Remembering Rev. Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007
By George Thomas
CBN News
May 22, 2007
CBNNews.com - LYNCHBURG, Va. -- In Ecclesiastes 3:2, the Bible says there is a time to be born and a time to die. In Lynchburg this week, it is a time to remember.
Thousands packed the Thomas Road Baptist Church founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Click Play on the right to watch George Thomas's report from Lynchburg, Va., on Falwell's service
"So we go back to the days when we were just young kids, growing up, playing sports and enjoying life," Jim Moon, pastor of Thomas Road, said. "The night when we got saved things turned around."
Watch Falwell's funeral service.
That night was January 20, 1952. For trouble making teenagers Moon and another boy named Jerry Falwell, the place to be was at the Park Avenue Baptist Church.
"We had heard that the girls were very good looking at this particular church and we walked in and we were in a service that we had never seen before," Moon told CBN News.
That night the two best friends gave their lives to Jesus Christ.
"We heard the word preached, came under conviction, trusted Christ as Savior," Moon recalled with a smile.
55 years later, comes arguably the most difficult moment of their friendship. Tuesday afternoon, Moon delivers the Falwell's eulogy.
"He was my friend and that's what I admired about him that he was always my friend," he said.
Thousands will gather at the church that Falwell founded for a time of remembrance.
"I will remember Dr. Falwell as a person full of life, full of humor, alive for Jesus." said Dr. John Borek, former president of Liberty University. "Today is a joyous occasion, because I know that he is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Dave Randlett is the senior Pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church. CBN News asked Randlett what he was going to miss about Falwell the most. Randlett replied, "The telephone calls from him. When I would pick up the phone, he would say, "Hello, this is Jerry Falwell." Then he would laugh.
It will be a time of reflection.
One woman who is among the many mourners that have come to pay their final respects to Falwell spoke with CBN News. She showed our camera what she had in the bag she was carrying. "It's a bag I fixed up with pictures of Dr. Falwell and my children. He was a part of our family for a long time."
For the last few days, people from around the world have been lining-up to pay their last respects.
"He stood for what he believed," one mourner noted. "He did not budge. He did not compromise."
Another woman standing in the line of people said, "When I think about Jerry Falwell, I think about somebody who is fighting for the families not just in Lynchburg, but he touched the nation."
Following the funeral, Falwell will be driven around the campus that he built. One final tour of the university that many here believe will be his lasting legacy.
"He walked this mountain and claimed every foot of it for God and God gave it to him," a mourner said.
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