Contact: Jill Martin, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of The Southern Baptist Convention, 615-782-8401, jmartin@erlc.com

NASHVILLE, May 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- "A true giant of the faith has gone on to his heavenly reward," said Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "Our grief at our loss of his witness, energy and giftedness for the kingdom is mitigated by the fact that he is now with his Savior for eternity. Dr. Falwell's home-going leaves an enormous gap in the leadership ranks of evangelical Christianity in America and around the world. He will be greatly missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his church members and the entire Liberty family, including professors, alumni and students, as well as his immediate family. We pray for them in this time of loss, as well as our loss of this true giant of the faith."

The Southern Baptist Convention is America's largest non-Catholic denomination with more than 16.3 million members in over 44,000 churches nationwide. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the SBC's ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency with offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.