For this Valentine's Day, here is a story about true love. On the campus of Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Tulsa, a 52-year love story has grown into a lifetime of service. Clarence and Kim Boyd are a remarkable couple who have dedicated their lives to developing students to reach the world for God.

The vision of Oral Roberts University is to raise up students to hear God's voice, to go where His light is dim, where His voice is heard small, and His healing power is not known—even to the uttermost bounds of the earth. That focus has helped the university rank among the nation's best colleges. The Wall Street Journal lists ORU in the top 10 for student experience, which includes spiritual integrity, intellectual pursuit, and bold vision.

Something good happens here.

And it certainly happened for Clarence and Kim Boyd—a loving couple, married for 49 years, who first met on campus as students. I met with the couple to talk about their marriage, family, careers, and their dedication to serving God. It all began when Clarence saw Kim for the first time.

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"Kim walked in. The first time I saw her, she walked into the cafeteria, and it was unbelievable. I was glued, I was stuck. I'm looking at sisters and all of that, but I'm just staring at her and I'm like, wow, that's somebody I need to know."

For Kim, the first time she saw Clarence, her reaction was more reserved.

"He was all right," she recalls with an affectionate chuckle. Still, she sensed there was something special about their connection. "You know, I think we right away just developed this community. And there was a group of us that just grew to love each other and care for each other. And out of that became a friendship that was beyond what we planned, obviously, but what the Lord had planned."

Three years after that first meeting, Clarence and Kim vowed to love, honor, and cherish each other at their church wedding in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Beyond their marriage, this dynamic duo began teaching and inspiring students and faculty as servant leaders. Clarence stepped into leadership roles, and Oral Roberts personally selected him as Director of the men's athletic dorm. In time, he became Dean of Students and now serves as a senior faculty member in the College of Theology.

Looking back, Clarence recalls coming to ORU from his hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas. He remembers how Oral Roberts would often say, "Expect a miracle." As a freshman, Clarence watched that message come to life dramatically.

"I was in chapel, and Kathryn Kuhlman was the speaker. She was doing what she does normally about the miracle ministry. And she said, 'There's a man who has cataracts. Cataracts, you're going to be healed.' That man was sitting three seats over, one row back from me. I saw the cataracts fall out, and I saw it. I know I saw it. I could not, in reality, believe it, because I was not accustomed to that. But the fact that I saw it changed my life."

For 30 years, Kim has served as Dean of the College of Education. She is also Assistant to the Provost. She remembers her humble Pennsylvania beginnings and leaving home with her best friend to attend ORU, not knowing what to expect—though she carried her mother's prayers with her.

"My mom, who had a third-grade education—none of her children before me had gone to college—heard about Oral Roberts University. She liked the rules. She liked that it had a curfew, that it had a dress code. She liked that it was a Christian university."

During her first year as a student, Kim took a class that drew her into a deeper relationship with Christ—a class taught by Oral Roberts himself.

"I can remember to this day where I was sitting in the Mabee Center when Oral Roberts taught 'Holy Spirit in the Now.' And he started teaching about the need to know the Holy Spirit and the evidence of speaking in tongues. And so that was my encounter with learning about the Holy Spirit and how He could be there with us all the time."

Throughout their marriage, Kim and Clarence say God has been the center of their joy. In the family room of their home, a special wall is dedicated to pictures of the Boyd family, showing their four children—all of whom graduated from ORU. They are also proud grandparents to nine grandchildren.

As educators, they are deeply committed to the school's mission to develop Holy Spirit-empowered leaders through whole-person education—spirit, mind, and body. They are helping prepare students to become leaders who hear God's voice and shine His light where the world is dim. It's a message they often share when addressing students during chapel.

In one chapel service, Clarence challenged students to recognize their calling at ORU to become Spirit-empowered leaders:

"That's why you're here. You must first become a whole person if you're going to lead the world in a holistic way. You can't be the problem and then try to fix the problem that you are. That's the problem with the world today. If we're no different from the world, what difference can we make?"

And Kim, speaking at chapel, encouraged students to trust God to break every chain that weighs people down:

"The last time I checked, God was still on the throne. The last time I checked, He is a mighty warrior on our behalf. The last time I checked, He is real. The last time I checked, He is here today. You have chains that you need to drop; drop those chains today. Get yourself some Word. Stand on the promises of God for you."

Just as they exhort their students, Kim and Clarence have been practicing what they preach. They are standing on the promises of God, trusting and obeying Him in both love and marriage. For those who know them, Clarence and Kim are more than a success story—they are, truly, a match made in heaven.