Jerry Falwell, RIP

Add this to your "Don't believe everything you hear from the media" file:

I wanted to give a quick update to our Get Ready to Lead subscribers. It's been a whirlwind for the last few weeks, and God is at work. I am looking forward to bringing you up- to-date in next week's issue. I have some exciting news to share about what God is doing through the Passing the Baton effort.

Right now our family is on a whirlwind tour of the Maritime provinces of Canada, a trip that involves some speaking and some vacationing. On our way home I'll do some speaking in New England and Virginia.

I have been praying for you lately and realized that I haven't communicated much, so I wanted to pause to send a brief note this evening.

As you may know, if you've been watching American news, Dr.
Jerry Falwell died last week and was buried Tuesday. As a college student I met some of the debate team members from Liberty University, the college Dr. Falwell founded. Up until that moment I had bought into the media's portrayal of Dr.
Falwell hook, line and sinker. I'm embarrassed to say that I razzed the LU debate team members about him.

Rather than act defensively, LU's debaters responded with
graciousness: "You should really meet him--he's a funny, caring guy who is not at all like what is portrayed in the media."

Even though I did several events on Liberty's campus, and was present at some meetings with Dr. Falwell, we never personally met. I wish we had.

Most people know that Dr. Falwell founded the Moral Majority, but few know that it was founded--at least in part--as a response to the Carter administration's harassment of Christian schools. That was a few years back, and it's all too easy to forget how determined the Carter educational bureaucracy was to nationalize the education system based on a thoroughly secular humanist worldview.

Even though he was ravaged by the media, Dr. Falwell mustered public opinion to force our federal government--and the various state governments--to respect the legitimacy of Christian education. This led to the growth of Christian schools and helped spark the legalizing of homeschooling, the charter school movement, the fledgling voucher movement, and other trends that have rolled back the ability of secular humanist elites to indoctrinate America's children.

For this, and for his influence in exposing the seamy immorality under-girding the secular humanist worldview, Dr.
Falwell became "public enemy #1" among America's leftist elites.
For most of my life the mention of his name in conversation in "secular" society brought sneers of derision.

Secular humanists could have chosen their villain better.
According to friends of mine who were close associates of Dr.
Falwell, he was a hard man to hate in person. Dr. Falwell was so gregarious, outgoing, friendly, and good humored, that even one of his worst critics--pornographer Larry Flint--admitted that while he hated everything Dr. Falwell stood for, he liked him very much as a person.

My purpose is not to nominate Dr. Falwell for sainthood. He was far from perfect. But for all of the thousands of hours he spent being interviewed, it is a testimony to his discernment that only a handful of "ridiculous" statements have been trotted out in an attempt to shame his memory.

In addition to opening the door for Christian engagement in the public square, Dr. Falwell founded a church, a college, a Christian school, several ministries of compassion, and ministries that opened the door for Christians to once again have a voice in the public square. He accomplished as much in his 73 years as any other ten men.

I know Dr. Falwell had his critics, both inside and outside the church. Many people didn't like his methods. More than a few found him to be smug. But his life has challenged me to ask these questions:

"Would I be willing to speak up, knowing that derision and persecution would be my lot?"

"Do I really believe there are evils worth fighting against, and what am I willing to do to stand for truth?"

"If the whole world had the wrong impression about me, would I fold up my tent and go home, or would I continue to stand for what I know is right?"

"Could I still be loving and good-humored knowing that millions of people snicker when they hear my name?"

This is no time for armchair quarterbacking. The real question is who will take the baton that Dr. Falwell has passed? Who will speak the truth in a world of lies and deception? It falls to all of us to do so.

Make it a great week,

--Jeff

Jeff Myers, Ph.D., President
Passing the Baton International, Inc.
http://www.passingthebaton.org

Jerry Falwell was not my favorite "preacher in the spotlight" and I cringed occasionally when the media featured some odd thing that he said, but I do have to say...I wish I had known him.

---Katie