Mark Roth, Anabaptists' Founder and Patriarch

Meet the founder and patriarch of Anabaptists, Mark Roth.

No, not of the Anabaptists -- I mean of this site!

For somebody else's perspective, read this ezine article written by Jan Fletcher many moons ago.

I was born in late 1959 in Oregon to James and Noreen Roth. Even later that same year, my folks and I moved to Mexico. They had been sent there as missionaries by the Mission Board of Pacific Coast Conference. My sister Karen was born five years later in Mexico's Sonora state. Although my folks and I eventually received immigrant status, Karen was a full-blown Mexican citizen from the start! In mid-July of 1976, our family left the mission field to return to Oregon.

In the summer of 1980, the entire 1977 graduating class of Elliott Prairie Christian School wed in a single ceremony. That's still one for the school record books!

A year later to the day, we (the entire EPCS 1977 graduating class) celebrated our first anniversary at the Sheraton Hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico. We were stranded there...waiting for the next train to take us on to Mexico City (and language school for all but me). We were part of a three-family team from Hopewell Mennonite Church that had volunteered to serve under Bible Mennonite Fellowship in the establishment of a new mission in northwest Mexico.

God has generously blessed us with five children. LaVay was born in Mexico; the others, in Oregon. Also among God's generous blessings to us are a daughter-in-law, two sons-in-law, and five grandchildren.

In mid-2003, I retired from service at Elliott Prairie Christian School as principal and high school teacher. That was my twelveth year serving at this school on a day-to-day basis; I also served several years as the part-time principal. In the course of that time, I churned out a few letters to parents, three of which just might interest you:

I also serve our congregation as board chairman of Hope Mennonite Missions and board secretary of Elliott Prairie Christian School.

Since 1982 I have done quite a bit of writing, including Spanish tracts, English and Spanish Sunday School materials, a Spanish marriage-related booklet, and a Spanish family-life seminar.

In addition to this site, I have some other Web projects that come under the umbrella of the not-at-all-financially-profitable-in-the-aggregate Anabaptists Web Project:

In addition to what we state in our congregation's Statement of Faith, here are some of the other things I believe:

Jehovah and Jesus are names for the same Person.
Christians should not use carnal force in human relationships, not even on the battle field.
At the very least, homosexual behavior is sin and abhorrent before God.
Christians have no business in earthly politics -- voting, running for office, endorsing candidates, debating political issues, protesting, signing petitions, (in most cases, even) writing letters.
Life begins at conception.
Abortion is murder.
Scientific fooling with the process of human conception, while fascinating, opens too many ethical-moral dilemmas in too many scenarios.
Capital punishment is the State's God-given responsibility.
Capital punishment is primarily intended to be punishment for the individual criminal, as well as a crime deterrent to protect society from the specific individual. Deterrence beyond that is a bonus to society.
The evidence of our salvation is Godly fruit.
Our peace witness is to individuals, not to the State and not to corporations.
The church is failing in preserving the holy separation from the world required to maintain her friendship with the Father.
Riches (ie, material possessions exceeding the needful as defined by Scripture) are deceitful and unrighteous.
Divorce is often wrong; divorce and remarriage is frequently adultery.
Women lose much of their glory when they cut their hair.
Men (ie, human males) by and large are abdicating their privilege and responsibility to reflect God's character.
God's glory is obscured when men abdicate their responsibility, and when women uncover their hair.
God created the world and its "contents" in six solar days.

The Internet is a wonderful "place" and a super-handy medium of communication. And all the resources that are available on it!! Much of what can be found would fall in the amoral category. However, we all know that the enemy of mankind continues to introduce monstrous amounts of immoral and evil stuff. So I decided to join those in the service of the King of Kings who are striving to make available material which is moral, safe, healthful and edifying.

I certainly do not make a wholesale recommendation that God's people go on-line. And those that are on-line I encourage to faithfulness. In our home congregation, some of us modem-ites have signed the following covenant (a totally personal, non-congregational move):

I purpose before God and my Brothers to never use my modem to intentionally download or view any file (text or graphic) that is sexual, pornographic, obscene, immoral and/or lustful in nature. I also purpose to avoid newsgroups and mailing lists which disseminate similar material. By signing this covenant of Brotherhood accountability, I give my co-signing Brothers the privilege and responsibility of checking up on my faithfulness in this area.

Quite a number of you "out there" have written to me to let me know that you have also bound yourself with this covenant. If you, too, take this vow before God, I'd be delighted to hear from you via email.

site status