For its 50th anniversary, Oral Roberts University (ORU) has winnowed 170 prospects for its next president down to one man.
William “Billy” Wilson, the 54-year-old director of the International Center for Spiritual Renewal and a leader of the Awakening America Alliance, will replace Mark Rutland at the helm of the Oklahoma school on July 1.
Charisma News has more details, including an interview with Wilson shortly before the official announcement was made. It notes that Wilson “served as the executive officer for the Azusa Street Centennial in 2006 in Los Angeles, where more than 50,000 people gathered from 106 nations of the world to celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Azusa Street Revival.”
CT has regularly reported on Oral Roberts University, including how $70 million and the Green family repaired the scandal-scarred school after previous president Richard Roberts was sued for fiscal and moral improprieties in 2007. A wrongful termination suit led to housecleaning and Roberts took a leave of absence, then resigned, and finallyseparated completely from the college so that Hobby Lobby founder Mart Green would bail it out from a financial crisis. Roberts later returned to fulltime ministry, and the college cut 100 jobs.
CT also noted Pentecostal evangelist Oral Roberts’ death at 91, interviewed outgoing president Mark Rutland on Oral Robert’s legacy, examined why the Oral Roberts obituaries are wrong, and offered its own obit of American’s original televangelist.
