Dr. Barkley Moore

He gave his heart and his life to God through Oneida

Many friends of Oneida Baptist Institute remember Dr. Barkley Moore, our school’s president from 1972 until his death in 1994. Moore poured his heart and soul into the Oneida ministry, and his legacy lives on today.

Moore graduated as valedictorian of OBI’s class of 1958. He completed a bachelor’s degree and a year of law school at the University of Kentucky, then returned to Oneida as assistant to the president in 1963.

He joined the Peace Corps two years later and went to Iran. There Moore served for six years, the longest term of service of any Peace Corps volunteer at that time. He started one main library and 31 smaller ones in Gonbad-e Kavus. Moore also began a kindergarten that expanded into eight schools enrolling 1,000 students. He was recognized by the Shah and Iran’s prime minister, as well as by U.S. presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Gonbad-e Kavus made Moore an “honorary citizen,” a title never before granted to an outsider.

When Moore returned to the U.S. he became Oneida Baptist Institute’s ninth president. With boundless energy he made his work a labor of love. Moore ministered on campus and promoted OBI off campus. He was a man of great faith and could see God’s hand in the smallest details.

Moore believed in the worth of every child. He once stated that many students who came to OBI had “failed time after time, and they see themselves as a failure.” He described the value of a Christian school: “This is one of the key things we can do through Christian education. We not only tell these young people that we care, but, more importantly, we show them that we care by the interaction that we have daily…”

Under Moore’s leadership our school saw a tremendous increase in our student population. Originally a school for local mountain children, Oneida Baptist Institute became a home away from home for teenagers from many different states and numerous other countries.

Oneida’s motto was dear to Moore: Education for Time and Eternity. He once referred to our students as “…immortal souls which we have the opportunity to minister to, to train, to influence for a life of, we pray, Christian living…”

Today we still strive to offer quality Christian education for this life as we introduce young people to the Christ who can give them life eternal. In this way Moore’s work and his memory live on.

Sermon from 1989

Education for Time and Eternity