23 minute read
The Moores
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
INTERVIEWED BY KIMBERLY MOSES
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PHOTO CREDIT: CLS PHOTO
CHIMERE SCHMITZ
Interviewer: Thank you guys for accepting my invite for the interview for my magazine Rejoice Essential Magazine. We have been doing the magazine for six years in April, so I just bless God. The Lord has put it on my heart to ask you guys to do an interview today about your ministry, marriage, and anything about love because it will be a Valentine’s Day special. Can you tell me about you guys and your ministry?
Shantel Moore: Alright, so we have been together for ten years and married for going on eight years in June of 2021. We have three kids, three boys, and we both work for insurance agencies. I have a business on the side.
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr.: Our ministry started from Marriage from 2 to 1 because we were feeling that some people needed to hear those types of situations of marriage that people don’t really go over and things that we had learned from our marriage counseling that we did for a whole year before we actually ended up getting married. We wanted to take some of those things and share them with everyone else because they were really helpful to us.
Interviewer: That is good. What is your other ministry name?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: Our other ministry name is Young in Christ, and that pretty much started around the same time as Marriage from 2 to 1. God laid that on our hearts to do both of them at the same time, and with Young in Christ, people will get the name of it. They take it the wrong way, thinking that you have to be a young person. But when we say Young in Christ, that means like babies in Christ. You are just learning things. You are just coming into God and trying to see what He can do for you.
Interviewer: Okay, great. So you mentioned something about marriage counseling. Now I know many people get married, and they don’t get counseling. So what benefits of getting that counsel have you seen in your marriage?
Shantel Moore: For me, I will take that because it has helped a lot. The family was focused on me, so I had to learn the usual things for women. When you come into a relationship, especially if you have strong women in your family, they teach you that you don’t have to take stuff from anybody and that you run the relationship and the man. So I came into the relationship trying to run him and trying to “wear the pants” in the relationship. So a lot of the things that we were taught were the benefits of how to communicate and how to walk away when you are angry. [If you don’t], you will say anything and everything. [It teaches you] how to walk away and to not just spill out all of your feelings, especially women. We have a tendency to say words
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
that will hurt someone deep when you just say anything, and you can’t repair that.
What will always be on their mind is, “Did she really mean what she said, and does she really feel that way?” because you were talking out of anger. The counseling also brought a lot of things up for us that we didn’t think about. We talked about money, the arguments that we had in the past, and how to communicate properly as a man and woman trying to be together for eternity rather than one trying to be together for a temporary time.
We also talked about things in the future like having kids and how to keep people out of your business. With us having been young when we got married, our Pastor was teaching us how to keep our marriage private and not let everybody in because that can destroy a marriage. If you are going to someone and saying this person did this to me and my husband said this. That person may still be feeling some type of way about your spouse. You have forgiven your spouse, but the person you talked to is still mad at your spouse. It is important to keep your marriage in your own marriage and not let everybody know your business. Interviewer: Amen. That is really good, and that is a great pointer. Now I want to go back to Stevenson because you said something very crucial, and I just want to hit on it. When people see your ministry name, they kind of judge and feel like you have to be a young person.
So how do you get over people judging you wrong? How do you guys get over that? When people do not want to really give you a chance because they prematurely judge what God has given you?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: I will say, for the most part, we just give it to God because that is the best thing to do. We just take it to Him and pray over it because of everything that is coming up against us. We give it to Him, and He will make a way for it. We tend to try to explain it a little more in our videos, but we don’t do it as much as we did at the beginning of the ministry. But we try to explain it a little at the beginning of our video so that they understand that you don’t have to just be a young person. Of course, people will look at us and see our age or just how we look and try to discount the things we do. But once they sit there and listen to the Word of God and the things that we have to say, they will start to understand what we are saying and where we are coming from. So I feel that is one way that we can overcome the things that people are saying.
Interviewer: Amen. I know that your wife has hit on many things about the topics that she has gotten from counseling that starts with the women. As far as the counseling, what did you get from it as far as the man is concerned? [It seems that] a lot of brothers don’t want to go to counseling.
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: Mainly for me, it was the typical thing where men don’t want to go to coun-
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
seling because you hear that it is going to break up your marriage before you even start. You hear that counseling isn’t a good thing to do, but going into it, there was a lot of helpful information and insight. Because I came from a household where none of the men did anything but listen to what the women were saying, it helped me realize that I have to be the man of the family. That was a big difference in how I was raised, and it just puts everything on the table. It will bring up some things that [you want to keep hidden], like some arguments, but it has to be worked out and cleared up before you get married. So for the man, I would say just get out there and do it. It will make your marriage much more way better or multiples times better than it would if you didn’t go through the counseling. It will help you communicate because, of course, as men, that is one thing that we don’t do as well. We don’t communicate that well with our wives. We also don’t show our emotions well either, so that can help you step out and put everything on the table.
Interviewer: Amen. So how is it working as a tag team in ministry? I know that a lot of couples want to do ministry together with their spouse. So how can you be effective when doing tag team ministry with your spouse?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: Well, for us, it was pretty easy because we have worked together pretty much since we met. We have worked at the same jobs together, and we are still at the same company now. We have worked so many jobs together, and we have always been like a good set. Yes, it probably will be difficult for other people, and if the two have never worked together, they don’t know that balance to know what their strengths are and what your strengths are. Once you learn that balance of what she does better and what you do better, then that will be the deciding factor to help you have a successful working relationship.
Interviewer: I was thinking about that. You got to know each other’s strengths and balances. How do you guys balance three kids, ministry, and work?
Shantel Moore: For us, honestly, we have to start doing our recording at night when the kids are asleep. So a lot of times, we are doing our recordings at 11:00 PM or midnight because we have to be able to spend time with our kids as well as work. To remain balanced, we usually have to ask God for strength because a lot of times, I am exhausted from getting up early to work. He is exhausted from taking care of the kids and working, so the balance comes in when asking God for strength as well as when He tells us to rest. We are able to rest because there are times where our kids are kind of quiet and relaxed. We take that time to relax and study. We also get up earlier and stay up later to
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
get whatever He wants us to teach for the people.
Interviewer: Amen. So I saw you guys had a lovely candlelight dinner. It was so beautiful, you know. (Laughs) How important is dating your spouse? Talk about dating your spouse.
Shantel Moore: I think that is one of the most important things to do because I feel like once a lot of people get married, they say the dating is over, and they don’t have to be romantic. We don’t have to spend time together, or you just only spend time together when you are in the bedroom, and that is it. But it is the key to be able to have intimacy outside of the bedroom as well as inside the bedroom. It is key to spend time with each other and make sure that both parties are still feeling the same about each other. You should be feeling like, “You are the one that I chose, you are the one that I love, and you are the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with.” I try to make him feel that way daily, and he does the same for me. It is very important to take time away from your kids and your job to just spend time with just the two of you. Because we have kids, a lot of times they are saying like, “Mommy and Daddy, I want you to do this, and I want to talk to you about this,” so we don’t get a lot of time with just me and him.
So those evenings and the nighttime when they are asleep, we try to spend time with each other, or we have times when we have taken off. We take days that we call “Date Days,” where I take off work, and he takes off work. We go and have a date for the entire day while our kids are at daycare. Those times are very important because I feel like it puts a spark back into our relationship, and it keeps you as one.
Interviewer: Amen. Valentine’s Day is coming up. Do you guys have any plans or any tips to keep it spicy in your marriage (laughs)?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: You said to keep it spicy? (laughs) I mean, and this is something that I still work on for myself, but I guess it just comes down to try to do something different every year. Try not to get into a routine of just buying flowers, boxes of candy, or something and a card. Try to switch it up and get other things or do other things. Maybe it can be something that she has been asking about or wanting to do. Of course, it depends on your situation, and if you have someone to take care of your kids or other things but try to switch something around. I think that would be able to spice it up more.
Interviewer: Okay, what about you, Shantel?
Shantel Moore: I feel like I try to do stuff differently every year. I try to listen because a lot of times, your spouse tells you what they want. They may not directly say, “I want this,” but if you are listening to the conversations that you guys have a lot of times, they give you in advance what they want. So I try to listen or notice what
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
he needs and do that. Probably what we will more than likely do for Valentine’s Day is have a candlelight dinner. That is what we sometimes do. We eat some good food, turn off our cell phones and just have a full out conversation of just talking to each other and talking about our dreams and [just about] everything. Just like that first date night, when you come together, it is like you have your little flirting, and you talk about stuff. It is just having fun together and just being ourselves without our cell phones and kids. [It’s just us] having one on one
time.
Interviewer: Many people get depressed on Valentine’s Day because they look on social media and see all the gifts everyone is getting, and they are single. What advice would you give to the singles?
Shantel Moore: I would say the big thing that I hear the most, and I will say it is completely true. When you are saved and single, that is the best time you can have with God because you can pour out and spend so much time with Him. Once you get married, there will be less time. You will have times that you have to divide because your husband wants to spend time with you, and God wants to spend time with you, and if you add kids on top of that, you will have a lot on your plate, so I would take it as a positive because you get to spend as much unlimited time with God. He is your husband or wife for now. Spend time with Him and don’t look on social media but if you want to look at social media, know that your Boaz is coming. Know that your spouse is coming.
The best thing you can do is work on yourself, so when you get married, you won’t have any issues. Work on yourself so you will have a positive marriage, or you could have a kingdom marriage. Looking through the Bible, what are some attributes that you want to have as a wife or husband and take that to God. Continue to tell Him and decree and declare that this is what type of spouse you want. Also, work on yourself and spend time with God, and the time will go by quickly. So people will say, “No, the time doesn’t go by quickly because I have been waiting 20 or 30 years for a spouse.” But really put it before God, and it will come when the right time is because you don’t want to rush it. You want a man or woman that you will spend eternity with and someone who is not going to take from you, but they will pour back into you.
Interviewer: How important is it to marry the right person?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: I would say it’s very important because you don’t want to be with someone, and I guess I’ll use the term unequally yoked. You don’t want to be unequally yoked. You don’t want to find someone who isn’t on the same path as you or doesn’t have the same set of goals of pretty much where you want to be in life with God and your marriage. So, it’s good to find someone that
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will be on the same level as you. It’s like I was saying earlier about balance. You want to make sure that you guys balance out each other to where it makes everything just end up working out. Interviewer: Tell us about the first date. (Giggles) How was that for you guys? How did you know each other was the one?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: Our first date was kind of weird, I guess. I don’t know if she considers it to be the first date, but let’s see, I hung out with her brothers. It was one of her brother’s birthday parties, and we all ended up going to the movies. She and I were seeing each other around her parents’ house from time
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
to time. We ended up just sitting next to each other at the movies, and we ended up laughing and smiling at each other the whole time, and her brothers were looking over at us like, “What are y’all over there doing?” It just clicked. We were able to talk about things that we didn’t talk about with other people. We didn’t have to hide anything. It was kind of like it was a match made by God.
Interviewer: Do you want to add anything, Shantel?
Shantel Moore: Yeah, that’s what he classifies as our first date. I think of another one. My brothers were always around. We had a double date with one of my brothers. That was our first official date. We weren’t dating at the time. We were still classified as friends in his scenario, but I will say that that was the first time I kind of noticed him. I was like, “Hmmm, why haven’t I ever tried to talk to him. He’s like a really, really good dude.” People laugh. I was the type where I always wanted to date the thuggish type dude. I wanted a roughneck. He was just different from all the other guys. When I would talk to him, it wasn’t that one thing that he wanted from me. He didn’t want money. He didn’t want intimacy with me. He wanted to know me, and He got to know me for me. I will say he was the first dude who broke open something because I would always lie about myself. I would never tell anyone anything about myself. People thought that was crazy! Everybody that I went to school with knew something different about me. I never told them something that I had actually been through because I was shamed by my past. I didn’t like that I was sexually abused, so I was like, “Okay, I’m going to lie. I’m not going to tell people the truth about myself.” He was the first person where he was like, “That doesn’t add up. There’s just something about you. It doesn’t seem like that’s really who you are.” and he broke something up in me. He gave me a soft spot. He’s like my soft spot. If he comes around, I just know, and I have to tell him everything about myself because he was the one. He was different than the rest.
Interviewer: Amen. That’s really sweet! How should couples handle conflict?
Shantel Moore: I will say, walk away. It sounds crazy, but I will say, walk away. If you’re into a heated argument, we both had to practice this over the years. WALK AWAY! If you don’t walk away, you’re going “ Looking through the
to say something that you regret, or you’re going to say something that will cause more issues in your marriages. So, if you’re frustrated and you’re upset, walk away. Once you get kind of calm, cool, and collected within your emotions, then come back together to talk about it. I don’t mean to walk away and never talk about the situation again. Absolutely, come back and talk, but talk when your emotions aren’t on the rise and when you’re not angry because anger brings out frustration and you’re just going to be saying off the wall stuff. So walk away until you’re
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
cool, then come back together and talk about it to see where the issue came in at. Often, if you’re frustrated or you’re in conflict, sometimes about monies or emotions, you feel like somebody is not talking to you or your spouse isn’t communicating with you properly. Talk about that. Tell them what your issues are so they can know and so you guys can get to the root of the issue together.
Interviewer: Do you guys have any upcoming pro-
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
jects?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: Not really. We were marking things down and making schedules for things. At this point, we just do things when God tells us to do them. We do once He tells us to do it. We do post it on our Facebook pages regarding what we are going to do. We just let Him lead us and do exactly what He wants us to do.
Interviewer: Okay. How can people connect with your ministry?
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: They can connect with us on Facebook. We have two pages. One is the Young in Christ page and the other one is From 2 to 1 page. Of course, we allow anyone to connect to us by name if they can’t find the pages. They can always send us a message. We can direct you in any way, help you with prayer, or anything at all.
Interviewer: Okay, awesome! Do you guys have any last words of encouragement for our readers?
Shantel Moore: Marriage is a beautiful thing! A lot of people want to get married, but they don’t know what to expect. I definitely say read the Bible, get some of the scenarios out of the Bible. You really don’t know what type of marriage you’re going to have, but you can take it to God to decree and declare what type of marriage you want to have. If you want to have a kingdom marriage, decree and declare it so you can get the right mate for yourself.
Interviewer: Amen, that’s really good! Stevenson, you got anything? (Laughs)
Stevenson Lamont Moore Jr: She kind of summed it up there. I guess one of the things I want to say is when it comes to your marriage, just make sure you are putting yourself out there and you are just trying to give your all! And don’t back down at the first sign of trouble because you will grow from it, and it will help you guys build in your marriage.
Interviewer: This is the end of our interview, and I appreciate you guys. I know someone is going to be blessed when they read this interview.
Shantel Moore: No, thank you for the opportunity!
Interviewer: Awesome! I just bless God for you! Thank you so much for your time!
Shantel Moore: Amen. Thank you so much! Interviewer: You’re welcome! Alright, you guys, have a great day!
Moores: You too! Bye, bye!
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
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Prophetic voice, publisher, prolific author, entrepreneur, and intercessor Kimberly Moses shares insight on how to pray effectively when engaging in spiritual warfare. She shares supernatural encounters and strategies that the Lord Jesus gave her as she opens the Bible and pulls out the hidden treasures. Receive impartation and revelation as you apply the word of God with the given tools.
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
REJOICE ESSENTIAL MAGAZINE FEBUARY 2021
