In 1972 the Oneida faculty and staff consisted of about 25 people. Today our staff consists of about 130 folks. It takes a large staff to do what we do. Our current staff is made up of people from Alabama, Arizona, Brazil, California, Canada, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Venezuela. Kind of sounds like our student body, doesn’t it?
The average tenure of our current staff is 9.4 years, which I believe is excellent, especially considering we have many new people on our staff. We have folks in the first few weeks of service and folks who have been with us for a several decades. These servants are called to Oneida for a season, and some seasons are longer than others. Some years we will lose very few staff, and other years we lose quite a few. This year happened to be one of those years that we lost more staff than usual, which meant more new staff than usual would be hired. The Lord sent us some wonderful new folks, and they have brought a new energy and enthusiasm to our campus.
I am charged with the responsibility of securing the best staff possible and putting that staff into the best possible position to minister to our students. I wish I could tell you my faith is always what it should be, but late this summer I began to worry if we would have all the staff we would need to continue with all of our programs and offerings. As He always seems to do, the Lord provided exactly who and what we needed. Some quality folks were hired just hours before we began our new year. I never cease to be amazed by the Lord’s provision for the Oneida ministry.
Most of these new staff members are still in their honeymoon phase, and will soon face some difficult days in their time with us. If you love the Lord and young people, I know of no better place to serve the Lord than Oneida Baptist Institute. But make no mistake about it—service at Oneida is a calling and full-time ministry. You can call it home missions, state missions, or foreign missions, but it is a full-time calling. The Oneida ministry is extremely fulfilling and rewarding, but it can also be very challenging. It is the challenges, however, that make the successes so much more rewarding.
Please pray for all of our staff, especially for our new staff members as we make our way into our 118th year of ministry. Pray that God uses this particular staff to do an amazing work in the lives of the young people He has entrusted to our care.
Larry Gritton