With the separation of the two organizations, I hope the Board of Regents itself will quickly begin to reflect the academic nature of the Institution and balance out the ministry heritage.  I think both belong.

I also note that the gift offer, which is an amazing development from someone outside the situation, comes with 8 million up front and then contiingencies as to progress along the lines of what many have said in terms of the need for reform.

I think, for what it is worth, that while this seems like a huge sigh of relief and probably relief from the level of intense scrutiny, that more needs to happen.  I still think Richard and Lindsey need to be removed from the BOR for the university and with the separation in organizations perhaps that will happen.  I think there's still a time of accountibility coming in the wake of investigations and those need to be followed through upon and the news made appropriately public if the steps takien are to be seen as legitimate.

The steps taken however currently are good signs and hopeful indicators of what is to come.

As an alumnus and former VP at ORU I am pleased to see the changes announced today while at the same time I'm aware of how difficult this situation must have been on the Roberts family. Oral always treated me well, and the talk we had after I resigned from ORU is still the context I use when trying to determine if someone is a big person. Oral is a big person. Flawed like us all, but a great man.

From a Pentecostal background where education was shunned, he broke free and built a remarkable university. Organizations go through stages of development, just like humans and other organic life. In the founding stages, it's usually a strong, stubborn, dynamic and charismatic leader needed to bulldoze the obstacles and maintain an almost militaristic authority structure that is geared to "take land" and conquer opposition.

But as organizations mature, their leadership needs change as management becomes more important to build stability and excellence. Rather than a singular Patton-like personality, a maturing organization requires someone less individualistic. Somebody who is more team minded. Like Phil Jackson. Still strong, but a consensus builder. This also leads to changes in the rank and file as people whose main talent was carrying out the edicts of the founder give way to people who want more autonomy and insist on having input and being respected as leaders in their own right.

It's hard for a founder to embrace the change needed to move on to a professionally managed organization, because it requires a cultural shift that is foreign. I hope Oral will be able to embrace the difficult changes announced today and realize that his successor is ORU (not another human), and for the university to flourish he must let go of his life's work and entrust it into the hands of others. But like I said, Oral is a big man, and I believe he will once again show his stature in blessing this new era at ORU before he passes on.

Richard inherited an organization beset by problems in 1993. He made some progress, but he also made some enemies as did Lindsay. And neither had the stature of the founder to garner the respect needed to run a militaristic organization. The culture of the founder simply could not be sustained by anyone else. And not knowing any other way, Richard did the best he could for as long as he could. But the university languished because the old culture could not carry her into a glorious future.

And I think that is the pivot point here. To survive and have any hope to thrive there had to be a cultural change. And for that to take place there had to be a leadership change. I don't know if any of the charges attached to the lawsuit are true. Most seem rather dubious to me. I think the lawsuit was just a catalyst that brought long standing organizational flaws to light.

And now today the seeds of a new era have been planted. How they are tended and watered will be telling in the years and hopefully decades ahead.

I'm with you, Phil. I hope Richard will find his personal destiny and will flourish as never before. He tended the tiller at ORU for 15 difficult years. He made mistakes, but he also did some good things. And he piloted the ship to this place in history where a new captain can be installed and a new culture can be infused.

It's a day of hope, a hour of healing, and a time of new beginnings all the way around.

1) Let Lindsay be on air with you, minister to women, be a great wife and mother, but get her out of management.  Let professionals (inside or perhaps outside) drive your strategy and communications and listen to them.  Remove the barrier she has created internally.  This will build your team, increase moral, improve the work, and be a good witness to the staff and community.

2) Refine your personal vision.  If it is a healing ministry, then make that happen, get out of town.

3) Revisit the daily program.  Is it working, standing on it's own?  If not, do something different.  Be you.  Be what God created you to be.

4) I am not going to tell you to stop flying on private planes and move to a smaller home.  But someone should come beside you and help you look at each of these things and determine a God-strategy for your life and lifestyle.  Find that person.

5) Be the best alumni supporter ORU has.

6) It's time to tell dad to stop fighting your battles and running the ministry from a distance.  You'll need a team of people he trusts with you when you do that because he has always mowed right over you alone.  You are 60 years old.  You need to either run OREA and grow it, or go start something on your own.  Draw a line in the sand.

7) Understand you are a man of God, you have gifts and talents He wants you to use.  Once you stand up and take authority — and not bow to the wishes of your dad and your wife — you'll see things happen.

You have more fans than you know.

I'm really glad to see your comments and what you say makes a lot of sense to me.

I'm not in the position as a grad from '85 with no stake in the institution beyond that as a student, to have to be as dipl;omatic as you and I'm not as kind perhaps in my assessment of what is happening.  But with a base of experience from having been there and subsequent training at the Graduate level in Organizational Leadership, much of what you say really rings true.

I don't think anyone could at the time Richard stepped into formal leadership in 1993 (that decision was announced in 1985 when I was there) replace Oral Roberts and the organization itself was so integrated with OREA becasue Oral was the driving force behind both.

I think there were greater resources available to be used and culture changes to be integrated than what were availed to by those involved.

It's tempting to just make some nostalgic comments now and pass by as if the problems are solved and the issues now simply academic.  Issues of integrity and toxic leadership go deeper than simply sluffing them off on models and transitions and I still think there are issues here that have to be addressed and resolved before healing can be declared.  I hope for the sake of all involved they are addressed and not simply swept under the rug.

Apart from the conclusions I've come to since that time in terms of how much of these issues are part and parcel with the prosperity gospel and the culture it engenders, I don't wish more pain upon Richard and his family and I hope that he indeed, however he moves forward establishes an identity that honors God and grows from this experience.

"The faculty response to yesterday's announcement was a sigh of relief and a renewed hope. Driving to work this morning the buildings looked a little fresher, the vision more focused. The faculty hope that we will develop a more transparent form of governance and the finances will be handled in a professional manner. This next year will be critically important to the University as it assesses its strengths and charts a strategic course. We certainly ask for everyone's prayers and support through this time of transition."

I agree with you. Yesterday was a beginning. There are a lot of changes ahead and many will be painful. Turnarounds are tough in any organization. Usually many in leadership don't survive the transition.

But yesterday was a distinct change of direction and as Phil's comment below from a faculty member indicates, it's the first time many have dared to risk hope in some time. I sense most people are guarded in their hope, which is understandable and reasonable.

I think the climate and the culture are set for change. Now much will depend on the resolve of those chosen to lead.

But an unexpected $70 million is certainly reason to take a brief pause to give thanks and celebrate, eh?

I'm not sure what the $70 million donation by the Green family means…could be a double-edged sword.  On first account, sounds "miraculous" but my greatest concern is the "control" this could produce from outside sources.  Back in the early 80s, I interviewed for a professional position at the City of Faith hospital, which I did not accept.  In my observations then and, now, from my daughters' perspective, I have come to learn that many positions, faculty and otherwise, are held my nonChristians or Christians who did not share the  spiritual vision of Oral Roberts for the university.  The charismatic, Christian atmosphere combined with sound academics is and has been the drawing force to the university for students worldwide.  I hope and pray that this God-ordained university does not fall into "more secular hands" and take the direction of previous Christian colleges like Oberlin in Ohio that was founded and started by Charles Finney.  Oberlin has gone so secular they nolonger even have a theology department.

Yes, giving is paramount from all of us who love ORU.  It was Oral's seed-faith teaching of the 60's that has enabled my family to be the givers we are, today.  That teaching in so many ways changed my life.  Because ORU is the vision of OR and followed by RR, I have absolutely no problem with either of these men continuing with the BOR.  If that, somehow, would not work out, then I pray a successor to RR will continue the vision of OR for ORU with new, progessive leadership that will propel this great university more than ever into the 21st century.

No question about it.  There is much to celebrate and there could hardly be more to have been wished for in the last 2 days than the announcements made both in terms of the structure and the provision in this amazing gift.

Despite my obvious misgivings from my vocal comments here in the past few weeks, I still care very much for ORU and I am grateful for the education I received, formally as well as by observation on my own while there.

Most of all. I'm delighted the faculty has finally united and that their voice is being heard.  It's about time, is all I can say.

My prayers are guaranteed and if I ever finish getting my own 5 children through school, some support may be forthcoming in the future as I observe and hopefully see some of this good foundation better built upon.

Thanks for the gracious response.

Bart

These were some of the very critical pieces in the puzzle, I know I mentioned before in another thread, that I was concerned that even without Richard as the president, ORU was owned by ORM, and that there was certainly some concern for how far-reached change might be in that situation.

There of course is still the issue of board members that are on both boards, but I think that will change with time, and certainly cannot be as abrupt of a change as all these other steps of change.

I commend the board for making these very tough decisions, and encourage them to continue down this path.

Even with all of this change, there still will be consequences.  I would hope that now that there is some separation, that the University will have separate representation than Richard in court.  Possibly the University may be able to settle with their portion of the current litigations, but since I am not a lawyer, I'll have to just keep that as a hope until I find out otherwise.  Maybe someone here will have an idea as to how that could work.

Brian, I hope to hear from you soon, if nothing more than to say that you are doing well (or not), and requesting us to keep praying for you… which you don't have to do…  I for one have been keeping you on my mind and in my prayers.

Yes, there is still a hard road in front of ORU, but now that good faith is being shown, I believe that many alumns that have not supported the school in the past, may do so in the near future.  But changes will still need to be made, and transparency to the alumni will still need to be there in the newsletters.  Not fund-raising rhetoric, but what the school is accomplishing, what they are trying to accomplish, and what they need help with…. Not a pretty picture, but an un-edited raw photo of where ORU is.