City of Faith Timeline:

January 1978: Oral Roberts breaks ground on his proposed health center, declaring it will be built debt-free and have 777 beds by 1988.

Nov. 2, 1981: 12,000 people gather at the Mabee Center for an official dedication of the 30-story hospital, which Oral Roberts says is debt-free.

A 60-story clinic adjacent to the hospital opened five months earlier.

Feb. 25, 1982: Oral Roberts announces at a rare news conference that contributions to his ministry have dwindled since the hospital’s opening. The ministry needs $8 million a month, and Oral Roberts University needs $2 million a month to stay afloat.

March 5, 1982: ORU and the hospital will close “unless we receive a miracle,” Roberts says in a four-page fund-raising letter. The letter says the devil declared “all-out war” against the ministry since City of Faith opened.

April 6, 1982: Roberts serves as chaplain of the day for the state Senate and announces his fundraising letter prompted $14 million in donations in one month.

July 7, 1982: About 12 percent of the hospital’s 800 employees will be laid off or reassigned due to low occupancy. The hospital is approved for 294 beds — far less than the 777 sought — but daily occupancy averaged less than 50 patients.

November 1982: At its one-year anniversary, the City of Faith is operating at what its chief executive officer calls “a considerable loss.” Sixty percent of admissions are from outside Oklahoma.

January 1983: Roberts mails a 12-page appeal to about 1 million of his “prayer partners,” asking each to send $240 to help his 20-story research center find a cure for cancer.He quotes God as saying, “Tell them this is not Oral Roberts asking, but their Lord.”

August 1983: City of Faith’s request to handle emergency cases is denied by a Tulsa board.

May 1984: Layoffs claim 334 employees of the ministry, including a quarter of the hospital’s 907 employees. In addition, ORU employees will be furloughed one day a week for two months.

July 1984: Still plagued by low occupancy, the hospital announces it will begin taking indigent patients. Roberts says the idea came in a visit by Jesus and an angel to Roberts’ hospital room after surgery for nasal polyps.

November 1984: A City of Faith spokesman says the hospital needs more beds.

January 1985: Roberts announces plans for a $14.4 million, 300,000-square-foot healing center next to the City of Faith complex.

August 1986: Several doctors refuse to sign a new contract calling for pay cuts of up to 10 percent.

1986: Hospital administrator Stephanie Cantees spearheads a plan to offer free airfare anywhere within the continental U.S. to patients requiring an in-patient stay. By year’s end, 347 patients have taken advantage, and the program is hailed for helping the hospital break even financially for the first time.

1987: Richard Roberts becomes chief executive officer at City of Faith after the hospital’s top management quits.

January 1987: Oral Roberts tells his television audience that he will not “be on this Earth much longer” unless he raises $4.5 million to save City of Faith. Donations exceed the requested amount. A Florida dog-racing track owner gives $1.3 million.

May 1989: Another “life-or-death” fundraising campaign nets the $11 million Oral Roberts said was needed to keep the medical complex open.

Sept. 13, 1989: The City of Faith will close, and the homes of Oral and Richard Roberts will be sold, to help make up a $25 million deficit, Oral Roberts announces.

Oct. 16, 1989: Hospital’s last patient leaves.

Cityplex Towers

Today, the City of Faith Medical and Research Center name has changed to Cityplex Towers.

COF October 1978

COF June 1979 Construction