Denver moore biography
Denver Moore has worked his way home
Long-time readers here at WORLDmag.com are no doubt familiar with Denver Moore, a man who was without hope until God set him on a different course after he met up with a wealthy art dealer and his persistent wife at a homeless shelter in Fort Worth, Texas. The story of this providential meeting can be found in the bestselling book Same Kind of Different As Me, written by Moore and that art dealer, Ron Hall, with assistance from WORLD senior writer Lynn Vincent.
On Saturday, March 31, after several years of ill health, Moore, 75, died, or, as Hall shared in an email, "The gates of heaven swung open … and Denver Moore went walkin' in!" A memorial service for Moore was held yesterday at McKinney Memorial Bible Church in Fort Worth.
After Moore's life-changing encounter with Ron and Deborah Hall, and with God, he traveled the country, speaking at more than 400 fundraising events and making numerous radio and television appearances. (He also graciously agreed to an interview with me for an article in Delta Air Lines' Sky magazine.) For his tireless efforts to raise awareness and money for the homeless, the citizens of Fort Worth named Moore Philanthropist of the Year in 2006.
Vincent, who also helped Moore and Hall write a follow-up book, What Difference Do It Make? shared with me her thoughts on Moore's life.
"When Peter and John preached in Jerusalem, the Sadducees marveled because the apostles had become passionate, eloquent spokesmen for Christ even though they were uneducated men," she said. "Denver's life reminds us that God is still in the business of using simple things to confound the 'wise,' and ordinary people to change the world."
In one of his TV interviews, Moore shared with PBS's Tavis Smiley how God had transformed him, "God is in the recycling business. What most folks in Fort Worth thought was trash on the streets, God turned into a treasure!"
Moore's travels also took him to the White Ho Denver was born in rural Louisiana in January 1937, and after several tragic events went to live on a plantation in Red River Parish with his Uncle James and Aunt Ethel, who were share croppers. Sometime around 1960, he hopped a freight train and began a life as a homeless drifter until 1966 when a judge awarded him a 10 year contract for hard labor at the Louisiana State School of Fools, aka, Angola Prison! According to Denver, he went in a man and left a man and received a standing ovation from prisoners in the yard as he walked out of there in 1976. For the next 22 years he was homeless on the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. However, there were a few times after a brush with the law, he’d ride the rails visiting cities and hobo jungles across America, sampling regional cuisine like Vienna sausage with fellow passengers. In 1998, “He never met Miss Debbie,” Miss Debbie met him and his life was changed forever. He was the co-author of the book, “Same Kind of Different As Me” and “What Difference Do It Make?”, as well as an artist, public speaker, and volunteer for homeless causes. In 2006, as evidence of the complete turn around of his life, the citizens of Fort Worth honored him as “Philanthropist of the Year” for his work with homeless people at the Union Gospel Mission. Denver passed away in Dallas, TX on March 31, 2012. “Denver’s art is raw, yet innocent, and directly from his soul…He began painting at sixty-five before he learned to read and write two years later…He does not consider himself an artist but I do. I get excited every time I walk into his little studio in our garage and see the latest creation of his hands, and my heart sinks when I go there and see he has done nothing!!!! People from all across America have bought his art to have a connection to him and his story….Enjoy.” – Ron Hall A few words from Cerulean Gallery’s Director about Denver was born in rural Louisiana in January 1937 and after several tragic events went to live on a plantation in Red River Parish with his Uncle James and Aunt Ethel, who were sharecroppers. 2006 book by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent For the film based on this book, see Same Kind of Different as Me (film). Publication date Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together, published in June 2006, is a book co-written by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, with Lynn Vincent, telling about Hall's and Moore's intersecting life journeys. It was published by Thomas Nelson. Moore grew up as a sharecropper on a plantation in Red River Parish, Louisiana. He lived through years of hardship and homelessness but changed both his and others' lives after meeting Hall, who was volunteering at a shelter. Ron Hall is a rich international art dealer in Texas. Although not enjoying the same paycheck size as that of his clients', he is invited into their sphere. He and his wife Deborah have two children, Reagen and Carson—the first of which, once she hit high school, "shunned anything that smacked of wealth, and yearned to be a freedom fighter in South Africa." After an affair that Ron has, he and Deborah attend marriage counseling and forge a strong bond. So much so, that when Deborah decides to help out at a homeless shelter, Ron agrees to go, hopeful that Deborah will change her mind. Soon, Ron gets excited about it too—and, not without Deborah's urging, forms a friendship with Denver, a man whom all homeless people and people on the streets are terrified of. This book is a chronology of their friendship, Deborah's battle with cancer, and how the love of God is at work, changing lives. The book was #11 on the January 9, 2009 The New York Times Best Seller list for paperback non-fiction. It has shipped a total of at least 300,000 copies.Denver Moore
The unlikely journey of two very different men…
Meet Denver Moore
“Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody.” - Denver Moore
Sometime around 1960, he hopped a freight train and began a life as a homeless drifter until 1966 when a judge awarded him a ten year contract for hard labor at the Louisiana State School of Fools, aka, Angola Prison!
According to Denver, he went in a boy and left a man and received a standing ovation from prisoners in the yard as he walked out of there in 1976. For the next twenty-two years he was homeless on the streets of Fort Worth, Texas. However, there were a few times after a brush with the law, he'd ride the rails visiting cities and hobo jungles across America, sampling regional cuisine like Vienna sausage with fellow passengers.
In 1998, in Denver's own words, "I never met Miss Debbie, Miss Debbie met me" and his life was forever changed.
Denver was quick to tell everyone he was just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody that can save everybody. However this self-proclaimed nobody became an artist, selling hundreds of his original paintings to fans everywhere. He became a singer and self-taught piano player entertaining thousands with his down-home, red-dirt-road style of blues and gospel. Convention centers and auditoriums were filled to hear him tell his motivational story of hope and redemption while raising millions for homeless causes all across America. In 2006, he was named Fort Worth Texas' Philanthropist of the Year for his work on behalf of the Union Gospel Mission.
Denver's mantra was "We are all homeless, just workin' our way home". On March 31, 2012, God swung open the gates of heaven and welcomed him home. He was seventy-five years old when he was reunited with Miss Debbie and Same Kind of Different as Me
Author Ron Hall, Denver Moore, Lynn Vincent June 2006 Plot synopsis
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