Oral Roberts

Besides his above-mentioned colleague, the faith healing Oral Roberts may be the best known evangelist in the second half of the 20th century. However, his and Rev. Graham's style and reputation could not be any more different, stemming from the fact that Graham is a Southern Baptist and Roberts Pentecostal.

In 1977 he claimed to have a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus who told him to build City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success. The City of Faith was in operation for only eight years before closing in late 1989.

In 1983 Roberts said Jesus had appeared to him in person and commissioned him to find a cure for cancer.

Like Billy Graham, Rev. Roberts also his impending demise, albeit in a slightly more dramatic fashion. 1987, during a fundraising drive, he announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home". He raised $9.1 million. Vice President George HW Bush announced the formation of a new group called "LORD": Let Oral Roberts Die.

Later that year, he announced that God had raised the dead through his ministry.

Roberts' daughter, Rebecca Nash, died in a plane crash on February 11, 1977, with her husband, businessman Marshall Nash. Roberts' eldest son, Ronald, committed suicide in June 1982 at the age of 37 five months after receiving a court order to get counseling at a drug treatment center.

But here's my favorite Oral Roberts story: From the late 1980's to 1992, he maintained a residence in the exclusive St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. He would commute via private jet from his base in Oklahoma to Boca Raton airport for weekend visits to his golf club retreat. Most of the other residents of St. Andrews were Jewish, and since Roberts was identified by his first name of Granville when he was visiting Florida his presence went mostly unrecognized.