Oral Roberts Biography
Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist. He was ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. Oral is considered the godfather of the charismatic movement.
He is one of the most recognized preachers worldwide. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association together with Oral Roberts University. As one of the most well-known and controversial American religious leaders of the 20th-century hence preaching emphasized seed-faith. Oral’s ministries reached millions of followers worldwide hence spanning a period of over six decades.
His healing ministry and bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream had the most impact. Robert also pioneered televangelism hence laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel and abundant life teachings. Nevertheless, the breadth and style of his ministry made him a consistent subject of contention.
Oral Roberts Age
Granville Oral Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma
Oral Roberts Family
Robers is the fifth and youngest child of the Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts and Claudia Priscilla Roberts (née Irwin). Roberts was married to Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock for 66 years, until her death from a fall, on May 4, 2005, at the age of 88. Their daughter Rebecca Nash died in an airplane crash on February 11, 1977, with her husband, businessman Marshall Nash.
Their elder son, Ronald Roberts, committed suicide. He shot himself in the heart on June 10, 1982. This was five months after receiving a court order to undergo counseling at a drug treatment center. That was six months after coming out as gay.
The other two Roberts children include son Richard, an evangelist and former president of Oral Roberts University, and daughter Roberta Potts, an attorney.
Oral Roberts Education
After finishing high school, Roberts further studied for two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. In 1938, he married a preacher’s daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock. Moreover, Roberts became a traveling faith healer after ending his college studies without a degree.
Oral Roberts Net worth
His church has an estimated net worth of $50 million
Oral Roberts Ministry
Healing
His ministry began when God spoke to him and he recovered from both tuberculosis and stuttering. In 1947, he conducted his first healing service in downtown Enid, where Oral’s healing ministry was launched. He then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he began to hold tent meetings.
He founded the Abundant Life Prayer Group in 1958 before long phone calls for prayer were coming in from people worldwide. And in 1962, Oral broke ground for the Oral Roberts University.
In 1980, Oral’s son, Richard Roberts, began his own healing ministry and became President of Oral Roberts Ministries. Richard currently holds healing rallies in the United States and nations around the world. Richard also hosts a nightly television program The Place for Miracles.
Richard’s wife Lindsay hosts a daily half-hour program Make Your Day Count that ministers especially to the needs of women. Roberts resigned his pastoral ministry with the Pentecostal Holiness Church to found Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA).
Pastoral
He conducted evangelistic and faith healing crusades across the United States. In fact, he claimed he could raise the dead. In November 1947, he started Healing Waters a monthly magazine as a means to promote his meetings.
Thousands of sick people waited in line to stand before Oral Roberts so he could pray for them. He appeared as a guest speaker for hundreds of national and international meetings and conventions. Through the years, he conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents.
At its peak in the early 1980s, Roberts was the leader of a $120 million-a-year organization employing 2,300 people. This a medical school and hospital as well as buildings on 50 acres south of Tulsa valued at $500 million. Another part of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, the Abundant Life Prayer Group (ALPG), was founded in 1958.
Oral Roberts Death
Roberts died of complications from pneumonia on December 15, 2009, at the age of 91. After concealing and lived in Newport Beach, California. He was buried next to his wife at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Senate embraced a resolution honoring the life of Oral Roberts. The Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters (OAB) elected Roberts to the OAB Hall of Fame one month before his death.
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