Lester Roloff

Lester Roloff (born June 28, 1914 - Dawson, Texas, died November 2, 1982 - Normangee, Texas) was a fundamentalist Baptist preacher and author.

Roloff is known for:

The youth homes he established for juvenile delinquents and the strict Biblical discipline practiced there. Roloff waged numerous battles with Texas state authorities over his disciplinary practices.

His advocacy of a strict all-natural diet and a rejection of processed foods, as expressed in his 1955 pamphlet Food, Fasting and Faith.

His radio program "The Family Altar", aired on numerous radio stations to this day, decades after his death.

Contents

5 The Family Altar Program

6 Roloff's Legacy

7 External Links

Early Ministry

Roloff began preaching at age eighteen. He attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and later Baylor University. He is reported to have brought his dairy cow with him to Baylor to raise tuition funds through the sale of its milk.

After graduation, Roloff began preaching at small country churches in southern Texas, before taking on pastoral duties at churches in Houston and later Corpus Christi. It was in Corpus Christi in 1944, that Roloff began his radio show, The Family Altar.

Roloff would later fall out of favor with his alma mater after criticizing their decision to award an honorary doctorate degree to President Harry Truman.

Ministry Expands

In 1950 Roloff was called upon to fill in as preacher at a series of revival meetings in Corpus Christi after the scheduled speaker, B. B. Crim died. The enthusiastic reaction to Roloff's preaching led him to resign his pastorate and pursue full-time evangelism. Roloff's Evengelistic Enterprise was incorporated the following year.

Roloff preached stridently against Communism, television, alcohol, tobacco, and psychology. In 1954 he began utilizing a loud speaker equipped van to preach. Roloff refused to lower the volume even after complaints from citizens got the attention of the local police. It would be the first of numerous confrontations with law enforcement. His increasingly confrontational behavior led to his isolation from most of his Southern Baptist brethren. As invitations to lead revival meetings dwindled, Roloff returned to pastoral ministry, establishing the Alameda Street Baptist Church in Corpus Christi in 1954.

The Roloff Homes

Increasingly distanced from mainline Southern Baptists, Roloff began actively ministering to alcoholic and homeless men. His first mission house was established in Corpus Christi in 1954. Additional mission homes were added throughout Texas and later in Georgia. The first Roloff Home for females, The Rebekah Home for Girls, was established in 1968. The successes of the Roloff Homes in getting criminals and addicts reformed attracted initially favorable attention to Roloff's ministry. Many former residents of the homes went on into ministry themselves. Soon, however, troubling allegations of abuse and torture began to emerge.

The Texas Attorney General's office began investigating reports of violent beatings, starvation, and torture at the Roloff Homes in 1971. Roloff did not deny the charges, stating that the Bible called for strict discipline. Some of the homes were temporarily closed in 1973, but re-opened the following year after Roloff successfully appealed to the Texas Supreme Court. Roloff at one point transferred ownership of the homes from Roloff Evangelistic Enterprises to his church, forcing Texas to re-file the charges against the homes. In 1975, the State of Texas passed laws that required licensing of youth homes. Roloff was arrested twice for refusing to comply. One such incident became known as the "Christian Alamo", as Roloff urged his followers to surround his compound to prevent his arrest. In 1976, the homes were again closed, then re-opened while Roloff appealed the law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled against Roloff, and the homes were again scheduled to close in 1979. Just before the law was to take effect, Roloff had all of the residents of the Texas homes bussed to other Roloff properties outside the state. More legal battles with the state of Texas continued and the homes in that state again re-opened temporarily.

Roloff Dies

Roloff had always had a fascination with flight. He purchased his first airplane in 1954, and used it to travel between his various homes throughout the country. His sermons were often filled with details of near-disasters in the air. On November 2, 1982, Roloff's plane crashed in a storm outside Normangee, Texas, killing Roloff and four female staff members. The legal battles and allegations of abuse at Roloff homes continue to this day.

The Family Altar Program

Roloff's show continues on the air to this day with recordings of his sermons aired in both 15 and 30 minute programs. Roloff was posthumously inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1993. After breaking with the Southern Baptists in 1956 over a speech criticizing denominationalism, Roloff became a King James Only Independent Baptist. His use of the KJV did not prevent Roloff from reading the stories of the Bible in the style of a modern storyteller, ad libing voices and additional dialog for the Biblical characters. Roloff employed a finely honed sense of drama and his fire and brimstone style was punctuated with sudden shifts in modulation. Roloff also incorporated singing into his sermons. The Family Altar program begins and ends with Roloff singing "The Stranger Who Sat By The Sea".

Roloff's Legacy

Roloff is cited as a major influence on both the homeschooling and youth boot camp movements. Many of the Christian reform schools that came after have also been accused of using torture and brainwashing techniques.