Paul Crouch, founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network, dies at 79
Los Angeles Times – Obituaries
By Elaine Woo
November 30, 2013, 11:40 a.m.
Paul Crouch, a pioneering televangelist who founded Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world’s largest Christian TV network, died today, according to the network’s website. He was 79.
The church reported in October that Crouch had fallen ill and was taken to a Dallas-area hospital while on a visit to a TBN facility in Colleyville, Texas. He had “heart and related health issues,” the church said, and he was later returned to California for continued treatment.
The son of a Missouri missionary, Crouch moved to California in the early 1960s to manage the movie and television unit of the Assemblies of God. A decade later, after receiving what he believed was a message from God, he began to buy television stations, cable channels and satellites and developed enough Christian programming to sustain a 24-hour network.
By the mid-1980s, Orange County-based TBN was “the country’s most-watched religious network,” according to J. Gordon Melton and Jon R. Stone in their book “Prime-Time Religion: An Encyclopedia of Religious Broadcasting.”
With his bubbly wife Jan, Crouch anchored TBN’s flagship program, “Praise the Lord,” a nightly two-hour talk show featuring guests, Scripture and entertainment. He was known for preaching a gospel of prosperity, imploring viewers to open their pocketbooks to further God’s works and reap spiritual and material blessings in return.
During four decades on air he often generated controversy, in particular because of the extravagant lifestyle he and his wife led. Critics complained that his jets, mansions and lavish expense-account meals were paid by tax-exempt donations from TBN’s legion of “prayer partners,” whose pledges enabled the network to surpass its rivals in size and global reach.
Trinity Broadcasting Network website:
Dr. Paul F. Crouch passed into the presence of the Lord on November 30, 2013. We are grateful for the life of this amazing servant of God. Please pray for the Crouch family during this time.
Paul F. Crouch was born on March 30, 1934, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He graduated from the Central Bible Institute and Seminary in Springfield, Missouri in 1955 with a degree in Theology.
Dr. Crouch has also received three honorary doctorates: Doctor of Litterarum (D.Litt) on May 29, 1981, from the California Graduate School of Theology, Glendale, California; a Doctor of Divinity on May 29, 1983, from the American Christian Theological Seminary,Anaheim, California; and a Doctor of Laws degree on May 5, 1985, from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Dr. Crouch began his career in broadcasting by helping to build an educational AM station (KCBI-AM) on campus while a student at Central Bible Institute and Seminary. In 1957 he became a radio announcer at KRSD (AM), Rapid City, South Dakota and progressed rapidly to program director. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to manager of KRSD-TV, Channel 7, the NBC affiliate in Rapid City.
In 1961, Dr. Crouch was appointed by the General Council of the Assemblies of God to organize and operate their newly-formed Department of Television and Film Production in Burbank, California, a position he held for four years. Dr. Crouch was responsible for the ongoing production of films focusing largely on foreign missions and foreign missionary works, as well as the Assemblies of God’s large inventory of audiovisual materials and children’s teaching aids. From 1965 to 1970 Dr. Crouch was general manager of KREL-AM, Corona, California. In 1966, Dr. Crouch purchased a minority stock interest in KREL Radio. During his time at KREL, Dr. Crouch successfully completed the station’s application for an increase in power to 5,000 watts. The station also prospered financially under his leadership. After leaving KREL in 1970, Dr. Crouch was invited to serve as general manager for KHOF-FM and KHOF-TV, channel 30 in San Bernardino, California. During Dr. Crouch’s tenure, both stations moved from a deficit position into a profitable one with a $200,000 surplus after the end of the second year. Dr. Crouch left KHOF in 1973 and with his wife, Jan, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). In 1974, TBN purchased its first TV station, KLXA-TV (now KTBN-TV 40) in Southern California. Since then, under the direction of Dr. Crouch, TBN, has become America’s most watched faith network and the seventh largest group owner of broadcast TV stations in the U.S. (source: Broadcast and Cable Magazine).
TBN reaches every major continent via 84 satellite channels and over 18,000 television and cable affiliates around the world.In addition to TBN, Dr. Crouch developed and oversees operations for TBN’s affiliated television networks which are broadcast worldwide: Smile of a Child children’s channel; JCTV youth network; The Church Channel; TBN Enlace USA, Spanish language network; Enlace Juvenil, Hispanic youth network; TBN Asia; TBN Europe; TBN Russia; Smile of a Child Russia; Juce Russian language youth network; TBN Africa; TBNE-Italia; Al-Horreya TV and Arabic language network; TBN Nejat TV, Farsi language channel; and TBN-HD, TBN’s new high definition network. Additionally, Dr. Crouch serves on the board of the Holy Land Experience, an inter-active Bible theme park in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Crouch and TBN have been the recipients of numerous awards and citations of appreciation by both local and national leaders including the Golden Angel award from the Excellence in Media organization and the Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval, given to both the TBN and Smile of a Child networks for producing and promoting positive, pro-family programming. Dr. Crouch was also appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Private Sector Initiative Project.