Thomas Road Baptist Church (TRBC) is a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

megachurch A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...

in Lynchburg,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, located on the campus of

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia ( Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Lib ...

, which it founded and is closely affiliated with. In 2016, a church spokesperson stated they had an average weekly attendance of 9,000. The pastor is

Jonathan Falwell Jonathan Pate Falwell (born September 7, 1966) is the senior pastor at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and campus pastor at Liberty University. Education Falwell earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Liberty Universi ...

, the son of previous Senior Pastor Jerry Falwell and brother of former Liberty University President, Jerry Falwell Jr. In addition to a second campus, Dan River Church, Thomas Road also hosts a Spanish congregation on its main campus. It is affiliated with the

Baptist Bible Fellowship International The Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI) is a conservative Baptist Christian denomination. It is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri. History The Fellowship was founded during a meeting in 1950 at Fort Worth in 1950 by a group of 1 ...

and the Southern Baptist Convention.

History

Begun in 1956 by a group of thirty-five, including Jerry Falwell, Thomas Road now claims more than 24,200 members. In 1971, the church founded Lynchburg Baptist College, now known as

, as well as

Liberty Christian Academy Liberty Christian Academy (LCA, founded as Lynchburg Christian Academy) is a private Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Founded in 1967 by Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. as a ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church and a segregation aca ...

(known as Lynchburg Christian Academy until it moved and was renamed in 2005). Until 2004, the church was the location for a nationally syndicated religious broadcast known as '' The Old-Time Gospel Hour''. This program now airs only locally in Lynchburg. Selected sermons from the pulpit of the Thomas Road Baptist Church are now featured nationally on a syndicated program from Liberty University known as ''Live from Liberty''. The church occupied a new multimillion-dollar facility on July 2, 2006. The new building is connected to an over facility formerly owned and operated by the

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...

electronics manufacturer. The existing building has been renovated to house offices, university classes, the new Liberty University School of Law, and the Liberty Christian Academy. The church offers a variety of events and speakers, such as a

creationist Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 'th ...

conference by

Answers in Genesis Answers in Genesis (AiG) is an American fundamentalist Christian apologetics parachurch organization. It advocates Young Earth creationism on the basis of its literal, historical-grammatical interpretation of the Book of Genesis and the Bibl ...

. Founding pastor Falwell served as its senior pastor until his death in 2007. In a special business meeting called by the board of

deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

on June 3, 2007,

was unanimously elected by the

congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

to assume his father's duties as senior pastor of the church. Jonathan Falwell had previously served as the church's executive pastor since 1994. Jerry Falwell started Lynchburg Baptist College by selling bonds to a small group of private investors. However, in 1972, the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated the bonds alleging Falwell's church committed "fraud and deceit" in the issuance of $6.5 million in unsecured church bonds. The church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC, in which the court exonerated the church and ruled that there had been no intentional wrongdoing."Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority Founder, Dies at 73"
''New York Times'', May 16, 2007

Affiliation

Thomas Road Baptist Church was initially affiliated with the

. However, since 1998, it has a dual affiliation with the Baptist Bible Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention, having entered the convention by way of the

Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia The SBC of Virginia or "SBCV" is a fellowship of 700 Southern Baptist churches across Virginia and surrounding areas. It is supportive of the national Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It was formed in 1993 when conservative Virginia Baptists ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 37, 21, 27, N, 79, 10, 24, W, display=title Southern Baptist Convention churches Baptist churches in Virginia Churches in Lynchburg, Virginia Christian organizations established in 1956 Evangelical megachurches in the United States Megachurches in Virginia 1956 establishments in Virginia Jerry Falwell