Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church from 1936 until his transfer to the United Methodist church in 1968, a controversial relationship that ended in 1987 when his credentials were revoked. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

One of the most well-known and controversial American religious leaders of the 20th century, his preaching emphasized seed-faith. His ministries reached millions of followers worldwide spanning a period of over six decades. His healing ministry and his bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream had the most impact, but he also pioneered televangelism, and laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel and abundant life teachings. The breadth and style of his ministry, including his widely publicized funding appeals, made him a consistent subject of contention among critics and supporters.

Roberts was born on January 24, 1918, in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, the fifth and youngest child of the Reverend Ellis Melvin Roberts (1881–1967) and Claudius Priscilla Roberts (née Irwin) (1885–1974). In an interview on Larry King Live, Roberts claimed his mother was of Cherokee descent. Roberts also claimed Choctaw heritage. Roberts began life in poverty, and nearly died of tuberculosis when he was 17. After finishing high school, Roberts studied for two years each at Oklahoma Baptist University and Phillips University. In 1938, he married a preacher's daughter, Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock.

Roberts became a traveling faith healer after ending his college studies without a degree. According to a TIME Magazine profile of 1972, Roberts originally made a name for himself with a large mobile tent "that sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs".

In 1945, Roberts resigned from his pastorate in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to hold revivals in the area and attend Oklahoma Baptist. But in the late summer of 1945, while preaching in a North Carolina camp meeting, Roberts was asked by Robert E. "Daddy" Lee of Toccoa, Georgia, to consider becoming pastor of his small, eighty-member church. Roberts suggested they pray about it, and unexpectedly, decided to accept. By the end of the year, Roberts had resigned and moved back to Shawnee. Apparently, the Georgia conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church frowned on having a minister from outside its conference as a pastor. Short though it was, the Toccoa detour had a lasting effect on Roberts and his family. It was there that their daughter Rebecca, then five years old, first met her future husband, Marshall. There were also reportedly two instances of healing, which Roberts would later look back on as his first realization "that I was approaching 'my hour'."

Until 1947, Roberts struggled as a part-time preacher in Oklahoma, but when he was 29, Roberts said he picked up his Bible and it fell open at the Third Epistle of John, where he read verse 2: "I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." The next day, he said, he bought a Buick and God appeared, directing him to heal the sick.

Roberts resigned his pastoral ministry with the Pentecostal Holiness Church to found Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA). He conducted evangelistic and faith healing drives across the United States and around the world, claiming he could raise the dead. In November 1947, he started Healing Waters, a monthly magazine as a means to promote his meetings. Thousands of sick people waited in line to stand before Oral Roberts so he could pray for them. He appeared as a guest speaker for hundreds of national and international meetings and conventions. Through the years, he conducted more than 300 "crusades" on six continents, and personally laid hands in prayer on more than 2 million people.

In January 1955, Oral Roberts held a "salvation and healing" campaign in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was an era of apartheid. He was bitterly assailed by the Sunday Express for the hysteria and traffic jams of 20,000 people that packed big Wembley stadium and playing field. Other newspapers reported on the healings and 25,000 people saved. Roberts left behind a residual campaign fund in South Africa of $37,000 less expenses, with the hope that "his campaign will save 100,000 during the coming year". Three of the four sponsoring churches were Pentecostal, including Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) and the Assemblies of God – White Group (AG). The campaign committee consisted entirely of white Afrikaner missionaries and ministers, H.R. Carter, D.D. Freeman, A.J. Schoeman (head of AFM), and W.F. Mullan (head of AG). The campaign committee had plans to use the Oral Roberts' 100,000 Souls for Africa Campaign residual fund to hold revivals in 1955 to win souls for Christ, both Afrikaners (white) and Africans (black). The campaign committee sponsored a young evangelist from the U.S.A. Emanuele Cannistraci, and paid for his revivals in Johannesburg at the Fairview Assemblies Hall and a portion of Bethshan Tabernacle's costs for Cannistraci's revival in Durban South Africa, a congregation of mixed race. Cannistraci's photos, including his claims of healing two deaf and dumb brothers during the revival, were published in Oral Roberts' America's Healing Magazine.