10 Things You Didn't Know About Jerry Falwell
By Angela Prikockis
Posted 5/16/07
Compiled by the U.S. News library staff
- Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was born on Aug. 11, 1933, in Lynchburg, Va. His father was a businessman and an alcoholic and his mother was a staunch fundamentalist. As a teenager he was considered somewhat of a hell-raiser, following his father's example.
- After high school, Falwell enrolled in a mechanical engineering program at Lynchburg College. At the time, Falwell began listening to Charles Fuller's Old Fashioned Revival Hour on the radio and began looking for a church to join. Falwell joined the Park Avenue Baptist Church, dedicated his life to Jesus Christ, and was "born again." He also met his future wife, Macel Pate, who was the church's piano player.
- Falwell decided to enter the ministry and enrolled at the Bible Baptist College, a fundamentalist seminary in Springfield, Mo. He completed his degree in 1956.
- Although he had an opportunity to work in Georgia, Falwell returned to Lynchburg. He started his own church, the Thomas Road Baptist Church, in June, 1956, with 35 disenchanted members of the Park Avenue Baptist Church. The first meeting took place at an abandoned Donald Duck soft drink bottling factory. Today it is considered a "megachurch," with over 24,000 members.
- Falwell married Macel in 1958 and had three children: Jerry Jr., a lawyer; Jonathan, a pastor; and Jeanne, a surgeon.
- Soon after the founding of Thomas Road Baptist Church, it started a daily radio ministry Old-Time Gospel Hour, featuring Falwell's preaching. This expanded into a weekly television broadcast that is still heard throughout the world. Falwell expanded his broadcasting empire in 1987 when he assumed control of the scandal-ridden PTL Corp.--which included a ministry, broadcasting network, and amusement park--from Jim Bakker. The corporation filed for bankruptcy soon after, and Falwell resigned.
- Falwell's ministry grew during the civil rights era. At the time, he was a vocal critic of clergy getting involved in political activities. However, he became more politically involved during the 1970s, calling for the return of Christian values. In 1979, Falwell founded an umbrella lobbying organization for conservatives, fundamentalists, pro-life advocates etc. that promoted "family values" called the Moral Majority.
- Falwell founded the Lynchburg Christian Academy--"a Christ-centered, academically excellent, fully accredited Christian day school providing kindergarten, elementary and high school"--in 1967. He founded Liberty Baptist College (now Liberty University) in 1971, fulfilling his dream that "a preschool child can now enter the school system at age 3, and 20 or more years later, leave the same campus with a Ph.D., without ever sitting in a classroom where the teacher was not a committed follower of Jesus Christ."
- Falwell had been controversial throughout the years. He had advocated segregation, which he later renounced, and supported South Africa's apartheid government. After the September 11 attacks, Falwell went on the 700 Club and said, "I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America; I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "
- Falwell, who died after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University on May 15, had prepared a transition of his ministry to his sons.
Sources:
Associated Press
Evangelism in America: From Tents to TV
Jerry Falwell Ministries
Prime-Time Religion
Salon.com