O’Bannon, Arnold Are Distinguished Educators
By Cameron Fisher
A one-day conference for Church of God educators was highlighted on Tuesday afternoon with the announcement of the anticipated Distinguished Educator Awards.
Dr. Robert O’Bannon, veteran faculty member with Lee University, and Dr. Selwyn Arnold, administrative bishop for the Church of God in New Jersey, were honored with the Faculty Award and Administrator Awards respectively. The honors came at the conclusion of the International Conference of Educators banquet where former general overseer and current secretary general Dr. Paul Walker was the keynote speaker.
“God wants to do for us today what He did for Hezekiah and Israel,” Walker told the banquet gathering. “He is calling us to a new understanding of the meaning of Christian education as the continuity of the integration of our beliefs, affections, and activities to truly grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.” Earlier in the day, Lee University President Dr. Paul Conn spoke to the delegates on the challenges of a Pentecostal educator. In a late morning session, the conference hosted a response panel of national and international Church of God educators.
Dr. Robert H. O’Bannon is well-known among his former students for his whimsical, yet effective teaching style which has left unique memories with hundreds of Lee alumni. He began his college education at Lee University in 1959. After completing one year, he was asked to become assistant pastor at the Elizabethton, Tenn., Church of God. He finished his undergraduate coursework in Biological Science at nearby East Tennessee State University and by 1963 had completed masters and doctorate degrees in reproductive physiology from the University of Florida. That same year he accepted the call to teach at Lee.
Like so many faculty members throughout the history of Lee University, teaching overlaps with ministry. Dr. O’Bannon’s tenure at Lee would last one year before he was asked to accept a ministry leadership post in Egypt. He and his family ministered in Cairo and then in Lebanon until they were forced to evacuate during the Six Day War in 1967. The family returned to Cleveland where Dr. Bob resumed his faculty position teaching in the science department. For the last 40 years Dr. O’Bannon has been a staple of the Lee faculty.
Dr. O’Bannon was honored in 2002 for his years of service when a new residence hall was dedicated in his honor. He has also been the recipient of the two top faculty awards including Excellence in Teaching (1980) and Excellence in Scholarship (1989).
Dr. Selwyn Arnold has spent 54 years of his ministerial career effectively combining education and ministry. His start came as one of ten pioneering ministers of the New Testament Church of God in Trinidad and Tobago. He has served as overseer of Ghana, Nigeria, England and Wales and he is the former administrative bishop for the state of New Jersey. He is a graduate of Lee University, the Church of God Theological Seminary and earned his D.Min. from New York Theological Seminary.
Dr. Arnold’s passion for education has been demonstrated through the years in a variety of positions and initiatives. While living in England he organized the New Testament Church of God Bible School and was the first Dean. While in Ghana he built and established the Ghana Bible Institute and also a medical clinic. In Nigeria, Bishop Arnold was appointed to Nigeria where he upgraded the Bible College and assisted in the accreditation process. As overseer in England, Bishop Arnold strengthened the program of Overstone College and introduced ministerial training which resulted in the organization of several institutes in the United Kingdom. While in New Jersey, Bishop Arnold directed the Ministerial Internship program for Southern New England and regularly conducts ministerial training at the state and district level.
