Space Remains for OBU Pastors School July 11-13

June 10, 2016

It’s not too late to register for the 2016 OBU Pastors School, July 11-13 on the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee. The theme for the event, designed to provide a ministry development opportunity for pastors and ministry leaders, is “Prayer: Key to Preaching the Word in Power,” using Ephesians 1:15-23.

Registration may be completed online at www.okbu.edu/pastors. Cost for the event is $99 and includes housing on campus for two nights, two evening meals, two breakfasts, one lunch, and plenary and breakout sessions. The event begins Monday, July 11, at 1 p.m. and concludes Wednesday, July 13, at noon.

The 2016 Pastors School will feature K. Marshall Williams, Sr., senior pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and president of the National African American Fellowship, SBC; and Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia.

Williams earned a bachelor’s degree from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He then earned a Master of Divinity from the Palmer Theological Seminary of Philadelphia. He served as a missionary with Sports Ambassadors, a basketball evangelism ministry team, which toured the Philippines, Hong Kong, Tokyo and five countries in Africa. He has also served as an adjunct chaplain and Bible expositor for the Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles and 76ers. In June of 1984, he was called as the sixth pastor of the historic Nazarene Baptist Church.

In November 2006 and again in 2007, he was elected president of the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. In 2008, he was elected president of the State Convention Presidents Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2014, he was elected president of the National African American Fellowship, SBC.

Catt has served as senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church since 1989. Under his leadership, the church has grown from a neighborhood church to a regional, multi-ethnic congregation with members from eleven nations. The church has 3,000 members and has three campuses covering 130-plus acres. In 2003, he launched the ReFRESH pastors conference, held annually in Albany, Georgia, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

He served as the president of the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference, representing more than 42,000 churches. He has spoken at conferences, colleges, seminaries, rallies, camps, NBA and college chapel services, as well as The Billy Graham Training Center. Catt was also the sole Southern Baptist representative at a small group meeting with President George W. Bush in the oval office in 2002.

He was also instrumental in launching the church’s film ministry, Sherwood Pictures, along with Alex Kendrick. Catt has served as the Executive Producer of “Flywheel,” “Facing the Giants” and “Fireproof,” and has worked with Alex and Stephen Kendrick to help churches use their movies as an outreach resource, working with Provident Films, Outreach and LifeWay Resources to develop Bible studies in conjunction with the films.

Breakout sessions will be led by Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry faculty Dr. Tawa Anderson, assistant professor of philosophy; Dr. Matthew Arbo, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies; Dr. Bobby Kelly, Ruth Dickinson professor of religion; and Dr. Heath Thomas, dean of the Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry and associate vice president for church relations. Guest speakers will include Robert Kellogg, president and CEO of the Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma.

To register or for more information, visit www.okbu.edu/pastors. For further questions, contact OBU’s s Spiritual Life office at www.spiritual.life@okbu.edu or (405) 585-5700.