INTRODUCTION/THESIS
Jerry L. Falwell’s life and ministry had a marked influence on American faith and politics that reached beyond the traditional realm of Christian political involvement to impact both Christians and non-Christians.
BACKGROUND/EARLY LIFE
Jerry Laymon Falwell was born August 11, 1933, in Lynchburg Virginia, with a twin brother, Gene. Falwell’s father Carey was a successful and popular, but agnostic, local businessman. Falwell’s mother, Helen Beasley Falwell, was from a family of dedicated and active Christians. While Falwell attended church with his mother when young, he did not experience a personal relationship with Christ until his college years.
Carey Falwell, to whom Falwell devoted many pages in his 1987 autobiography, was himself the son of an atheist. Carey’s business interests involved regional transportation, entertainment, and other successful enterprises. An often noted factor in Carey Falwell’s business interests involved his involvement in distributing illegal alcohol, both during and following Prohibition. Falwell describes his father as plagued by guilt over Carey’s self-defense killing of his brother Garland before Falwell’s birth. As a result of this guilt, Carey Falwell became intensely occupied with work to fill his time and thoughts, and resorted to increasingly heavy alcohol use in his remorse. After years of alcohol abuse, and facing worsening cirrhosis, Carey Falwell confessed his sins and accepted Christ’s salvation only days before his death, when Jerry was fifteen years old.
Falwell’s mother Helen had always been a stabilizing influence in the Falwell family, tempering Carey’s anger and outbursts with a patient but firm maternal nurturing of her family. After Carey’s death, Helen took over his business interests and accelerated her efforts to expose the twins to Christianity. Her consistent broadcasting of Charles E. Fuller’s Old Fashioned Revival Hour throughout the house made an impression on Jerry, though he still resisted becoming a Christian.
Falwell was a disciplined student throughout elementary and high school, and was advanced a year in early elementary school, separating him from his twin Gene. Falwell earned the valedictorian position in his graduating class, but was denied the opportunity to deliver the valedictorian’s address at graduation because of disciplinary problems. After graduating high school, Falwell enrolled at Lynchburg College, beginning a course of study in engineering.
CONVERSION
During his sophomore year of college, in 1952, Falwell and his long-time friend Jim Moon attended a service at Park Avenue Baptist Church. During the service, all the earlier seeds of faith to which his mother and the radio had exposed him came to fruition, with both Falwell and Moon accepting Christian salvation. Providentially, the young pianist during that service was Macel Pate, whom Falwell would eventually marry.
After his conversion, Falwell immersed himself in all aspects of his new faith with unusual fervor, pursuing both intensive Bible study and personal evangelism. Only two months after his conversion, Falwell felt called to Christian ministry, and transferred in 1952 as a junior to the still-new Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. Baptist Bible College had been started in 1950 by the Baptist Bible Fellowship, an association of independent Baptist churches.
During his time at Baptist Bible, Falwell continued to grow academically, and took on a ministry opportunity as Sunday School teacher of a single-member eleven year-old boys’ Sunday School class. Falwell experienced frustrations with this challenge, and felt he was ineffective both at reaching the boy and at growing the class. At the point of resigning the position, Falwell learned an important lesson by surrendering the class and his position to the authority of prayer. Falwell began intensive prayer for the boy, the boy’s family, and the class. By changing his focus from reliance on himself to reliance on and submission to God’s power, Falwell reached not only that boy and his immediate family, but attendance in his class grew to fifty-six eleven year-olds.
THOMAS ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH
After graduating from Bible Baptist, Falwell returned to Lynchburg, close to his now-fiancée Macel, and returned to Park Avenue Baptist Church. However, the leadership of Park Avenue did not agree with Jerry’s plans to aggressively reach and evangelize the “rougher” parts of Lynchburg’s population. After a procedurally improper and unannounced vote on an interim pastor becoming Park Avenue’s pastor (during which Falwell was not present), several families, including Macel’s, left Park Avenue. When these families approached Falwell about starting a new church, Falwell became the pastor.
The new church, Thomas Road Baptist Church, named for its location, began in 1956 with thirty-five adults in an abandoned soft-drink bottling facility. Drawing on his earlier experiences with prayer, Falwell began praying heavily for his ministry, the families in his young church, and the unreached souls in Lynchburg. However, because he began the church in a town already “reached” by a Baptist Bible Fellowship church, and despite his excellence and commitment at Baptist Bible College, Falwell and all the Thomas Road families were denied continuing association with the Baptist Bible Fellowship. While this greatly distressed Falwell, he was determined to move his ministry forward based on God’s leading, regardless of the sanction of men. This period of opposition and frustration with those he had considered friends and mentors helped prepare Falwell for future opposition and media criticism in later aspects of his ministry, such as the Moral Majority.
Falwell described his ministry strategy as “saturation evangelism.” Bathing every day in prayer, Falwell drew on his earlier exposure to radio’s Old Fashioned Revival Hour and began a radio ministry, followed in time by a television ministry. Another aspect of Falwell’s saturation strategy was personal contact, combined with extensive mail and telephone follow-up. Falwell drew up a map of concentric circles radiating out from the church, and began systematically visiting every home represented in those circles, often knocking on 80-100 doors per day, six days per week. The combination of personal contact, telephone and mail follow-up, and media exposure resulted in tremendous growth for the young church – by the first anniversary of its founding, Thomas Road Baptist had grown from an attendance of thirty-five to 864.
A few months after Thomas Road’s first anniversary, Falwell married Macel in 1958, beginning a marriage ended only by his death forty-nine years later. The Falwell couple eventually had three children: Jerry, Jr., Jeannie, and Jonathan. Throughout the demands of his constantly increasing ministry and responsibilities, Falwell’s wife and children held a role of primary importance throughout his life. Whenever possible, he returned from speaking engagements without spending the night away from home, and once even declined a White House meeting invitation because it conflicted with daughter Jeannie’s birthday party.
RELATED MINISTRIES
Even though Thomas Road continued explosive growth, Falwell constantly envisioned and pursued new avenues of ministry. Through Thomas Road, Falwell began the Elim Home for alcoholics (reflecting his own loss of his alcoholic father), Treasure Island (now Camp Hydaway) youth camp, Lynchburg Christian Academy (now preK-12 Liberty Christian Academy), and Lynchburg Baptist College and Theological Seminary (now Liberty University). Significantly, the establishment of Lynchburg Baptist College brought Falwell into contact with Elmer Towns, who was and remains a major reason for the success of Liberty University. Towns and Falwell both desired to establish a Christian college with outstanding academics; Towns’ experience and leadership ensured Liberty’s academic excellence and full accreditation.
While growing these ministries, Falwell and Thomas Road became the target of a 1973 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation alleging fraud and deceit regarding a bond issue. Although the investigation was later dropped and Falwell and Thomas Road were cleared of wrongdoing, it was a stressful time that for a time cast doubts on the integrity of the ministries.
FALWELL AND POLITICS
In his early ministry, Falwell, as most conservative ministers, felt their primary focus was in evangelism and discipleship – politics was considered worldly and not in the realm of appropriate pulpit topics. Falwell’s early positions regarding social issues (e.g., racial integration) reflected Southern views of that time, and were not in keeping with his later, more mature views. Falwell’s political involvement stemmed primarily over his surprise and frustration over the
U. S. Supreme Court’s decision expanding abortion rights in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade (which also later led to his formation of the Liberty Godparent Home for unwed mothers, providing an alternative to abortion). Falwell became influenced by earlier Christian leaders’ political influence on society (notably William Wilberforce and Theodore Weld and their anti-slavery positions in England and the United States, respectively). More significantly, Falwell was influenced by his contact with Francis Schaeffer. Falwell summarized Shaeffer’s influential position that “there is no Biblical mandate against evangelical Christians joining hands for political and social causes as long as there was no compromise of theological integrity.”
By 1979, Falwell, while continuing his hands-on direction of his varied and still-growing ministries, had become convinced that America’s social situation (including abortion, drugs, pornography, devaluing of the family, homosexuality, and other factors) could no longer be tolerated in silence. Falwell joined other prominent conservatives – Christian and non-Christian – in forming the Moral Majority, which for a decade held strong prominence in American politics and became a prime target of liberals and the media. While Falwell and the Moral Majority welcomed and attracted conservatives of any bent (Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Mormon and non-religious), and noted the Moral Majority was not an evangelical/religious organization, critics cried that it was an encroachment of religious belief into public policy.  
The Moral Majority’s four principal positions were opposition to abortion, support of the traditional family, patriotism, and support of traditional moral values. Additionally, both Falwell and the Moral Majority were notably pro-Israel, which put them at odds with those supporting Palestinians (Falwell was officially recognized by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as a supporter of Israel).
Despite controversy and vocal criticism, the Moral Majority is generally credited with helping ensure Ronald Reagan’s 1980 election, and 1984 landslide reelection.
LATER YEARS
In the mid-1980s, scandals among popular television evangelists (e.g., Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart) had hurt the credibility, support and gifts to uninvolved ministries, such as Falwell’s. After Bakker’s removal from Praise The Lord (PTL) Ministries and the associated Heritage USA, Falwell was asked to help PTL restore stability and credibility. Despite Falwell’s attempts, PTL and Heritage USA were forced into bankruptcy, faced with mountainous debt and continuing litigation, both of which stemmed primarily from Bakker.
In 1989, Falwell announced the dissolution of the Moral Majority, stating that it had fulfilled its original objectives, and that he wished to focus his efforts on his primary ministries in Lynchburg.  
The continuing impact of the televangelist scandals impacted Falwell’s ministries on into the 1990s. Since its inception, Liberty University had been largely supported by donations to Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour television broadcasts. As donations to the Old Time Gospel Hour withered, all the Falwell ministries faced significant financial crises in the 1990s, but weathered each by prayer and by last-minute financial rescues by prominent donors (including controversial donors, such as Sun Myung Moon).
Falwell became less prominent nationally, but still wielded considerable influence in conservative and evangelical Christian circles. He remained, however, a target of media attacks and derision until and even following his 2007 death. In 1999, he was decried for his statements relating Public Broadcasting’s Teletubbies with homosexuality. More notably, he was criticized for his remarks following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. In a rather reflective (but broadcast) discussion with his friend Pat Robertson, Falwell stated that America’s continuing moral decline had resulted in a lessening of God’s “mantle of protection” over the United States, which opened the door for such terrorist attacks. He later apologized for the tone and content of these remarks, but his remarks remained a point of contention with many.
FALWELL’S LEGACY
Falwell continued growing and strengthening his core ministries, especially Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University, until his death in 2007. His considerable life insurance policies strengthened the financial position of both ministries, and both ministries have continued to grow under the leadership of his sons Jonathan and Jerry, Jr., respectively.  
Additionally, Falwell pioneered using television as a medium for presenting the Gospel message. Today, entire networks and cable channels are devoted to Christian broadcasting in many of the world’s languages. While such broadcasts reach people unable to attend churches (whether due to geography, infirmity, political restraints, etc.), critics contend electronic media cannot provide the fellowship and care of a local congregation.
Falwell’s political legacy continues even after his death.  In the ongoing 2008 presidential elections, Sen. John McCain’s conflicts and later restoration with Falwell are frequently mentioned both in support of and against McCain by differing sides of the political spectrum. Additionally, due largely to the efforts of Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and others, political involvement is no longer seen as “off-limits” for Christians. Former Sen. Mark Hatfield, while not always aligning strictly with the Moral Majority, stated “before the political activity of groups such as the Moral Majority, religion and politics simply did not mix.” Additionally, the Falwell/Moral Majority influence not only helped with President Reagan’s election, it indirectly facilitated the placement of more conservative justices on the Supreme Court, and changed the historically Democratic South to a Republican stronghold.
Notably, Falwell’s legacy includes the fact that he could be very much at political odds with another public figure, while at the same time his warm, genuine personality and positive Christian demeanor allowed him to develop a close personal relationship or even friendship with that person. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and pornographic publisher Larry Flynt all had very public disagreements with Falwell, while also developing personal respect for, and friendships with him.
CONCLUSIONS
Jerry Falwell rose from relatively obscure beginnings in an isolated Southern town to become one of the most recognized and effective ambassadors for Christ in recent history. While certainly not perfect, he allowed God to help him overcome personal biases and flaws to become pastor of a church exceeding 20,000 members, found a thriving Christian university recognized for academic excellence, and influence Christian and non-Christian conservatives to political action. Despite the time demands of his ministries and public commitments, and despite threats on his life and family, he maintained a strong role as a Christian husband, father, and grandfather.
Falwell’s legacy and impact continue through Thomas Road Baptist, through Liberty University and its graduates, and through the changed political attitudes of many Americans. More enduringly, Falwell’s impact will continue into eternity through the thousands of people reached, strengthened, disciple, and encouraged through his Christian ministry, and through the impact of those whom he helped train at Liberty University.

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