[Sly Fox]

From the Loudon County fishwrap:

Falwell speaks at Baptist church revival
By: Jana Renn
10/17/2006


Times-Mirror Staff Photo/Lisa Johnson Jerry Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and chancellor of Liberty University, both in Lynchburg, addresses a crowd Sunday at the opening night of 'Leesburg Awakening' at Ida Lee Park. Falwell was the keynote speaker for the large-scale tent revival.

Many area residents braved Sunday evening's cool temperatures to hear a sermon by Dr. Jerry Falwell, the nationally known pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and chancellor of Liberty University, both in Lynchburg.

Falwell's appearance kicked off Crossroads Baptist Church's five-day "Leesburg Awakening Revival" in a 1,000-seat tent at Ida Lee Park.

The evening began with the crowd singing hymns, "Heaven Came Down," "How Great Thou Art" and "Shout to the Lord." The Rev. Van Welton of Crossroads Baptist Church offered a brief welcome, and a video produced by Liberty University about the church was shown.

Nationally known gospel recording artist Marvin Matthews then filled the tent with original songs as well as old favorites, like "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and "Amazing Grace."

Matthews, who was born and raised in Washington, D.C., spoke of how as a young person, he was proud to say he attended Antioch Baptist Church. As he grew older, he told fewer people he was Baptist, and it got to the point where he would just say he was religious.

"Then I woke up one day, and I was 50 years old," Matthews said. He became born-again and began his music ministry. He is once again proud to say he was raised in the church.

"If there was ever a day people needed Jesus, it was today," Matthews told the crowd.

Then, he had everyone help him sing, "If we ever needed the Lord before, we sure do need him now."

When Matthews finished, Falwell took the pulpit. He compared different generations of Americans who have had to fight threats, speaking of the World War II generation - dubbed the "Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw - the generation that fought communism and today's generation, which is fighting radical Islamic terrorism.

"I'm optimistic that God can raise up an ever-greater generation" than the World War II generation, to fight the terrorist threat, he said.

Falwell noted that the U.S. population just reached the 300 million mark, and that it is the responsibility of Christians to spread the word of Jesus.

"[Today's generation] faces great challenges but great opportunities," Falwell said. "Greater challenges make greater opportunities."

He urged the crowd to "take a stand for biblical righteousness" by challenging anyone who tries to keep Christianity out of the public eye. This includes saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" and using the term "Christmas tree" rather than the politically correct "holiday tree."

Falwell also said he resents being labeled a right-wing extremist and an evangelist, claiming that he is just a pastor.

He ended his sermon by urging the crowd to plant churches because he believes that "the greatest churches since Pentecost are yet to be built."

"What can God do here?" he asked the crowd, saying Christians' "one burden is to bring people to Christ."

The revival continues through Oct. 19. Each evening's events begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday's speaker is Dr. Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Thursday night's speaker is Dr. John Avant, vice president of evangelism for the Southern Baptist Convention.

http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab1 ... 3966&rfi=6

[whmatthews]

The guy that put that alltogether, Van Welton, who was mentioned in that paper was my youth pastor. He went to Liberty in the early 90's, went to Regent for law school and was a lawyer for a while until he was called into ministry. He went to Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest NC. He came to visit me and a friend of mine from back home when he ran into Jerry at Shaker's and asked him to preach at the revival. He asked Jerry if he'd take me and my friend with him in his jet and Jerry agreed but it turned out I couldn't go... how cool would that be, to fly with Jerry in the Liberty jet?