological ways, until in college he began to read in Twentieth Century theology, especially Paul Tillich. His curiosity about liturgical worship and exposure to the sacred texts and music of the church propelled him toward the Lutheran Church. He explains it this way, “The Lutheran faith–properly understood–is tenacious in its grasp of the absolute claim of divine grace, the compassionate turn to the world and our neighbor, especially in suffering, and the joy of created existence lived in the freedom of the gospel.”

Prior to his call to the congregation Dr. Moore earned the Ph.D. in Religious Studies at Rice University. His research was in New Testament Studies under Professor Werner H. Kelber. His dissertation is entitled The Gospel and Narrative Performance: The Critical Assessment of Meaning-as-Correspondence in D. F. Strauss and R. Bultmann (May 1992). He completed training in clinical pastoral education at Memorial Hermann Hospital and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center and served as a chaplain in both institutions for a combined three years.

Dr. Moore served on the Faith Community Work Group of the Mental Health Association. He also serves on the Professional Advisory Group for the Department of Spiritual Care and Education at The Methodist Hospital. He serves on the board of directors of Bach Society Houston and is a past president of the Houston-Leipzig Sister City Association. He has served on the board directors of Holocaust Museum Houston and of Southampton Civic Club. He has served as adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas. He serves on the Board of Regents at Texas Lutheran University and was elected in 2011 to the church council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Dr. Moore was born in Plainview, Texas and grew up in the small cotton-growing community of Lockney, Texas. He is married to Kathryn Wattenburger Moore. Both are graduates of Texas Tech University. They met while participating in the college ministry of First Baptist Church of Lubbock. Together they have acquired facility with the German language and have lived for extended periods in Germany and Switzerland. They have organized numerous tours to German-speaking regions of Europe.

In 2005 Dr. Moore served for four months as guest pastor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany with support of a grant from the National Clergy Renewal Program of Lilly Endowment, Inc. In 2013 the president of the German Federal Republic, Joachim Gauck, conferred upon Pastor Moore the Order of Merit (Verdienstorden), the highest honor that the Republic of Germany bestows on citizens and foreigners. Pastor Moore received the Federal Cross of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande) on January 14, 2013. The Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, awarded Pastor Moore with the “Golden Honor Pin” (Goldene Ehrennadel) of the City of Leipzig in June 2013.

Pastor Moore has announced his resignation effective July 10, 2016 at which time Kathy and he will begin a three-year call from the Global Mission unit of the ELCA to serve in Leipzig and Wittenberg, Germany during the years around the 500th Anniversary observance of the Reformation in 2017. Their last Sunday with the people of Christ the King Church is June 5, 2016.