Private Christian university leader discusses new scholarship, 'The Chosen' creator visit – The Oklahoman
For years, a local private Christian university has welcomed students affiliated with different denominations, but students aligned with the churches of Christ have received a special advantage because of the university’s affiliation with the faith group.
L. Ken Jones, president of Oklahoma Christian University, said the school is reinforcing its welcome with the debut of a new scholarship for students active in any Christian church.
The university plans to launch the new Kingdom Way Scholarship for incoming students beginning Fall 2026. It guarantees $3,000 in addition to other institutional scholarships, renewable for up to four years ($12,000 total) for traditional undergraduate study.
Jones said the new scholarship is similar to the university’s Heritage Discount for church of Christ students. First-time college students active in a church of Christ are eligible for the Heritage discount, guaranteeing a 50% tuition discount through multiple university scholarships.
The university at 2501 E Memorial Road isn’t distancing itself from its churches of Christ heritage but expanding to include students from diverse Christian backgrounds.
“So, it’s not running away from the churches of Christ,” Jones said. “It’s running toward the churches of Christ, but in doing so, you’re also running toward all the community churches and the denominational groups, and so forth.”
During a recent interview, Jones said the scholarship and several other initiatives are part of the school’s “kingdom university” focus, which was inspired by his vision for the school at 2501 E Memorial Road.
Jones became president of Oklahoma Christian in May 2023. The native Oklahoman and Oklahoma State University graduate previously served as president of Lubbock Christian University, another churches of Christ-affiliated school, for 19 years and was chancellor of the school in Lubbock, Texas, for five years, and thought he’d retire back to his family ranch in Western Oklahoma.
Instead, Jones, who had served as pulpit minister in churches of Christ in Oklahoma and Texas, said Oklahoma Christian’s board of trustees asked him to take on the role of the university’s chancellor in 2021, and he was asked to become the school’s next president in 2022, succeeding John deSteiguer, who then accepted the position as Oklahoma Christian chancellor.
Jones said shortly before he officially took on the role of Oklahoma Christian’s president, he began to pray about the Lord’s vision of Oklahoma Christian and the kingdom university focus came to mind. He said he envisioned the university as a “distinctly Christian university” with a culture fucosed on Jesus. Specifically, university leaders describe the kingdom university concept as a Jesus-centered community shaped by the Restoration heritage of Christian unity and scriptural authority, and the emphasis is featured at various locations on the college campus.
“We’ve been saturated in it for a long time,” Jones said.
“We think we do academics really, really well, but we’re putting it in a culture of Jesus and we think that will give us a really bright future.”
Jones discussed his vision at a recent prayer breakfast held to unveil another offshoot of the kingdom university focus — the university’s new spiritual life center and ministers’ lounge. More than 70 church ministers, leaders and pastors from different denominations who have church members who are part of Oklahoma Christian’s freshman class attended the event. Jones invited them to visit students from their churches in the new center and ministers’ lounge over the course of the new school year.
“What we wanted to do is bring a collection of people together that have a heart for spiritual life for students, to provide spaces so that ministers who are from off our campus, whether it be a church of Christ minister, whether it be a Baptist minister, whether it be a minister from Crossings, they would come to a place that is populated with people, but had office space, conference space, lounge space for them to be able to gather and find camaraderie and find a place where they could be with their students in a ministry type setting,” he said.
In addition to the new center and ministers’ lounge, Jones said the university is about to welcome a special guest who has spread the Gospel through a hit television show. Dallas Jenkins, creator, co-writer, co-director and executive producer of “The Chosen” will be guest lecturer at Oklahoma Christian’s McBride Lecture for Faith and Literature on Monday, Oct. 6.
“The Chosen,” which premiered in 2017, tells the story of Jesus and his disciples from their unique perspectives, set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel. Jenkins has said the series’ goal is to offer an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’s life and teachings.
“I’m trying to convince Oklahoma City, Edmond and all of Oklahoma that we’re serious about being a kingdom university so I began to think who can we bring to campus and what can do that gives testimony to that vision, so we thought about Dallas Jenkins,” Jones said.
“Everybody knows ‘The Chosen’ and he’s done remarkable things in promoting Jesus and telling his story and bringing unity to all the Christian world, centered around Jesus. We thought ‘Who better to step on our campus and talk than someone who is doing exactly what we’re trying to do as a university?’ He’s doing it through entertainment, through film, through television, through the movie screen. We’re doing it through high quality academics, but it’s the same purpose.”
Dallas Jenkins, creator of “The Chosen,” will be guest lecturer at the McBride Lecture for Faith and Literature at 7 p.m. p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, in the Garvey Center at Oklahoma Christian University, 2501 E Memorial Road. Tickets are $22.76. For more information, or for tickets, go to the “Events” tab at https://www.oc.edu/.
