And when I go into other pulpits, I try to be as sensitive as possible to the preferences of that pastor of that church except in rare situations where it demands unacceptable compromise. I can't think of an exception where that would be true. I would not go into a Methodist church and preach on baptism by immersion. If I accept the invitation I should be a gentleman also. And I don't go into Roman-Catholic churches and talk about the gay priest in Boston.

I speak in lots of places because of my political involvement. Debate at Harvard, Yale, most of the major schools on a regular basis. I'm always as kind as I can be to the powers that be in those things that deal with the issues, not personalities. For example at Princeton, Peter Singer believes that parents should have the right to kill their little born babies up to 30 days after birth. Well, I have spoken at Princeton, I haven't been there lately but if I were to go now I would go with the understanding that I would not be lashing out at the president or the board of trustees for having Peter Singer on the faculty. I would probably make strong reference to what he is saying without using his name.

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Preaching: On average, how many times each week do you speak?

Falwell: I speak over 20 times a week

Preaching: As pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, tell me a little bit about your approach to preaching. How do you go about planning what you will do in the pulpit as pastor?

Falwell: As a pastor I try to be sensitive to the needs of the congregation. I have preached through books of the Bible many times. More recently I preached on the book of Proverbs, the last year thru the Revelation, usually a chapter a Sunday. I leave the Bible teaching in-depth to the classes and to conferences. I deal with issues also, and topics — things that are facing the church or the nation I will address for a period of time. I primarily an exhorter — I encourage the saints. I try very hard to somehow lift the burden that each congregant might have in every audience. I point them to the promises of God and encouragement that is in Christ.

I am primarily a topical preacher dealing with what is happening in the culture. The subjects that you would be hearing on Oprah, Montel, and all the talk shows and the political talk/debate shows of MSNBC, FOX, CNBC, CNN are topics that I take right to the pulpit. Every week usually has a burning issue, or two or three burning issues. Things are happening so fast it's seldom that one issue has a shelf life of more that two or three weeks and we are on to something else. Right now for example the climate is war and probably somewhere between now and certainly by years end we will be at war with Iraq. [This interview was conducted early in 2003, prior to the war in Iraq.] Well, that means that in my church — and it is happening now and in the university — young people will be called up, several last week. That is on the minds and heart of our people. And so it is a matter that we need to be driving people to their knees and praying about and helping them know how to pray for the President, the men and women in combat, for those in authority, for the Pentagon, and for the whole nation that God might get glory out of that difficult situation.