<br><h1>Evangelist Oral Roberts dies in Calif. at age 91</h1>
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<div id="darla-ad__LREC" class="mod ad darla_ad"><br>TULSA, Okla. – <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_0">Oral Roberts</span>, the evangelist who rose from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_1">humble tent revivals</span> to found a multimillion-dollar ministry and a university bearing his name, died Tuesday. He was 91.</div>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Roberts
overcame tuberculosis at age 17, and credited that triumph with leading
him to become one of the country's most famous ministers.</p>
<p>He gave up a local pastorate in Enid in 1947 to enter an evangelistic ministry in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_2">Tulsa</span> to pray for the healing of the whole person — the body, mind and spirit. The philosophy led many to call him a "<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_3">faith healer</span>," a label he rejected with the comment: "God heals — I don't."</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>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."</p>
<p>Unity of body, mind and spirit became the theme of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_4">Oral Roberts University</span>.
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 <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_5">praying hands</span>.</p>
<p>His ministry hit upon rocky times in the 1980s. There was controversy over his <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_6">City of Faith</span>
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.</p>
<p>Semiretired in recent years and living in California, he returned to Tulsa, Okla., in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_7">October 2007</span>
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.</p>
<p>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 <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_8">Roberts family</span> would not be at its helm. The rocky period for the evangelical school was eased by billionaire Oklahoma City businessman <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_9">Mart Green</span>
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.</p>
<p>That September, a frail-looking <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1260911952_10">Oral Roberts</span> attended the ceremony when the school's new president, Mark Rutland, was formally inaugurated.</p>
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