Singer-songwriter Ben Rector made an unexpected Skype appearance Thursday during an Earn Your Wings event celebrating Rector’s new album.
“I’ve been a big Ben Rector fan for a long time and so the anticipation for his next album was really high this summer as we were planning Earn Your Wings,” Freshmen Counselor Kirby Killen said. “So we decided to throw in an optional album release party… right when the album came out.”
Rector’s newest album “Brand New” was released on Aug. 28. Rector, a Tulsa native currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, performed at Oklahoma Christian University on Dec. 1, 2014.
“Ben really resonates with Christian campuses a lot because the music he writes and the dynamic of his sound just caters to this crowd,” senior Braeden Fair, a director of Earn Your Wings, said.
In an attempt to get the new freshmen class excited about Rector’s music, the Earn Your Wings staff joked that the singer-songwriter would be attending various events throughout the week.
During the Earn Your Wings album release listening party, Director of Freshmen Experience Amy Roberts prompted the students to tweet “Bring Back Ben” at Rector in hopes of having him come back to perform at Oklahoma Christian.
Rector responded to a tweet by senior Josh Messick asking if he could Skype into the event. After a few moments of setting up communication, Rector was on screen with a room of nearly 600 Oklahoma Christian students.
“That was the most fly by the seat of our pants moment in the entire week,” Fair said. “I mentioned to him via Skype that we loved having him here and he asked the question of how he could ever repay us for what we were doing.”
According to Fair, it was originally Roberts’ idea to mention The Havens, an orphanage in Zambia, Africa, to Rector. Fair introduced the topic by suggesting a benefit concert.
Although Rector was unable to agree to perform a benefit concert because of scheduling, he did promise something to the group of students.
“I will promise you two things,” Rector said via Skype. “One, I will come back and play for you all. Number two, I will match that [donation of $600].”
Earlier in the day, during a worship time, the incoming freshmen donated $600 for The Havens which was the amount that Rector promised to match.
“That was my favorite moment as a fan,” senior August Cronin, an assistant director of Earn Your Wings, said. “I knew Ben Rector was cool, but I didn’t realize how much he cared about his fans enough to take time out of just personal life and Skype with his fans. And then not only just talk to us about his album, but was interested in what OC was doing and what was going on. It just made me love him more.”
With Rector’s donation of $600, the freshman class donated a total of $3,000 for The Havens, where Oklahoma Christian Alumna Meagan Hawley works full-time. Each year, the freshmen class supports the organization’s efforts.
“I wanted the freshmen [and their] officers to have a cause to rally behind,” Roberts said. “I also wanted them to collectively work together for something. I thought that Meagan was a natural answer for that. She is a strong woman that I want our girls to see and she also has monetary needs that our students can help with.”
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