[Deathwatch] Oral Roberts, evangelist, 91

[Notification of departing celebrities]

Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in Calif. at age 91
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TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts, the evangelist who rose from humble tent
revivals to found a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university bearing
his name, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Roberts died of complications from pneumonia in Newport Beach, Calif.,
according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross. The evangelist was hospitalized
after a fall on Saturday. He had survived two heart attacks in the 1990s and
a broken hip in 2006.

Roberts was a pioneer on two fronts — he helped bring spirit-filled
charismatic Christianity into the mainstream and took his trademark revivals
to television, a new frontier for religion.

Roberts overcame tuberculosis at age 17, and credited that triumph with
leading him to become one of the country's most famous ministers.

He gave up a local pastorate in Enid in 1947 to enter an evangelistic
ministry in Tulsa to pray for the healing of the whole person — the body,
mind and spirit. The philosophy led many to call him a "faith healer," a
label he rejected with the comment: "God heals — I don't."

By the 1960s and '70s, he was reaching millions around the world through
radio, television, publications and personal appearances. He remained on TV
into the new century, co-hosting the program, "Miracles Now," with son
Richard. He published dozens of books and conducted hundreds of crusades. A
famous photograph showed him working at a desk with a sign on it reading,
"Make no little plans here."

He credited his oratorical skills to his faith, saying, "I become anointed
with God's word, and the spirit of the Lord builds up in me like a coiled
spring. By the time I'm ready to go on, my mind is razor-sharp. I know
exactly what I'm going to say and I'm feeling like a lion."

Unity of body, mind and spirit became the theme of Oral Roberts University.
The campus is a Tulsa landmark, with its space-age buildings laden with gold
paint, including a 200-foot prayer tower and a 60-foot bronze statue of praying
hands.

His ministry hit upon rocky times in the 1980s. There was controversy over
his City of Faith medical center, a $250 million investment that eventually
folded, and Roberts' widely ridiculed proclamation that God would "call me
home" if he failed to meet a fundraising goal of $8 million. A law school he
founded also was shuttered.

Semiretired in recent years and living in California, he returned to Tulsa,
Okla., in October 2007 as scandal roiled Oral Roberts University. His son,
Richard Roberts, who succeeded him as ORU president, faced allegations of
spending university money on shopping sprees and other luxuries at a time
the institution was more than $50 million in debt.

Richard Roberts resigned as president in November 2007, marking the first
time since Oral Roberts University was chartered in 1963 that a member of
the Roberts family would not be at its helm. The rocky period for the
evangelical school was eased by billionaire Oklahoma City businessman Mart
Green donated $70 million and helped run the school in the interim, pledging
to restore the public's trust. By the fall of 2009, things were looking up,
with officials saying tens of millions of dollars worth of debt had been
paid off and enrollment was up slightly.

That September, a frail-looking Oral Roberts attended the ceremony when the
school's new president, Mark Rutland, was formally inaugurated.
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