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You are carrying out the
mandate of ORU
By Lindsey
Goodier
One brisk January
night a few weeks ago, nine ORU students gathered on a section of
sidewalk between Christ's Chapel and the Praying Hands. We gathered
to pray for our mission trip to Montreal, Quebec, this summer, but
God revealed to us that we weren't the first ones to lift this prayer
up to the heavens.
We all know the story. Almost 40 years ago, Founder Oral Roberts
started this University with the mandate to raise up students to
hear God's voice, to go where His light is dim, where His voice
is heard small, and His healing power is not known, even to the
uttermost bounds of the earth. Their work will exceed his, and in
this God is well pleased."
When we first arrived on this campus, most of us probably stared
in wonder at the flying saucer look-alike Prayer Tower or the largest
bronze structure in the world, which just happens to be two hands
clasped together in prayer. We may have walked through the Prayer
Tower audio tour and been awestruck that every building on campus
somehow has a deeper, more spiritual meaning than we would have
guessed.
But the revelations fade all too quickly and these sites can become
mere obstacles on our way to class. What do you think when you walk
past the Prayer Tower each day on your way to class? "When are they
going to finish this new Student Center project so I only have to
spend five minutes walking to classes instead of seven?"
Do you realize that for the past 40 years, 24 hours a day, there
has been someone up in that tower praying for you? Before you even
chose to attend ORU, there was someone praying that you would have
wisdom in your college selection. And now you have been selected
to carry out the mandate of Oral Roberts University. You have been
chosen and set apart to transform the world.
Each room in every dorm has been prayed over by chaplains, RAs and/or
past residents. Each classroom has been anointed through the prayers
of teachers and administration. Each patch of grass has been walked
on by people like Oral Roberts and the leaders who love you enough
to entrust you with their mandate. Why? Because you are the one
who will "exceed" our Founder's work. Whether as a member of the
first mission team from ORU to hit the streets of Montreal, the
first U.S. President to graduate from ORU or the one who leads that
loved one in the salvation prayer, you are carrying out the mandate.
You ARE the mandate.
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