ROBERT TILTON, Robert Tilton Ministries- The Pastor
On March 7, 1976, Bob preached his first sermon to a congregation of seven which included Marte and their two children. Each Sunday morning, when there appeared to be no other cars turning into the parking lot, Bob would simply pray, "Thank you, Father, that this church is growing according to Acts 13:44, and almost everyone in town will come."
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ROBERT TILTON - The Story of his Success in Life Program!
One July evening in 1969, two young men and a woman came to the Tiltons' home and asked to talk to them about Jesus. "We didn't have anything to lose." Bob explains. "By that time, one more weirdo couldn't make much difference. Our neighbors certainly must have thought we were weird so why shouldn't everybody feel right at home?"
Bob invited them in and they sat on the floor and began talking about Jesus Christ. One man read from Matthew 4:18--22 where Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be "fishers of men." The Scripture evoked memories of Bob's adolescence. Some ser-mons stirred him so much that he would want to run down to the altar and give his life to the Lord.
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About Robert Tilton
Before long, many more people, if not all the town, were coming to Word of Faith Family Church. The little congre-gation grew quickly and soon needed another building. After several months of searching, they leased a run-down ware-house on Interstate 35 on the west side of town.
The congregation sweltered through a few July Sundays and then pleaded for air condition-ing. The ductwork alone would have cost $400 which the church didn't have. Bob did some "horse trading" to get an air conditioner. He and Marte, along with some dedicated parishioners, did much of the work.
They had been in that building, which they hoped to buy, about three months when the bank told them it would not sell them the building. Also, the city had refused them certain services because of inadequate parking spaces. The city code required 100 but the church had only 12.
Bob attended his first Farmers Branch City Council meeting and suc-cessfully pressed his petition to delay fulfill-ment of the parking space requirements. From then on, he made a point of attending those meetings regularly.
What with building permits and zoning ordinances, Tilton's church was always needing something-and usually getting it. A standing joke among council members was that they ought to petition Tilton to promise not to change the name of the town.
Eventually the bank sold them the building but they could not buy adjoin-ing parcels for expansion.
A better piece of property with better options turned up. It is the site of the present sanctuary at the junction of 1-35 and LBJ Freeway. Formal groundbreaking took place in the summer of 1979.
Word of Faith Family Church members, number-ing about 1,500 then, wanted to see a church go up after the ground was broken. "We believe in digging a hole and letting god fill it up," Bob says. "We had to pour 69 piers 24 feet deep and 40 inches in diameter before we could ever set a concrete slab on top of it. The peo-ple kept looking for a building. They didn't know that we had poured $60,000 into the holes."
Marte says, "Each new step taken in this ministry has required Bob and me to count the cost again. The cost is our total commitment, spiritu-ally, mentally, physically, and materially." In order to help the church materi-ally, the Tiltons again sold their house and gave the proceeds into the building of God's house.
While an impatient congregation and derisive observers criticized the slow progress of the build-ing, the ministry of Word of Faith World Outreach Center was flourishing. Bob's reputation as a motivator grew rapidly also and he was in demand to preach in many other ministries. He also .had a radio program and appeared weekly on television.
He had also begun a program of monthly three-day seminars in which nationally known preachers, evangelists, and musicians would come to minister at Word of Faith.
And he continued to pray over the "vacant lot" with its $60,000 holes in the ground. As he prayed, the "ribs" of the building appeared and then he prayed over those "dry bones" which soon took on the look and life of a church building.
Word of Faith Family Church Garden Sanctuary
After more than $4 million and 18 months, the Word of Faith Family Church Garden Sanctuary was occupied in October 1980 by a membership that had swelled to 2,000.
On a visit to Portsmouth, Virginia, for a radio rally, Bob toured the Christian Broadcasting Network facilities and caught fire with a new inspiration. Immediately he prayed, "God, I know CBN is reaching people for You. I also believe that if You would do this for these folks, I believe You'll do the same thing for Marte and me."
By the time he got home from Virginia, Bob had his heart set on doing a live, daily teach-ing television program. Again, the problem was funds to get the project going. To start with, they needed about $350,000 worth of television equip-ment for a telecast from the church. Among other things, they needed a minimum of three cameras. Next was a per-mit and Federal Communications Commis-sion (FCC) approval microwave lines or trans-mission pathways, airtime - the list was long. Bob was determined there was a way even when he couldn't see one because he knew God would make a way.
After a lot of nego-tiating, trials, failures, and ultimate success, every-thing came together for the program to start on schedule, February 16, 1981. Daystar, a one-hour daily television Christian talk show featuring Bob and Marte Tilton, was born. In the same time slot on Saturdays, WOF produced a network Chris-tian program for children called Rise 'N Shine.
But Robert Tilton never leans back to rest after an accomplishment. He usually has another project going long before the finishing touches go on the last one. Usually God gives him a vision.
Senior Associate Pastor AI Brice relates the story of how the television ministry evolved. "Bob called me into his office and told me about a vision. He was in his office study one night, praying and he saw a satellite just raining the Word of God down from the heaven, all over the land. God showed him how he could share the monthly seminars with smaller churches who would never attract nationally known speakers by televising them live by satellite and beaming them to churches who would get satellite dishes."
Starting with 150 churches the Satellite Seminars began in Sep-tember 1982. To that was added the Bible School, and, by the spring of 1986 when the program had run its course, almost 2,000 churches had enrolled.