wnd.com
Jan Crouch, who with her late husband Paul co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network, died on Tuesday following a massive stroke, her family announced on the network’s website.
“Those who battled for the Kingdom of God knew her as a fighter – someone who didn’t give up, someone who fought relentlessly to get the Gospel around the world,” the announcement, signed by Matt, Laurie, Cayland and Cody Crouch, said.
“To a select few she was not a television figure, but was sister, wife, Mom, or Grandma – an integral part of our family,” the announcement continued, “Jan Crouch loved many things, but most of all she loved Jesus, and now has seen Him face to face and has experienced his grace in fullness. She has taken a piece of our hearts with her, but it’s so wonderful to know that Paul and Jan Crouch are together again, in the arms of Jesus.”
Fox News reported she had suffered a stroke just days earlier.
The couple launched the network in 1973 when they took over some air time on a station in California.
TBN officials now say it is carried by more than 5,000 stations.
His career took him from helping build an educational AM station while a student at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri, to radio personality in Rapid City, South Dakota, to work with several California stations.
It was 1974 when TBN purchased its first TV station, KLXA-TV (now KTBN-TV 40) in Southern California. Since then, TBN has grown to reach every major continent via 84 satellite channels and over 18,000 television and cable affiliates around the world.
Jan and Paul also anchored TBN’s flagship program, “Praise the Lord,” a nightly two-hour talk show featuring guests, Scripture and entertainment.
The Crouches, and TBN, have received a number of awards, including the Golden Angel award from the Excellence in Media organization and the Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval.
The network’s obituary said, “A woman of great faith, courage, and compassion, Jan, as she was known by millions of friends around the world, spent her life spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to every continent, and encouraging everyone she touched with God’s love and grace.”
Her parents were Rev. and Mrs. Edgar Bethany of New Brockton, Alabama. She grew up in Columbus, Georgia.
She attended Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, where the two met. They married in 1957.
Eight years later, they moved to California with sons Paul Jr. and Matthew, and in 1973 started TBN.
“Beginning with one small, low-power station in Southern California, over the next 40 years Paul and Jan, with the help of countless partners and friends across the earth, grew TBN into America’s most watched faith network and the world’s largest religious broadcaster,” the report said.
“Through Paul and Jan’s vision and leadership, today TBN reaches over one billion potential viewers on every inhabited continent through thirty-plus global networks broadcasting on over eighty satellite channels and tens of thousands of television and cable affiliates, as well as via the Internet.”
Jan Crouch worked on various projects including Smile of a Child children’s network, the JUCE TV network, Church Channel, TBN Asia, TBN Europe and others.
She also worked with the network’s Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida.
She was honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Oral Roberts University in 1990.
Hal Lindsey, thought to be the best-selling non-fiction writer alive today, separated from the network after he was told to cool down his criticism of Islam.
Lindsey, author of “The Late Great Planet Earth” and many other best-selling books and a weekly columnist for WND, anchored the program for the last 12 years on the world’s largest Christian network.
The network said his program placed Arabs “in a negative light,” and Lindsey at the time said, “I don’t have to cast radical Muslims in a bad light. If the intimidation and persecution of moderate Muslims makes radical Islam look bad, that is because it is bad – not that I ‘cast’ them in a bad light. But I have never cast the Arabs as a race in a bad light.”
The lawsuit was filed by Brittany Koper, the granddaughter of TBN founder Paul Crouch Sr., and her husband, Michael Koper, against Trinity Christian Center, International Christian Broadcasting, Matthew Crouch, Janice Crouch and John Casoria.
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