Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association

Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA) is a Pentecostal ministry started by the late faith healer and televangelist Oral Roberts and currently run by his son Richard Roberts.

Originally operating as a traveling revival with claims of curing the sick, in 1963 Oral Roberts University was founded by the ministry. In 2007 following a lawsuit involving Roberts, the school and the association's finances were separated.^[2]

In 2007 it earned $12,952,755, but spent $14,966,687 leaving a deficit of $-2,013,932.^[1] In addition, it Net Assets $-15,261,450.^[1] In that time, Richard earned $477,122 a year as president and CEO, his wife Lindsay earned $196,818 a year as executive vice president, and his late father Oral earned $161,872 a year as a trustee.^[1] Charity Navigator gives OREA an overall efficiency rating of 1 out of 4 stars.^[1] GuideStar reports it "produces 52 weekly television and radio programs, and 260 daily television programs to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the United States and throughout the world. These programs reach an estimated 800,000 people per week."^[3]

History

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Oral Roberts’ ministry began when, as a 17 year old boy dying of tuberculosis, the Lord allegedly told him, “Son, I am going to heal you, and you are to take My healing power to your generation.” God also added, “And someday, you are to build Me a university based on My authority and on the Holy Spirit.” That very day, he was healed of both tuberculosis and stuttering. After a time if recuperation, Oral spent the next 12 years preaching the Gospel in small churches.^[4] Then in 1947, he conducted his first healing service in downtown Enid, Oklahoma. More than 1,200 people were present. At the service, a woman’s hand that had been totally stiff for thirty–eight years was instantly healed, and Oral’s healing ministry was launched.^[5]

God soon led Oral to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he began to hold tent meetings. Crowds thronged to hear Oral’s dynamic messages and to witness the healing power of God. During the 1950s, Oral expanded his ministry through literature that was printed and distributed to people around the world, and through the launching of his television ministry—including the first time a live healing service was ever televised. He founded the Abundant Life Prayer Group in 1958 and soon phone calls for prayer were coming in from people worldwide.^[6] And in 1962, Oral broke ground for the university that would bear his name. At Oral Roberts University, tens of thousands of young men and women have been educated under the “whole person” concept—training for spirit, mind, and body—and have taken God’s healing power all around the earth.^[7]

In 1980, Oral’s son, Richard Roberts, began his own healing ministry and became President of Oral Roberts Ministries. Richard currently holds healing rallies in the United States and nations around the world. Richard also hosts a nightly interactive healing television program, The Place for Miracles, through which people are often healed as he speaks out the words of knowledge God is giving him. Richard’s wife Lindsay hosts a daily half-hour program, Make Your Day Count, that ministers especially to the needs of women. After more than 60 years of preaching the healing power of God, Oral Roberts Ministries still receives thousands of healing testimonies every year from people who have been touched by the Lord through Oral Roberts Ministries outreaches.^[8]

References

External links

• Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association - Official