CityPlex Towers
| CityPlex Towers | |
|---|---|
CityPlex Towers
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| Geography | |
| Location | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |
| Coordinates | 36°02′34″N 95°57′12″W / 36.04278°N 95.95333°WCoordinates: 36°02′34″N 95°57′12″W / 36.04278°N 95.95333°W |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Private |
| Hospital type | Community |
| Affiliated university | Oral Roberts University |
| History | |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Closed | 1989 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in Oklahoma |
CityPlex Towers is a complex of three high-rise office towers located at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The complex was originally constructed by Oral Roberts University as City of Faith Medical and Research Center and meant to be a major charismatic Christian hospital. The complex is now mostly office space.
Oral Roberts sojourned to California in 1977 after the death of his daughter and son-in-law, who were killed along with five other passengers in a small airplane crash. During the pilgrimage, Roberts had a religious vision that directed him to construct the City of Faith Medical and Research Center. The facility was conceived to serve as a nationally renowned healing and research and teaching facility for the medical faculty of the adjacent Oral Roberts University. The hospital was intended to combine the healing disciplines of modern medical science and faith healing where volunteer prayer partners would comfort the patients with prayers for healing. A gigantic bronze sculpture entitled "Praying Hands", representing the hands of science and faith clasped together in prayer, was erected at the entrance of the hospital.
Roberts encountered many obstacles during the construction of the City of Faith hospital which was constructed between 1979 and 1981, such as opposition by the Oklahoma health authorities who did not agree that the project was needed. They said that resources would be wasted as overhead increased caused by an abundance of empty beds, and that the hospital would divert medical staff leading to a shortage. Oklahoma City attorney Earl Sneed opposed the hospital as the facility offered a redundant service and skepticism with the discipline of faith healing.
Roberts struggled to find financial support during the early stages of planning. Roberts said that God gave him detailed instructions to realize the completion of City of Faith, and to reassure his partners of the completion of the hospital.
According to a fundraising letter, on May 25, 1980 Roberts prayed for guidance in front of the unfinished hospital. Roberts envisioned a 900-foot Jesus encouraged him to continue the project.Jesus said according to Roberts 'I told you I would speak to your 'partners', and through them I will build it'. Roberts described the vision: "when I opened my eyes, there He stood... some 900 feet tall, looking at me; His eyes.... Oh! His eyes! He stood a full 300 feet taller than the 600 foot tall City of Faith. However his opponents were skeptical and suggested that Roberts imagined the vision.
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Wikipedia