Debra Davis-Moody, Adventist Community Services director for the Lake Region Conference, was recognized for more than 50 years of service during the ACS Convention held April 15-17 in Greenville, South Carolina.
The convention, themed “Wellspring,” drew ACS leaders and volunteers who have a desire to make a meaningful difference in their communities. Based on John 4:14, the theme emphasized that through service, believers become a wellspring of the mercy, grace and love they have received from God.
Lake Region Conference President Abraham Henry, who supported Davis-Moody at the convention, later said that her recognition reflects the kind of ministry that has shaped communities for decades.
“She served the community well and we are extremely proud of her,” Henry said. “I’m just praying that we get at least 10 or 15 more Debra Davis-Moodys in the near future. This is one of the most important parts of ministry because it’s meeting people’s needs prior to sharing the gospel, so it gives us a great foundation.”
The recognition marked a ministry journey that began in 1975, shortly after Davis-Moody returned home to Danville, Illinois, and was rebaptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Now in her 51st year of community services ministry, she has served across Lake Region Conference and, for one year, Central States Conference.
She traces her lifelong commitment to community service to the foundation laid by her parents. Her mother was active in community services, and her father was a community activist, teaching her from childhood that service was “second nature.” For Davis-Moody, ministry was never about personal recognition but about helping others, with Christ at the center.
What has sustained her for more than 50 years, she said, is the people she has worked alongside and served, including mentors, friends, colleagues and those in need. She described her motivation as rooted in “having the heart to serve others unconditionally,” even when that work has not been easy. Seeing the results of that service, whether through distributing clothing, feeding people, disaster response or her professional work as a clinical psychologist, has kept her committed.
Three experiences especially stand out to Davis-Moody. The first was serving for 12 years as board president of Wake Up, an HIV/AIDS and homelessness ministry. She said that work showed her how faith-based community service can help restore dignity and humanity to people in crisis.
The second was disaster response work in Hugo, Minnesota, in 2007. There, she witnessed devastation in a deeper way and came to understand that service is not simply about meeting an immediate need and leaving. For Davis-Moody, that experience showed that community service has a long-term spiritual and emotional dimension and can become “kingdom building,” even when overtly religious language is not used.
She recalled one woman in Hugo who came to a distribution center after her family had been affected by disaster. The woman asked for prayer, and Davis-Moody said they could see her spirit lift. Later, after the woman’s bedridden husband died that night, Davis-Moody and others went to her home to sit with and comfort her. That moment reinforced that disaster response often requires more than supplies. It also requires love, sympathy, empathy and spiritual care.
The third experience was the Flint water crisis. Davis-Moody said Flint revealed the difference between serving people in a routine or institutional way and serving hurting people “in Christ’s name.” She remembered seeing arguments over how much water people needed and who should receive help. For her, the crisis showed that Christian service must go above and beyond human calculations and look at people through a spiritual lens, asking how God can use His people to help restore them.
From Local Church to Conference Leadership
Davis-Moody began as assistant community services leader at Gethsemane Church in Danville, Illinois, serving under the mentorship of Thomas Allen. There, she helped lead outreach programs, food giveaways and crisis-response workshops throughout the Illiana Federation area and with Mount of Olives Church in Terre Haute, Indiana. Her service later continued in Topeka, Kansas; Maywood, Illinois; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the Chicagoland ACS Federation before she became Lake Region Conference ACS director in 2014.
In her current role, Davis-Moody directs and assists community outreach for 110 churches throughout the Lake Region Conference. She also has trained volunteers in donations operations, emergency crisis response and community services.
Her ministry has been strengthened by more than 35 years in the helping profession as a master’s-level psychologist working in mental health, substance abuse, supervision and curriculum development. She also has served the church as an elder, personal ministries director, communication leader, music minister, choir and praise team leader and youth drama director.
Davis-Moody reflected on a favorite scripture, Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save thee, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will rejoice over thee with singing.” She connects that image to the work of service, saying she has seen God bless efforts done out of love for humanity and love for Him. In her view, service blesses those who receive it, but it also blesses those who serve, strengthening them for the kingdom of God.
“When I look back over the years, I don’t see it as my work alone,” she said. “I see God’s hand, the support of many people and the privilege of serving communities in times of need.”
Debbie Michel serves as Lake Union Conference Communication director and Herald editor.