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Evidently the newlyweds planned to set up housekeeping for a time on the land near Clinton which W. D. Moore had inherited. By the time Alice was able to join him there, however, W. D. Moore had become very ill. After she arrived in Clinton, Alice had to write a letter to Ripyville assuring "Miss Sallie" and "Miss Lucy" that she was taking care of him and he would be all right. Their plans for a life in Clinton never worked out. By the summer of 1881 the new family, including Alice’s children, had moved into the home place, along with W. D.'s mother and grandmother. (The venerable Sarah "Sallie" Searcy died "full of years" in September, 1884.)
The couple's first child, Hamilton Forrest (named for W. D.'s father) was born on October 18, 1881. Eight more children would be born to the couple, two of whom, Alice Dudley (b. 1883) and Willie (b. 1892) did not survive their first hours. The other six, however, were remarkably long-lived: Hamilton Forrest (1881-1972); Sallie Searcy (1883-1981); Martha Florence (1885-1967); Lucy Katherine (1887-1974); John Foster (1890-1966); and Ophelia Lewis (1893-1981). In Mr. Shely's words, "Alice, as she was fondly called, as manager and housekeeper of a spacious home, . . . proved to be a true help-mate to the ever-busy husband, who was destined to become one of the best-loved ministers in central Kentucky." But at the time of their marriage, he was not a minister.
[In 1886 at the age of thirty W. D. Moore made full surrender to his long-felt call to preach. Early that year he accepted the call of the Fellowship (frequently then called Bear Wallow) Baptist Church. This church called for his ordination. Bro. Moore was ordained to the gospel ministry on May 26, 1886, at the Salvisa Baptist Church. Bro J. T. Hedger {his father-in-law} conducted the customary doctrinal examination. Dr. E. Y. Mullins {later to become President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and one of the world’s most influential Baptist leaders} preached the ordination sermon using 2 Timothy 2:3 as his text. Others participating in the service included Bros. E. G. Shirley, J. T. Sampson, B. F. Adkins, and W. J. Holtzclaw.
Immediately after his ordination Bro. Moore accepted the call of Old Goshen, then meeting at Lyceum schoolhouse in Mercer County. He served this church for twenty-three consecutive years (until 1909) and again became their pastor in 1927. He was preaching "full time" at Goshen when the accident resulting in his death occurred in 1935.
Shawnee Run in Mercer County also claimed the services of Bro. Moore for more than thirty years. As a memorial to their beloved pastor this historic church has a lovely stained-glass window bearing his name and a favorite text.
Other pastorates included Bethel, Salvisa, Sand Spring, Camden (now Glensboro), Friendship, Mt. Pleasant, Hopewell, Bruner's Chapel, Wilmore, and Salt River (in Boyle County). An impressive monument to his memory stands in the church yard at Sand Spring. Many friends of Bro. Moore contributed funds for the erection of this memorial.
With the exception of the later years at Shawnee Run and at Goshen., the churches were only "quarter time" or "half time". Few of the churches were far from his home, yet the drive {or train} to Wilmore required long hours, and Bethel, Salt River, and Bruner's Chapel were each a full half-day's journey for the preacher as in a steel-tired buggy he jolted his way over rough but little-traveled roads. A passenger train then made its way through Lawrenceburg, and Bro. Moore was a familiar occupant. The church of Shawnee Run presented the pastor with a Model-T Ford. Bro. Moore accepted it with gratefulness and immediately gave it the name of “Old Danger.” He never felt as safe behind the wheel of “Old Danger” as he did while holding the reins behind “Old Filly,” a favorite mare whose death, at the age of 36, brought grief to a host of friends to whom she had become almost as familiar as the preacher himself.
[Another favorite horse was named Grant. This splendid and faithful servant lived to be past thirty-one. Bro. Moore loved all his farm animals, especially the horses. He never ceased to thrill at a buggy ride, and seldom tires of the long rides through open country to his field of service.]
W. D. Moore was one of a noble breed of Baptist pastors who made possible the Baptist domination of the Kentucky landscape. In modern terms he would have been called "bi-vocational;" that is, he made his primary living somewhere else than from the church. In this era "pastor" meant primarily "regular preacher," with few if any of the many administrative tasks required of the modern pastor. During his lifetime, especially in rural Kentucky, few churches met every Sunday and fewer had genuinely full-time pastors.
[Following the custom of that period, Bro. Moore was frequently "met" by some faithful member who took delight in going to the pastor's house (or meeting him at a nearby train station) and taking the preacher to "meeting." There was usually a Saturday afternoon business meeting and a Sunday morning service. If the miles were many or the weather rough, the preacher found a hearty welcome in a member's home. The "front room"--with its little-used feather-bed, its large wash bowl and pitcher, its treasured family Bible, . . . its coal-oil lamp with newly-shined chimney . . . was always available for the pastor of any "old country church." Folks were glad to have him come.
[Financial remuneration during these years (1886-1935) was very meager. Heated discussions among church members relative to a fixed salary for pastors were common. While many people were beginning to lean heavily toward better training and more pay, there were others who regarded the salaried pastor as nothing more than a "hireling." Factions arising in the middle of the nineteenth century were much alive during the first half of Bro. Moore's ministry, and disturbances involving doctrinal differences prevailed in some of our best educational centers. For these, and perhaps other reasons, Bro. Moore, though well-educated for his generation, never demanded nor received a fixed salary. He did, however, at times receive a fair compensation. His farm continued to be a productive one, yet well-meaning and appreciative members at times felt inclined to be generous with their "abundance of good things to eat." One church at the close of a revival gave him thirty-five gallons of blackberries. (The record does not say that they were already canned. Neither did it say that "Alice" was delighted with this bounty.) Upon many other occasions he returned home with undeniable evidence of rural prosperity. Perhaps it was a "lean year" upon his farm when upon one occasion the church of Shawnee Run presented him with a wagon load of corn . . . . The church at Shawnee Run presented the pastor with a Model-T Ford. Bro. Moore accepted it with gratefulness and immediately gave it the name of "Old Danger." He never felt as safe behind the wheel of "Old Danger" as he did while holding the reins behind "Old Filly," a favorite mare whose death, at the age of thirty-six, brought grief to a host of friends to whom she had become almost as familiar as the preacher himself.