The Struggle To Get To Destiny

By Kenith Moore and April Moore

Kenny and April were married for 12 years before liver and kidney disease took April's life at the age of 40. This book chronicles their childhood and life together as they deal with challenges on their journey to fulfill their individual and collective destiny. From a faith move to relocate to Florida with no jobs, to April going from being con

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keeping Alive New Music Collective
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9780998994383

Book preview

The Struggle To Get To Destiny

Kenith and April Moore

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Speak Life Publications

Copyright © [2022] by [Kenny and April Moore]

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Foreword

The Struggle To Get To Destiny, written by Kenith Moore and April Moore, is a wonderful literary work composed by a strong man who truly loved a woman. I fondly remember my first time meeting Kenith and April. They began attending Saint Paul Church of Jacksonville where I Pastor. One Sunday after worship they approached me as only the Moore’s could. They walked up to me, introduced themselves, and made sure I understood they would walk close to me. Of course I was in shock. But true enough they became close to me as their Pastor and their friend. Over the next few years I watched them walk out faith going from renting to home ownership because they believed in the power of sowing. We watched in amazement as April fought valiantly against what would have been for others a debilitating illness. Yet in the end she left her precious Ken with grace.

This book is about a man whose love never wavered. It’s about their willingness to stay true to each other while walking through the valley of pain and suffering. I know they have written a powerful book with many life lessons embedded within. I want to encourage you to read this as a journey. I want you to embrace the spirit evident in each word written. Believe me their story will cause you to cry. It will cause you to laugh. Most importantly it will cause you to see that all things are possible even in suffering and death.

Give yourself to this book and know you are witnessing human love shaped by divine love.

Dr. John E. Guns

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Kenny

2. April

3. Kenny

4. April

5. Kenny

6. April

7. Kenny

8. Kenny

9. Kenny

10. April

11. Kenny

12. April

13. Kenny

14. April

15. Kenny

16. April

17. Kenny

18. April

19. Kenny

20. April

21. Kenny

22. April

23. Kenny

24. Kenny

25. Kenny

26. April

Epilogue- Kenny

About The Authors

Kenith & April Moore

Chapter 1

Kenny

I remember growing up in the Bronx, NY and my first memories of music were listening to my mom’s records in the living room of our 15th floor apartment. She would be cooking and cleaning and have gospel music on by people like Edwin & Walter Hawkins, JC White and the Institutional COGIC Mass Choir. I was probably around seven- or eight-years-old. I would listen to them and try to play the drum parts on my parents living room set. I grew up going to church with my family and they would sing these songs on Sundays in church. First, I would be pretending to play with my hands. When she saw that I had a love for music she started giving me her wooden spoons to use as drum sticks. I got so caught up in playing that I ruined some of her dining rooms chairs. I wasn’t playing too loud because I don’t ever remember my neighbors complaining about the noise.

Maybe a year or so later I got my first pair of sticks. That was one of the happiest days of my life. Once I got those sticks I knew my parents saw my love for music, so I was so grateful! Once I got those sticks I knew I wanted to be a musician, so I started to watch everyone I thought sounded good, so I could see what I wanted to be. I would be at my home church Pure Gospel Miracle Revival Center in Bronx, NY and watch great musicians like Willie Brooks, Christopher Bruce, George Bruce and guest musicians like Butch Heyward, Jonathan Woodby, Teroy Jenkins, and too many other greats to name. My eyes would be fixated on the band as they were playing. I would watch for their movements, their signals, and what they were playing at different times during the service. I always loved to hear great chords and would love to hear rhythmic beats from my god brother Chris on drums. I was born left handed and I was really left handed dominant (I still am to this day). I remember one Sunday my god brother was trying to teach me to play so he let me start playing at the start of service. The drums were set up for a right-handed player. I wasn’t ready yet and I was struggling to keep up. The late Evangelist Deborah Bowman came and tried to take me off the set. I was having none of that, so I refused to get up. I think I was about eight-years-old then. She made me get up and I cried myself to sleep in my seat in the audience. The passion for music was in me at an early age. I played drums and I also liked the piano and organ as well which is why I would listen to Butch, Jonathan, and Teroy when they would come to play the organ at my church.

The late Deacon Willie Brooks saw that I had an interest in playing the piano, so he gave me an old electric keyboard he wasn’t using to let me take it home to practice. He told me the first key I should learn to play in is E-flat because that is the key most used in church. I took the keyboard home and I started learning to play the shout/praise break bass line. That bass line is the most common one used for the praise break which is when people shout and dance around during the service in church. I got it done and my mom came running in the room and she may have started dancing. Mom has been and always will be one who praises as I am. She also had a love for music as she played the flute in a jazz ensemble in HS. My dad was a choir director and he had a great ear for teaching parts. I inherited their gifts of music when it comes to playing, writing, and composing songs.

Chapter 2

April

I can remember growing up in Melbourne, Florida where I attended Melbourne Church of God. I played the tambourine and enjoyed every minute of it. My parents were pastor and first lady. Shortly after getting used to our lives there, my father was then appointed to pastor a church in Alabama. So, we packed up and relocated to Alabama.

It was very cold, and I thought the people were very mean. My mother would dress my sisters and me up in ruffled dresses with crinoline slips and these big bows on our heads. I did not mind dressing up. I was always a girly-girl and I loved to dress up. I was such a girly-girl that everything had to match from my clothes to my undergarments. I would get so upset if my pretty clothes got dirty. Mama used to call me Ms. Priss. My sisters, on the other hand— that was another story.

Shannon was a tomboy, so she would play in whatever clothes she had on. Mama would get so mad when she would play in her church clothes. Candice was the baby and she was really smart, so we called her the nerd baby. She started reading early around age three or four.

It was okay in Alabama, but then my father was reassigned somewhere else. So, then we had to pack up and move back to Florida. I was very happy. I reconnected with my family and friends and it was good.

My mother had rules for us, of course. We had to attend Bible study, Youth Choir rehearsal and be active members of the Girls Ministry. Because we were PK’s (an abbreviation for pastor’s kids) we had to be involved with everything that was going on in church. I was okay with it until it was