Business owner to help Christian school

    TULSA, Okla. — Oral Roberts University, the debt-ridden evangelical institution riven by scandal, has been handed a $70-million lifeline.

    Mart Green, founder of the Christian office and educational supply store chain Mardel, said Tuesday he would immediately give $8 million to the university, with the rest to come after a 60-to-90-day review of the university’s financial records.

    Green said his family must approve the financial review before the $62 million is given and is requesting at least two seats on the board of regents for his family members.

    ‘‘Let’s straighten the ship,’’ Green said, four days after the school’s president stepped down amid accusations that he misspent funds to support a lavish lifestyle. ‘‘Let’s get integrity. Let’s get trust built back and the rest will go away.’’

    Green said he has not attended the university and had no ties to the Oral Roberts family.

    The pledge came on the same day the university’s regents said they planned to separate the finances and leadership of the university from the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association.

    The association is a nonprofit ministry that produces television and radio programs, including ‘‘The Hour of Healing,’’ among its many outreaches, according to its Web site.

    The university has been under the ministry since its inception in 1963. Critics say that led to co-mingled funds and blurred leadership roles.

    Last week, university president Richard Roberts, the son of the school’s founder and namesake, resigned. He will remain chairman of the association and will live in his university-owned home near campus for the time being, George Pearsons, the regents’ chairman, said.

    Roberts and his father will remain ‘‘spiritual regents,’’ who cannot vote on university matters. Richard Roberts’ wife, Lindsay Roberts, stepped down as a regent a month ago, Pearsons said.