08/03/2026
Oral Roberts University is where it all began for LaTerra Ruffin and I!
One night in 1952, Oral Roberts was driving around Tulsa, Oklahoma, and pulled his car up to a piece of property on the corner of 81st Street and South Lewis Avenue. Helping his children out of the car one at a time, Oral stood with them and Evelyn. In wonder, the children looked up at their father. What were they doing standing in front of this empty lot?
Oral said, “Children, we are going to pray. I believe someday the Lord wants a school on this property that will be dedicated to Him.”The family prayed and then drove away, leaving the outcome in the Lord’s hands. It wouldn’t be the last time that the Roberts family would lift this piece of property to the Lord in prayer.
It was the fall of 1961. For nine years, Oral and his family had prayed for the land on the corner of 81st Street and South Lewis Avenue. Oral believed in his spirit that it was the spot God had chosen for the university to stand. Five hundred dollars of seed money was all that Oral had at the time. Often, he would drive out and walk the land, praying in tongues and asking the Lord what to do and who to work with. He could picture tall, graceful buildings filled with students who wanted to bring honor to the Lord and spread His Word.
However, when Oral’s lawyer, Saul Yager, approached the property owners, they insisted that it was not for sale. They were a rich, oil family who had owned the corner acreage for years, and they wanted to keep it in their holdings. The attempts to purchase the property dragged on for weeks.
Oral continued to pray and wait. One day, while in California, Oral sensed the Lord’s voice say, This is the day. He could see the land in Tulsa in his mind —the buildings that would soon make up the campus, the students eagerly searching for the Lord’s answers to their life quests, the young people sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He called Saul. “Go today and buy that land.” Impatiently, Saul insisted that Oral was wasting his time. But Oral replied, “I’m telling you, Saul, I know today is the day. Buy it today.”
Saul got off the phone and called the owner’s attorney, who, like Saul, was of the Jewish faith. Saul explained Oral’s insistence that today the owner would want to sell the land.
The second attorney contacted the owner, and his response marveled them all. “I woke up this morning and decided that if Mr. Roberts’s lawyer approached me today, I would sell.” The attorneys were amazed at the way God had worked in the situation. Oral was thankful to the Lord, but not surprised by His unfailing faithfulness.
- God’s Generals ( The Healing Evangelists)
- Spiritual Notes
