Yesterday, Richard Roberts appeared on The 700 Club with Pat Robertson. He spoke about his recent ordeal at ORU, his resignation and his plans to continue in the ministry.

Roberts spoke about being the fifth choice to fill the role of the school’s second president and candidly admitted that he “never dreamed of being a college president”, but that God moved on his heart to take on the role.

When asked about the lawsuit, he reserved making comments about the case. He also reiterated that God had told him to resign and that he is trusting the Lord for direction.

“ORU changed my life,” he says. “The students and I have had a love affair for years. I love them, and they love me.”

A partial transcript and video are available at CBN.com.

Stay tuned to SaveORU.com for the latest news and analysis.

Richard Roberts will make an appearance on the 700 club today, Thursday, January 3rd, 2008.

According to cbn.com “Richard Roberts will share what the Lord has shown him about forgiveness.”

The 700 Club is broadcast live at 10:00 a.m. EST/7:00 a.m. PST on the ABC Family Channel and is airs at 12:00 p.m. PST/3:00 p.m. EST on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

Comments on a recent Tulsa World story point to this possibility.

HINT: Read comment number 33.

The story from the Tulsa World tells us what insiders have known all along, the bylaws governing ORU’s Board of Regents give the Roberts family a huge voice in university decisions. The Tulsa World article also offers up an interesting quote from George Pearsons from May of this year:

“I am standing here today because the Lord clearly spoke to me and said, ‘Do whatever Richard Roberts asks you to do,’ “

– George Pearsons, Speech to the ORU Board of Regents, May 2007

Hopefully Mart Green’s financial audit and requirements for his 70 million dollar donation will help bring the university to more safer ground from a financial as well as a leadership standpoint.

ORU’s assets will enable the university “to restructure and recover from this temporary setback.”

Regent “stands ready” to offer assistance if needed in the future.

The current news being reported is that Pat Robertson, founder of CBN, The 700 Club and Regent University is interested in “options” for ties between the two universities.  ORU is widely regarded as a feeder school for Regent’s graduate programs.

Pat Robertson and Oral Roberts University have a long-standing relationship. ORU’s O.W. Coburn School of Law closed in 1986 and its law library, faculty and students were transferred to Regent University (which was then called CBN University). ORU had trouble attaining accreditation from the American Bar Association, which Regent eventually did receive in 1996.

As a media pioneer, Pat Robertson started the Family Channel in 1977 as an alternative to secular programming. It was later sold to Fox in 1997 for $1.9 billion dollars. In 2001, it changed hands again and was sold to Disney. It now bears the moniker of the ABC Family Channel. Regardless of ownership, The 700 Club must air three times a day though a perpetually inherited contract agreement.

Robertson has numerous businesses, including a mining operation in Liberia and an oil refinery company. Regent University reportedly carries an endowment of around $267 million.

ORU Gets a ‘Divorce’ from ORM and 70 Million Dollars

The ORU Board of Regents officially voted to ‘accept’ Richard Roberts resignation and to legally and financially separate the university from Oral Roberts Ministries.

A short while later they received a financial pledge of 70 million dollars from Mart Green , whose family started the Hobby Lobby chain of stores.

However, the gift comes with a catch. ORU will receive 8 million in immediate funds, but must demonstrate “good governance” before the remaining 62 million can be given. The gift will effectively wipe out ORU’s 55 million dollar debt.

Is ORU saved? Mission accomplished? We hope so.

Questions still linger as to the results of the regent’s audit of the allegations surrounding Richard and Lindsay Roberts. ORU is a private university and is not required to publicize the findings of their committees or the details of their two day meeting. Either way, the university has proved it doesn’t need Richard anymore.

Stay tuned to SaveORU.com for more news and analysis.

Richard Roberts resignation is effective immediately.

“I love ORU with all my heart. I love the students, faculty, staff and administration and I want to see God’s best for all of them.”

– Statement from Richard Roberts

The final straw might have been a new wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Trent Huddleston, a former senior accountant for ORU. He claims that he was directed “against his will” to falsely list items as expenses rather than assets in order to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.

Stay tuned to SaveORU.com for more news and analysis.

It’s time for the ORU Board of Regents to wake up and smell the coffee.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of last week’s faculty poll which shows an overwhelming majority of faculty (almost 80%) do not want Richard Roberts to return as president.

In addition, “90 percent of the faculty thought the school’s current procedures for financial disclosure and accountability were inadequate and more than 74 percent of those polled did not believe that alumni would continue to support ORU if Richard Roberts remains as president.” (AP)

Read the story here.

Phil Cooke is an ORU graduate and one of the leading authorities on religion and the media.

Richard recently commented that his troubles were ‘foretold’ to him in a prophecy from another minister, Phil asks the proverbial question: If he knew, then why didn’t he do something about it?

He wisely comments that “supporters of ORU need to know the President has integrity, is a solid thinker, can embrace a wide swath of evangelical America, and has a bold vision for the future … to the non-believing world, this just makes him sound weird – not the solid leader he needs to be in people’s minds.”

Read his complete commentary here.