When the Office for Regional Ministries (ORCM) was tasked with leading out in the building of the new Regional Conference Office Building, the designers placed inside that building an auditorium. The plan was that the auditorium would host major meetings such as conference and church officers meetings and other large meetings. An invitation has even been sent to the North American Division to do their Annual Year End Meeting there.
The auditorium is named the Mutual of America Auditorium, after the company that has operated the Regional Conference Retirement Plan. It was designed to be a multi-use auditorium, with a portable wall that subdivides the auditorium into two classrooms.
The plan was for Oakwood University to have classes in the auditorium on a regular basis. The thinking behind that was to have the future leaders, pastors, educators and constituents in the building and headquarters of the Regional Conferences on a regular basis so that they could be exposed to the legacy of Regional Conferences that hopefully would be passed down to them.
When the two story, 32,000 square foot, 9 million dollar structure opened on October 18, 2022, the audio-visual package for the auditorium was not fully installed and so classes could not begin then. A Masters level program out of the School of Religion was taught out of the office dining hall in the 2nd Semester, 2022.
But by First Semester, 2023, almost all the “kinks” were worked out and the first classes were held in the auditorium. The first class to be held was Freshman Seminar, taught by Dr. Gilbert Owjang, Chairman, School of Religion.
ORCM Executive Director, Elder Dana C. Edmond, came by to welcome the students into the Dudley Center. He spoke briefly about the building and Regional Conferences and shared with them that the responsibility for continuing Regional Conferences would ultimately be theirs.
Oakwood University classes in the Charles E. Dudley Center for Regional Conference Ministries are symbolic of the historic partnership between Oakwood University and the Regional Conferences of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. May that partnership continue to the glory of God and for the betterment of both entities.
