User:Beirne/ref sandbox

Career
Richard Roberts was born on November 12, 1948. Was liked sports, learning to play golf at six and was a skeet shooter by the age of ten.

When young Roberts had no interest in working with his father's ministry. He had to defend it against the jibes of other teenagers in his class, but was not seriously affected by them. While he rebelled, he did not have serious doubts about his father's ministry or about his Christian faith.

Richard was an average student in high school, and longing to be a "regular person", he distanced himself from his family and became a singer in a rock band, secretly playing in dances as he was forbidden to dance by his parents. He avoided singing in his father's crusades and resented pressure He did, though, play basketball and golf with his father and went hunting and fishing with him.

After high school Richard went to the University of Kansas rather than Oral Roberts University. This disappointed his father Oral, who considered forcing Richard to go to ORU but Evelyn convinced him that forcing Richard to go to ORU would keep him from becoming a good student.

While in Kansas Richard sang in coffee houses and nightclubs and at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. His grades were poor, though, and at the end his first year he transferred to Oral Roberts University.

Roberts started on his father's show as director of the World Action Singers from 1969 to 1973. In 1973 he became president of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, although in the early days the role was only titular.