Thomas Road Baptist Church

You can do whatever you want to in, in, in that 12 seconds, all right? Well, today I am excited because I am joined by a really good friend of mine, Jonathan Falwell.

He is a senior pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

He's the chancellor of Liberty University.

He's not old enough to be a chancellor, but that's a fancy title for him.

And, and yet you have maintained this pastoral heart for your flock.

Uh, it's been almost 20 years you've been the lead pastor.

You've been there over 30 years at, at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

It's a church that has ... uh, done so much good throughout the decades.

Wow.

concert at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

And all of our grandparents were there, which was unusual.

And I was saving seats in the front row for that.

And there, I remember, well, oh, two thoughts are coming to my mind.

One was you, Paula, because God, you know, for years I had done Bible study in my home, and you came, and we had, I don't know, 30 ladies over those six years that would come.

And Then I knew God wanted me to go lead Bible study at Thomas Road Baptist Church.

And so I had committed to do that.

Yeah.

So you're standing up, you start off at First North, you end up at Liberty, you're also at least part in leading worship at Thomas Road Baptist next door, which is not a small church.

True, yes.

And then you end up at Prestonwood in three days from now.

But I was saved as a child.

I was saved in Sunday school class as a child at Thomas Road Baptist Church when I heard the very simple gospel.

I knew I was a sinner.

I knew I had already, as a little child, stolen things from the store.

He believed Christianity should have a major role in American public life.

And he tried to build his influence through Thomas Road Baptist Church, his television ministry, before moving aggressively into politics.

So the traditional mega church to televangelist model.

Yikes.

Meaningful conversations.

I can't wait, as we're backstage here at our Ignite Man's Impact Weekend 2026 right here in Lynchburg, Virginia, Thomas Road Baptist Church.

Sold-out crowd.

4,500 men are gathering to deepen their relationship with God and develop and strengthen their community and relationships-

... on the way to this covenant, uh, at, at this, at, at that point of time.

Well, I mentioned, uh, in, in the introduction, your book, The Liberty Way, which centers on, as you just said, Jerry Falwell, um, who, for those who aren't familiar, I'm, I'm sure many listeners are, he was the founding pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church-

Right

... and then eventually what becomes Liberty University, which has had a huge impact on the, uh, evangelical world in America.