President Moore Receives Distinguished Administrator Award

Orlando, FL

August 2, 2019 | John Kennedy

Republished from AG News: COLLEGE PRESIDENT RECOGNIZED https://news.ag.org/News/College-President-Recognized

Assemblies of God Alliance for Higher Education recognized longtime educator David J. Moore Aug. 2 with the 2019 Distinguished Administrator Award. 

Moore returned as president of the Phoenix-based American Indian College in 2013. He held the same post from 1987 to 1994, during which time the school became the only regionally accredited Christian college serving primarily Native Americans. 

Upon his return six years ago, Moore found an institution that had been placed on probation by the accrediting agency, with declining enrollment, and unmanageable cumulative debt.

In 2016, AIC partnered with the Waxahachie, Texas-based Southwestern Assemblies of God University, which allows AIC students to study additional subjects online. The school is now called SAGU American Indian College. Accreditation standards have been restored and finances have improved. Since Moore’s return, enrollment has increased by 32 percent and the number of students living on campus has risen by 198 percent.

Moore, 69, began teaching at the Native American Bible school in 1976 when fewer than 20 students attended. He served as a faculty member, business administrator, academic dean, and ultimately president before departing after 19 years. By then the college had 120 students and seven new buildings.

SAGU President Kermit Bridges, who nominated Moore for the honor, noted that 80 percent of the Native American AG pastors in Arizona and New Mexico are AIC graduates.

“David has spent a lifetime serving the Kingdom and the Fellowship, the lion’s share in service to higher education,” Bridges said.

At the luncheon, Moore thanked Bridges for allowing AIC to became a satellite campus of SAGU while retaining its vision and campus.

In the interim between his academic roles, Moore served at the AG National Office in Springfield, Missouri, as Intercultural Ministries director as well as administrator for AG U.S. Missions. He also worked as administrator at Convoy of Hope and vice president for student relations with the AG Alliance for Higher Education. His duties in this role included helping to facilitate student leadership conferences and student mission trips.

Moore long has been a proponent of AG higher education. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Archaeology/Anthropology and Church History from Evangel University, a Master of Arts in Cross-Cultural Communication from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry in Leadership from AGTS.

“Influence, not authority, is what drives effectiveness,” Moore says. “If you don’t keep learning and growing, you soon become irrelevant.”

Moore and his wife of 47 years, Cheri, have two sons, Ryan and Royce, and a daughter, Rachael Lenz.

Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) American Indian College (AIC) is the nation’s only private Christian college serving primarily Native American students. Established in 1957, AIC now serves nearly 25 tribes as well as other ethnicities.