I enjoy viewing those old (circa 1950s) films of Oral Roberts, in which he ministers under a large tent. They are good for those who are interested, even if sceptical as to whether God still heals in our day. I was saved in 1961, and Loraine and I were baptised in water and in the Holy Spirit under the ministry of Pastor Thomas Foster. At the time, I worked in a large furniture store in the City of Melbourne. Lorraine and I had a 16mm Bell & Howell projector and screened these same films around suburban Melbourne.
We lived on the Heidelberg line, and on Fridays I would get off the train at Jolimont (near the MCG) and walk to the office of L M Ericsson & Co, where David Reekie worked. David would have a different film for me each time, and I would walk from his office and up through the Treasure Gardens and then down into the city.
On Mondays I would drop off the films and walk the same route again. The middle-aged lady who shared her house with us would drive us around in her Morris Minor, with me in the front and Lorraine and our baby daughter Debbie in the back seat. We did this for a couple of years. I can’t say that we saw many people come to Jesus viewing the films, but we ‘paid our dues’ in terms of faithfulness, and in that sense it was good training for the ministry.
So, when I view Oral’s films on YouTube, they take me back more than half a century, to a time when Pentecostals were regarded as cultish by the ‘mainline’ churches. In those days, the only place I could buy a book on speaking in tongues was the Keswick Book Depot in Collins Street, in the half-hidden “Cults” section of the store.
Oral Roberts’ tent meeting films had a profound effect on my life, and a lasting influence on my interest in God’s healing power. I remember him as a godly evangelist with a wonderful gift of healing. When Oral Roberts University was about to be opened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, David Reekie asked me if I would be interested in enrolling at ORU for a divinity degree. I was married with two children, and working hard to make both ends meet, so I had to turn down his offer. Apparently Oral had made scholarships available for overseas supporters. (David Reekie later served as a pastor with the AOG in outer Melbourne.)
“If it were not so, I would have told you” is a principle that has guided me over the years. If God had wanted us in Tulsa, He would have told us; and since He hadn’t I felt that it was not His will for us. No regrets. Romans 8:38 applied. Those were great days, but those ahead of us proved even greater, in the privileged position of Assistant Pastor to Pastor Clark Taylor, founder of Christian Outreach Centre.
Lorraine and I, with the full support of our then teenege children, founded Ormiston Christian Faith Church on Redlands Coast. We led OCFC for 33 years and are still members of the church, which our son Paul had led since the Lord expanded our apostolic ministry overseas.
Thank You, Lord, for your faithfulness to us over so many years; and thank you, Oral Roberts, Thomas Foster, David Reekie, Clark Taylor, and many other fine ministers for your spiritual input and example during those developmental decades! Others had a considerable input internationally, and I will gratefully acknowledge them in a future post.