Is Joy Moore still the president of Northern Seminary — or not?
No one seems to know.
Ten months ago, the suburban Chicago seminary, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, hired its first African American president. The much-praised professor and church elder promised to usher in a “new season of ministry”—good news for a seminary whose last president was accused of bullying women.
And with a revamped, diversified board, Northern was poised to start a new chapter.
Moore’s official presidential installation kicked off last week with an elegant Thursday night dinner at an Embassy Suites hotel in nearby Naperville, Illinois. Moore praised Northern in the dinner’s main address, bringing the more than 100 guests to their feet in applause, an observer told The Roys Report (TRR).
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But at the close of the evening, Northern board members dropped a bomb. Moore had actually resigned her presidency, they announced.
“There was widespread shock in the room, and it was a very uncomfortable setting,” said pastor and attorney Keith Boyette, Moore’s friend of 30 years who attended the dinner.
The next day, Moore gave her own shattering announcement at a church service. In front of Northern staff, board members, and invited guests, she said she hadn’t resigned, Boyette said. Northern, she told the amazed congregants, had lied.
Speculation about what has happened is all over the map. New Jersey Pastor Dennis Blackwell, not associated with the seminary, stood up at Friday’s service and accused the seminary of “racism,” according to Boyette. Actually, “bullying” and “public relations sanitizing,” presumably on the part of the seminary, could be involved, wrote attendee and retired pastor Vance Ross on Facebook.
Moore didn’t respond to TRR’s request for comment.
In response to the allegation of racism, Marshall Hatch, Northern’s director of Northern Sankofa Center of Black Church Studies said, “The composition of the Board, their diversity, and individual accomplishments reflect the values of the seminary, historically and currently.”
By Tuesday afternoon, all the seminary could publicly say was the following:
“As we enter this next chapter, Northern does so with gratitude for Dr. Moore’s contributions and a shared commitment to seeking what is best for all involved and our collective kingdom ministry,” said Mike Moore, seminary dean and vice president of academics.
(Mike Moore has no family relation to Joy Moore.)
Northern’s website still shows Joy Moore as its president. But whether the website is reliable is up for debate.
For example, a May 2025 capture from the wayback machine, which archives old websites, lists Trishia Khodolenko as Northern’s vice president of operations and chief of staff. Remarks by Khodolenko on LinkedIn indicate she was still at Northern as of two months ago.
Yet, as of Friday, her name was missing. And neither Northern’s board nor communications office nor Kholodenko responded to TRR’s requests for comment. Mike Moore also told TRR he couldn’t comment.
Additionally, a leaked email sent on Oct. 1 from Joy Moore’s assistant called all staff and faculty to a mandatory “emergency” meeting the next day to talk about a “critical” matter but gave no further details.
Attempts to recover from past scandal
Northern has been trying to recover from a 2023 scandal in which its former president Bill Shiell resigned after being accused of bullying and retaliating against women in key leadership roles. That year, the seminary fired a whistleblower, students called for resignations and apologies from the board, and board members and staff resigned.
Then in January 2024, Northern seminary professor Scot McKnight, author of the popular anti-church abuse book “A Church Called Tov,” resigned. He blamed Northern’s “toxic culture” as a reason.
Also in 2023, Northern hired Karen Walker Freeburg, a former Northern vice president, as an interim president. She called for genuine change, saying she’d resign if she saw “damage control.”
Northern’s faculty and staff engaged in working groups and a task force co-led by African American Chicago pastor Gerald Dew to increase its transparency and accountability, TRR previously reported. Northern also diversified its board with more women and people of color, including one woman who helps abuse victims. (Northern’s board has equal numbers of men and women, and five of the 16 members are people of color.)
Moore’s presidency was supposed to be another step toward change.
The Installation That Wasn’t
Boyette was one of many of Moore’s close associates who traveled out of state to Illinois last week as a guest of Northern for the installation. A founder of the Global Methodist Church, with its administrative center in Lubbock, Texas, he is not associated with Northern Seminary.
As he snapped a photo of Moore smiling as she spoke at the Thursday night dinner and posted it on his Facebook page, she didn’t appear to be someone on the verge of walking off the job.
Seminary leaders also asked the audience to give toward a goal of $50,000 for scholarships, Boyette said.
Right before the closing prayer, Boyette said Northern board chair James Stellwagen and vice chair Brian Johnson said they had an announcement: Moore wouldn’t be installed because she had told the board she didn’t believe she was a good fit to be president.
Johnson then requested the crowd not to approach Moore after the dinner since this was an emotional time. Johnson also announced that Friday’s event, which was supposed to be the actual installation, would be just a church service.
Author and Northern theology professor Beth Felker Jones, who gave the closing prayer, told the audience the announcement surprised her. After the prayer, Boyette noticed that a couple of people approached Moore to talk to her.
“It caught everyone by surprise and there was immediate discussion around me of people saying they felt like they had been involved in a bait and switch,” Boyette said.
It was a shock to him too, as Moore hadn’t mentioned a resignation to him or anything like it.
About that time, the seminary published an announcement — that is still on its website — explaining Moore’s resignation and the change from an installation service to a worship service on Friday.
On Friday morning, Boyette said Moore called him for a legal consult about being forced into a resignation. She decided to attend what was supposed to have been her installation service at 10 a.m. Friday at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
As the service began, Boyette said Johnson announced that it was a disorienting time, but the audience should seek God. During a pause in the service, the Rev. Dennis Blackwell, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church near Camden, New Jersey, stood up to speak.
“He—my characterization—leveled the leadership of the board of trustees, the seminary, for their racism, for the harm they had caused to Dr. Moore, for their attack on her dignity,” Boyette said. “He just lit into them.”
Blackwell declined TRR’s request for comment.
Others shared personal stories or performed planned music.
At the close, Old Testament Professor Ingrid Faro was supposed to give the closing prayer, Boyette said, but Faro, seeing Joy Moore sitting in the back of the sanctuary, invited her to come to the front. (Faro was one of the women who had accused former Northern president Bill Shiell of mistreating her, TRR previously reported.)
Boyette said Moore took the microphone and announced that the board was lying about her resignation and that she had expected to be installed as president.
“It’s something to the effect of, ‘The seminary trustees are trying to perpetuate a lie upon this community,” Boyette said. “She talked about the dysfunction at Northern, how they were continuing to repeat error of the past . . . She talked about the systemic problems and the fact that she had sought to proactively address the changes that needed to be made.”
On Saturday, when TRR inquired about the situation. Mike Moore, Northern’s dean and vice president of academics, said Moore’s resignation is under review.
It appears little has changed in the past few days, and the future of both Moore and Northern remains up in the air.
Update 10/15: This article has been updated to include a statement from Northern in response to allegations of racism, which was received after initial publication of this story.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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10 Responses
Did TRR reach out to Nijay Gupta for his assessment of this extraordinarily odd event—- further I believe what the recently hired president says
Yes, we reached out to Gupta, but he did not provide any on-the-record comments.
Dr Gupta is far too wise to get caught in the fray. While this story reports this primarily shares, perceptions and understandings from one of Joy’s close friends, I am intrigued by the fact that neither the seminary leadership nor Dr. Moore are choosing to make any public statements. This should reveal that the situation is far more complicated and complex than many perceive.
Wow. That’s very odd. A most unusual story and mystery.
The most unusual and strange church story I have read about in years.
Praying for Dr. Moore and for the students at Northern Baptist.
Thank you for your reports.
This action taken by Northern Seminary is scandalous. The fact that Keith Boyette (a white pastor in the Global Methodist Church) and Vance Ross (a black pastor in the United Methodist Church) who were both in attendance at the Installation Service, agree that Dr. Joy Moore was done wrong, says a lot. Knowing both of them, they are credible witnesses.
However neither of these men were in the board meeting where are the resignation allegedly occurred. What we are not aware is the answer to the question, “What exactly did Dr Moore say/do that was interpreted as a resignation? Did she say, “I can’t do this any longer “when expectations were set forth? Did she say, “I quit? Did she say, “I cannot take the oath of office. “ This is information that we simply do not know given that neither of these men were in the executive session of the board. While a formal letter was perhaps not yet provided, there is no such law in the state of Illinois requiring that such a letter be provided as a basis for accepting a resignation. I am not questioning the integrity of either one of these men only raising an issue that points to the complexity of this case. I am personally acquainted with Dr. Moore and several other parties involved in this tragic situation. As a former student, I respect all parties involved, Dr Moore, faculty and board involved in this tragic situation while hoping for a resolution that serves the best interest of all parties
Presumably if the woman decides to seek unemployment benefits, claiming that shehad been fired without cause, and the board cannot pony up a letter of resignation with her signature on it, the state would rule in her favor?
Wow, this is nothing short of crazy town. And a terrible witness for the world.
Now that the matter has been settled and a mutually acceptable statement released Vance Moore and Keith Boyette owe an apology related to unfounded accusations.