Pre-Doomsday, Falwell was the founding pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, and also founded Lynchburg Baptist College (which became Liberty University in 1971) and Lynchburg Baptist School. Falwell was best known as the co-founder of the Moral Majority, a political organization with an emphasis on lobbying for issues of interest and importance to American evangelical Christians. Falwell passed away on May 15, 2007 and was buried with military honors on the Liberty campus. His son, Jonathan, succeeded him as pastor of the church and president of the university.