Focus Week to Foster Relationships Feb. 9-13

Oklahoma Baptist University's annual Focus Week, dedicated to helping members of the OBU community strengthen relationships, is set for Feb. 9-13. The theme for this year's emphasis, sponsored by OBU Campus Ministry, is "The Mercy of God." The week will be filled with three chapels, a Girl's Night Out event and a marriage retreat. 

OBU will welcome several keynote speakers during the week including Marian Jordan, founder of Redeemed Girl Ministries; Jimmy Dorrell, co-founder and executive director of Mission Waco; and Jeff and Mary Sanders, Christian marriage specialists at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn.

"The purpose of Focus Week is to strengthen relationships - our relationship with God, our relationship with each other, and our relationship with those around us," said Dale Griffin, OBU dean of spiritual life.

Jordan will launch the week's activities during a chapel service on Monday, Feb. 9, at 10 a.m. in Raley Chapel. The author of "Sex and the City, Uncovered," Jordan is an active speaker and guest lecturer. She is a graduate of Southwestern Seminary and lives in Houston where she serves at her home church, Second Baptist Church of Houston.

One of Jordan's "Redeemed Girl" ministries is Girl's Night Out, an opportunity for Jordan to speak candidly with young women about real issues they face. The OBU Girl's Night Out will take place Monday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. in the Noble Complex Mabee Suite. The event, free for the OBU community, will include a time of worship, snacks, fellowship and a discussion with Jordan. Women from several college ministries in the area also have been invited to attend. The OBU event will kick-off other Girl's Night Out events throughout Oklahoma.

Dorrell will speak during 905 (student-led worship) on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 9:05 p.m. in the Geiger Center, and during chapel services on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 10 a.m. in Raley Chapel. He will share about the mercy of God related to his experience with Mission Waco, which has three goals: relationship-based, holistic programs among the poor and marginalized; mobilizing middle-class Christians toward "hands-on" involvement; and addressing systemic issues which disempower the poor.

Jeff and Mary Sanders will speak at the final Focus Week chapel on Friday, Feb. 13, at 10 a.m. in Raley Chapel. Sanders is an ordained minister and serves as the associate dean for relationship education in Bethel College's College of Arts & Sciences. He teaches a course titled "Perspectives of Christian Marriage" and co-teaches "Spiritual and Personal Formation: Foundations and Traditions" at the seminary with his wife. Mrs. Sanders serves as the associate director of personal and professional formation at Bethel Seminary.

The couple will host a marriage retreat for the OBU community. They present marriage retreats throughout the country with organizations which are part of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. The retreat is free of charge and will focus on growing a healthy marriage relationship. The first 12 married couples to sign up for the event will receive a free night stay in a local hotel. The retreat will take place at Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee, Okla.

OBU received a grant to help fund Focus Week, which allows the events to be offered free to the OBU community, Griffin said.

For more information about Focus Week, contact OBU Campus Ministries at (405) 878-2377. For information about Redeemed Girl ministries, visit http://www.redeemedgirl.com/. For information about Mission Waco, go to http://www.missionwaco.org/.