ORAL ROBERTS

Expect a Miracle

The Man Who Took Pentecostal Healing from the Tent to Television

Full Name: Granville Oral Roberts
Born: January 24, 1918
Died: December 15, 2009
Nationality: American
Spouse: Evelyn Lutman Roberts
Known For: Healing evangelism, television ministry, Oral Roberts University, Seed-Faith teaching and Christian education
Major Institutions: Oral Roberts University and City of Faith Medical and Research Center
Signature Message: “Expect a Miracle”

Granville Oral Roberts was one of the most influential and controversial figures in twentieth-century Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.

Beginning as a Pentecostal preacher from rural Oklahoma, Roberts became an internationally recognized healing evangelist, television pioneer, educator and institution builder.

His life represented an extraordinary journey.

The boy who struggled with a severe stutter eventually spoke to millions.

The seventeen-year-old who testified that Jesus Christ healed him from tuberculosis devoted his ministry to proclaiming divine healing.

The tent evangelist embraced television when many religious leaders remained suspicious of the new medium.

And the preacher raised in rural poverty eventually founded a university bearing his name.

Roberts' influence reached far beyond his own organization. His approaches to healing evangelism, Christian television, fundraising, education and what he called Seed-Faith influenced generations of charismatic ministers in the United States, Africa and around the world.

His ministry also generated major controversies.

Healing claims were questioned.

Seed-Faith was criticized.

His fundraising methods became the subject of national scrutiny.

And his ambitious City of Faith medical project ultimately struggled financially.

Yet whether remembered as a visionary, controversial televangelist or pioneering Pentecostal leader, Oral Roberts helped reshape the architecture of modern charismatic ministry.

This is his story.

EARLY LIFE

Granville Oral Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, near Ada, Oklahoma.

His father, Ellis Roberts, was a Pentecostal Holiness preacher. His mother, Claudius “Patsy” Roberts, became remembered within the family for her strong commitment to prayer.

But growing up in a preacher's family did not mean growing up with financial security.

The Roberts family lived with limited resources in rural Oklahoma, and Oral experienced the economic difficulties familiar to many families of that period.

He wore hand-me-down clothing and knew poverty firsthand.

There was another struggle.

Oral Roberts had a severe stutter.

For a boy who would eventually build his life around public communication, speaking itself could become painful and embarrassing.

Roberts later recalled having difficulty even saying his own name.

Then, at seventeen years old, another crisis changed the direction of his life.

TUBERCULOSIS AND THE HEALING THAT DEFINED HIS LIFE

In 1935, Oral Roberts became seriously ill with tuberculosis.

According to Roberts' testimony, the disease affected both of his lungs. He became extremely weak and spent months bedridden.

His future appeared uncertain.

Then the family learned about a revival meeting being conducted near Ada.

Roberts later recounted that his brother Elmer transported him to the meeting lying on a mattress in the back of a vehicle because he was too weak to travel normally.

The evangelist conducting the meeting was W. W. McClung.

What happened there became foundational to everything Roberts would later preach.

Roberts testified that when he received prayer, Jesus Christ supernaturally healed him from tuberculosis.

He also testified that his severe stuttering disappeared.

Within Roberts' own understanding, this was not merely physical recovery.

It was an encounter with the healing power of Jesus Christ.

The young man who believed he had personally experienced divine healing would eventually spend his life telling others:

God still heals.

THE MAKING OF A PREACHER

Roberts entered Pentecostal ministry and spent years pastoring churches in Oklahoma and surrounding areas.

He also pursued some higher education, although his own academic journey did not follow the conventional route that would later characterize the university he founded.

The pastoral years exposed him to the everyday struggles of ordinary people.

Sickness.

Poverty.

Family difficulties.

Financial pressure.

And the search for hope.

From this environment Roberts developed a message emphasizing the goodness of God and God's concern for human need.

But by the middle of the 1940s, Roberts increasingly believed that his calling extended beyond pastoring a local congregation.

Then came a decisive moment.

“TAKE MY HEALING POWER TO YOUR GENERATION”

Roberts identified 1947 as a major turning point in his ministry.

While pastoring in Enid, Oklahoma, Roberts described experiencing a divine commission during an intense period of prayer.

He believed God was calling him to take the message of divine healing to his generation.

That conviction changed the direction of his ministry.

America was entering the great post-war healing revival.

Evangelists such as William Branham, Jack Coe, A. A. Allen, T.L. Osborn and others were attracting attention through revival campaigns emphasizing salvation and supernatural healing.

Oral Roberts entered that environment.

But he possessed an unusual combination of abilities.

He could preach.

He understood organization.

He recognized the possibilities of technology.

And he possessed a remarkable instinct for mass communication.

Those abilities would eventually carry Pentecostal healing far beyond the revival tent.

THE GREAT HEALING TENTS

Roberts began conducting healing campaigns beneath large canvas tents.

As attendance increased, the tents became larger.

Eventually, his organization operated an enormous tent capable of accommodating thousands of people.

Inside, Roberts preached salvation through Jesus Christ and prayed publicly for the sick.

People stood in healing lines.

Roberts laid hands upon individuals.

Testimonies were collected from people who believed they had experienced supernatural healing.

For Roberts and his supporters, these testimonies demonstrated that the healing ministry of Jesus Christ continued through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Critics questioned whether many of the extraordinary claims received sufficient independent medical verification.

That distinction remains important when examining Roberts historically. Many healing accounts connected with his campaigns were ministry testimonies rather than independently documented clinical cases.

Yet Roberts himself remained convinced throughout his life that Jesus Christ heals.

The healing tent became his platform.

But soon another platform would multiply his audience beyond anything a canvas structure could contain.

PENTECOSTAL HEALING COMES TO TELEVISION

During the 1950s, television was transforming American society.

Many religious leaders viewed the emerging medium with suspicion.

Roberts saw opportunity.

In 1954, he began televising his crusades.

The consequences were enormous.

People who would never enter a Pentecostal healing tent could suddenly experience portions of a Roberts crusade from their own homes.

Television captured the preaching.

The music.

The testimonies.

The atmosphere.

And the healing lines.

The tent evangelist had entered America's living rooms.

Roberts became one of the important pioneers of televised charismatic Christianity.

But television also transformed the nature of ministry itself.

Producing broadcasts required cameras.

Producers.

Editors.

Studios.

Mailing systems.

Fundraising.

Employees.

And an increasingly sophisticated organizational structure.

Oral Roberts was no longer simply conducting revival meetings.

He was building a Christian media organization.

SEED-FAITH

One of Roberts' most influential teachings became known as Seed-Faith.

At its most basic level, Roberts taught believers to view what they possessed as seed.

Give something to God.

Trust God as the source.

And expect a harvest.

Roberts connected the principle with biblical passages concerning giving and receiving and with experiences from his own financial struggles.

Seed-Faith transformed giving, within Roberts' teaching, from merely losing something into an act of faith and expectation.

But the doctrine became controversial.

Critics argued that such teaching could transform Christian generosity into a transaction:

Give money to God in order to receive more money.

Supporters argued that Roberts' original teaching was broader. They understood Seed-Faith as involving generosity, obedience, trust in God and meeting the needs of others rather than merely pursuing personal wealth.

Whatever one's theological assessment, the historical influence of the concept became enormous.

Seed-Faith language spread throughout sections of American charismatic Christianity and later became familiar within ministries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and other regions.

Later prosperity and Word-of-Faith teachers would develop these ideas in different directions.

Roberts had helped establish a vocabulary that would become part of global charismatic Christianity.

THE VISION FOR ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY

Roberts eventually pursued a vision even more ambitious than television.

He believed God had instructed him to establish a university.

Construction began in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1963, and Oral Roberts University opened in 1965.

Roberts built the university around the development of the:

Whole Person — Body, Mind and Spirit

This philosophy reflected something important about his vision.

He did not believe Pentecostal Christians needed to choose between spiritual power and serious education.

He envisioned:

Doctors who prayed.

Business leaders who believed God could guide them.

Educators who recognized the Holy Spirit.

Athletes who understood physical discipline as stewardship.

Ministers who combined spiritual conviction with education.

The university campus itself reflected Roberts' enormous ambition through modern architecture, academic facilities, athletic programs and eventually the iconic Prayer Tower.

The preacher's son from rural Oklahoma had built a university bearing his name.

And that university would become one of his most enduring legacies.

KENNETH COPELAND AND THE NEXT GENERATION

Among the people who entered Roberts' world during the development of ORU was a young Kenneth Copeland.

Copeland enrolled at Oral Roberts University during the 1960s.

He was also a pilot.

That ability opened an important opportunity.

Copeland began serving Roberts as a pilot and driver.

The position placed him near one of America's most sophisticated charismatic ministry organizations.

He could observe Roberts' approach to faith, aviation, television, organization, healing ministry and fundraising.

Copeland eventually established his own international Word-of-Faith ministry and continued to acknowledge Roberts as an important influence in his life.

Their relationship illustrates an important dimension of Roberts' legacy.

His influence was not limited to people who attended his crusades.

He influenced ministers who would themselves influence millions.

ORAL ROBERTS AND T.L. OSBORN

Roberts belonged to the same broad generation of post-war healing evangelists as T.L. Osborn.

Their ministries developed in different directions.

Osborn became especially associated with international open-air mass evangelism across Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions.

Roberts increasingly concentrated on television, education and institutional development.

Yet both men shared a fundamental Pentecostal conviction:

The Gospel should not merely be preached. They believed it should also be accompanied by demonstrations of God's supernatural power.

This emphasis became increasingly influential within global Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.

ORAL ROBERTS AND AFRICA

The explosive growth of African Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity cannot be attributed to Oral Roberts or any single Western evangelist.

Africa possessed its own indigenous Christian movements, revivalists, prophets, evangelists, pastors and theological traditions.

African Christians were active participants in shaping their own religious history.

Nevertheless, international evangelists such as Roberts became part of an expanding network connecting American Pentecostal and charismatic institutions with African Christian leaders.

Roberts' television broadcasts, books, educational institutions and international relationships helped carry his influence beyond the United States.

One particularly significant African leader connected to this broader world was Nigerian Archbishop Benson Idahosa.

Idahosa shared several emphases familiar within Roberts' ministry:

Bold faith.

Belief in supernatural healing.

Education.

Institution building.

Mass evangelism.

And confidence that Christianity could influence every dimension of society.

Connections involving Idahosa and Oral Roberts University formed part of a larger bridge between Nigerian Pentecostalism and American charismatic institutions.

Yet African leaders such as Idahosa did not merely reproduce an American model.

They contextualized it.

They built African churches.

African Bible schools.

African universities.

African media ministries.

And eventually international ministries originating from Africa itself.

The direction of global Christian influence was beginning to change.

FROM HEALING EVANGELIST TO MEDICAL VISIONARY

After building a university, Roberts pursued another enormous vision.

He wanted to build a hospital.

This project demonstrated an important dimension of Roberts' theology.

He did not believe divine healing and medical science needed to be enemies.

He envisioned doctors, nurses, ministers and prayer working together in caring for the whole person.

That vision eventually produced the City of Faith Medical and Research Center in Tulsa.

The complex represented Roberts' attempt to institutionalize his belief in healing of the whole person.

Medicine could treat the body.

Prayer could address spiritual needs.

And both could operate alongside one another.

But the project was extraordinarily expensive.

Operating a major medical institution required financial resources far beyond those necessary for conducting evangelistic campaigns.

Financial pressure intensified.

And eventually Roberts entered the most publicly controversial period of his ministry.

THE $8 MILLION CONTROVERSY

In 1987, Roberts made an extraordinary fundraising appeal.

He announced that he believed God had instructed him to raise approximately $8 million for the ministry and that if the amount was not raised by the deadline, God would “call him home.”

The statement became national news.

Critics accused Roberts of manipulating supporters through fear.

Comedians mocked him.

Newspapers and television networks covered the controversy.

Even Christians who believed in Roberts' ministry questioned the wisdom of using such language during fundraising.

Roberts maintained that he was communicating what he genuinely believed God had told him.

The fundraising goal was ultimately reached.

But the controversy damaged his public reputation.

And the financial difficulties surrounding City of Faith continued.

The medical center eventually ceased inpatient operations.

For Roberts, it became one of the painful chapters of an extraordinarily ambitious life.

PRIVATE TRAGEDY BEHIND PUBLIC MINISTRY

Roberts' public success could not protect his family from devastating tragedy.

He and his wife Evelyn experienced losses that profoundly affected their lives.

In 1977, their daughter Rebecca and her husband died in an airplane crash.

Then, in 1982, their son Ronnie died by suicide after years of personal struggles.

For parents who had devoted their lives to preaching faith, healing and miracles, these losses were devastating.

Their experience revealed a reality that can easily disappear behind stories of successful ministry:

Public faith does not make a family immune from private suffering.

The evangelist who prayed for countless sick people could not control every tragedy that entered his own home.

The man who encouraged millions to expect miracles also had to continue believing when the outcome he desired did not come.

Yet Roberts continued his ministry.

RICHARD ROBERTS AND SUCCESSION

As Oral Roberts grew older, his son Richard Roberts increasingly became important to the future of both the ministry and university.

Richard eventually succeeded his father as president of Oral Roberts University.

The transition represented continuity for the Roberts family.

But it also brought significant challenges.

During the 2000s, ORU faced financial, administrative and governance controversies.

Richard Roberts resigned as university president in 2007.

The university entered a difficult transition.

But ORU survived.

New leadership emerged.

Financial restructuring followed.

And the institution continued beyond direct Roberts-family control.

That survival became an important measure of Oral Roberts' institutional legacy.

He had created something capable of continuing beyond its founder.

EVELYN ROBERTS

No biography of Oral Roberts is complete without recognizing Evelyn Roberts.

She lived through almost every major chapter of the ministry.

The early preaching years.

The tents.

Television.

The establishment of Oral Roberts University.

The City of Faith.

Financial pressure.

Public controversy.

And the deaths of their children.

Behind one of America's most recognizable evangelists was a marriage enduring enormous public and private pressure.

Evelyn died in 2005.

After more than six decades of marriage, Roberts entered the final years of his life without the woman who had shared almost the entire journey.

THE GENERATIONS AFTER ORAL ROBERTS

By the later decades of Roberts' life, charismatic Christianity looked dramatically different from the world in which his ministry began.

Television evangelism had become normal.

Megachurches had expanded.

Christian universities had multiplied.

International ministries used sophisticated media organizations.

Healing campaigns filled stadiums and open fields.

Charismatic Christianity was growing rapidly throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Language concerning seed, harvest, expectation, divine provision and miracles had become familiar throughout large sections of the movement.

A number of internationally known ministers acknowledged Roberts' influence, including Kenneth Copeland, while his broader healing and media model influenced numerous other charismatic leaders.

But influence did not mean universal agreement.

Roberts remained controversial.

Critics challenged healing claims.

Others rejected Seed-Faith theology.

Some believed his fundraising practices crossed important ethical boundaries.

Supporters saw a visionary who refused to accept that Pentecostal Christianity should remain socially or institutionally marginalized.

Both admiration and criticism became part of his historical legacy.

FINAL YEARS AND DEATH

Age eventually slowed Roberts.

The enormous healing tents belonged to another era.

Oral Roberts University had entered a new generation.

Television evangelism had been inherited by younger ministers.

And the charismatic movement he had helped popularize had become global.

On December 15, 2009, Oral Roberts died in Newport Beach, California.

He was 91 years old.

The boy who once struggled to speak had spent more than seven decades preaching.

The teenager who testified that he had been healed from tuberculosis became internationally associated with divine healing.

And the Pentecostal preacher raised in rural Oklahoma had built one of America's best-known charismatic universities.

LEGACY

How should Oral Roberts be remembered?

His supporters remember a man of extraordinary faith who refused to believe that the supernatural ministry of Jesus Christ belonged only to biblical history.

His critics point toward unverified healing claims, controversial fundraising and theological ideas connecting giving with expectations of divine return.

A responsible biography must acknowledge both.

But historical influence is not determined simply by universal agreement.

It is also measured by what changed because a person lived.

And Oral Roberts changed the landscape of modern Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity.

He helped move healing evangelism:

From the tent to television.

He demonstrated that Pentecostal ministries could build sophisticated media organizations.

He established a university that attempted to integrate body, mind and spirit.

He attempted to bring prayer and modern medicine into the same institutional environment.

He developed Seed-Faith language that became enormously influential — and enormously controversial.

And he influenced ministers who carried charismatic Christianity into another generation.

EXPECT A MIRACLE

Perhaps Oral Roberts' historical importance can be summarized through the institutions and communication systems he helped build.

Tent.

Television.

University.

Medicine.

Media.

Global ministry.

He began his life within a Pentecostal tradition that existed largely outside the cultural establishment of the United States.

By the time he died, Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity had become a global religious force.

Roberts did not accomplish that transformation alone.

But he helped build part of the road that carried the movement there.

His life contained extraordinary achievements.

It also contained painful failures.

There were reported miracles.

There were unanswered prayers.

There was enormous vision.

There was controversy.

There was public success.

And there was profound private suffering.

Yet through more than seven decades of ministry, one message became permanently associated with his name:

EXPECT A MIRACLE.

Granville Oral Roberts.

The preacher's son.

The boy who struggled to speak.

The healing evangelist.

The television pioneer.

The educator.

The institution builder.

The controversial visionary.

A man who helped carry Pentecostal healing from the canvas tent into millions of homes around the world.

A GENERAL OF IMPACT

Generals of Impact preserves the stories of revivalists, missionaries, apostles, evangelists, pastors and men and women whose faith, sacrifice and obedience impacted generations.

Generations pass. Impact remains.