Tulsa is home to Oral Roberts University.  The impact of ORU presents many facets.  Here is a perspective from one of her students:

I have often been told that when meeting people for the first time, there are three taboo topics that I should always avoid: politics, religion, and money. Unfortunately, when I meet people for the first time –as I am meeting many of you today, these three topics are hard for me to avoid. So I’ll do my best to quickly introduce myself without offending too many of you: “Hello, my name is Jamie Weathers. I am a Government major here at Oral Roberts University, and I am trusting God for every dollar of my student loans to be paid!”
Despite what may be true at other universities, at ORU these topics are not taboo. In fact, they are welcomed, because they are three subjects that affect the three parts of man: Spirit, Mind, and Body. Together, these three make up the Whole Man, and in a world that wants to separate the three parts of Man, either by ignoring one or worshipping another, we here at ORU realize the necessity of becoming this Whole Man. This is why I believe that you, the graduating class of 2008, have received the best education in the world. You might be thinking, “Wait a minute. Have you ever heard of Harvard, Yale, Cambridge or Oxford?” Yes, and I have even attended one of them briefly. But I dare say that the education that you have received at Oral Roberts University is far superior to any of these. This is because your education has been infused with the Word of God, from which comes biblical morality and absolute truth.
Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers and educators of antiquity believed in the existence of absolute truth. It has also been said that he thought morality and virtue were some of the greatest accomplishments of man, because without morality, based on absolute truth, one would be unable to reason. We can see this in the post-modern society we live in today, where there is no “right” and there is no “wrong.” I ask, how in the absence of absolutes, can we expect people to make logical decisions?
In a society that says that faith cannot be married with reason, and the bible cannot be linked with logic, at one time or another I am sure most of you graduating today have been asked the question, “ Why go to a Christian University? Why go to ORU?” Because at ORU, we believe that the pursuit of knowledge is intimately acquainted with the pursuit of God, and it is by the discipline of our Spirit, Mind, and Body we are able to fulfill the call of God on our lives.
I truly believe it is only by knowing absolute truth and understanding biblical morality that we can properly reason. So as Paul spoke of a world “ever learning and searching for knowledge, yet never able to come to the knowledge of truth” (2 Tim 3:7), In that world my friends, you have the answers. You have been given a whole education. A whole education that does not shy away from asking the deeper questions that challenge our faith. A whole education that does not seek to omit theory, but rather requires the discipline to discern whether those theories properly reflect the Word of God. A whole education that matures your Spirit, challenges your mind, and even strengthens your body. And my friends, it is this whole education that has equipped you to be the problem solvers, the leaders, and the ministers to this nation and to the rest of the world.
What this world needs is Whole Men and Whole Women.
It will take a Whole Man to discern the needs of others in his home and community and to be used by God to meet those needs.
It will take a Whole Woman to go to Wall Street and come up with creative and ethical business solutions for a struggling economy.
It will take a Whole Man to teach in the classrooms of America, filled with children from broken homes who are in desperate need of love.
It will take a Whole Woman to leave the comforts of the Western World and go into a foreign land with an unknown language and bring them the Word of God.
It will take a Whole Man to come up with the technological advances that will relieve the nations of extreme poverty and mass starvation.
It will take a Whole Woman to march up Capital Hill with her head held high ready to bring integrity and justice to the political realm.
It will take a Whole Man to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and create masterpiece works of literature, art, and music that reveal the beauty and existence of God.
It will take a Whole Woman to care for patients, cure disease, lay hands on the sick, and raise the dead.
It took a Whole Man to obey God and give away over $70 million dollars.
It takes a Whole Woman, who is unsure of her future, to wait on the voice of the Lord to tell her what to do on May 4th, 2008.
It will take a Whole Man to “hear His voice, to go where His light is dim, where is voice is heard small, and His healing power is not known, even to the uttermost bounds of the earth.”
And it will take all of you Whole Men and Whole Women to stand up right now and give all the glory to God.