Pastor Lee Roberson
By David J. Stewart | March 2005 | Updated
June 2021
The
beloved Dr. Lee Roberson (1909-2007) believed that the
King James Bible is inspired. In his sermon,
HAVE FAITH IN GOD, he made the following statement concerning his
text verse, Mark 11:22,
“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God”...
“Whether in sunshine
or rain, it will help us to have these inspired words before us: HAVE
FAITH IN GOD.”
—Dr. Roberson
Pastor Roberson referred to the King James
Bible as “these inspired words.” Amen. There are some preachers today who
deny the inspiration of our precious King James Bible. It is apostasy. Thank
God for Dr. Roberson's faith in the King James Bible as God's inspired,
inerrant, infallible, impeccable and preserved, very pure, Words of God. END
Pastor Lee Roberson
Born: November 24, 1909
Graduated to Heaven: April 29, 2007
Dr. Lee Roberson is known and respected for the more
than 40 years he was greatly used of God as pastor of Highland Park Baptist
Church and president and chancellor of Tennessee Temple Schools in
Chattanooga, TN.
He was born near English, IN on November 24, 1909. The family soon moved to
Louisville, KY where he graduated from the University of Louisville and then
finished his degree at Southern Baptist Seminary. When Lee was 14 he
attended Sunday School, and there Mrs. Daisy Hawes gave the gospel to the
boys. Two weeks later he received Christ as his Savior!
At age 18, God called him into full-time service. He served as pastor in
Germantown, TN; Temple Baptist Church in Green Brier, TN; and First Baptist
Church of Fairfield, AL before becoming pastor of Highland Park Baptist
Church in 1942. During the time of pastoring in Green Brier he met with a
famous music professor at the Nashville Conservatory of Music, Gaetano
Salvatore de Luca. When Professor de Luca heard Dr. Roberson sing, he
offered him music lessons and a contract; however, Lee decided not to
accept, convinced that pursuit of a music career was not God’s call upon his
life.
While in evangelistic ministry in Birmingham, AL, he met Caroline Allen and
they were married October 9, 1937. They had four children: Lee Anne, Joy,
John and June. Baby Joy was just nine weeks old when she suddenly passed
away (in 1946). That heartbreaking time for Dr. and Mrs. Roberson led to his
taking Romans 8:28 as his life verse and became the inspiration for
establishing Camp Joy. Highland Park Baptist began providing free camp for
boys and girls. As many as three thousand would attend each summer, and
through the years many thousands were saved. The theme for the camp was
“Where Boys and Girls Begin to Live.”
On July 3, 1946, Highland Park voted unanimously to begin a school to train
preachers. Tennessee Temple Schools had begun.
He served as pastor of Highland Park until April of 1983, thus completing
more than 40 years as its spiritual leader. Dr. and Mrs. Roberson then
traveled to churches around America until her death in 2005.
An email with the subject, “Dr. Lee Roberson, home with the Lord” was sent
by his son John. “This morning, April 29, at 4:45 a.m., my dad, Dr. Lee
Roberson went home to be with his Lord and Savior.”
This man of impeccable character, strong convictions and powerful preaching
became a model for Christians everywhere. To God be the glory!
READ MORE
Tennessee Temple University
Shuts It's Doors, Closing Down!
By David J. Stewart | March
2015
It didn't come as a surprise to me in March of 2015 to learn from the
newsmedia that Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, TN, went belly up
and is closing their doors. When Dr. Lee Roberson (the faithful and
longtime pastor of the Highland Park Baptist Church) stepped aside after 40-years, the church and college forgot about him
for the remaining two decades of his life. The dear
man of God who'd been responsible for sending over 500 missionaries from
Tennessee Temple University throughout the world to foreign soil was now a
mere memory at the Bible College that he once built.
Dr. Roberson later admitted to Dr. Jack Hyles
that the mistake he made was hiring outsiders, graduates from other Bible
colleges, who didn't have the respect for Brother Roberson that his own
Tennessee Temple graduates did have. So when Dr. Roberson stepped aside after
over 40-years of pastoring the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga,
they moved on without him. There is no loyalty these days in our churches
for the man of God. There is nothing more important than loyalty to God and
his man. As World War II General George Patton said, “Either lead me, follow
me, or get out of my way!” Dr. Roberson was a leader, getting the job done
while others were saying it was impossible to achieve.
The world has all the wrong heroes today. My
heroes are the wildfire preachers who say it like it needs to be said, doing
the dirty work for God, letting God accomplish something through them. You
can have all the compromisers, pussyfooters, backscratchers, milquetoast and
watered-down, preacherettes who refuse to take a stand for God because it
might offend someone. Offend them! The average pastor today decides how big
of a congregation he wants to have and then adjusts his preaching
accordingly. How pathetic! I'm going to preach the truth and if no one is
left, let it be so! Amen! Truly, the love of money is the root of all evil.
Ironically, the Bible colleges that compromise in order to increase
enrollment are dying. No young person wants to be a part of something that
is dying or dead. Without a man of God who is willing to offend, rock the
boat, set the trend and lead the way, people will only go in circles like
the Hebrews wandering in the Wilderness. We need preaching men of God, not
religious leaders!
I remember at the time being a student at
Hyles-Anderson College (1985-1993), where we honored the man of God Brother Roberson.
Dr. Hyles had Brother Roberson escorted from and to the airport in a fancy
limousine. Literally, a red carpet was rolled out for the man of God at HAC.
Thousands of HAC students, including me, cheered Brother Roberson as he
cried in appreciation. The lights were dimmed, confetti was released into
the auditorium. A soloist gentleman eloquently sang the song, “The
Impossible Dream.” Testimonies were given in honor of Brother Roberson. We
all cried. And then the faithful man of God preached to us about having
faith in God.
Shame on Tennessee Temple for not doing the
same for their chancellor. When Brother Roberson was in the pulpit,
Tennessee Temple University had an enrolment of over 4,000 students, but
today decades after forsaking the man of God, they only had 400 students
enroll in 2013. It doesn't surprise me that Tennessee Temple is
now shutting it's doors, going belly-up like a dead fish. They forgot about Dr. Roberson. No red carpets were
rolled out. No special treatment or proper recognition was given by his own
church to this unmovable,
dedicated and faithful man of God, who stood the test of time. Dr. Roberson
was a builder of dreams, achieving what others said was impossible, and he
worked hard to make dreams become a reality for tens-of-thousands of
children, adults and their loved ones in the Lord. Thank God for Dr. Lee
Roberson (2009-2007). END
A brief summary by J. R. Faulkner from
"Get a Glimpse of
the World's Largest Church" — 1973
Dr. Lee Roberson, loyal pastor of the Highland Park
Baptist Church, and founder and president of Tennessee Temple Schools in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, is world-renowned in religious circles. He was born
in a two-room log cabin on November 24, 1909, and spent his first two years
on a farm near English, Indiana, a small town in the southern part of the
state. In 1911, his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Charles E. Roberson, took him to a
farm near Louisville, Kentucky, where his father farmed, worked on
streetcars, and built homes to make a living. At the age of fourteen, he
was led to the Lord by his faithful Sunday School teacher, Mrs. Daisy Hawes,
and joined the Cedar Creek Baptist Church outside of Louisville.
After spending two years at the Louisville Male High School, where he
received a diploma in public accounting when he was fourteen years old, Dr.
Roberson then attended the Fern Creek High School and was graduated after
four years. While a student, he played football with the high school team.
Brother Roberson entered Old Bethel College in Russellville, Kentucky in
1926, and finished the first year. There he worked at various jobs from
washing dishes to scrubbing floors to pay his way. From Old Bethel College,
he went to the University of Louisville to complete his college work with a
major in history. He also completed his work for a degree at the Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. At the age of nineteen, he was
called to a church in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, which he did not accept.
In his early years, Dr. Roberson was well known as a singer. Having
studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and with the well-known
teacher, John Samples, of Chicago, his services as a vocalist were in great
demand. He served as a soloist on the staff of radio station WHAS of
Louisville, Kentucky, and WSM out of Nashville, Tennessee. Doors were
opening in the field of secular music. Dr. Roberson could have signed a
contract with a certain man in the city of Nashville that, no doubt, would
have led him to the top in music. However, he felt that this was not the
thing the Lord wanted for him; so he refused to sign the contract.
The first church that Brother Roberson served as pastor was in
Germantown, Tennessee, while he was going to college. In 1932, he was called
to be pastor of the Temple Baptist Church in Green Brier, Tennessee. It was
there that he discovered the truth of the second coming of Christ. After
three years with the Green Brier Church, where the Lord wonderfully blessed,
Dr. Roberson entered full-time evangelistic work in 1935. He served as
evangelist of the Birmingham Baptist Association; and within two years, he
conducted some fifty revivals in the Birmingham area.
It was while he was in Birmingham that he met Miss Caroline Allen, who,
on October 9, 1937, became Mrs. Lee Roberson.
On the first Sunday in November 1937, Dr. Roberson became pastor of the
First Baptist Church in Fairfield, Alabama.
In 1939, Brother Roberson was asked to be the state evangelist for
Alabama. He felt this was not the Lord's will for him at the time, so the
offer was not accepted.
On May 2, 1941, Lee Anne, the Roberson's oldest child, was born.
After five years with the Fairfield church, Dr. Roberson was called to
the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in November of
1942. Brother Roberson, our pastor, is a man of God at home as well as at
church. He has set an example of faithfulness and devotion to his family and
to his convictions before his church and to the entire world. At home, he
has sought to teach his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord
around a daily family altar, which has reflected itself in the lives of the
children.
Dr. Roberson's devotion to duty and to his convictions has laid upon him
a demanding schedule that has caused him, throughout his life, to get up
early and to burn the midnight oil in prayer and study of the Word of God
and the writings of others that he might maintain his burden to reach as
many souls for Christ as he can, by every possible means. New sermons are
constantly pouring from his soul and new books from his pen.
Whether he be speaking from the pulpit of the Highland Park Baptist
Church, the chapel platform of Tennessee Temple Schools, to his Men's Bible
Class, or at one of many other special services, his messages are always
fresh, fervent, and filled with the power of God. In speaking of him,
someone has said, "He is truly the Spurgeon of our times."
Dr. Roberson's daily schedule begins with Bible study and prayer at 6:30
in the morning, followed by breakfast and devotions with his family, an
soul-long broadcast beginning at 8:30 a.m., and a chapel service at
Tennessee Temple Schools at 10:00. His morning hours are also filled with
private conferences with church people and students of Tennessee Temple
Schools. His daily visitation program takes him into the numerous hospitals
of the city as well as homes of the church members.
We praise the Lord for the way in which He has blessed Dr. Roberson's
ministry here at the Highland Park Baptist Church.
Dr. Lee Roberson, pastor of
Highland Park Baptist Church and founder of Tennessee Temple Schools
died Sunday, April 29, 2007. He was 97.
Having been saved at age 14,
Dr. Roberson attended Bethel College in Russellville, KY, and went on to
the University of Louisville where he graduated with a major in
history. He also attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in
Louisville.
