Oral Roberts' Life Story

GRANVILLE ORAL ROBERTS (January 24, 1918 - December 15, 2009) was an American Methodist-Pentecostal televangelist and a Christian charismatic. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.
As one of the best-known and controversial American religious leaders of the 20th century, Roberts's preaching emphasized seed-faith. His ministries reached millions of followers worldwide spanning a period of over six decades. His healing ministry and bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream had the most impact, but he also pioneered TV evangelism and laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel and abundant life teachings. The breadth and style of his ministry, including his widely publicized funding appeals, made him a consistent subject of contention among critics and supporters.
Born in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, the fifth and youngest child of the Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts (1881-1967) and Claudius Priscilla Roberts (née Irwin) (1885-1974), he was a card-carrying member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He began life in poverty and nearly died of tuberculosis at age 17. After finishing high school, Roberts studied for two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. He delivered his first sermon in 1936, aged 18, and married a preacher's daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock, in 1938.
In the late 1940s, Roberts said he heard God urged him to "be like Jesus and heal people as he did." He rented an auditorium in Enid, Okla., and held his first healing service. A turnout of 1,000 inspired him to resign his pastorate in Enid and move to Tulsa, where he founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and began an itinerant ministry of faith healing.
In 1963 he founded Oral Roberts University. Accredited in 1971, it now has about 3,000 students and is the largest charismatic Christian university in the world.