Personal life
Falwell and his wife, Shari, have four children: Jonathan Jr., Jessica, Natalie, and Nicholas. They reside in Lynchburg, Virginia.[ citation needed ]
Jonathan Falwell | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jonathan Pate Falwell September 7, 1966 Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Liberty University (BS, MA) Taft Law School (JD) |
| Occupation(s) | Pastor, Thomas Road Baptist Church |
| Spouse | Shari Falwell |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Jerry Falwell Sr. Macel Pate Falwell |
| Relatives | Jerry Falwell Jr. (brother) |
Jonathan Pate Falwell (born September 7, 1966) [1] is the senior pastor at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, [2] and Chancellor at Liberty University. [3]
Falwell earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Liberty University in 1987, his Master of Arts degree in Religion from the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in 1995, and a Juris Doctor degree in 2005 from the Taft Law School in Santa Ana, California. [4]
He is the son and successor of the late Reverend Jerry Falwell and the brother of former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. His older sister, Jeannie, is a surgeon. During a 1974 family discussion about abortion as the 'national sin' of America, Jonathan asked his father why he did not do something about it, which was the start of his father's reading of other evangelical writers such as Francis Schaeffer on the issue. [5]
As a young adult and minister in his father's church, Thomas Road Baptist Church, Jonathan invested in video processing technology and began overseeing the operations of the church ministry. [6] He became the executive pastor of Thomas Road, and was named senior pastor after his father died in 2007. Since then the church has grown and its influence in the community has expanded. He has been voted by local publications as one of the most influential people in the city multiple times. He has led the church to start multiple campuses, and created a church network (Liberty Church Network) to help equip pastors and plant churches. Under his leadership the church plants thousands of churches each year through the Liberty Church Network as well as partnerships with The Timothy Initiative.[ citation needed ]
In April 2021 the trustees of Liberty University named Falwell as the university's pastor. [3]
Falwell and his wife, Shari, have four children: Jonathan Jr., Jessica, Natalie, and Nicholas. They reside in Lynchburg, Virginia.[ citation needed ]
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch, the city's population was 79,009 at the 2020 census, making Lynchburg the 11th most populous city in Virginia. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or the "Hill City". In the 1860s, Lynchburg was the only city in Virginia that was not recaptured by the Union before the end of the American Civil War.
The Moral Majority was an American political organization and movement associated with the Christian right and the Republican Party in the United States. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell Sr. and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. It played a key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s.
Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) is a Baptist megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia, located on the campus of Liberty University, which it founded and is closely affiliated with. In 2016, a church spokesperson stated they had an average weekly attendance of 9,000. The pastor is Jonathan Falwell, the son of previous Senior Pastor Jerry Falwell and brother of former Liberty University President, Jerry Falwell Jr. In addition to a second campus, Dan River Church, Thomas Road also hosts a Spanish congregation on its main campus. It is affiliated with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International and the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Old-Time Gospel Hour was a ministry program television broadcast from Thomas Road Baptist Church hosted by minister Jerry Falwell featuring the church's Sunday service. Started in 1956 by Jerry Falwell, The Old-Time Gospel Hour gained a national following on both radio and television. The series was a major fundraising source for Falwell, bringing in over $90 million dollars in the early 1980s. The show's popularity continued through the 1990s, during which time it was still broadcast on hundreds of stations across the country.
Liberty Baptist Fellowship is a fellowship of independent Baptist churches that grew up around Jerry Falwell, Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Liberty University. Most pastors of the Fellowship are alumni of Liberty University. In 1994, the Liberty Baptist Fellowship had 100 churches, including the 21,000 member Thomas Road church, which was also affiliated with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. In 1996, the Thomas Road church joined the newly formed Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, thereby aligning itself with 3 Baptist bodies.
Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a private evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns as Lynchburg Baptist College, Liberty is among the world's largest Christian universities and one of the largest private non-profit universities in the United States by total student enrollment.
Charles Frazier Stanley was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on emeritus status in 2020. He founded and was president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through television and radio. He also served two one-year terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, from 1984 to 1986.
Tennessee Temple University was a private Christian university in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Temple Baptist Seminary was the university's graduate school of Christian theology, also operating in Chattanooga. The university merged with Piedmont International University in 2015.
Virginia University of Lynchburg (VUL) is a private historically black Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia. The university is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and offers instruction and degrees, primarily in religious studies, including a Doctorate of Ministry program. The campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Liberty Christian Academy is a private Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1967 by Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. as a ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church and a segregation academy, the school is recognized as an educational facility by the Commonwealth of Virginia through the Virginia State Board of Education, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Association of Christian Schools International. The academy consists of pre–K through grade 12.
Bascom Ray Lakin was a Baptist preacher and evangelist.
Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. is an American attorney, former academic administrator, and evangelical. Starting with his 2007 appointment upon the death of his father, televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., Falwell served as the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, until resigning in August 2020 amidst a sex scandal.
Elmer Leon Towns is an American Christian academic, pastor and writer who co-founded Liberty University alongside Jerry Falwell in 1971. He is a speaker on the principles of church growth, church leadership, Christian education, Sunday school, prayer and fasting.
Edward G. Dobson was a Northern Irish-American pastor, at one time an executive for the Moral Majority. He became the pastor of a megachurch in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a nationally known author and speaker, especially after being diagnosed with ALS in 2000.
Robert "Bobby" Brewer is an American pastor, author, and talk radio personality who is based in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to being the co-host of a Christian radio show and pastor, he is known for being an Evangelical Christian who witnessed the 1997 Phoenix Lights. In 2002, he wrote an article for the Christian Research Journal. In 2022, he wrote a book, UFOs: 12 Things You Should Know (ISBN 9781640795617), in which he gave his assessment of the phenomenon.
Ergun Michael Caner is a Swedish-American academic, author, and Baptist minister, who became well known for his book, co-authored with his brother, on Islam and his claims that he was a devout Muslim trained as a terrorist. He emigrated to the United States at age four and claimed to have converted to Protestantism in the early 1980s.
Jerome Richard "Jerry" Johnston is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and docu-filmmaker. Johnston is currently vice president for Innovation and Strategic marketing at Houston Baptist University in Houston, Texas, and director of Christian Thinkers Society. Johnston and his wife Cristie Jo Huf Johnston are professors of theology and co-producers of a documentary in production about the "Nones" phenomenon.
Falwell Airport is a privately owned, general aviation airport located approximately five miles Southeast of Lynchburg, Virginia. The airport has been in continuous operation since 1946 and is currently owned by Freedom Aviation, part of Liberty University’s School of Aeronautics. Falwell Airport is known for its sloped runway, an unusual feature for any airport.
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