Designed Detours: How God Directed a New Road for Avery Barlow

Avery Barlow
Hometown: Broken Arrow
Business Administration

Ever take a wrong turn? Felt the sinking frustration, the creeping anxiety of realizing you're on the wrong road, with no clear way to turn back? That's exactly how Avery Barlow felt at her first college. She'd taken a road that wasn't hers — one that belonged to someone else, leading further from where she was supposed to be with every passing day. But sometimes a wrong turn isn't the end of the story. Sometimes it's the very thing that redirects you home. For Avery, that wrong turn eventually gave way to a clear voice and a clear call: come to Oral Roberts University. And once she arrived, every sacrifice she's made since — the job she works around her class schedule, the tuition she pays herself — has traced back to that one moment of Divine redirection. 

“I’m in college,” Avery said, “because this is what God wants me to do. To be here, I’m making sacrifices. I’m paying for college myself, so I have a job, and I’m working when I’m not in class. I don’t necessarily want to do those things, but I reached out to God, and He reached back. He told me to be here, so I'm here. There’s not a bigger reason for why I’m at ORU.” 

When a Wrong Turn Leads Somewhere Right

In life, not every “why” is obvious at the beginning. Some “whys” are clear from day one; others begin with a wrong turn. Before ORU, Avery spent a year at a large state school where she struggled to find community. The experience, as she describes it, didn’t go well. 

“The culture was a party culture,” Avery said, “and it was hard to find people who shared my faith. As a whole, the experience was unfulfilling and depressing. It was difficult to find direction, and I barely went to class. The things I had a passion for were no longer fun. College felt like a chore, and if I’d stayed, I might’ve been pulled down into the party culture.” 

Looking back, Avery says her first college wasn’t a what’s-best-for-me decision. Instead, it was a decision to follow a friend, which turned out to be a misstep in her journey. This, Avery cautions, isn’t a how you should choose a college. Your college choice, if you want to be successful, should be personal, prayerful, and obedient to God.

“You shouldn’t choose a college for somebody else,” Avery said. “Don’t just tag along. When you're choosing a college, think about what's going to be best for you personally … for your heart, your body, and your mind. If you’re a person of faith, choose a college that will grow your faith. The college choice is so important because you’re literally choosing what your life is going to look like and what you want it to look like.”

Leading with Unreasonable Love

So what does Avery’s life look like at ORU? It looks like, as she describes it, the life she wants to lead now and in the future. In the now, Avery says she fell in love with ORU “the second I got here,” finding a community that welcomes her, prays for her, and cares for her. This is the ORU culture, a culture that doesn’t pull you down but lifts you up.

“At my old college,” Avery said,” everyone kept to themselves, but here, people see you, and they acknowledge you. The joy of the Lord is everywhere at ORU; it’s something that pulls you upward. God is using this campus to pour into me — to grow my character, my life, and my faith. I’m exactly where God wants me to be, and because of this, I’m definitely happier as a person." 

This describes Avery’s “now,” but in leading Avery to ORU, God also has something for her future. As a Business Administration major, Avery plans to start a faith-based business after graduation, and as a leader, she says there’s nothing more important than running a business the right way. 

“The business I start,” Avery said, “will be a company that’s led by God. This means listening to God and treating people the way they should be treated. At ORU, I’m being trained to lead with unreasonable love, which means working to make people better instead of trying to put them under you. This reflects God’s love and His hospitality; both are unreasonable. It's the type of leader God is shaping me into at ORU… a leader who loves people more than makes sense.”

Nationally Ranked, Globally Recognized

ORU is a Christian, Spirit-empowered, interdenominational university in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with 17 years of consecutive enrollment growth. Regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, ORU offers over 150 majors, minors, concentrations, and pre-professional programs at the bachelor’s level, ranging from business and engineering to nursing, ministry, and more. In 2024, the Carnegie Foundation recognized ORU with a “Leadership for Public Purpose” award, a distinction earned by only 25 universities nationwide. Under the leadership of President Dr. William Wilson, ORU is preparing students from all 50 states and 176 nations in the last 7 years to be whole leaders for the whole world.