2008 White House Targeted

In 2004, Falwell announced the launch of a new organization called the Faith and Values Coalition, describing it as a "21st century resurrection of the Moral Majority."

The new group aimed to lobby for a federal amendment barring same-sex "marriage," for the election of a socially, fiscally and politically conservative president in 2008 and for pro-life judicial appointments.

"As national chairman of TFVC, I am committed to lending my influence to help send out at least 40 million evangelical voters in 2008," he said at the time. "The thought of a Hillary Clinton or John Edwards presidency is simply unacceptable -- and quite frightening."

"I urge my friends around the country to immediately get involved and join me in this four-year commitment, which is really an investment in America, in our children and in our children's children."

Americans United responded to the announcement by saying Falwell was "wrong in assuming that Americans agree with his goals" of barring same-sex "marriage," promoting pro-life judicial appointments and electing a conservative to the White House in 2008.

"The people do not share Jerry Falwell's repressive vision of an America where church and state are merged and the views of intolerant TV preachers form the basis of our laws," said Lynn, the group's executive director.

Others Remember Falwell

Coral Ridge Ministries, the broadcast outreach of Dr. D. James Kennedy, remembered Falwell as "infectiously good humored, witty, and energetic." In a statement, Coral Ridge Executive Vice President Brian E. Fisher said:

"Dr. Kennedy held Dr. Falwell in the highest regard for his Christian witness and moral leadership for the nation. Dr. Falwell was both a friend and co-laborer with Dr. Kennedy, who served on the initial board of directors of Moral Majority and spoke at Liberty University."

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Seminary, wrote, "The death of Dr. Jerry Falwell... brings an end to one of the largest lives of our times... The legacy of Dr. Jerry Falwell will be debated for decades to come... He expected that some would love him for his beliefs and others would not. He was a man in constant motion, and he seemed rarely to look back. He redefined independent fundamentalism and then led his church to associate with the Southern Baptist Convention, which had experienced its own conservative redirection. He mobilized a movement of conservative Christians in America and built a massive empire."

Billy Graham's statement read, in part: "We did not always agree on everything, but I knew [Falwell] to be a man of God. His accomplishments went beyond most clergy of his generation. Some of my grandchildren have attended, and are attending, Liberty University. He leaves a gigantic vacuum in the evangelical world. I am praying for his family, and especially the university that he headed."

Graham's son, and president of the Billy Graham Evangeslist Association, Franklin Graham commented on the loss of Falwell, saying, "Jerry Falwell was my friend. I, like millions of people across the country, will miss him. Above all else, Jerry Falwell was a pastor who cared for other people."

Mark DeMoss, former chief of staff for Jerry Falwell and current chairman of the Executive Committee of Liberty University's Board of Trustees, remembered Dr. Falwell as a close friend and complex man, who impacted DeMoss’ life and the lives of thousands of others with his love for God and people.

"Yes, he's controversial; but from tens of thousands of hours of observing him in the rear of a plane, in a quiet hotel room, in his home... I came to see what he knows: namely that people matter most," said DeMoss in his recently released The Little Red Book of Wisdom.

Dr. Jerry Falwell
Liberty University Founder/Chancellor

At the age of 22, having just graduated from college in June of 1956, Jerry Falwell returned to his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia and started Thomas Road Baptist Church with 35 members. The offering that first Sunday totaled $135. Falwell often says about the first collection, “we thought we had conquered the world”. Today Thomas Road Church has 24,000 members and the total annual revenues of all the Jerry Falwell ministries total over $200 million.

Within weeks of founding his new church in 1956, Falwell began the Old-Time Gospel Hour, a daily local radio ministry and a weekly local television ministry. Nearly five decades later, this Old-Time Gospel Hour is now seen and heard in every American home and on every continent except Antarctica. Through the years, over three million persons have communicated to the Falwell ministries that they received Christ as Lord and Savior as a result of this radio and television ministry.