Oklahoma Christian University’s church relations and Bible departments are hosting the second annual Vision Ministry Conference from Sunday October 5 through Wednesday October 8.
Rick Odell, associate director of church relations, played a large role in the organization of this conference. Odell has worked to invite church leaders from all over the United States to participate in the conference. Outside attendees of the conference will pay a $50 conference fee, but Odell said,
“For students, undergraduate and graduate, it’s free. All you have to do is just sign up and show up to classes.”
Odell went on to explain the series of events for the conference:
“Sunday night is a metro-wide worship service for all churches in this area that will come… The preacher this year is Robby John. He’s from Garland, Texas, from Saturn Road Church of Christ… And then Steven Maxwell, who’s the worship minister from Memorial Road, is going to be leading worship that night. It’ll be about a two hour event, so I’m hoping we’ll have at least 600, maybe we’ll be full I don’t know, I’ll just put it in God’s hands,” Odell said. “Monday the actual official conference kicks off. [The conference will begin] at 8a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” Odell said.
The conference will be centered around church restoration with a specific focus on unity.
“The theme this year is based on restoration reimagined as we strategically adapt to the kingdom university concept that we’ve been talking about for three years,” Odell said. “It’s really an attempt to get back to the original restoration plea, which is not Church of Christ focused, but [getting] back to the things we have unity in, and focus on those.”
On Monday, October 6, Oklahoma Christian will be hosting Dallas Jenkins, creator of The Chosen, during the Vision conference.
Odell said, “Normally we’ve had an event on Monday night, but because the Dallas Jenkins event is going on Monday night, we’re kind of incorporating an opportunity for our group, people that will be at the conference, to come to that as well.”
Additionally, an internship fair will be held on Tuesday, October 7 from 4:00-6:00p.m. Odell said this is a big opportunity for students.
“In addition, we’re going to have an intern fair where over 32 churches will have their representatives here interviewing and talking to our students to become interns at their churches next summer. Several of those participants are going to be going to the conference as well,” Odell said.
Jeremie Beller, dean for the college of Bible and director of church resources, will be speaking and teaching a class at the conference. Beller has also been a major contributor to the planning and execution of the conference.
On ideal attendees of the conference, Odell said,
“Anyone’s invited, the people who may find it of most interest are people who are really active and engaged in a church and want to see other ways to be engaged and active and learn skill sets and how to be more effective in different ministry roles in the church.”
Beller also talked about the restoration reimagined theme of the conference and his own connection with this focus.
“The theme this year is restoration reimagined, and it’s the idea of how we stay true to the core of who we are and what we believe in new and engaging ways. So holding to the core and looking to the future,” Beller said. “What we’re really hoping for is to recapture the spirit of unity and cooperation, that you’re not alone, that there are other people thinking and working through ministry challenges and questions. The second thing is networking, just to find out who those people are and have connections and build relationships from the professional side of things.”
Beller also spoke about the second annual internship fair hosted during the same time as the conference.
“Last year, I believe we had over 30 churches and parachurch organizations come meet with students and give them the opportunity to see what’s going on and apply for internships. We’ve been really blessed in the last year or two to send out 65-75 students, many of whom aren’t Bible majors, using their summers to do youth ministry or an internship at a church camp or something like that,” Beller said. “I’m excited for students to get the opportunity to interact and see these opportunities too. And you don’t have to be a Bible major, it’s for anybody.”
Many members of Oklahoma Christian’s faculty will be speaking and teaching classes at the conference. Students are encouraged to attend the conference between classes, and some classes will even be dismissed so that students have the opportunity to attend.
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