The Oklahoma Baptist University welcomed 440 guests to its reception at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting on June 13.

The event, held at the National WWII Museum’s U.S. Freedom Pavilion Boeing Center in New Orleans, was open to all Oklahoma Baptists in addition to OBU alumni.

It was sponsored by the OBU Alumni Association, WatersEdge (formerly The Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma) and Oklahoma Baptists.

“It was a great partnership between these entities to bring all Oklahoma Baptists together,” said Lee Ann Quirk, director of the OBU Alumni Association, who spoke at the event.

Heath A. Thomas, OBU president, and Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists, also spoke.

The Bollinger Canopy of Peace, which stands above the museum at 148 feet tall, was lit up in green and gold in honour of OBU’s event that evening.

In 1906, the State Baptist Convention, in session in Shawnee, appointed a commission to make plans for the founding of a Baptist university. In 1907, a board of trustees was elected; and on February 9, 1910, the incorporation certificate for the Baptist University of Oklahoma was issued and a new university was born.

Oklahoma Baptist University opened in September 1911, holding classes in the basement of the First Baptist Church and the Convention Hall of Shawnee.

The City of Shawnee contributed the original 60-acre campus and the first building, Shawnee Hall, which opened in September 1915.

Beginning in the fall of 2009 and throughout 2010, OBU celebrated its first 100 years.

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