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Liberty University co-founder to speak at North Union church

By Frances Borsodi Zajac fzajac@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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When he co-founded Liberty University in Virginia with the Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell in 1971, Dr. Elmer Towns didn’t anticipate its growth or impact.

“I never expected the school to be bigger than 5,000,” said Towns, a Christian author and lecturer who will speak about his book “The Prayer Bible” when he appears at a spiritual growth conference 5:30 p.m. Monday at Liberty Baptist Church in North Union Township, where the Rev. Ewing Marietta, pastor, is a Liberty University graduate.

Towns said he is amazed that the university now reaches more than 100,000 students. The university’s website lists residential enrollment at over 13,500 and online enrollment at over 95,000.

According to its website, Liberty University is the largest private, nonprofit university in the nation, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest Christian university in the world. It is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains on more than 7,000 acres in Lynchburg, offering more than 450 programs from the certificate to the doctoral level.

In addition, the website said the university is continuing a $500 million campus rebuilding, which includes more residence halls as well as new and upgraded academic, recreation and athletic facilities.

“God has blessed the school,” said Towns, 82, who was the only full-time teacher in the school’s first year and most recently served as dean of Liberty’s theological seminary and the school of religion. Towns is semi-retired but continues to serve the university as a teacher and vice president.

Towns met Falwell when he wrote a bestselling book in the 1960s called “The 10 Largest Sunday Schools and What Makes them Grow.” Towns said Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg was number nine.

“We became great friends,” said Towns of Falwell, who died in 2007. “In the pulpit, he was a strong man. To individuals, he was a kind man.”

Falwell became known nationally for his radio and television ministry, and later for his political activism. Liberty University’s website explained Falwell in 1979 organized the Moral Majority, a conservative political lobbying group that was pro-life, pro-family, pro-Israel and favored a strong national defense. The group backed California Gov. Ronald Reagan for the 1980 presidential election and continued to make an impact before it dissolved in 1989.

“I was active in the early days of the Moral Majority, but I did not stay past the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980,” said Towns, who explained he was editor of the Moral Majority Report. “I walked away from political activity.”

Liberty University continues to attract attention for its conservative Christian values, with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently choosing the school in March as the site to launch his 2016 presidential campaign.

“It says he found this a very comforting place, but chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said we have not endorsed him, and we are not endorsing any candidate,” said Towns, who noted the university has both Republican and Democratic clubs on campus with many students wearing T-shirts supporting U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, at the Cruz event. Paul announced Tuesday he is also running for president.

Towns, who had previously served as president of Winnipeg Bible College in Canada and taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, said when Falwell and he decided to build a Christian liberal arts college in Lynchburg, they sought professors who believed in the Great Commission to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ through the world.

Towns said today 4,000 of the school’s 20,000 annual graduates are involved in ministry.

Staff are also influential, with the college’s website reporting Dr. Ed Hindson, dean of the School of Divinity, is a biblical consultant for the new NBC-TV series “A.D. The Bible Continues.”

Towns’ biography says he began writing while teaching at Midwest Bible College in St. Louis, Missouri, when he was not satisfied with his textbooks, and has published more than 100 books. He is the 1995 recipient of the Gold Medallion Award from the Christian Booksellers Association for writing the book of the year, “The Names of the Holy Spirit.”

About his book, “The Prayer Bible,” which was published in September, Towns said he paraphrased biblical verses to turn them into prayer. He first began the work several years ago, leading to the book called “Praying the Psalms” and continued with this book, co-authored with Roy Zuck, that uses the entire Bible.

As an example, Towns said he took the 23rd Psalm, that begins “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” and paraphrased it into a prayer that begins “Lord, thank you for being my shepherd. I do not want for anything.”

Towns has been to Liberty Baptist in Uniontown before, noting, “I think it’s a great group of people — the heart and core of America.”

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