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Long Hours, Welcoming Spirit Mark Underwood's Tenure
10/24/2011
ONEIDA – Bud Underwood never really wanted to be president of Oneida Baptist Institute.
Underwood was more than happy directing the student work program of his alma mater and serving under the leadership of his old friend Barkley Moore.
It was Moore’s persistent urgings over 12 years, and God’s timing, that brought Underwood and his wife, Kay, to Oneida in 1984. By all accounts, the larger-than-life Moore was a garrulous individual who brought the eastern Kentucky boarding school back from the brink of closure after taking over in 1972.
It also was Moore’s suggestion to a handful of school trustees that if anything should ever happen to him, Underwood should succeed Moore as president—a fact unknown to Underwood.
In 1994, a heart attack ended Moore’s life too soon and left the school reeling without its longtime leader.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘What’s going to happen to the school?’” recalled Ken Bolin, Oneida’s trustee chairman and pastor of Manchester Baptist Church. “Well, God raised up Bud Underwood to lead the school.”
Underwood succeeded his late friend in August 1994 and has led the school of nearly 300 middle- and high-school students to a new era of success and advancement.
That era soon will come to an end. Underwood told the school’s board of trustees recently he will retire March 31, 2012, capping 28 years at Oneida Baptist Institute, 18 as its president.
“We, frankly, have worked hard most of the time we’ve been here,” Underwood told the Western Recorder of his and Kay’s time at the school.
Underwood’s time as president began quite reluctantly. With no knowledge that he was the Moore’s hand-picked successor, Underwood staved off several efforts by trustees in 1994 to get a resumé from him.
After several requests, trustees settled for a biographical sketch which Underwood said amounted to little more than noting when he was born and that he hadn’t yet died.
Evidently, that was all it took.
“The next thing I knew, they were at my house asking me if I would be the next president,” Underwood recalled.
He accepted the role, albeit grudgingly.
“The first six months I was president was the only time in my life I was angry at God,” Underwood said. “I didn’t want this responsibility and was not happy that I had the responsibility.”
It was a conversation with a close friend about the trademarks of a good leader that God used to change his perspective of the new role.
“The Lord revealed to me, ‘Bud, you know more about what’s going on at Oneida—the mechanics of what happens every day—than anybody else there is,’” he recalled. “I couldn’t deny that I was … in the best position of knowing where Oneida is and where she needed to go.
“So, at that point in time, I got rid of some of my anger and began to step aside and let the Lord do what He wanted to do—and a lot of good things have happened.”
Oneida has made significant strides during Underwood’s tenure, most notably in the area of finances.
Bolin noted that when Underwood assumed the presidency, Oneida’s endowment was a slim $1.5 million. Today, that total is around $28 million.
The increase, Bolin said, is “a testimony to Dr. Underwood’s fiscal management and his faithful handling of the school’s affairs.”
Underwood also has reduced and stabilized the turnover rate of students and faculty/staff at OBI. He credits that largely to improvements in its facilities, as well as nearby housing which Oneida provides to faculty and staff members.
“When I became president, most of our people lived in mobile homes,” Underwood noted, adding that those who work for Oneida do so for exceptionally modest salaries. In the last 17-plus years, 46 residences have been built or remodeled, he said.
“They now have decent houses to live in, which they haven’t always had,” he said, pointing out that the typical faculty/staff tenure today has increased dramatically from the mid-1990s when it was about 15-18 months.
Guiding Oneida to success has not come without sacrifices. Underwood’s day begins at 4:30 a.m. and often doesn’t end until after 11 p.m. That rigorous work schedule has all but negated any time spent with his family.
“I’m not proud of this, but they have taken not only a backseat, (but) that backseat is way in the back of the bus,” Underwood lamented. “We’ve allowed school responsibilities and business to really consume almost all of our time.”
But, he interjects, “I can’t say that I don’t love what I do.”
One of his great joys is sitting across from a prospective student who can’t afford to attend the school and telling him or her, “Come to Oneida.”
Underwood arrived at Oneida similarly in 1961 as a high-school junior on a two-year scholarship because his mother couldn’t afford the $1-a-day tuition.
“We have never told the poor child that because you don’t have any money, because you’re from a low-income family, that there’s just no room for you here,” he said.
“Every time I’m able to give one of those scholarships, it makes me feel good that something I benefited from I’m able to pass on now to other boys and girls who are in the same situation I was in.”
Furthermore, unlike some Christian boarding schools, Oneida never has turned away a student because he or she is not a Christian, Underwood noted. That, along with accepting underprivileged students and emphasizing the student work program represents the foundation of Oneida Baptist Institute.
“If my successor ever departs from those three primary areas, I think they will find they’ll fall out of favor with the Lord and with our supporters,” Underwood cautioned.
The search for Underwood’s successor began in October. Bolin said an executive committee has been formed from among Oneida’s board of trustees. He said they hope to have a new president in place before Underwood’s last day next March “to walk with Dr. Underwood a while and just to see how Oneida works.”
As for Underwood, he still will be a presence on the Oneida campus. Two of his children work at the school and four of his grandchildren attend and play sports, in which he very much looks forward to seeing them compete.
“I want to be able to just be a grandpa for a change,” he said.
Retirement also will include plenty of yard work at home in nearby Owsley County. “I love to mow my grass (and) I’m a passionate gardener. … I want to do those two things more than anything else.”
And after years and years of 4:30 a.m. wake-up calls, Underwood said he plans to sleep in … until 6 a.m.
Learn about Oneida Baptist Institute at www.oneidaschool.org.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Drew Nichter, News Director, Western Recorder
