IPHC The Bishop's Office

Bishop Carpenter's Statement on Oral Roberts’ Passing

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church is deeply saddened by the death of Evangelist Oral Roberts. He was of the best-known and most influential Pentecostal leaders of the 20^th century.

Oral Roberts had a tremendous impact on the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. In the early years of his ministry, he was an ordained IPHC minister and pastored several IPHC churches. He also contributed greatly to the establishment and early growth of Southwestern Christian University. Oral always dreamed big, and he pushed the IPHC to dream big with him.

His ministry had a personal impact on me when I was a new convert. I had been a Christian for only a year when I had the opportunity to work at one of his healing tent revivals. I remember seeing a woman walk to the stage with a goiter so large that I could no longer see her neck. Rev. Roberts laid his hand on her and began to ask God for her healing. As he prayed, her goiter disappeared. I watched as her neck returned to a normal size and she was completely healed before my eyes. That service greatly impacted my Christian walk. I thought, “If that’s what God can do, I want that type of Holy Spirit power!”

Oral Roberts’ legacy is not in the school he built or the revivals he held, but in the millions of lives he touched with his message of salvation and healing. While I am deeply saddened by his death, I rejoice in knowing that he is reunited with his wife Evelyn and worshipping at the feet of his Savior.

I pray that God will use Oral Roberts’ life and legacy to inspire believers around the world to live a life of faith, always expecting, as Oral would say, that “Something GOOD is going to happen to you today!”

Last update on 12/18/2009
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Bishop Carpenter's Statement on Oral Roberts’ Passing

The International Pentecostal Holiness Church is deeply saddened by the death of Evangelist Oral Roberts. He was of the best-known and most influential Pentecostal leaders of the 20^th century.

Oral Roberts had a tremendous impact on the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. In the early years of his ministry, he was an ordained IPHC minister and pastored several IPHC churches. He also contributed greatly to the establishment and early growth of Southwestern Christian University. Oral always dreamed big, and he pushed the IPHC to dream big with him.

His ministry had a personal impact on me when I was a new convert. I had been a Christian for only a year when I had the opportunity to work at one of his healing tent revivals. I remember seeing a woman walk to the stage with a goiter so large that I could no longer see her neck. Rev. Roberts laid his hand on her and began to ask God for her healing. As he prayed, her goiter disappeared. I watched as her neck returned to a normal size and she was completely healed before my eyes. That service greatly impacted my Christian walk. I thought, “If that’s what God can do, I want that type of Holy Spirit power!”

Oral Roberts’ legacy is not in the school he built or the revivals he held, but in the millions of lives he touched with his message of salvation and healing. While I am deeply saddened by his death, I rejoice in knowing that he is reunited with his wife Evelyn and worshipping at the feet of his Savior.

I pray that God will use Oral Roberts’ life and legacy to inspire believers around the world to live a life of faith, always expecting, as Oral would say, that “Something GOOD is going to happen to you today!”