Changed by a week of service, former Owen County star is committed to ministry
By John Herndon, 110forChrist.com
The first time I remember seeing Lexie Moore play basketball, I knew she was a winner. I just didn’t know how big of a winner she actually is.
It was the 2019 Eighth Region Tournament at Owen County High School when Moore caught the eye of a recently retired sports editor – yours truly – who was staying connected to the game and looking for ways to tie sports and faith together.
Little did I know that seven years later, I would sit down with that freshman basketball player who was leading her underdog Owen County team to the cusp of a massive upset. The Lady Rebels gave two-time defending regional champion Simon Kenton all it could handle, leading for much of the game. Simon Kenton rallied late for a 49-42 win, but Lexie Moore had made the impression with 15 points and a basketball savvy that spelled eventual greatness.
That high school career had plenty of greatness: Owen County’s all-time leading scorer, a Class A state championship in 2022, an Eighth Region runner-up the same year and six 31st District championships. (Moore had begun playing varsity basketball as a seventh-grader and cracked the varsity starting lineup the following season.)
“I really enjoyed my high school career,” Moore remembers, “not because of our accomplishments. Our team was super-close, especially that senior year.”
But these days, Lexie Moore says, “The Lord has called me to ministry.”
Her high school career earned a scholarship to Alderson-Broaddus University, a Division II school in West Virginia that has since closed. Before moving 350 miles from her Dry Ridge home, Lexie Moore began to discover her new passion.
She had signed up for a week with Kentucky Changers, a ministry affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention that focuses on service. Many of the volunteers are teens being exposed to ministry opportunities away from their homes.
“We were in Shelbyville,” she recalls of the mission to help in repairs and cleanup after some devastating storms hit the area. “My first year at Kentucky Changers, I will never forget. We stayed at Collins (High School). We would work all day, have dinner and then worship. It was a humbling experience.”
And it was life-changing. She continues to work with Kentucky Changers each summer.
While Moore fought through a nagging hamstring injury, torn cartilage in her shooting (left) hand and a concussion at Alderson-Broaddus, she was still one of the mainstays of the Battlers’ starting lineup. Yet, something was not clicking.
“That was hard at first. I had never been away from home before,” she says. “But I found the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministry) at AB. I found that community and that changed my experience. I had somewhere to go,” she says.
Eventually Moore would realize that Alderson-Broaddus was not a good fit and decided to transfer to the University of Pikeville, the first school that had offered her a scholarship. The expectations were high but the plans were derailed before she ever put on a Bears’ uniform.
The week before she was to move to Pikeville, Moore contracted Covid and was down for a week-and-a-half.
She appeared to be fully recovered but once basketball practice began, Moore began to develop dizziness and would sometimes develop migraines. The Pikeville medical staff sent her to a doctor but the condition remained a mystery and kept her sidelined as medical professionals searched for what was causing the dizziness. Her season would consist of two games – one start – with 13 points and two rebounds but she was named to the Appalachian Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference team.
Eventually, Lexie saw a specialist near her home who found that Covid had caused some nerve damage in her inner ear and that physical exertion aggravated it.
“I did all of the physical therapy and tried to play my junior year but it was super hard,” she explains. Moore was able to see action in 23 games, scoring 6.5 points and pulling down 2.8 rebounds a game. After much prayer, her decision was to retire from the game she loves. She could deal with the injuries, but the bout with Covid had left her with permanent damage that severely affected her ability to play.
She admits that the detours on a road that appeared toward basketball success were trying, “I got frustrated,” she says. “I would pray, ‘Lord, you know my desire to play college basketball. You’ve opened all the doors to make it happen and now this.”
Today, Lexie’s time on the court is just enough time to stay active as her doctors have advised that doing so helps train her brain to compensate for the inner ear problems.
But during her time at Pikeville, Lexie Moore saw more of God leading to a life in ministry. Some of her teammates saw her deep faith and came to her with questions. “I would say that some of them were searching,” she smiles.
Moore also became a leader in the UPike BCM but between her junior and senior years, she took a leap of faith, going to Zimbabwe as part of a group organized by Global Encounters, a ministry that puts together short-term mission trips.
Sitting across from Moore as she recounts the trip, one can easily see both the impact the trip had on her life.
“We worked in a camp. It was like a week-long (Vacation Bible School),” she explains. “We had classes and then games and crafts. A lot of the kids were orphans. Some of them were raising their siblings. The youngest one was seven. It went up into their teens.
“We played a lot of games because many of the children never had any fun at home.”
She’d shared the gospel and the calling felt even stronger.
“Some of the things they have been through and shared with us, it puts in perspective how nice it is here (in the United States) and how privileged that we are here. Some of the things we complain about, then seeing these kids who have a rough home, some don’t even have a home.
“When I got back home, I was sitting in my room and saw all the stuff I had and I was just wrecked with guilt. I thought of their environment. It was very eye-opening.”
Moore returned to Pikeville to complete her degree and graduate as valedictorian in the College of Education. She also completed her student teaching at Pikeville Elementary School. “I am trying to get the paperwork settled for certification,” she says.
She plans to make room in the 2026-27 basketball season to catch the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, where her brother, Teagan, is the team’s top returning scorer at 18.7 points per game. Coaching basketball could also be in her future, but there’s little doubt where Lexie Moore’s heart is now.
“Ministry is what I want to do long-term,” she says. Her plans for the summer include another mission with Kentucky Changers and a trip to Ecuador to share the gospel.
Some might not understand her new passion, so Lexie was asked if she would have believed her life journey when she was winning 125 varsity basketball games at Owen County. “If you had told my 16-year-old self about all that I have done and learned, I would have called you crazy,” she says.
It’s all about obedience to the words of Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20,“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (English Standard Version).”
“I don’t think enough Christians take that seriously,” she says. “A common trend is that they believe but aren’t willing to go. They assume that commandment doesn’t mean them. Going to Zimbabwe, working with Changers and living for those on campus has taught me the importance of living on mission. Your mission field is wherever the Lord places you.”
And Lexie Moore is willing to go wherever that might be.
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