Steve Inskeep: Why do you suppose that of all the churches that started in an old building some place with a few dozen members, that it’s been yours that has grown to this proportion with six thousand seats in front of us?
Falwell: Well, humanly speaking, I have always tried to use the most advanced technology that is available at the moment. We started the church on one Sunday, June 17, 1956. Within three weeks we’re on daily radio. And within three months we’re on television. You talk about some of the brash statements … none of them by chance.
Inskeep: What do mean none of them by chance?
Falwell: I mean when we say something … I came back in 1985 from South Africa. … There was Bishop Tutu riding around in a limousine. So, I came back to New York and landed. At that time he was a patron saint. And so if you wanted to get every newspaper in America, all you had to do was say something about him. So my first line was, ‘We don’t need to disenfranchise. We don’t need to starve people and we don’t need to listen to Tutu because everybody thinks he’s a phony and so do I.’
That portion of the interview raised a red flag in my mind. I was expecting him to point out God’s hand of blessing as he sought it through prayer and obedience. But the report only mentions the human side of things. Was that due to the editor’s bias, or does Falwell really think technology and catchy statements are the main reason for the growth of his ministry?
