Remembering Jerry Falwell

It was quite a shock to learn yesterday of the death of Jerry Falwell. I was a student at Liberty University for five years and an active participant in the Middle School Youth Ministry at Thomas Road Baptist Church for three of those years. Even though it has been many years since I left Lynchburg the news of Dr. Falwell's passing hit me harder than I ever thought it would.

The news media caricatures of Dr. Falwell were wholly inaccurate. This is understandable from the secular press who hated Dr. Falwell's Christian values but may in the so-called Christian press were just as slanderous in their coverage. I always wondered why Christians would hate him just as much if not more than their secular counterparts.

Anyway. Dr. Falwell was not a perfect man. I disagreed with him on some issues over the years. He is not even on the Top 10 list of my favorite preachers to hear. While I was at Liberty, I thought the rules were too strict in some areas. I did not understand some of the verbal gaffes he committed at times (though admittedly some of these gaffes were greatly exaggerated, mis-characterized, or otherwise taken out of context by the press to make them sound worse than they actually were).

YET HE WAS A CHRISTIAN GIANT!!!!!!!!

The main thing I learned from Dr. Falwell was VISION. Falwell did not have small dreams. His dream for Liberty University was for it to have 50, 000 students, play 1A sports at college's highest levels, have world class academics, and be deeply committed to Biblical Christianity. He wanted to change the world. He spoke constantly of this dream. It didn't seem to matter what passage of the Bible he was preaching on, he would always wonder back to this gigantic vision. I soaked up this visioneering. The vision God has given me for my future ministry is not small either. Dr. Falwell contributed to that greatly.

He had no interest in retirement. He wanted to live at least twelve years longer than he did (in 2004 he stated his desire to live fifteen more years). This was not to play golf or recline in a rocking chair on the front porch. It was to lead people to Christ and train (in his words) "Champions for Christ".

You will likely not see in the secular press the alcoholics who received healing at the Elim Home for Alchoholics he founded. You will not likely read of the many hungry people fed via different aspects of the ministries he founded. You will possibly not read of the hundreds (if not thousands) of unborn babies he saved from death in an abortion clinic through the Liberty Godparent home he founded. Yet this only begins to tell the story of God's accomplishments through him.

In a future post, I will tell of my personal interactions with Dr. Falwell. Including the time I almost contributed to him being attacked by a large number of empty milk crates. For now I shall just say: I miss him.

George Utley, R.I.P.

I just read that one of my favorite actors, Tom Poston, has died.

Poston played my favorite character - handyman George Utley - on my all-time favorite sitcom Newhart.

If you've never seen Newhart, check it out if you can. The series is not on DVD yet, but I'm sure it will be eventually.

The saga of Dick Loudon (Bob Newhart) and his wife Joanna (the late Mary Frann) as they buy the Stratford Inn in a tiny town in Vermont was a classic. George was their somewhat clueless handyman. When the show began, they had to put with wacky next door neighbor Kirk Devane (Steven Kampmann) and had a level headed maid Leslie Vanderkellen (Jennifer Holmes). After the first season, Leslie left and was replaced by self-obsessed cousin Stephanie (Julia Duffy). After the second season, Kirk left the show, and local wild men Larry, Darryl, and Darryl (who were already making periodic appearances) bought Kirk's restaurant, the Minuteman Cafe. About the same time Stephanie started dating Michael Harris (Peter Scolari), the superficial producer of Dick's local talk show "Vermont Today".

These were the main characters. I loved the townspeople who dropped by occassionally. Dimwitted Mayor Chester Wannamaker and his equally dimwitted pal Jim, the deathly serious Officer Shifflet, perpetually out-of-work local Harley Estin, and others helped strengthen the comedy.

George was my favorite character because he was a fundamentally decent guy who was very funny.

Some highlights:
* He once bought regular jeans to replace his overalls. He went back to overalls because he didn't like the designer label on the back pocket. He didn't like having to back out of a room.
* When his lodge put out a facebook, George decided he needed a nickname since all the other lodge members had one (and he needed to get it into general use by the following Tuesday).
* He bought a sing along machine and went around singing "That's the Way, U-huh, U-huh, I like it."
* When he casually announced to everyone he had no family to spend Christmas with, Joanna questioned about him being "all alone in the world". George suddenly look serious, and realizing it for the first time, got depressed and said, "I can't believe it, I'm all alone in the world."
* When discussing with Dick about putting in a new furnace, George said it would cost $80. Dick, knowing he's a handyman, said "I thought you'd take care of that." George replied "I don't have $80".

They're probably funnier when you see them acted out. Anyway, our sympathies are extended to Tom Poston's family. And this is one fan who appreciates his work on this show.