Oral Roberts

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, the fifth and youngest child of Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts and Claudius Priscilla Roberts. He began life in poverty and nearly died of tuberculosis when he was 17. After high school, he studied two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. In 1938, he married a preacher's daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock. He became a traveling faith healer after ending college without a degree. According to a 1972 TIME Magazine profile, he made a name with a large mobile tent 'that sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs.' In 1945, he briefly pastored an eighty-member church in Toccoa, Georgia, before resigning and moving back to Shawnee. At age 29, he said his Bible fell open at 3 John 2: 'I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.' The next day, he said, he bought a Buick and God appeared, directing him to heal the sick. He resigned his pastoral ministry to found the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in 1947, launching the monthly magazine Healing Waters that November. He conducted more than 300 crusades on six continents and personally laid hands in prayer on more than 2 million people. In January 1955, he held a campaign in Johannesburg, South Africa, during apartheid, drawing 20,000 people to Wembley stadium and leaving a residual fund of $37,000 for the '100,000 Souls for Africa Campaign.'

Reader's Guide

Oral Roberts was a pivotal figure in 20th-century American religion, bringing Pentecostal and Charismatic practices into the mainstream. His preaching emphasized seed-faith, and his healing ministry and bringing the American Charismatic movement into the mainstream had the most impact. He pioneered televangelism, beginning radio broadcasts in 1947 and television in 1954. His program The Abundant Life reached 80% of the United States by 1957, and he aired quarterly Prime Time Specials from 1969 through 1980. In 1963, he founded Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, stating he was obeying a command from God. The Prayer Tower opened in 1967. On March 17, 1968, Roberts and his wife were received as members of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, and he became an elder in the Oklahoma Conference. His switch from the Pentecostal Holiness Church was controversial; his Methodist credentials were revoked in 1987. In 1977, he claimed a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus telling him to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center, which opened in 1981 and operated for eight years before closing in late 1989. In 1983, he said Jesus appeared in person and commissioned him to find a cure for cancer. His fundraising was controversial: in January 1987, he announced that unless he raised $8 million by March, God would 'call him home,' though he was still $4.5 million short. According to one commentator, his influence in conservative Protestant culture was second only to Billy Graham. He rejected the label 'faith healer,' saying 'God heals—I don't.'

Did You Know?

• Roberts nearly died of tuberculosis when he was 17.
• In 1955, he held a campaign in Johannesburg, South Africa, during apartheid, drawing 20,000 people to Wembley stadium.
• He claimed a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus in 1977, directing him to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center.
• His program The Abundant Life reached 80% of the United States by 1957.
• In January 1987, he announced that unless he raised $8 million by March, God would 'call him home.'