Jerry Falwell Marks 50 Years at Thomas Road Pulpit

Controversial Pastor's Church Has Grown From 35 to 24,000

LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell's conservative politics have earned him both friends and enemies in a long public career-- but there's no denying he's been a successful pastor.

Joined by thousands of supporters, Falwell will mark the half-century anniversary of Thomas Road Baptist Church tomorrow with a daylong celebration that begins with a service in a new, 6,000-seat sanctuary.

The sanctuary is just a small part of a 1 million-square-foot complex for the Falwell empire's administrative offices, Liberty University recreational facilities and classrooms and Liberty Christian Academy, which has students from preschool through high school.

Days before the opening ceremony, workmen hustled to install the raised choir loft, lay carpet around the dark gray upholstered seats and put wall coverings over insulation.

Even unfinished, the setting bore no reminder of the church's beginnings.

Fresh out of Baptist Bible College in Sprigfield, Mo., a 22-year-old Falwell returned to his home town and started his church with 35 members in an old Donald Duck soft-drink bottling plant.

"We scraped syrup off the floors and walls," he said during a recent interview.

Falwell, whose countenance is jovial even when talking about serious subjects, built his congregation with knuckles and shoe leather. "I began knocking on 100 doors a day, six days a week," he said. He would invite people to church and leave them with his phone number in case they needed his help.

One year later, Thomas Road Church had 864 members. It has continued to grow dramatically. Today, the rolls number 24,000, with several hundred evangelists going door-to-door in central Virginia.

Falwell still believes in recycling old buildings, however. Everything but the church sanctuary has been converted from an 888,000-square-foot facility formerly used by Ericsson, a Swedish-based supplier of cellular phone network equipment. Parts of it are still being renovated.

Within a few weeks of starting the church, Falwell found a way to expand his reach quickly -- first with a radio program, then a live Sunday night television show, the "Old Time Gospel Hour," on the Lynchburg ABC affiliate. In 1956, the move was bold.

"Nobody else was doing it," Falwell said. Today, the preacher has his own Liberty Channel as well as shows on other cable networks.