Bison alumni come home for worship service

Morgan Smith, Faith Editor

Every Homecoming week students look forward to Harvest Court and football games, but three years ago OBU’s Alumni Board gave students of both past and present something new to anticipate.

Friday, November 11, OBU will see its third annual Homecoming Worship Service at 1:30 p.m. in Stubblefield Chapel. The service is open to both alumni and current students, and will be a music led service.

The theme of the music will be Christ’s Birth, Majesty and Victory.

“The Homecoming worship service falls under the responsibility of the alumni office,” said Lori Hagen, the executive director of the OBU Alumni Association.

“I work with one of the alumni board members, Walter Grady, ‘71 to plan the service.”

Walter Grady is the Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Ardmore.

He will lead a men’s ensemble during the service consisting of alumni members Jake Jack Rogers, ’68; Mike Knight, ’70; Scot Sampson, ’89’ Mark Borum, ’71; Jeremy Welborn, ’90, and Richard Stevenson ’92.

Mike Johnson, OBU’s Director of Human Services, will also be part of the men’s ensemble.

Jerry Jones, a 1961 OBU graduate, will lead the congregational singing, with accompaniment by Wynn Ann Hook, from the class of 1969.

Many of the alumni participating in the service are involved in music ministry throughout the state of Oklahoma.

“It’s not a contemporary worship; it’s a real traditional kind of worship,” Grady said. “We’ll sing a lot of hymns and just have soloists and ensembles sing. It’s a worship service that might have fit in that venue when it was a church. That’s the whole idea behind it.”

The Homecoming service previously took place in Raley Chapel before being moved to Stubblefield.

“There’s always been a chapel service at homecoming, but they’d combined it with several other events, like presenting awards, so the Alumni Board actually decided to move the awards and all of that stuff to the homecoming dinner,” Grady said.

Hagen said that the Alumni Board chose Stubblefield as the new venue because it felt appropriate for a, “Gaither style worship service.”

“The first year we just planned a big worship service and we got OBU grads and had a good time,” Grady said.

“We put together a quartet, and a mixed ensemble and just had a good time with it.”

Hagen said that this year’s service won’t differ much from previous years.

“We are keeping with the same style of music,” she said. “This is Jerry Jones’ first year to participate. I believe everyone will enjoy his leading in the congregational singing. He was one of the original Fallen Angels. He is still extremely involved in church music and mentoring vocalists. He has a big personality and voice.”

Hagen said that she hopes any OBU students that attend the service will receive the enjoyment of the musical worship experience, while being, “blessed and spoken to through the words of the songs and being lifted by the music to worship our Heavenly Father.”