All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir

In this illuminating memoir, Living Proof Ministries founder Moore (Chasing Vines) plumbs the spiritual and personal depths of her life. Born the fourth of five children, Moore grew up in the “bowels of Arkansas,” idolizing her older siblings and doing odd jobs at the movie theater her father managed. After the family moved to Houston when Moore was in her teens, she yearned for community and found it in church, inspiring a godly commitment that became the foundation of her life. Tracing her spiritual evolution, Moore recalls moments large and small: a moment in a bathroom during her college years when she spontaneously “sensed the Lord’s presence” intensely enough to make her “grip both sides of the sink”; and, at 18, dedicating herself to vocational church service in front of her congregation. Moore takes readers through her career, including teaching at Houston’s First Baptist Church and writing Bible studies; she also discusses her 2021 break with the Southern Baptist movement because of its hyper-conservative values and sexual abuse scandals. Moore proves to be a consummate storyteller as she candidly charts her life’s ups and downs and shares insight into her career as a high-profile evangelical bible teacher. Moore’s fans will devour this. (Feb.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the year the author left the Southern Baptist movement. The review has also been updated to more accurately characterize the reasons she made that decision.