The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
-based
broadcast
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...
television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...
and the world's largest religious television network.
TBN was headquartered in
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...
, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its highly visible office park, Trinity Christian City. The broadcaster retained its studios in nearby
Tustin
Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city is located next to the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana, and does not include the un ...
. Auxiliary studio facilities are located in
Irving,
Hendersonville,
Gadsden,
Decatur,
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
and
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
,
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. TBN has characterized itself as broadcasting programs hosted by a diverse group of ministries from
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
, traditional
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
and
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
denominations, non-profit charities,
Messianic Jewish
Messianic Judaism ( he, or , ) is a modernist and syncretic movement of Protestant Christianity that incorporates some elements of Judaism and other Jewish traditions into evangelicalism.
It emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the earlier ...
and
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
media personalities. TBN also offers a wide range of original programming and faith-based films from various distributors.
TBN owns and operates six broadcast networks, each reaching separate demographics. In addition to the main TBN network, TBN owns
TBN Inspire
TBN Inspire is an American Christian broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It is carried on the digital subchannels of TBN's stations.
The network originally launched as The Church Channel, which focu ...
,
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses ...
,
Enlace
Enlace is a Latin American Christian-based broadcast television network. The network primarily broadcasts faith-based programming targeted to the Hispanic community. Enlace's primary headquarters are in San José, Costa Rica, with studios, off ...
,
TBN Salsa
TBN Salsa is an American Christian-based digital broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The network offers a mix of religious and family-oriented programming aimed at English-speaking Hispanic Americans (serving a ...
and
Positiv
Positiv is an American Christian television network owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It mainly consists of a lineup of all Christian films, varying between smaller independent studio productions and major Hollywood studio p ...
. It also owns several other religious networks outside the United States, including international versions of its five U.S. networks.
Matt Crouch is currently TBN's president and head of operations.
History
The Trinity Broadcasting Network was co-founded as the Trinity Broadcasting Systems in 1973 by
Paul Crouch
Paul Franklin Crouch /kraʊtʃ/ (March 30, 1934 – November 30, 2013) was an American television evangelist. Crouch and his wife, Jan, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973; the company has been described as "the world’s la ...
, an
Assemblies of God
The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...
minister, and his spouse
Jan Crouch
Janice Wendell Crouch () (née Bethany; March 14, 1938 – May 31, 2016) was an American religious broadcaster. Crouch and her husband, Paul, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1973, along with Jim Bakker. She, along with her h ...
. TBN began its broadcasting activities by renting time on the
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
KBSA (now
UniMás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
KFTR-DT
KFTR-DT (channel 46) is a television station licensed to Ontario, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the western flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is owned-and-operated s ...
) in
Ontario, California
Ontario is a city in southwestern San Bernardino County in the U.S. state of California, east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino, the county seat. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire metropolitan area, ...
. After that station was sold, he began buying two hours a day of programming time on KLXA-TV in
Fontana, California
Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...
, in early 1974. That station was put up for sale shortly afterward. Paul Crouch then placed a bid to buy the station for $1 million and raised $100,000 for a
down payment
Down payment (also called a deposit in British English), is an initial up-front partial payment for the purchase of expensive items/services such as a car or a house. It is usually paid in cash or equivalent at the time of finalizing the transactio ...
. After many struggles, the Crouches managed to raise the down payment and took over the station outright, with the station becoming
KTBN-TV
KTBN-TV (channel 40) is a religious television station licensed to Santa Ana, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as the flagship station of the locally based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's offices are l ...
in 1977 and its
city of license
In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator.
In North American broa ...
being reassigned to TBN's original homebase,
Santa Ana, in 1983.
Initially, the station ran Christian programs for about six hours a day, expanding its programming to 12 hours a day by 1975, and began selling time to other Christian organizations to supplement its local programming. The station eventually instituted a 24-hour schedule in 1978.
![TBN logo 1982-1992](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/TBN_logo_1982-1992.jpg)
The fledgling network was so weak in its first days, that, according to Crouch in his autobiography, ''Hello World!'', it almost went bankrupt after just two days on the air. TBN began national distribution through
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
providers in 1978. The ministry, which became known as the Trinity Broadcasting Network, gained national distribution via
communications satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...
in 1982. The network was a member of the
National Religious Broadcasters
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint comm ...
association until 1990.
In 1977, the ministry purchased
KPAZ-TV in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, becoming its second television station property. During the 1980s and 1990s, TBN purchased additional independent television stations and signed on new stations around the United States; the purchase of the existing stations was done in order to gain cable carriage, due to the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC)'s
must-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.
North America Canada
Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
rules. TBN's availability eventually expanded to 95% of American households by early 2005.
Group
TBN has 30 Christian channels around the world.
Broadcast outlets
TBN owns 35 full-power television stations serving larger metropolitan areas in the United States; at its peak, the network also owned 252
low-power television stations, which are mixed among stations serving medium-sized cities and rural translator stations in order to maximize the network's reach as much as is permissible. TBN also has several hundred affiliate stations throughout the United States, although just 61 of these are full-power UHF or VHF stations; the rest are low-powered stations, requiring a viewer to be within several miles of the transmitter to receive the signal. According to ''TVNewsCheck'', TBN was the third largest over-the-air television station group in the country as of 2010, besting the station groups of
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
,
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, but behind
Ion Media Networks
Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...
and
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...
.
Many of TBN's stations are owned by the ministry outright, while others are owned through the subsidiary
Community Educational Television
Community Educational Television, Inc. (CET) is a subsidiary of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) which owns six TBN-affiliated television stations in Texas and Florida, all on channels allocated for non-commercial educational broadcasting as ...
, in order to own stations that TBN cannot acquire directly due to FCC ownership limits (which restrict companies from owning stations with a combined market reach of 39% of the United States), or are allocated for educational use and require additional programming to comply with that license purpose. TBN's programming is available by default via a national feed distributed to cable and satellite providers in markets without a local TBN station (this contrasts with the major commercial networks, which under FCC regulations, allow providers to import an owned-and-operated or affiliate station from a nearby market if no local over-the-air affiliate exists).
Worldwide, TBN's channels are broadcast on 70 satellites and over 18,000 television and cable affiliates. The TBN networks are also
streamed
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
live on the internet globally;
the network also provides select archived shows
on demand
On-demand or on demand may refer to:
Manufacturing
* Build-on-demand
* Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production
* Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...
, through the website and select
IPTV
Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...
services.
During 2010, citing economic problems and a lack of donations, TBN closed down and sold many of its low-powered television repeaters. Of those, 17 were sold to another Christian television network,
Daystar. On April 13, 2012, TBN sold 36 of its translators to Regal Media, a broadcasting group headed by George Cooney, the CEO of
EUE/Screen Gems
EUE/Screen Gems Ltd. is an American film and television studio production company that owns and operates facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Miami, Florida. The company collaborates with other studios and producers fo ...
.
Another 151 translators were donated to the Minority Media and Television Council (MMTC), an organization designed to preserve equal opportunity and civil rights in the media; MMTC would later sell 78 of these translators to
Luken Communications
Get After It Media, formerly known as Luken Communications and Reach High Media Group, is a privately owned American broadcast holding company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which owns or operates around 80 television stations in the United St ...
, parent company of the
Retro Television Network
Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through th ...
. Four more translators in
Dothan, Alabama
Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...
;
Kirksville, Missouri
Kirksville is the county seat and most populous city in Adair County, Missouri. Located in Benton Township, its population was 17,530 at the 2020 census. Kirksville is home to two colleges: Truman State University and A.T. Still University.
...
;
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro is a city located on Crowley's Ridge in the northeastern corner of the U.S. State of Arkansas. Jonesboro is one of two county seats of Craighead County. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 78,576 and is the f ...
; and
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States ...
were sold by MMTC to New Moon Communications, with the intent to convert them into
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
affiliates.
However, in September 2012, New Moon put all four of these translators for sale. Only
Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...
would purchase a transmitter in Dothan, which was converted into NBC affiliate
WRGX-LD
WRGX-LD (channel 23) is a low-power television station in Dothan, Alabama, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate WTVY (channel 4). The two stations share studios on North Fos ...
; the licenses in Ottumwa (KUMK-LP) and Jackson (WZMC-LP) would later be canceled (the NBC affiliate in Jackson,
WNBJ-LD
WNBJ-LD (channel 39) is a low-power television station in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Coastal Television Holdings, and maintains studios on North Highland Avenue and a transmitte ...
, operates using a different license). Its Jonesboro transmitter,
KJNE-LP remained
silent but with an active license; however, that market's
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
KAIT
KAIT (channel 8) is a television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC, NBC, and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on New Haven Church Road (County Road 766) north of Jonesboro, and its ...
ended up obtaining the NBC affiliation instead, via a subchannel.
KJNE-LP ended up becoming a translator station of
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate
KJNB-LD
KJNB-LD (channel 39) is a low-power television station in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with Fox and CBS. Owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC, the station maintains a small office in the Regions Bank Building i ...
. Another 44 of the licenses that were donated by TBN to the MMTC would be canceled on December 1, 2011 due to remaining silent for over a year.
On October 22, 2012, TBN acquired
WRBJ-TV
WRBJ-TV (channel 34) is a religious television station licensed to Magee, Mississippi, United States, serving the Jackson, Hattiesburg and Meridian television markets as an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). ...
in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
from
Roberts Broadcasting Roberts Broadcasting Company is a media company based in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a subsidiary of the parent company, the Roberts Companies, one of the largest African American-owned conglomerates. It is co-owned by brothers Steven Roberts, Presid ...
. Following FCC and bankruptcy court approval on January 17, 2013,
TBN officially took over operational control of WRBJ on May 24, 2013, dropping all secular and
CW network programming and converting it into a full-time
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
of TBN (the network was previously available in the Jackson area on
WJKO-LP, which was later sold to Daystar).
On July 8, 2013, TBN announced an affiliation with the
Lethbridge, Alberta
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...
, Canada religious station
Miracle Channel
CJIL-DT (channel 17) branded on-air as Miracle Channel, is a Christianity, Christian religious broadcasting, religious television station in Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, owned by The Miracle Channel Association. The station's studios a ...
; as part of the agreement, Miracle Channel added some of TBN's flagship programs, including ''Praise The Lord'' and ''Behind The Scenes'', while TBN picked up programs shown on Miracle Channel, including services from the Springs Church (of which Miracle Channel CEO Leon Fontaine is a pastor), and ''The Leon Show'' on
The Church Channel
TBN Inspire is an American Christian broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It is carried on the digital subchannels of TBN's stations.
The network originally launched as The Church Channel, which focu ...
. Plans were also announced for Fontaine to become a regular host on ''Praise the Lord'' and four episodes per-year to originate from Canada, and for Miracle Channel and TBN co-produce a new weekly program.
Digital television
The signals of TBN's television stations are multiplexed into
digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
s, which carry additional networks operated by the organization. These subchannels typically include:
*
TBN Inspire
TBN Inspire is an American Christian broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It is carried on the digital subchannels of TBN's stations.
The network originally launched as The Church Channel, which focu ...
(DT2), a channel that carries church services and
worship music
Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...
programming. The network has an output deal with Australia's
Hillsong Church
Hillsong Church, commonly known as Hillsong, is a global Evangelical charismatic movement, charismatic Christian megachurch based in Australia.
The original church was established in 1983 as Hills Christian Life Centre, in Baulkham Hills, New ...
.
*
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses ...
(DT3), a channel which carries children's Christian programming.
*
TBN Enlace USA
Enlace is a Latin American Christian-based broadcast television network. The network primarily broadcasts faith-based programming targeted to the Hispanic community. Enlace's primary headquarters are in San José, Costa Rica, with studios, office ...
(DT4), a localized feed of the Costa Rica-based Spanish-language Christian broadcaster
Enlace
Enlace is a Latin American Christian-based broadcast television network. The network primarily broadcasts faith-based programming targeted to the Hispanic community. Enlace's primary headquarters are in San José, Costa Rica, with studios, off ...
.
*
Positiv
Positiv is an American Christian television network owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. It mainly consists of a lineup of all Christian films, varying between smaller independent studio productions and major Hollywood studio p ...
(DT5), a channel which carries
Christian films
The Christian film industry is an aspect of Christian media for films containing a Christian-themed message or moral. They are often interdenominational films, but can also be films targeting a specific denomination of Christianity.
Criteria
P ...
.
Programming
Overview
TBN produces a variety of original Christian programs, such as gospel music concerts, live coverage of major Christian events,
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...
s, health/fitness/nutrition programs with Christian family doctors, children's programs, contemporary Christian
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s, marriage enrichment series, holiday specials, Christian dramas, and full-length, family-oriented movies.
The network's flagship program ''Praise the Lord'' was originally two hours long, and hosted by TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch. Today, the ninety-minute program is hosted by various regular hosts, including TBN president Matt Crouch and his wife Laurie Crouch, and occasional guest hosts. It features interviews with celebrities, ministers, and
laypeople discussing faith-based topics and their personal relationship with God; as well as musical performances from
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
and
contemporary Christian
Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...
artists. The ''Praise the Lord'' format is franchised to TBN owned-and-operated stations and affiliates to fulfill
public affairs content guidelines.
Children's programming
TBN runs ''
VeggieTales
''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retelling ...
'' under the "Smile" banner on Saturdays 8-10 a.m, and 12:30 p.m
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
to fulfill
E/I programming requirements as per the
FCC's Children's Television Act
The broadcast of educational children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as the Children's Television Act (C ...
. Programs previously featured as part of the lineup, which are also broadcast on TBN's
Smile
A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile.
Among humans, a smile expresses ...
network, ranged from contemporary programs (such as ''
3-2-1 Penguins!
''3-2-1 Penguins!'' is an American sci-fi computer-animated Christian children's television series, initially launched on November 14, 2000 as a direct-to-video episode by Big Idea Entertainment with videos released between 2000 and 2003. The di ...
''), classic series (such as ''
Davey and Goliath
''Davey and Goliath'' is a Christian clay-animated children's television series, whose central characters were created by Art Clokey, Ruth Clokey, and Dick Sutcliffe, and which was produced first by the United Lutheran Church in America and la ...
''), and TBN originals (such as ''iShine Knect'' and ''
Mary Rice Hopkins
Mary Rice Hopkins is an American children's and Christian religious artist born September 6, 1956, who has written hundreds of songs for children and adults. She currently lives in Southern California.
It was Also Broadcast on the Australian Chri ...
& Puppets with a Heart'').
Regularly scheduled shows
:Source:
* Classic
Billy Graham
William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
Crusades
* ''Changing Your Life'' with Gregory Dickow
* ''Changing Your World'' with
Creflo A. Dollar
Creflo Augustus Dollar, Jr., (born January 28, 1962) is an American pastor, televangelist, and the founder of the non-denominational Christian World Changers Church International based in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Dollar also he ...
* ''Destined to Reign'' with
Joseph Prince
Joseph Prince (born ''Xenonamandar Jegahusiee Singh''; 15 May 1963) is the evangelist and senior pastor of New Creation Church based in Singapore. He is one of the church's founders in 1983.
Background
He was born Xenonamandar Jegahusiee Singh ...
* ''End of the Age'' with
Irvin Baxter, Jr.
Irvin Lee Baxter Jr. (July 8, 1945 – November 3, 2020) was an American Oneness Pentecostal minister, televangelist, author, and biblical scholar. He hosted the internationally syndicated biblical prophecy television program, ''End of The Age ...
* ''Equip and Empower'' with
Christine Caine
Christine Caine (''née'' Caryofyllis, 23 September 1966) is an Australian activist, evangelist, author, and international speaker.The 700 Club. (n.d.). Christine Caine: Unleashing Your Life. Retrieved 7 February 2014 from http://www.cbn.com/70 ...
* ''Enjoying Everyday Life'' with
Joyce Meyer
Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Christian author, speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her min ...
* ''Gospel Truth'' with
Andrew Wommack
Andrew Wommack is an American conservative charismatic TV evangelist and faith healer. He founded Andrew Wommack Ministries in 1978 and Charis Bible College (originally Colorado Bible College) in 1994.
History
Wommack started to preach in 196 ...
* ''Grace'' with
Max Lucado
Max Lucado (born January 11, 1955) is an American author
"Lucado set a record by concurrently placing seven differe ...
* ''Harvest'' with
Greg Laurie
Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American author and pastor who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship with campuses in Riverside, Orange County and Maui.
Laurie came to faith at the age of 17 as the Jesus Moveme ...
* ''
Hour of Power
''Hour of Power'' is a weekly American Evangelist television program broadcast from Shepherd's Grove Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California, near Los Angeles. It is one of the most watched religious broadcasts in the world, seen by approximat ...
''
* ''
In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley
In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley is a television series sponsored by In Touch Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and hosted by Charles Stanley.
History
The series began airing in 1978. The show has been translated in 50 langu ...
''
* ''
Joel Osteen
Joel Scott Osteen (born March 5, 1963) is an American lay preacher, televangelist, businessman and author based in Houston, Texas. Known for his weekly televised services and several best-selling books, Osteen is one of the more prominent fi ...
Ministries''
* ''
John Hagee
John Charles Hagee (born April 12, 1940) is an American pastor and televangelist. The founder of John Hagee Ministries, his ministry is telecast to the United States and Canada. Hagee is also the founder and chairman of the Christian-Zionist org ...
Today''
* ''Kingdom Connection'' with Jentezen Franklin
* ''Leading the Way'' with Michael Youssef
* ''Life Today'' with
James Robison
* ''Living Proof'' with
Beth Moore
Wanda Elizabeth "Beth" Moore (born Wanda Elizabeth Green, June 16, 1957) is an American Anglican evangelist, author, and Bible teacher. She is president of Living Proof Ministries, a Christian organization she founded in 1994 to teach women to k ...
* ''Manna-Fest with Perry Stone''
* ''The Potter's Touch'' with Bishop
TD Jakes
Thomas Dexter Jakes (born June 9, 1957), known as T. D. Jakes, is an American bishop, author and filmmaker. He is the bishop of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch. Jakes's church services and Evangelistic sermons are br ...
* ''Power Point'' with
Jack Graham
* ''Praise'' (flagship program; various hosts)
* ''
The 700 Club
''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, con ...
'' (hosted by
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...
)
* ''Touching Lives'' with Dr. James Merritt
* ''Turning Point'' with
David Jeremiah
David Jeremiah is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San D ...
* ''Winning Walk'' with Ed Young Sr.
Personalities featured on TBN
*
Steven Furtick
Larry Stevens "Steven" Furtick Jr. (born February 19, 1980) is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor, author, and songwriter of Elevation Worship. He is the founder and senior pastor of Elevation Church, based in Charlotte North Car ...
*
Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...
Movies
Since 2009, TBN has broadcast feature-length religious- and/or inspirational-themed films; these films air primarily on weekend evenings (with films based on biblical stories most commonly airing on Sundays), with more contemporary films – which often incorporate moral lessons, faith-based lessons or a combination thereof, and are commonly targeted at youth audiences – airing on Saturday nights as part of the network's "preview" block of JUCE TV programs and intermittently on Monday through Fridays during the late-afternoon and overnight hours.
Films produced by or for TBN have included ''The Revolutionary'' and ''The Revolutionary II'' (based on the life of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
); ''The Emissary'' (a film on the life of the apostle
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
); ''
The Omega Code
''The Omega Code'' is a 1999 apocalyptic thriller film directed by Rob Marcarelli, written by Stephen Blinn and Hollis Barton, and starring Casper Van Dien, Michael York, Catherine Oxenberg and Michael Ironside. The premillennialist plot revolves ...
'' and its sequel ''
Megiddo: The Omega Code 2''; ''Carman: The Champion''; ''Time Changer''; and ''Six: The Mark Unleashed'' (starring
Stephen Baldwin
Stephen Andrew Baldwin (born May 12, 1966) is an American actor, producer and director. He has appeared in the films ''Born on the Fourth of July'' (1989), ''Posse'' (1993), ''8 Seconds'' (1994), ''Threesome'' (1994), ''The Usual Suspects'' (19 ...
and
David A.R. White
David Andrew Roy White (born May 12, 1970) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer and businessman. He is a co-founder of Pinnacle Peak Pictures, a distribution and production company specializing in Christian faith- a ...
).
Some of these films were produced by
Gener8Xion Entertainment
Gener8Xion Entertainment, Inc. is a Christian independent film production company based in Hollywood, California. The company is a spin off from Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The company was led by Matt Crouch (TBN) until mid-2010.
Fil ...
, TBN's
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
-based Christian motion picture studio, which was co-founded by Matt and Laurie Crouch.
TBN also broadcasts films from other production companies on its main network and some of its sister networks (in particular, JUCE TV and Smile of a Child TV in the U.S.). One notable film was
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...
's ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...
'', which had its television premiere on TBN on
April 17
Events Pre-1600
*1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
*1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan ...
, 2011. TBN presented the film with much of the graphic violence included (due to its depiction of the events leading to and including the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as illustrated in Biblical teachings); as a result, TBN assigned a "
TV-MA-V" rating for the film – a rarity for many Christian networks.
TBN HD
On December 15, 2009, the Trinity Broadcasting Network became the first Christian television network to broadcast completely in
high definition.
However, until 2018 only the national cable-satellite feed was transmitted in HD; TBN's
owned-and-operated broadcast stations were not equipped to allow HD broadcasts due partly to the bandwidth limitations caused by its mandatory carriage of five subchannels over a single broadcast signal and the lack of a modern
multiplexer
In electronics, a multiplexer (or mux; spelled sometimes as multiplexor), also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input to a single output line. The sel ...
at the transmitter level, disallowing TBN's
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
from sending the main feed in high definition or
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
(this is in comparison to Ion Media Networks, which carries five to six multiplex services on most of its stations – including its flagship network
Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...
, which is transmitted in high-definition); the primary TBN network feed is transmitted in standard-definition by its owned-and-operated stations and affiliates. Thus, widescreen programming on TBN's broadcast services were offered over-the-air in a
letterboxed
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes (black bars) above and below ...
4:3 picture format, though they are offered in their native formats on pay television and IPTV services (including TBN's mobile and
digital media player
A digital media player (also sometimes known as a streaming device or streaming box) is a type of consumer electronics device designed for the storage, playback, or viewing of digital media content. They are typically designed to be integra ...
apps, the latter requiring email authentication and an opt-in to the network's mailing list as of June 2018). At some point in 2018, some TBN over-the-air stations upgraded their primary feed and second subchannel to 720p HD, where available and/or technically possible.
Charitable and humanitarian initiatives
Smile of a Child Foundation
The Smile of a Child Foundation is a compassion-focused ministry, founded in 2005 by TBN co-founder Jan Crouch initially as a vehicle to reach the children of
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
, providing food, medical care, toys and disaster relief to people in need. Crouch has over 20 years of personal involvement with the island country, having established a children's hospital, an orphanage and a school in Haiti. TBN spent millions in donations and other funding on these humanitarian projects.
Following the
January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake, TBN made immediate contributions of $100,000 through
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu ...
-based Friend Ships, which speeds emergency relief aid and medical expertise all over the world in its fleet of dedicated cargo/ministry ships. Friend Ships has been partnering with TBN and Smile since 1992, Paul Crouch personally donated a
Bell 206
The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter progra ...
Jet Ranger helicopter to the humanitarian organization.
In May 2009, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
officially recommended the Smile of a Child Foundation to receive special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council for the Democracy Coalition Project.
Attractions
Trinity Music City
Trinity Music City
Trinity Music City, now called Huckabee Theater and formerly Twitty City,
is an entertainment complex in Hendersonville, Tennessee. It was famous for its lavish Christmas decorations, and includes the Conway Twitty Mansion and Memorial Gardens.
Sin ...
is an entertainment complex in
Hendersonville, Tennessee
Hendersonville is the largest city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. The population was 61,753 at the 2020 census.
Hendersonville is the fourth-largest city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nashville, Murfreesboro, an ...
; near
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
, operated by TBN and serving as the studios for TBN's Nashville-area station,
WPGD-TV
WPGD-TV (channel 50) is a religious television station licensed to Hendersonville, Tennessee, United States, serving the Nashville area as an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's transmitter is loc ...
. Formerly known as "Twitty City", the former estate of country music legend
Conway Twitty
Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...
, the complex includes the 2,000-seat Trinity Music City Church Auditorium, which is used for TBN-produced concerts, dramas, seminars and special events. A 50-seat virtual reality theater showcases four original productions from TBN Films.
Trinity Christian City International
Trinity Christian City International was a complex in
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...
, which served as the headquarters for TBN as well as a tourist attraction. On March 3, 2017, it was announced by The Christian media network that Trinity Christian City International had been sold to Greenlaw Partners, because TBN now finds its campus "obsolete". A sales price was not disclosed. On April 12, 2017, it was revealed that the sales price was $18.25 million.
Holy Land Experience
In June 2007, TBN purchased the bible-themed adventure park Holy Land Experience in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
for $37 million.
Controversies
Theology
Trinity Broadcasting Network had previously come under heavy criticism for its promotion of the
prosperity gospel
Prosperity theology (sometimes referred to as the prosperity gospel, the health and wealth gospel, the gospel of success, or seed faith) is a religious belief among some Protestant Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are a ...
, teaching viewers that they will receive a reward if they donate or give offerings. In a 2004 interview with the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', Paul Crouch, Jr. expressed his disappointment that "the prosperity gospel is a lightning rod for the Body of Christ. It's not what drives TBN." Under leadership of Matt Crouch, TBN no longer adheres to or practices that theology, and programming changes such as removing Kenneth Copeland reflect that shift.
However, TBN has always broadcast programming featuring Protestant pastors who are not into the prosperity gospel, such as
Dr. Charles Stanley
Charles Frazier Stanley (born 1932) is Pastor Emeritus of First Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, after serving as senior pastor for 49 years. He is the founder and president of In Touch Ministries, which widely broadcasts his sermons through t ...
,
Jack Graham,
Franklin Graham
William Franklin Graham III (born July 14, 1952) is an American evangelist and missionary. He frequently engages in Christian revival tours and political commentary. He is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and ...
,
Billy Graham
William Franklin Graham Jr. (November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018) was an American evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s. He was a prominent evangelical Christi ...
,
Michael Youssef
Michael Youssef (born September 25, 1948) is an Egyptian-American pastor. He is the senior pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, and the executive president of Leading the Way.
Life and career
Youssef was born in Egypt, whe ...
,
David Jeremiah
David Jeremiah is an American evangelical Christian author, founder of Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San D ...
and
Robert Jeffress
Robert James Jeffress Jr. (born November 29, 1955) is an American Southern Baptist pastor, author, radio host, and televangelist. He is the senior pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church (Dallas), First Baptist Church, a megachurch in D ...
. Senator
Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore emeritus of the United States Senate, and the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States sen ...
, the chairman of the
United States Senate Committee on Finance
The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...
has conducted investigations into whether
Joyce Meyer
Pauline Joyce Meyer (née Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is an American Charismatic Christian author, speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her min ...
and
Benny Hinn
Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (born 3 December 1952) is an Israeli Christian televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades"—revival meeting or faith healing summits that are usually held in stadiums in major cities, which are l ...
mishandled their finances; neither were found to have committed wrongdoing.
Wealth and transparency
TBN is a
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
non-profit company. Full disclosure of TBN's financial statements have been evaluated by
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial s ...
, the largest evaluator of charities and non-profit companies in the U.S. TBN has received a three out of four star rating for four consecutive years, and in 2009 earned a rating of two out of four stars due to a 2% increase in administrative costs in 2009; the report also revealed that for the fiscal year ending December 2009, TBN president Paul Crouch, Sr. earned $419,500; co-vice president Jan Crouch earned $361,000; and co-vice president Paul Crouch, Jr. earned $214,137. TBN is currently under Donor Advisory status with Charity Navigator.
Another charity watchdog group,
Ministry Watch
Ministry Watch is an independent American evangelical Christian organization whose purpose is to review Protestant ministries
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a m ...
, gave TBN an "F" in 2011 for its failure to provide financial statements, lack of timeliness in responding to correspondence, and its lack of clarity in the provided information. As a result, TBN was placed on the group's alert list annually since 2009.
TBN's annual financial information is monitored by the
Chronicle of Philanthropy
''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' is a magazine that covers the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, it is aimed at charity leaders, foundation executives, fund raisers, and other people involved in philanthropy. ''The Chroni ...
, where it is ranked 243 out of the top 400 non-profit corporations in the United States. TBN is not a member of the
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) is an American financial standards association representing Evangelical Christian organizations and churches, which qualify for tax-exempt, nonprofit status and receive tax-deductible co ...
.
In 2011, Paul Crouch, Jr. resigned from his position as co-vice president on TBN. On November 10 of that year, Crouch, Jr. joined
The Word Network
The Word Network, also known as The Word, is a religious broadcasting network. The Word is the largest African-American religious network in the world. It was founded in February 2000 by Kevin Adell who also owns WFDF, a local urban-talk radio st ...
as its Director of Project Development.
In February 2012,
Brittany Koper
Brittany Crouch Koper (born May 1, 1985) is an American human resources professional. She gained notoriety after she was dismissed from, and filed a lawsuit against attorneys for, the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). She is the granddaughter of ...
, TBN's former Director of Finance (and the granddaughter of Paul Sr. and Jan Crouch), filed a lawsuit against her former attorneys, Davert & Loe. The three counts of the complaint were for breach of fiduciary duties, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and professional negligence. In this lawsuit, Koper alleged that TBN unlawfully distributed over $50 million to the ministry's directors. Koper filed the suit following the termination of her employment with TBN. Davert & Loe, who also represented TBN, denied her claims. Koper's suit against Davert & Loe is pending; no official judicial ruling has been made in this matter.
In a May 2012 interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Koper claimed, "My job as finance director was to find ways to label extravagant personal spending as ministry expenses." Koper alleged that the network had herself and
chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.
Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...
s and
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
s ordained as ministers in order to avoid paying
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
taxes on their salaries.
Lawsuits
In September 2004, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that Paul Crouch had paid former TBN employee Enoch Lonnie Ford a $425,000 formal settlement to end a
wrongful termination
In law, wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer, where the termination breaches one or more terms of the contra ...
lawsuit in 1998.
Ford alleged that he and Crouch had a homosexual tryst during his employment with the ministry. TBN officials acknowledged the settlement but contested Ford's credibility, noting that he had previously been convicted for
child molestation
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (wheth ...
and drug abuse. In 1996, Ford was fired by TBN after he was arrested for drug-related offenses and returned to prison for a year. Ford allegedly threatened to sue TBN for wrongful termination and
sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
after the network refused to hire him following his release, resulting in his claims against Crouch. TBN officials stated that the settlement was made in order to avoid a lengthy and expensive lawsuit.
In late 2003, Ford attempted to
extort
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...
Crouch, threatening to release an autobiographical
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printing, printed or repr ...
of their alleged affair if TBN did not purchase the document for $10 million. In October 2004, Judge Robert J. O'Neill awarded Crouch $136,000 in legal fees to be paid by Ford for his violation of the terms of the settlement agreement, specifically the prohibition of discussing the details of the settlement. On March 15, 2005, Ford appeared on the
PAX TV
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented entert ...
reality series ''
Lie Detector
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and ...
'' to be given a
polygraph test
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...
; the results of the test were never broadcast or made public.
In June 2012, the ''
Orange County Register
''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...
'' reported that Carra Crouch, a granddaughter of Paul and Jan Crouch, alleged in a lawsuit that she had been
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
d by a TBN employee when she was 13 years old. Carra claimed to have been
sexually abused
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...
while staying at an
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
hotel during TBN's "Spring Praise-a-Thon" in 2006. She also claimed that Jan Crouch and TBN attorney John Casoria blamed her for the incident, yet agreed not to turn the fired employee in to authorities if he did not file for
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
,
worker's comp or
EEOC
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...
benefits. TBN attorney Colby May "vehemently denied" Carra's claims. In 2017, a year after Jan Crouch's death, a jury awarded Carra $2 million in damages for "mental suffering", but found that Jan had not been acting as a "Trinity Clergy Member" and therefore wasn't legally required to report the assault.
Pre-emption of programs due to criticism of other religions
Bible prophecy
Bible prophecy or biblical prophecy comprises the passages of the Bible that are claimed to reflect communications from God to humans through prophets. Jews and Christians usually consider the biblical prophets to have received revelations from G ...
scholar
Hal Lindsey
Harold Lee Lindsey (born November 23, 1929) – known as Hal Lindsey – is a best-selling American evangelical writer. He is a Christian Zionist, a dispensationalist and a television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beg ...
's program ''International Intelligence Briefing'', which occasionally aired commentary segments criticizing
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, aired on TBN from 1994 to 2005. In December 2005, TBN pre-empted the program for the entire month. Lindsey accused the network of
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
, saying, "some at the network apparently feel that my message is too pro-
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and too anti-Muslim." Paul Crouch issued a press release stating that the show was only pre-empted for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
programming, but eventually admitted that TBN management was concerned that Lindsey "placed
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
s in a negative light." Lindsey resigned from TBN on January 1, 2006, effectively canceling ''International Intelligence Briefing''. However, one year later, Crouch and Lindsey reconciled and a new program, ''
The Hal Lindsey Report
Harold Lee Lindsey (born November 23, 1929) – known as Hal Lindsey – is a best-selling American evangelical writer. He is a Christian Zionist, a dispensationalist and a television host. He wrote a series of popular apocalyptic books – beg ...
'', premiered on the network.
In June 2011, TBN refused to rebroadcast an episode of
Jack Van Impe
Jack Leo Van Impe ( ; February 9, 1931 – January 18, 2020) was an American televangelist known for his half-hour weekly television series ''Jack Van Impe Presents'', an eschatological commentary on the news of the week through an interpre ...
's weekly program ''Jack Van Impe Presents'', in which the evangelist criticized pastors
Rick Warren
Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American Southern Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Fore ...
and
Robert Schuller
Robert Harold Schuller (September 16, 1926 – April 2, 2015) was an American Christian televangelist, pastor, motivational speaker, and author. In his five decades of television, Schuller was principally known for the weekly ''Hour of Po ...
for participating in
interfaith
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels. It is ...
conferences alongside Muslim leaders. Both Warren and Schuller denied the accusations. Paul Crouch defended TBN's decision, stating that it was against network policy for personalities to attack each other on-air (Schuller had a regular show on TBN). As a result, Jack Van Impe Ministries announced that it would no longer air Van Impe's program on TBN.
[ ]
''Travel the Road'' in Afghanistan
TBN produces and airs the Christian
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
show ''
Travel the Road
''Travel the Road'' is an American reality television series that documents the lives of young missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker through more than 25 different countries since 1998, in their efforts to bring Christianity into the most remote ...
'', which features missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker in remote and often war-torn locations. In December 2008, the program attracted criticism from the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation'' (MRFF) is a watchdog group and advocacy organization founded in 2005 by Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein. The group's goal states it will, "Ensure that members of the United States Armed Forces receive the ...
(MRFF), a watchdog group that looks for
religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated u ...
in the
United States military
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, which claimed that Scott and Decker were embedded with U.S. troops stationed in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. According to MRFF president Mikey Weinstein, the military exercises a "complete prohibition of the proselytizing of any religion, faith, or practice...You see
cott and Decker
Primo Water Corporation (formerly Cott Corporation) is an American-Canadian water company offering multi-gallon bottled water, water dispensers, self-service refill water machines, and water filtration appliances. The company is headquartered in ...
wearing American helmets. It is obvious they were completely embedded." When
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
contacted the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
in Afghanistan about Scott and Decker's alleged embed, which had taken place four years previously, they said that they no longer had the documentation of the missionaries' status with the troops.
Scott defended the trip to Afghanistan, telling ABC, "It wasn't like we were hiding in the back saying we're going to preach.
he military
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
knew what we were doing. We told them that we were born again Christians, we're here doing ministry, we shoot for this TV station and we want to embed and see what it was like. We were interviewing the chaplains and we talked to them. We spoke at the services and things like that. So we did do our mission being over there as far as being able to document what the soldiers go through, what it's like in Afghanistan. So I could say that we were on a secular mission as well as far as documenting. I would say we were news reporters as well, we were delivering news of what was actually happening there, but we were also there to document the Christian side." Scott argued that since the pair were acting as Christian journalists, they had the same right to cover the war in Afghanistan as secular networks.
Awards and honors
* 2008:
Parents Television Council
The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative Christian activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers t ...
Entertainment Seal of Approval
See also
*
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series ''The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' an ...
*
Daystar Television Network
The Daystar Television Network (commonly referred to as Daystar Television, often shortened to Daystar) is an American evangelical Christian-based religious television network owned by the Word of God Fellowship, founded by Marcus Lamb in 1993. ...
, another Christian television network which features many of the same programs
*
Education Station
''Education Station'' is an American game show that was aired on Trinity Broadcasting Network. It was taped in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The show is similar to Fox's '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'', but geared toward Christian educational e ...
*
Glorystar
GloryStar Satellite Systems is a direct to home religious based satellite television service. The service offers viewers and churches a selection of Christian radio and television services.
Glorystar broadcasts its channels via the Galaxy 19 sate ...
*
Well to Hell hoax
The "Well to Hell" is an urban legend regarding a putative borehole in Russia which was purportedly drilled so deep that it broke through into Hell. It is first attested in English as a 1989 broadcast by a U.S. domestic religion-based TV broa ...
References
External links
*
Trinity Broadcasting Networkon
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
Income Statementfrom
Charity Navigator
Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates hundreds of thousands of charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a free 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit’s financial s ...
Summary Reportfrom
Ministry Watch
Ministry Watch is an independent American evangelical Christian organization whose purpose is to review Protestant ministries
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a m ...
Modern Day Heroes of Faith an analysis of technology and religion on TBN.
{{American broadcast television
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