Jerry Falwell, a founder of the modern Christian conservative movement who started one of America’s largest churches and launched one of its largest Christian universities, died May 15. He was 73.
Falwell, who had a history of heart problems, was found unconscious in his office and without a pulse.
Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church grew from 35 members in 1956 to more than 22,000, and the school he founded, Liberty University, saw its enrollment expand from virtually nothing in 1971 to more than 21,000 currently. Both are located in Lynchburg, Va.
Thomas Road Baptist was independent for its first 40 years before becoming Southern Baptist in 1996. Falwell "was delighted to witness the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the last decades," according to SBC President Frank Page.
Falwell came to his first SBC annual meeting as a messenger in 1998 in Salt Lake City. One year later, Liberty invited the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV) to elect two trustees to Liberty’s board, essentially making the university a Southern Baptist institution, according to Doyle Chauncey, executive director-treasurer of the Richmond-based SBCV.
In 2005, Falwell spoke at the SBC Pastors Conference.
Outside of Lynchburg, most Americans knew of Falwell because of his involvement in conservative politics. In June 1979, he helped organize The Moral Majority Coalition, an organization of pro-family Christians that helped propel Ronald Reagan into the White House. In an article in The Washington Post May 16, Michael Cromartie of the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center credited Falwell with waking the sleeping giant that was the conservative Christian voting bloc.
Falwell also had a strong presence in the media. In 1956, Falwell began the "Old-Time Gospel Hour," a local radio and TV ministry that over the years expanded to become worldwide. During the past 50 years, more than 3 million people have contacted Falwell’s ministry saying they came to know Christ by listening to or viewing his preaching, according to ministry statistics.
Falwell leaves behind his wife of 49 years, Macel, as well as three grown children and eight grandchildren. His funeral was held May 22 at Thomas Road Baptist. (BP)
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