Cash Infusion For Oral Roberts U.

Businessman Will Donate $70M, Most Of If After Studying The Books

(AP)  Oral Roberts University, the debt-ridden evangelical institution riven by scandal, has been handed a $70 million lifeline.

Mart Green, founder of the Christian office and educational supply store chain Mardel, said Tuesday he would immediately give $8 million to the university, with the rest to come after a 60-to-90-day review of the university's financial records.

Green said his family must approve the financial review before the $62 million is given and is requesting at least two seats on the board of regents for his family members.

"Let's straighten the ship," Green said, four days after the school's president stepped down amid accusations that he misspent funds to support a lavish lifestyle. "Let's get integrity. Let's get trust built back and the rest will go away."

Green said he has never attended the university and had no ties to the Oral Roberts family. He said he has been following the university's story in the media in recent weeks and decided he wanted to help.

The pledge came on the same day the university's regents said they planned to separate the finances and leadership of the university from the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association.

The association is a nonprofit ministry that produces television and radio programs, including "The Hour of Healing," among its many outreaches, according to its Web site.

The university has been under the ministry since its inception in 1963, an arrangement that critics say led to co-mingling of funds and a blurring of leadership roles.

Last week, university president Richard Roberts, the son of the school's founder and namesake, resigned. He will remain chairman of the association and be allowed to live in his university-owned home near campus for the time being, said George Pearsons, the regents' chairman.

Roberts and his father will remain "spiritual regents," who cannot vote on university matters. Richard Roberts' wife, Lindsay Roberts, stepped down as a regent about a month ago, Pearsons said.

The younger Roberts and the evangelical university have come under fire since three former professors sued last month, alleging wrongful termination.

The lawsuit includes allegations of a $39,000 shopping tab at one store for Lindsay Roberts, a $29,411 Bahamas senior trip on the university jet for one of Roberts' daughters, and a stable of horses for the Roberts children.

In the days after the lawsuit was filed, the university revealed it was more than $50 million in debt.

In a previous interview with The Associated Press, Roberts and his wife denied wrongdoing. He said the lawsuit amounted to "intimidation, blackmail and extortion."

Last month, Oral Roberts returned from semiretirement in California to help guide the school he founded in 1963 while his son was on temporary leave.

[gunownerdan]

$70 million can do a lot of good in this world.
What a shame.

[ianlou]

Great, wasn''t this school one of the prime sources for members of the current Bush administration?

Enough said.

[sgtrds]

Richard Roberts is now saying god personally told him to resign and not to fight the charges. Makes one wonder where this god was when he was stealing and spending $50 million dollars of the church''s money? Guess he must have forgot to ask god if that was cool.

[kansas1946]

(CBS/AP) Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts asked the school''s board of regents for a leave of absence Wednesday amid accusations of lavish spending at donors'' expense and illegal involvement in a political campaign.
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This money will probably allow Richard to buy another beemer and take a few more trips. Praise Jesus.

[kansas1946]

LMAO. Yeah, just keep shoveling that money to these crooks. Jesus would be proud. Forget the downtrodden, the homeless and the hungry. Just send money to the shysters in the name of God. That will get you to heaven, I am sure.

[gunownerdan]

...I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew 19:24.
The parallel versions appear in Mark 10:24-25 and Luke 18:24-25.

[Krazcarl]

where in the book does it say jesus needs cash nowhere all these evagelicals think if they stir up enough folks that will get them a ticket to heaven, the hilaruos part it NEVER mentions that in the book nowhere so that should tell something.

[rokero69]

yes, he was looking for Cash or he was going to be taken up in the big space ship...

even as a kid i was hoping that no one would bail him out just to see if his prophesy was correct..

[gliderguy52]

Regardless of how poorly the university has been run in the past, I cannot fault anyone for giving his own money to this or any organization. After all it IS his money to do with whatever he wants.

It never ceases to amaze me how often I read on these posts "Oh, he/she should donate to this/that cause because it is so much more wonderful than the other cause." If you feel that any one cause is worthy of donation, then donate to it yourself! Nobody is telling you where to put your extra cash, and you should not tell others what to do with their cash.

[pwdebbie]

Didn''t OR Senior say once that if he didn''t get a certain amount of money God was going to take his life? I''m thinking 20+ years ago this happened. Anybody remember? Somebody bailed him out then, right? So, history repeats itself.