Richard Roberts (evangelist)

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Richard L. Roberts

Born November 12, 1948 (age 59)
Residence Tulsa, Oklahoma
Occupation Evangelist
Spouse Patti Roberts (Divorced), Lindsay Roberts
Children Christi Roberts (Hall), Juli Roberts (Mize) with 1st wife Patti - Jordan Roberts, Olivia Roberts and Chloe Roberts with 2nd wife Lindsay
Parents Oral Roberts and Evelyn Roberts

Richard Roberts (born November 12, 1948, Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American televangelist and a former president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is the son of televangelist Oral Roberts. Richard Roberts hosts the religious television show Something Good Tonight. He is also president and chief executive officer of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and has conducted evangelistic crusades on six continents since 1980.

In October 2007 Roberts was named as a defendant in a widely publicized lawsuit alleging improper usage of university funds for political and personal purposes along with the improper use of university resources. The scandal led to his resignation the following month.[1]

Contents

[edit] Career

As a young man, Richard Roberts did not initially plan to follow in the same career path as his father. Roberts was interested in becoming a lounge singer and in 1966 he began studying music and theatre at the University of Kansas. At this time in his life, Roberts described himself as an atheist who challenged the ideologies of his parents. During his second semester at the University of Kansas, Roberts developed serious colon problems which forced him to be hospitalized. In response to this issue Roberts prayed to God saying “God, if you’ll heal me, I’ll serve you.” Roberts recalls, “I felt the power of God go through my body that night on the bed.” According to Roberts, the next day the doctors could find nothing wrong with him because he had been miraculously healed. This experience led Roberts to leave the University of Kansas and enroll at Oral Roberts University in the fall of 1967.[2] Shortly thereafter, Roberts accompanied his father Oral Roberts on evangelistic crusades beginning with Haiti in 1968. He and his first wife Patti sang with the ORU World Action Singers, released recordings together, and performed on his father's television specials. In the early 1980s, he began faith healing crusades after claiming to have heard a calling from God.[3] Roberts has a bachelor’s, master’s, and a doctorate degree from ORU.[citation needed] In 1985, he became executive vice president of ORU. In 1987, Time magazine reported Richard's controversial claim to have seen God raise a child from the dead while his father was praying for the individual.[4] He was elected as the university's second president and chief executive officer on January 27, 1993. He resigned these posts on November 23, 2007.

[edit] Disclosed earnings

According to Charity Navigator, Richard earned $477,122 a year as president and CEO of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. His wife Lindsay earned $196,818 a year as executive vice president, and his father Oral earns $161,872 a year as a trustee.[5] The Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association has an overall efficiency rating of 2 out of 4 stars.[6]

[edit] Family

Roberts married his first wife Patti in 1968. They had two daughters, Christine and Julene. Richard and Patti were highly visible participants in the Oral Roberts ministry, being groomed for leadership of the organization when they divorced in 1979. Patti Roberts subsequently wrote a book about her marriage to Richard called Ashes to Gold. In a 1987 review Martin Gardner concluded Patti left Richard because of "her distress in watching Richard turn into a clone of Oral, and shameless way that she and Richard rationalized their jet-set way of life."[7]

Ten months after the divorce, Richard married his second wife, Lindsay. They reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma with their three daughters Jordan, Olivia and Chloe.[8][9] Richard and Lindsay also had a son together, Richard Oral, who died of medical complications only thirty six hours after being born.[10] The Roberts live in a home valued at more than $1.4 million provided by ORU rent-free as a tax-exempt benefit.[11] The home was built by the University with the intent that it be inhabited by the University's president and his or her family. It is unclear, whether or not the Roberts family will remain in that home much longer due to the recent changes in staffing at ORU.

[edit] ORU lawsuit and scandal

In October 2007 three former professors filed a lawsuit in Tulsa County. They claimed to have been wrongfully terminated. They also alleged Roberts misused university assets and illegally ordered the university to participate in Republican candidate Randi Miller's political campaign for Tulsa mayor. This occurred while the tax-exempt university was working lawfully with the Republican National Committee on out-of-state projects as part of a long-standing, pre-approved curriculum which had been in place for several years.[12][13]

Other allegations against Roberts include claims he used university funds to pay for his daughter's trip to The Bahamas by providing the university jet and billing other costs to the school, maintains a stable of horses on campus and at university expense for the exclusive use of his children, regularly summons university and ministry staff to the Roberts house to do his daughters’ homework, has remodeled his house at university expense 11 times in the past 14 years, allowed the university to be billed both for damage done by his daughters to university-owned golf carts and for video-taped vandalism caused by one of his minor daughters, later alleged to be Chloe Roberts (along with benefiting from school property she allegedly stole during the same incident, even after he was informed) and acquired a red Mercedes convertible and a white Lexus SUV for his wife Lindsay through ministry donors.[14] [15]

Lindsay Roberts, who is referred to in ORU publicity as the university's "first lady," is accused of spending tens of thousands of dollars of university funds on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to the children of family friends and sending text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."[16] The lawsuit also alleges a longtime maintenance employee was fired for the purpose of giving the job to an underage male friend of Lindsay Roberts.[17]

Richard Roberts publicly responded by saying, "This lawsuit ...is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion." A former ORU professor Tim Brooker, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, questioned the university's survival. "All over that campus," said Brooker, "there are signs up that say, 'And God said, build me a university, build it on my authority, and build it on the Holy Spirit.' Unfortunately, ownership has shifted."[18]

United Church of Christ Bishop Carlton Pearson, a former protege of Oral Roberts, said Richard Roberts was "born into privilege... What others may call extravagance he may not see it as extravagant." According to CNN, Pearson said he was disappointed but not surprised by the allegations, explaining, "These kinds of things are common among family-owned and operated businesses and ministries. They don't cross every T and dot every I."[19]

On 12 October the plaintiffs filed an amended version of the lawsuit alleging three days after the original lawsuit was filed, Roberts fired the university's financial comptroller (who had been employed by ORU for 26 years) and "witnesses have reported voluminous materials and documents were shredded and destroyed, constituting spoilation of evidence." The filing also alleged Lindsay Roberts had spent at least nine nights in the ORU guest house with an underage 16 year old male who also was allowed to live in the Roberts family residence on campus, a situation which made their oldest daughter so uncomfortable, she insisted deadbolt locks be installed on all bedroom doors in the house.[20]

In a written response to the later allegations Lindsay Roberts said, "I live my life in a morally upright manner and throughout my marriage have never, ever engaged in any sexual behavior with any man outside of my marriage as the accusations imply. Allegations against me in a lawsuit yesterday are not true. They sicken me to my soul." In a separate written statement the university denied "purposely or improperly" destroying documents.[21]

[edit] Resignation

On October 17, 2007 Roberts asked for and was granted an indefinite leave of absence from the school by the university's board of regents, citing the "toll" the lawsuit and attendant allegations have taken on him and his family.[22] In a statement Roberts said, "I don't know how long this leave of absence will last... I pray and believe that in God's timing, and when the Board feels that it is appropriate, I will be back at my post as President."[22] Billy Joe Daugherty of Victory Christian Center was named executive regent of the board of regents and interim president.[23] Chairman of the board of regents George Pearsons noted the temporary resignation was not an admission of guilt.[23]

On November 13 the tenured faculty of Oral Roberts University approved a nonbinding vote of no confidence in Roberts.[24] The vote was nearly unanimous according to a professor in attendance.[25]

In a wrongful termination lawsuit filed against the university on November 21, former ORU senior accountant Trent Huddleston claimed he had been ordered to help Roberts and his wife "cook the books" by misclassifying nearly $123,000 in funds allegedly spent by the university on remodeling the Roberts home.[26]

Roberts tendered his resignation to the university's board of regents on November 23, 2007, effective immediately. In an emailed statement he said, "I love ORU with all my heart. I love the students, faculty, staff and administration and I want to see God's best for all of them."[27]

On January 14, 2008 the outgoing ORU board of regents voted unanimously to name Richard Roberts president emeritus in honor of his work during 15 years as president.[28]

[edit] Books by Richard Roberts

  • Claim Your Inheritance (Tulsa, 2002)
  • If You’re Going Through Hell, Don’t Stop
  • If You Catch Hell, Don’t Hold It
  • He's the God of a Second Chance (Tulsa, Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, 1985)
  • The Good News Is the Bad News Is Wrong!

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts" ([dead link]) (Oct. 6, 2007). Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. 
  2. ^ Tulsa World: Robertses steel selves for crisis with prayer
  3. ^ Gardener, Martin. "Giving God a Hand", New York Review of Books, August 13, 1987. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. 
  4. ^ Ostling, Richard. "Raising Eyebrows and the Dead", Time, February 07, 1972. Retrieved on 2007-01-04. 
  5. ^ "Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association", Charity Navigator, October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  6. ^ "Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association", Charity Navigator, October 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  7. ^ Gardener, Martin. "Giving God a Hand", New York Review of Books, August 13, 1987. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. 
  8. ^ Captioned family portrait in ORU alumni magazine, Summer 1991, retrieved 5 October 2007
  9. ^ Digging in the Walls, Timothy magazine,Volume 7, Issue 3, The Life and Ministry of Oral Roberts, 1990, retrieved from Christian News and Views, 8 October 2007
  10. ^ Tulsa World: Robertses steel selves for crisis with prayer
  11. ^ "How ORU's president lives compared to counterparts", The Oklahoman, October 28, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  12. ^ 3 Former Professors Sue Oral Roberts U., (October 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  13. ^ Tulsa World (October 2007). Swails, Brooker, Brooker v. Oral Roberts University, et al. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  14. ^ Oral Roberts president faces corruption lawsuit (October 5, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  15. ^ Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press, Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts U., 5 October 2007 retrieved 7 October 2007.
  16. ^ Oral Roberts president faces corruption lawsuit (October 5, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  17. ^ Tulsa World (October 2007). Swails, Brooker, Brooker v. Oral Roberts University, et al. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  18. ^ Associated Press, Scandal Brewing at Oral Roberts, 6 October 2007, retrieved 8 October 2007
  19. ^ CNN, Oral Roberts' son denies he misspent school funds, 10 October 2007, retrieved 10 October 2007
  20. ^ Online copy of revised Swails lawsuit against ORU, October 12th, 2007
  21. ^ Tulsa World, Lindsay Roberts, ORU deny latest claims, 13 October 2007, retrieved 14 October 2007
  22. ^ a b Blumenthal, Ralph. "President of Oral Roberts to Take Leave of Absence", The New York Times, 2007-11-18. Retrieved on 2007-11-17. 
  23. ^ a b Marciszewski, April. "Roberts takes ORU leave", Tulsa World, 2007-10-18. Retrieved on 2007-10-18. 
  24. ^ "Faculty Opposes Oral Roberts President", Associated Press, The New York Times, 2007-11-14. Retrieved on 2007-11-16. 
  25. ^ Marciszewski, April. "ORU faculty gives vote of no confidence", Tulsa World, 2007-11-15. Retrieved on 2007-11-16. 
  26. ^ Justin Juozapavicius, Nov. 21, 2007, "Oral Roberts Accountant Sues Over Firing," Associated Press, at [1].
  27. ^ Embattled Oral Roberts President Resigns
  28. ^ Marciszewski, April, tulsaworld.com, $62 million for ORU, 15 January 2008, retrieved 15 January 2008

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