Ministry has been in Darlene Moore's heart since she was a child.

The loss of her child led Moore to retire this year from full-time church ministry, including 30 years as a pastor, to take on the "ministry of grandsons."

Moore's son, Joshua James II, died unexpectedly at age 28 on Aug. 19, 2018, leaving behind two young sons and a wife.

Moore, the former pastor of Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church in Baton Rouge from 2002-2011, retired to have more time to visit and impact her grandsons, ages 7 and 8. In December, Moore returned to Baton Rouge, where she had maintained a home, after ten years in the Lake Charles-Acadiana District of the United Methodist Church.

"I have the opportunity to embrace what a grandparent is, and we play a significant role and always have," Moore said. "We can love the kids and send them home or take them when needed and help add a necessary foundation that the world can't teach them. … I'm still in ministry but just in a new light."

Moore, 57, said she wants to provide the kind of foundation she had growing up in Mandeville.

"(My grandparents) taught me priceless lessons along with my parents. They were my mentors. They taught the value of caring, community, the value of the church, and compassion,” she said. “My parents modeled for me the strength of family."

Moore wants to be integral to sharing those values with grandsons Joshua III and Jeremiah.

"As a grandmother, I have a role, and I have a responsibility to talk with them, but also to be present and encourage them," she said. "I do check homework, and I encourage them to learn their prayers, know their prayers, know who God is, know who Jesus is, limit their times on these vices, telephones, tablets, etc. And then, I try to encourage my daughter-in-law because she's a young mother whom I hope and prays that God will help her find love again. She's doing an amazing job."

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