Students will serve Shawnee community through ‘One Body United’ on Saturday

By Hannah Ledford, Assistant News Editor

Of all the things Oklahoma Baptist University encourages its students to be a part of, service is a top contender.  On Saturday, April 8, all students are invited to attend OBU’s annual One Body United event.  This event meets both physical and spiritual needs in that it focuses both on worship and service.   

Lyndsey Kalinowski, leader of the Volunteer Activities Committee, gave some background information about One Body United.

“I believe that this is the third One Body United on OBU’s campus. I think that there was a similar event to One Body United previously,” Kalinowski said.

Tim Duncan, one of the freshman senators for the OBU Student Government Association, has been a part of planning One Body United this year and gives an overview as to what this year’s event will consist of.

“We are starting the event with breakfast followed by worship, and then we’ll split everyone up into groups, and each group will go to a different organization,” Duncan said.

Kalinowski also said that one of OBU’s students will lead worship for this event and that she is optimistic about it.

“Drew Cranford is leading worship and he will do a great job,” she said.

Duncan said there is no order in selecting who will be in each group; the only difference is who that group will be serving.

He added that this event is not just created to serve OBU, but also the nearby community.

“Our committee has contacted different organizations and as far as splitting up it’s random.  It’s all around Shawnee,” Duncan said.

It is true that this event serves both OBU’s campus and the surrounding community, not only through work being done, but also in hearts being transformed.  The event itself is a great way to grow in the Lord through worship and service.  By worshiping with other believers, students can be encouraged to grow together in their faith and to create relationships with one another.  By serving together, they have an amazing opportunity to share their faith and pour the love of God into the hearts of other believers. Kalinowski described the intention for One Body United.

“We don’t have a specific theme for One Body United other than the basis for the event itself, which is OBU coming together as a campus and as the body of Christ to serve the community that we have been planted in during our time at OBU,” Kalinowski said.”

Kalinowski also said that this event has not been taken lightly by those planning it.  The Volunteer Activities Committee has not only put in hard work to make this event a success, but has also entrusted the event and its results to the Lord.

“Our committee (The Volunteer Action Committee) has been praying like crazy for this event for a long time,” Kalinowski said.

Both Duncan and Kalinowski have high hopes for One Body United this year.  They both look forward to seeing OBU students serve and open their eyes to the needs of the community.

“I’m excited about the service projects,” Duncan said. “I hope that One Body United encourages the hearts of everyone involved–the servers and the served. I hope that the different locations that we are sending people to raise awareness that life happens outside of the bubble that OBU is sometimes and that people are motivated to serve more than just twice a year at Serve Shawnee and One Body United,” Kalinowski said.