Oral Roberts Dies at 91

Oral Roberts, the namesake of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has died from complications of pneumonia in Newport Beach, California, according to the Associated Press. The evangelist was hospitalized on Saturday after a fall. He was 91 and died on Tuesday.

Oral Roberts' ministry took off from humble beginnings as tent revivals and turned into a multi-million dollar industry. His son, Richard Roberts, had taken over Oral Roberts' ministries after the progenitor of the ministry became too old to run day-to-day operations. A memorial has been posted on the ministry website.

Oral Roberts University

The university that bears his name, Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, was founded in 1963 and accredited in 1971 alongside a School of Nursing. Healing was a large part of the ministry of Oral Roberts so the Anna Vaughn School of Nursing was a perfect addition to the whole of the university. His university was changed to honor his name in 1977.

Oral Roberts University is not just for training evangelists. A full slate of academic schools including history, business, education, nursing, and arts are also included with theology degrees. With its full slate of academia, Oral Roberts still maintains a tradition as a Christian college.

The Life or Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts was born in Oklahoma in 1918, according to Infoplease.com. He was a progenitor of the televangelist movement that brought spiritual healing to the forefront of American's television sets starting in 1955. His first pastoral job came in 1941, when he held tent revivals with attendees in upwards of 18,000 people. Oral Roberts raised a Pentecostal Christian and his defining moment in his young life was at age seventeen when he attributed his healing from tuberculosis to a revivalist minister named George Moncey.

Oral Roberts married his wife, Evelyn, who preceeded him in death in 2005. He had four children, two of whom also preceeded him in death one due to a car accident and another becuase of suicide.

Oral Roberts' life was not without controversy. He had been ridiculed for such things as claiming he would die if a financial goal was not met by his ministry, and he also claimed to have been visited by a 900 foot tall Jesus. His son Richard resigned as president of the university amidst controversies over mismanagement.

Despite some of the wild claims Oral Roberts may have made in his life, he must be given credit for living a Christian life to the fullest. He married and remained faithful to his wife for almost seventy years. May he rest in peace.