Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts (1918–2009) was a prominent healing evangelist. He was miraculously healed by God of tuberculosis when he was seventeen, and he felt called to minister healing to others. Roberts married his devoted wife, Evelyn, in 1938 and established the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1947. He conducted healing meetings around the world and, until 1967, throughout the United States as well, using giant “tent cathedrals.” In 1955, the first prime-time live television healing service was broadcast from one of Oral’s tent cathedrals, and he later broadcast national television specials. Roberts also established Oral Roberts University, which began classes in 1965 and continues to educate thousands each year with 70 undergraduate and 20 graduate programs. Roberts wrote 133 books, 32 booklets, and several commentaries on the Bible, including his milestone book, The Miracle of Seed-Faith. Oral Roberts’ legacy lives on today through Richard Roberts Ministries, the ministry of his son and daughter-in-law, Richard and Lindsay—fulfilling Oral’s goal to reach as many people as possible with the foundational principles of healing, seed-faith living, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit.