T.L Osborn Biography

Thomas Lee “T.L.” Osborn (1923–2013) was an American Christian evangelist, missionary, teacher, author, and publisher whose ministry focused on taking the Gospel to people around the world. Together with his wife and ministry partner, Daisy Washburn Osborn, he spent decades preaching in evangelistic campaigns, teaching on faith and divine healing, and developing materials for Christian workers. Their ministry became known for large public evangelistic meetings, missionary outreach, Christian literature, and the use of film and other media to communicate the Gospel. LivingSermons preserves selected messages from T.L. Osborn as digital books so that his teachings can remain available for reading, study, and future generations.

Early Life and Background

T.L. Osborn was born on December 23, 1923, in Oklahoma, United States. Osborn Ministries International describes him as being born into a poor farm family and as one of thirteen children.

From an early age, Osborn was involved in Christian ministry and evangelistic work. His early experiences helped shape the missionary focus that became a major part of his life.

He also developed an interest in music. This became another part of his ministry work, alongside preaching, teaching, writing, and evangelism.

Call to Ministry

As a young man, Osborn began traveling with an evangelist and taking part in Christian meetings. His early ministry involved preaching the Gospel and helping organize evangelistic meetings.

In 1942, he married Daisy Washburn. The two would become lifelong ministry partners and would work together in evangelism and missions for many decades.

The Osborns served as pastors and evangelists before beginning international missionary work. Archival records show that they were sent as missionaries to India in 1945. Their early missionary experience became an important part of the development of their later worldwide evangelistic ministry.

Their first years of missionary work also exposed them to the challenges of communicating the Gospel across cultures. Over time, they developed an approach that placed strong emphasis on public evangelism, faith in Christ, and prayer for the sick.

Ministry and Work

T.L. and Daisy Osborn established their ministry headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1949. Their ministry developed into Osborn Ministries International, a world evangelism and missionary organization.

A central feature of Osborn’s ministry was large-scale public evangelism. Rather than limiting evangelistic work to church buildings, the Osborns often held meetings in open fields, parks, and other public spaces, particularly in nations where large numbers of people had not been reached with the Gospel.

His preaching combined a clear call to faith in Jesus Christ with teaching on divine healing. Prayer for the sick became a regular part of his evangelistic meetings.

Osborn Ministries International also developed materials designed to help Christian workers continue evangelistic work after the Osborns had left an area. These included books, films, recordings, Bible teaching materials, and other resources.

The ministry’s archives describe work across many nations and the development of evangelistic resources in numerous languages. These materials were intended not only for large crusades but also for local pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers.

Teaching and Ministry Focus

Evangelism was at the center of T.L. Osborn’s ministry.

His teaching repeatedly emphasized the Gospel of Jesus Christ, faith, salvation, divine healing, soulwinning, and the responsibility of Christians to reach others.

Divine healing was another major theme. His ministry taught that healing was part of the Gospel message and encouraged Christians to pray for the sick.

Osborn also emphasized practical evangelism. His approach was not simply to preach to large crowds but to equip local Christian workers to continue reaching their own communities.

The Oral Roberts University archive preserves a 1982 interview with Osborn in which he discussed his life, ministry around the world, theology of healing, and relationships with other figures in the Pentecostal and healing movements.

Major Contributions

One of T.L. Osborn’s major contributions was his use of mass evangelism as a missionary strategy. His ministry held large public meetings in many nations and combined preaching with prayer for the sick and opportunities for people to respond to the Gospel.

Another important contribution was the development of evangelistic resources for use beyond the meetings themselves.

Osborn Ministries produced books, audio recordings, films, and teaching materials that could be distributed to Christian workers. Its DocuMiracle films documented evangelistic meetings and testimonies and were translated and distributed internationally.

The Osborn ministry also supported national Christian workers who could continue evangelistic work within their own countries and communities.

Archival records at Oral Roberts University preserve a substantial collection of T.L. and Daisy Osborn’s recorded messages, lessons, publications, photographs, mission reports, and other historical materials. This collection provides an important record of their twentieth-century evangelistic work.

Published Works

Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page are Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These titles cover many of the central themes found throughout his teaching ministry.

T.L. Osborn was a prolific Christian writer.

His best-known book is Healing the Sick, first published in 1951. The book became closely associated with his teaching on divine healing and remains one of the central publications of his ministry.

Other works associated with T.L. Osborn include:

Discover All T.L Osborn’s Book →

His ministry also produced Bible study materials, evangelistic resources, audio recordings, films, and other teaching publications.

Because his written and recorded ministry was extensive, this biography does not attempt to provide a complete bibliography.

Legacy and Influence

T.L. Osborn died on February 14, 2013, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

His ministry left behind a large body of Christian literature, recorded messages, films, photographs, mission reports, and other historical materials. The Thomas Lee Osborn Collection preserved by Oral Roberts University contains records of his ministry and the work he carried out with Daisy Osborn.

The continuing work of Osborn Ministries International also preserves and distributes many of the teachings and resources developed during their ministry.

His best-known themes—evangelism, faith in Christ, divine healing, soulwinning, and the responsibility of Christians to reach the unreached—remain visible throughout the Osborn ministry archive.

For LivingSermons, T.L. Osborn is particularly significant because many of his sermons and teachings exist in recorded form and can be preserved as written digital books. Converting these spoken messages into readable documents provides another way for students of Christian ministry and future generations to access his teaching.

The T.L. Osborn Archive at LivingSermons

LivingSermons is preserving available messages from T.L. Osborn as professionally prepared digital books.

The LivingSermons archive already contains a growing collection of his teachings, including Anointed and Appointed for Action, The Miracle Life Seminar, Healing the Sick, and several parts of Soul Winning.

These publications form part of the growing LivingSermons archive of Christian messages preserved for readers today and generations to come.

Explore T.L. Osborn’s Messages →

About LivingSermons

LivingSermons is a Christian digital publishing and archival organization dedicated to preserving Christian messages for generations.

The LivingSermons editorial process faithfully transcribes spoken messages, professionally refines the written presentation, and prepares authorized messages as digital books.

We refine the presentation without changing the message.

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