Be it moral issues, social evils or religious callings, the Rev. Jerry Falwell was never afraid to speak his mind.
For that reason alone, local watchers of Christian evangelism noted Falwell's death Tuesday as a landmark event.
Wheaton College Chaplain Stephen Kellough said Falwell's faith was something all evangelicals could agree with. Falwell's political positions and sometimes audacious comments on issues such as the civil rights movement and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were what pushed the gamut of evangelical belief, Kellough said.
“As far as Jerry Falwell spoke concerning the essential Gospel of Jesus Christ, he would be embraced by Evangelicals across the spectrum,” Kellough said. “But his participation in political issues is seen as especially controversial. He certainly represented one end of the spectrum there. He was not shy concerning his faith.”
Even those who counted Falwell as a personal friend, such as Willow Creek Community Church Founding Pastor Bill Hybels, felt the need to create some distance between the evangelist and the politician Tuesday.
Associated Press
“While we sometimes felt differently about how to approach many of the great challenges of our day, Dr. Falwell gave his life to his family, his church, his beloved university, and the country he sought to improve,” Hybels said in a written statement.
Falwell's political activity stood in stark contrast to Wheaton College alum Billy Graham, another evangelical icon of the same generation.
Graham has never treaded far into the political world, said David Neff, editor of Christianity Today, which Graham founded.
“With Jerry Falwell, he tried to attend to both a ministry, an educational institution and have a strong political influence,” Neff said. “It just may not be possible to do all of those things effectively at the same time. Dr. Falwell probably came as close as anyone could.”
Falwell's ministry efforts touched Chicago's suburbs, too. He planned, with the Southern Baptist Convention, to establish a church in Long Grove. It never materialized, but the failure was minor compared to Falwell's accomplishments.
Of those, Neff singled out Falwell's founding of the Moral Majority in 1979 as the successful mobilization of conservative Christian voters to the polls that no other religious leader before Falwell had achieved.
“Today there's a number of conservative Christian leaders who have a seat at the table, in the Republican Party in particular, and all of that can be traced to the influence of Jerry Falwell,” Neff said.
The question moving forward is who becomes the next charismatic evangelical leader to continue Falwell's religious and political dynasty.
Neff said the most influential person in that circle now is probably Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson. But Dobson also has had heart ailments as he's aged.
Kellough and Neff said an aging generation of evangelists will soon turn to a younger generation for leadership.
“When the next dominant personality for one reason or another is no longer able to exercise that type of leadership, we'll see a power vacuum,” Neff said. “It will be interesting to see what would happen then.”
Daily Herald staff writer Ashok Selvam contributed to this report.
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