A Sea Of Red

A year after Falwell's death, his sons pick up the legacy

By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Nearly a year after his father's death, the Rev. Jonathan Falwell walks up and down the stage of Thomas Road Baptist Church with a series of briefcases behind him like the set for NBC's Deal or No Deal. There's no pulpit in sight; Falwell prefers visuals to reach his growing flock.



The night before, his older brother, Jerry Falwell Jr., president of nearby Liberty University, hosted a picnic and fireworks for graduating seniors at his farm 30 miles from campus.

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Interesting that Jon went to see Joel Osteen. He's somewhat of a contraversial guy.

It makes perfect sense in regard to handling the situation they were presented. Both had larger than life fathers who built huge ministries that were dropped in their laps by the untimely deaths of their fathers (John Osteen died on a Sunday morning before church). For better or worse, Lakewood has exploded under Joel despite plenty of reports that it would wither away without the dynamic father who built the ministry. At least Jonathan had been prepared to step into the pulpit over the course of the past quarter of a century. Joel had never preached in his life until his dad passed away. Joel had run the television aspect of the ministry and owned his own independent station here in Houston.

I seriously doubt Jonathan asked any theological questions ... but the scenarios were so similar that it made sense in seeking Joel's advice in successfully filling big shoes.

Very nice article. I miss Doc, and am very proud of how his sons have handled everything!

nicely done article!

It's disappointing to see the comments of so many on the article (below, sort of a blog section). I know its to be expected. The activities of Swaggert and others forever tarnished the image of any televangelist anywhere, to a point that to be financially sucessful (and many people know that was certainly not always the case for Doc) is to automatically mean that the ministerial leader is both a hypocrite and a bigot.

Never once did Dr. Falwell promise spiritual return on anyone's monetary gifts. In fact, he often simply asked, and those who shared his vision and gave money in support of it, often received little more than a brick with their name on it in some building or sidewalk.