The Jerry Falwell the Public Never Knew
by Staff
April 30, 2008
WEST MONROE, La., (christiansunite.com) -- One year after his passing, Jerry Falwell's wife of forty-nine years, Macel Falwell, gives a candid and heartfelt look at the life of one of America's most influential religious and political leaders.In Jerry Falwell: His Life and Legacy (Howard Books, May 2008), Mrs. Falwell describes Rev. Falwell in a way that the mainstream media never would. She details his unfailing optimism, his deep generosity, his vision as the founder of Liberty University and the Moral Majority and as a loving husband and father.
The book paints a portrait of a passionate man determined to spread the Gospel. We see the Falwells establish their Thomas Road Baptist Church in an old soda bottling plant in 1956. Rev. Falwell prayed for new members and went out and knocked on every door in town to invite his neighbors to Sunday services.
In addition, the book dispels the media-created myths that Rev. Falwell was a hatemonger, a greedy televangelist, or a hypocrite of the morals he preached. She also describes his unlikely friendships with Sen. Ted Kennedy and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.
Rev. Falwell was also known for his boundless generosity. When he went knocking on doors to recruit new members for his church, one man said he would like to come to church but couldn't because he didn't have any shoes. Rev. Falwell gave him the shoes off his feet. The man came to church the following Sunday in Rev. Falwell's shoes. Rev. Falwell also gave innumerable scholarships to students at Liberty University--so many that the University at one time had more scholarship students than paying ones.
"In humility, innocence and an endearing gentleness of spirit," writes nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity in the Foreword, "Macel shares with us a man, a marriage and a family all fundamentally united and ordered on faith in God, a commitment to His service and service to one another."
Jerry Falwell: His Life and Legacy is the story of a man and his faith and the many hearts he touched. Mrs. Macel Falwell married Rev. Jerry Falwell in 1958. She stood by his side as he went from pastor of a small Baptist church to the major cultural figure he became during the last thirty years.
