Oral Roberts, a Pentecostal minister whose use of the media to spread the word of God pioneered the field of television evangelism in the 1950s and allowed him to build a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university, died December 15, 2009. He was 91.
He died in Newport Beach, California, from complications of pneumonia. He had been hospitalized after a fall three days prior to his passing.
Roberts, one of America’s most influential preachers, was perhaps second only to Billy Graham in recognition among the public. He pioneered religious television and played a major role in bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream.
He was born Granville Oral Roberts on January 24, 1918, in Bebee, Oklahoma. Although his father was a Pentecostal preacher, Roberts stated that his commitment to his faith emerged after he was stricken with tuberculosis as a young man, and spent several months in bed.
While attending a 1935 to a tent revival meeting with his brother, Roberts said his illness, as well as a stutter, was cured by the hand of an evangelist. At that moment, he pledged to dedicate his life to the ministry and healing others.
He attended Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University in the city of Enid, and became the pastor of churches in Georgia and North Carolina, in addition to Oklahoma.
To reach more people, he bought his first tent in 1948 and began to travel the country. From the beginning, he preached to integrated crowds and appeared on more than 300 radio stations before his television debut.
Over time he expanded his travels around the world. In 1968 he began to travel less, shifting his attention to large-scale television productions featuring such stars as Johnny Cash, Anita Bryant and Pat Boone. He also wrote more than 100 books.
Roberts contended after his healing as a youth, he heard God tell him he should build a university based on the Lord’s authority. This became a reality in 1963, with the founding of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. The university grounds include a 200-foot prayer tower and a 60-foot bronze sculpture of praying hands, modeled on Roberts’ hands.
In the 1980s, Roberts faced controversy over his City of Faith medical center, a $250 million investment that eventually folded. His organization also suffered from the effects of sex-and-money scandals involving other televangelists including Jim and Tammy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart in the 1980s.
More recently, in 2007, he faced further controversy when his son, who succeeded him as president, resigned after being accused of spending university money on personal luxuries when the university was more than $50 million in debt.
A degree of relief came when Oklahoma billionaire Mart Green donated $70 million and helped run the school.
Roberts’s wife of 66 years, Evelyn Lutman Roberts, died in 2005.
Survivors include a son, a daughter, 12 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.