Here is a more in depth look at Thomas Road Baptist Church from Pamela Podger, who covers religion at the Roanoke Times.
“With frenetic energy this week, workmen bustled inside the Thomas Road Baptist Church before its rebirth Sunday.

Cords snaked down the main hall. Ladders littered corridors. The place buzzed as hundreds of workers laid bricks, arranged lighting and painted columns.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s church will mark its 50th anniversary Sunday in a new 6,000-seat sanctuary. From the church’s humble beginnings inside a sticky, abandoned Donald Duck bottling plant, the new structure culminates Falwell’s dream to have all of his ministries in one location.

“The church is the fulcrum, the heartbeat of the ministry,” said Falwell, 72. “This means the future Thomas Road Baptist Church will never have to build again. It’s unthinkable that you could overflow a 1-million-square-foot building. This is all in the Lord’s hands.”

The founder of the defunct Moral Majority is unapologetic about his mission, fanning the flames of evangelical causes and helping politicians who share his worldview. Presidential candidates make pilgrimages here, with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., giving the Liberty University commencement address in May and Sen. George Allen, R-Va., expected as a speaker Sunday.

Falwell is excited about his new church with its air-conditioned pulpit, high-definition screens and video cameras that will zoom in on worshippers during services and baptisms. The new church is housed in a complex that offers Christian education from preschool to doctorate degrees.

The son of an agnostic bootlegger, Falwell founded his church when he was 22, after years of listening to Christian radio at his mother’s bidding.

He was saved at 18 and, at his pastor’s urging, went to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., instead of Notre Dame, where he planned on studying journalism. In 1967, he spread his message with his Old Time Gospel Hour show, first by radio and then on television.

But he candidly admits to playing hookey from Sunday school as a youngster.

“Oh yes, many times,” Falwell said. “There was a fire escape just outside our Sunday school room. And when the teacher was praying, we would all — two or three of us — just disappear.”

With his Texas-size ambitions, Falwell has combined all his educational, recreational and worship amenities on one campus that includes his Liberty Christian Academy, with about 1,000 students, as well as his seminary, law school and university. All but the church sanctuary were recycled from the former 888,000-square-foot Ericsson cellphone plant. He acknowledges a bittersweet aspect of Sunday’s milestone, giving tribute to now-deceased people who encouraged him in 1956 when he knocked on 100 doors a day and invited residents to his new church.

“There are so many people, including my mother, who invested so much in me and this church and who will not be there Sunday. They’re gone,” Falwell said. “The people who heard me talk about this, but who won’t see it. That’s a disappointment.”

Falwell’s two sons, Jonathan and Jerry Jr., help run Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist. The church, which started with 35 members, now claims 24,000 people on its rolls.

Jerry Falwell Jr., general counsel and vice chancellor at Liberty, said the last time the church moved into a new sanctuary was on its 14th anniversary.

“I was 8 years old in 1970 and I remember being so awestruck by the sheer size of the 3,000-seat auditorium that I spent more time staring at the distant ceiling than listening to the sermons,” Jerry Falwell Jr. said. “My kids will probably be similarly distracted on Sunday.”

Jonathan Falwell, who is the church’s executive pastor and shares pastoral duties with his father, tested the sound and lighting systems in the new sanctuary one day last week. The new church has an indoor and outdoor playground with biblical themes — from Noah’s Ark to Jonah and the whale. A long hall that they’ve dubbed “Main Street” offers worship opportunities, wireless Internet access and a coffee shop and restaurant called The Lion & The Lamb Cafe.

“It’s like a Christian Starbucks,” said Jonathan Falwell, who got his seminary degree from Liberty University in 1996. “We built this for people who live in the community and we want to reach with the gospel. We believe it is all part of God’s plan.”

Church members have painted murals or made tapestries, such as “I Am the Vine” and “Thy Will Be Done,” that adorn the new complex’s walls. It also has formal spaces for funerals and weddings, both inside and out.

The new church also has private places, such as a prayer chapel with the wood floors from the original church.

The Falwells have said they’re not sure if they’ll sell the former church facility that encases the abandoned bottling plant. “We’re not actively listing it; we’re playing it by ear,” said Jonathan Falwell.

Over the years, people have given Jerry Falwell Sr. about a dozen soda bottles from the Donald Duck plant. Those items adorn his office, along with photos of his eight grandchildren and a photo with the Rev. Billy Graham after Falwell officiated at a wedding.

Falwell, a portly preacher who was hospitalized twice in March 2005, has rolled back on his political and sometimes polarizing statements. He credits the Moral Majority with helping propel Ronald Reagan to the presidency. But years later, he was forced to apologize for partly blaming the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on groups that “tried to secularize America,” including gays, feminists and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Falwell said his desire is to focus on his ministries, while growing his Liberty University legacy from the current 9,600 students to 25,000 students in the next decade or so. He said he plans to continue preaching for years, while allowing his son Jonathan to do more of the five Sunday services.

“He’ll begin doing two and I’ll do one sometime next year, and at some point in time I’m going fishing,” Falwell said. “I’ll never retire, but somewhere I’ll get off the treadmill.”

How they measure up

2,440 – Seats in the Roanoke Civic Center Performing Arts Center

2,500 – Seats in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church on Third Street in Roanoke

6,000 – Seats in the new Thomas Road Baptist Church sanctuary”