Doug Moore was a true believer.

Twenty-five years after joining Lexington First Baptist Church, the popular youth minister still practiced what he preached.

“The last night that he preached he was just as on fire and excited to preach as he was the very first time I heard him 20-something years ago,” recalled friend and former colleague Bud Comer. “There was no slowdown. There was no letup. He was going to continue to do what God called him to do. His heart was always for the students.”

Moore, 47, collapsed and died February 15. He is survived by his wife, Ricki Lea Moore, First Baptist’s children’s coordinator and their four children.

Comer, who served as associate pastor at the church from 2012 to 2025, was among those who spoke at a funeral service for Moore last Friday in Purcell.

The service drew between 1,400 and 1,500 people and lasted more than two hours, Comer said.

“He believed in the message that he preached, and he believed it passionately,” Comer told The Register.“And he believed in Jesus. He believed Jesus died for him and he believed he was raised from the dead and he believed with every fiber that he had that this meant everything, to follow Jesus and to trust him as Lord.”

“And because of that it came through in his preaching, in his teaching. Because he loved God, then you turn around and you’re loving people. It wasn’t about him; it was about Jesus.”

Moore and Comer, who met in 1996, forged their friendship at the Fall’s Creek Christian Youth Camp in Davis, where they spent countless summers ministering to children and teenagers.

Comer, who attended Falls Creek for the first time as a family group leader at Moore’s request, said the two hit it off right away.

“He had a way about him,” Comer said. “He was a tremendous storyteller. He wanted to connect with the kids.

“Doug was the type of guy you didn’t have short conversations with. He made you think. He challenged you to think. He was an outside the box guy.”

Jacobi Couch, the girls’ basketball coach at Lexington High, also knew Moore well. So, too, did most of his players.

“He touched every last one of their lives, leading them to Christ,” Couch told The Register. “He showed up to everything. He supported everybody. All the athletes in different sports. He was a great guy.”

Moore was never embarrassed about “his walk with Christ,” Couch said.

“In fact, he put that at the forefront,” he said. “He always lived what he preached. When he talked, he was relatable to the kids.”

During Christmas break, Moore came to the school and sat with the girls during a shoot around while Couch attended a meeting.

“He prayed with them,” Couch said. “He’s prayed with them in previous seasons, at the beginning of the season. Just always been willing to help. When we needed to practice at the church, he’d be the person I’d call and he’d always make it happen.”

Moore loved to quote movies, Comer recalled.

“He and I went back and forth on that a lot,” Comer said. “He always had a Top 5 of his Christmas movies every year. He and I battled ... he thought “It’s a Wonderful Life” could have been like 30 minutes (long). ‘I was like are you kidding me,’ Doug?’ It’s got to have the extra time in there to tell the story. He and I would just go to battle over that one.”

According to Comer, there were a lot of layers to Moore and “all of them were good.”

“He was about loving God and then he was about loving people,” Comer said. “He and his wife did it in an unbelievable way. The only way they could do that is because they trusted in Jesus.”

The Moores showed up for everything, including sporting events, livestock performances and choir performances, Comer said.

“Whatever event went on that there were kids involved, they were there,” he said. “Even if their kids weren’t in it, they were there. When you’re that engaged and people see you all the time, then you’re going to have an impact.”