Robert Tilton

==Life and career==
Robert Tilton was born in [[McKinney]], [[Texas]], on June 7, 1946. He attended [[North Central Texas College|Cooke County Junior College]] and [[Texas Tech University|Texas Technological University]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Balmer |first=Randall Herbert |date=2002 |title=Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&q=Robert+Tilton+born+mckinney&pg=PA578 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |page=578 |isbn=978-0-6642-2409-7 }}</ref> He married his first wife, Martha "Marte" Phillips, in 1968. According to his autobiographical materials, Tilton had a conversion experience to [[evangelical Christianity]] the following year<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://roberttiltonlive.com/about.html|title=Success N Life with Robert Tilton|website=roberttiltonlive.com|access-date=May 1, 2019}}</ref> and began his ministry in 1974, taking his family on the road to, in his words, "preach this gospel of [[Jesus]]."<ref name="pt" /> Tilton preached to small congregations and [[revival meeting|revivals]] throughout Texas and [[Oklahoma]].<ref name="prosperity">[http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/prosperity.htm "Prosperity and Healing: Is it Promised to the Believer?], Ken L. Sarles, retrieved June 11, 2006.</ref> His family settled in [[Dallas]] and built the Word of Faith Family Church, a small nondenominational [[charismatic movement|charismatic]] church in [[Farmers Branch, Texas|Farmers Branch]], in 1976.<ref name="prosperity" /> The church started a local television program then known as ''Daystar''.

Tilton's young church was growing steadily, but ''Daystar'' failed to expand beyond the Dallas area until Tilton traveled to [[Hawaii]] {{ndash}} his self-described version of [[Temptation of Christ|Jesus's forty days in the wilderness]]<ref name="baradell">"Robert Tilton's Heart of Darkness", Scott Baradell, first published in the ''Dallas Observer'' on February 6, 1992, p. 18; quoted in ''Christianity In Crisis'' by Hank Hanegraaff, Harvest House Publishers, 1993, p. 347.</ref> {{ndash}} and came upon an increasingly popular new form of television programming: the late-night [[infomercial]]. Tilton was particularly influenced by [[Dave Del Dotto]], a real estate promoter who hosted hour-long infomercials showing his glamorous life in Hawaii, as well as on-camera testimonials lauding his "[[get-rich-quick scheme|get rich quick]]" books.<ref name="baradell" /> Upon his return from Hawaii in 1981, Tilton, with the help of a US$1.3 million loan from Dallas banker Herman Beebe,<ref name="pt" /> revamped ''Daystar'' into an hour-long "religious infomercial" with the title ''Success-N-Life''.<ref name="baradell" />