Lester Roloff
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Lester Leo Roloff (born June 28, 1914 - Dawson, Texas of German descent, died November 2, 1982) was a fundamentalist Baptist preacher, storyteller, and author.
Roloff is known for:
- The youth homes he established for juvenile delinquents and the strict discipline practiced there, which many critics regard as child abuse. 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.
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[edit] 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 Baylor after criticizing their decision to award an honorary doctorate degree to President Harry S. Truman.
[edit] 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, once referring to himself as "God's PA system." His increasingly strong stands led to his isolation from most of his Southern Baptist brethren. Roloff returned to pastoral ministry establishing the Alameda Street Baptist Church in Corpus Christi in 1954.
[edit] The Roloff Homes
Increasingly distanced from mainline Southern Baptists because of his strict standards, Roloff began actively ministering to alcoholic and homeless men. His first mission house was established in Corpus Christi in 1954. Additional children's homes were eventually added throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Georgia. The first Roloff home for females, The Rebekah Home for Girls, was established in 1968.
Life as a ward of one of Roloff's homes was reportedly very tightly regulated and monitored, The only literature permitted to those living in the Roloff homes was the King James Version of the Bible. Television was absolutely forbidden, and only one hour of radio per day was permitted - some say mandated - to listen to Roloff's radio sermons. Daily church attendance was compulsory and strictly enforced; each Roloff home had its own church and pastor on the grounds. Other polocies included windows being locked and alarm systems in order to prevent any truancy or escape. Thus, all contact with the outside world was severed except for one monitored phone call a month with parents only. In addition, each "dorm room" had an intercom and loudspeaker so sermons could be piped in, and wardens could listen in, 24 hours a day.
At Roloff's City of Refuge in Frederick, Oklahoma, boys as young as 12 were reportedly made to pick cotton in the surrounding fields starting at 5am and working until sundown without even using work gloves. Twice a year, they were loaded onto pickup trucks and taken to McAllen, Texas, where Roloff's orange groves were located. The boys then had to irrigate and pick the oranges.
The Texas Attorney General's office began investigating reports of violent beatings, starvation, and torture at the Roloff Homes in 1971. Roloff denied the charges. The accusations were made by the girls at the homes. In spite of several trials, only one Roloff staffer was found guilty of child abuse, and this only happened after Roloff's death.
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, the People's Baptist Church, forcing the state to sue the "new" owners, and keeping the homes running. The Attorney General refiled the case, forcing an injunction that effectively shut the homes down. In 1975, the State of Texas passed laws that required licensing of youth homes. Roloff was arrested twice for refusing to comply with this law.
In 1979 an incident that became known as the "Christian Alamo", occurred as Roloff urged churches and pastors across America who supported the Children's homes to come to Corpus Christi and form a human chain around the church to prevent the Department of Human Resources from removing children from the homes whose parents and, in many cases, juvenile court judges, had placed in the homes as because they felt there was little hope for them elsewhere. 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 children bussed to other Roloff homes outside the state. More legal battles with the state of Texas continued and the homes were re-opened temporarily.
[edit] 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 God's supernatural deliverance. On November 2, 1982, Roloff's plane crashed in a storm outside Normangee, Texas, killing Roloff and one female staff member and a ladies singing trio from the home for adult women. The wreckage of his crashed airplane is the centerpiece of Roloff Park at Hyles-Anderson College in Crown Point, Indiana.
[edit] 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 libbing 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, and would occasionally break into impromptu singing of hymns and/or leading his choir to sing along. The Family Altar program begins and ends with a recording of Roloff singing "The Stranger Who Sat By The Sea" accompanied only by an electronic organ.
[edit] Roloff's Legacy
Roloff is cited as a major influence on both the Christian fundamentalist homeschooling and youth boot camp movements. His final recorded sermon was preached at Tennessee Temple University and is entitled "Hills that a' Help". It is regarded as a classic by his supporters.
