Oretha Rooker

Life

Oretha Rooker was born on November 2, 1918, in a rural community in Collin County, Texas. Her parents were Elbert Harvey Rooker and Savannah Elizabeth McCormick Rooker.

On November 25, 1938, she married Kenneth Hagin, a young preacher who was also from Texas. After her marriage she became widely known as Oretha Hagin. The couple had a son, Kenneth W. Hagin, and a daughter, Pat Harrison. Their son Kenneth W. Hagin later succeeded his father in the ministry. Her husband preceded her in death in 2003. Oretha died on June 28, 2007, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 88, and was buried in a cemetery in Broken Arrow, near Tulsa.

Ministry and Work

Oretha remained at the side of her husband, Kenneth Hagin, as he moved from pastoring local churches to itinerant preaching across the country, and later to leading a ministry organization based in Tulsa. Kenneth Hagin taught that when believers verbally confess their faith, God's promises are fulfilled in their lives. On the strength of this teaching, he became a leading figure in the Word of Faith movement, and in 1974 he founded Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa to train pastors and ministers. Oretha is known as a partner who helped support this ministry. However, little verifiable information is available about the specific positions or roles she held within the organization. At her death, her family asked that memorial gifts be made to Kenneth Hagin Ministries in lieu of flowers.

Influence on the Korean Church

No record has been found of Oretha Rooker personally having direct contact with Korean churches. The influence on the Korean church came instead from her husband's teaching. Kenneth Hagin's books were translated into Korean, and his teaching became known in Korean Pentecostal and charismatic churches through sermons and discussions concerning positive confession, faith and healing, and material blessing.

Assessment

Few independent assessments of Oretha exist; she is remembered chiefly as Kenneth Hagin's longtime partner in ministry. Opinions on the Word of Faith movement in which she took part are divided. Supporters hold that believers can enjoy healing and prosperity by believing and confessing the promises of Scripture, and they credit the movement with giving many believers assurance of faith. By contrast, a number of evangelical theologians and critics argue that this teaching treats faith as a means of obtaining desired outcomes and minimizes the meaning of suffering. Some of them also group the movement with prosperity theology in raising their concerns. Certain critics point out that Kenneth Hagin's teaching draws heavily on the ideas of an earlier preacher, E. W. Kenyon. These criticisms are directed mainly at Kenneth Hagin's teaching rather than at Oretha personally.