About

The Message

The first National Student Leadership Forum was hosted in 1976 at Oklahoma State University. Since then, student leadership forums have been hosted across the United States at a state and national level by Governors, Members of Congress, U.S. Senators and other prominent U.S. government leaders.

The goal is to gather young people of diverse aspirations and backgrounds and equip them with valuable leadership principles to use within their spheres of influence. The central focus of these gatherings is Jesus of Nazareth, the most influential and effective leader in history. His life is a model of servant leadership and his teachings are richly valuable in addressing issues such as reconciliation, serving the poor with dignity, and walking in integrity, purpose, and love. We also consider the examples of other historic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. At our gatherings relevant leaders in today’s world are invited to share practically how Jesus’ model of servant leadership has affected their career and lives as a whole.

In regard to Jesus’ impact as a leader, consider the following:

• 2000 years after he walked the dusty roads of Galilee, several billion people can recite major portions of his principle speech, the “Sermon on the Mount.”

• Billions of people on all continents continue to study his words and seek to follow him.

• Our calendar is dated from his birth, and major worldwide holidays like Christmas and Easter center on events in his life.

• He achieved tremendous global influence in only three years of public life.

• His influence was accomplished without money or mass media, without writing any books, without holding an elected office, and without commanding an army. Yet his teachings transformed the world.

Our aim is to study the principles Jesus lived by and grapple with their meaning. By working through them with honesty and transparency, we hope to nurture leaders who understand the value of living in community, reconciling relationships, standing up for truth, and loving their neighbor - and enemy - as themselves. In a world where self-interest is the guiding current, we seek to illuminate a worldview that is others-centered, embracing altruism rather than egotism. We at Oklahoma Student Leadership stand firmly on the belief that true change starts first within ourselves. From there, it can extend to others, and ultimately the world.

Check out our upcoming events here.

Oklahoma Student Leadership is coordinated in conjunction with business, state, and political leaders spanning all four corners of Oklahoma.