Jan Crouch

Janice Crouch
Born	Janice Wendell Bethany (1938-03-14) March 14, 1938 New Brockton, Alabama, U.S.
Occupation	Co-founder of Trinity Broadcasting Network
Title	Vice President and Director of Network Programming/TBN, Director/CEO of Holy Land Experience
Spouse(s)	Paul Crouch (1957–2013, his death)
Children	Paul Crouch, Jr. Matthew Crouch

Janice Wendell Bethany "Jan" Crouch (born March 14, 1938) is a religious broadcaster who, with her late husband Paul, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

Early life and ministry

Crouch is the daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Edgar W. Bethany, and grew up in Columbus, Georgia. Her father served as a pastor in the Assemblies of God denomination, and was the founding president of Southeastern University (Florida). While attending Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri, Crouch met Paul F. Crouch. They married in 1957, and have two sons, Paul Jr. and Matthew, both of whom are high-ranking officials and program hosts on TBN.

TBN

Founding

In 1973, Paul and Jan Crouch, co-founded with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). In 1974, TBN purchased its first TV station, KLXA-TV (channel 40, now KTBN-TV) in Southern California, and began distribution through cable systems in 1978. Under the Crouch family, TBN grew to become the United States' largest Christian television network, offering 24-hour commercial-free programming, and TBN is currently third largest over-the-air Station Group in the United States, with CBS, Fox, and NBC holding the 4th, 5th and 6th place, according to TV News Check's annual listing of the Top 30 Station Groups. TBN owns and operates 5 independent TV networks, each of which adheres to a faith-based message, but reaching separate demographics. TBN networks include TBN itself, JUCE TV, TBN Enlace, Smile of a Child, and The Church Channel.

Growth of TBN

Since its founding, Crouch has served as TBN's vice president and director of network programming, as well as the director of programming for TBN's affiliated networks, such as the Smile of a Child children's channel, the JUCE TV youth network, The Church Channel, the TBN Enlace USA Spanish language network, and others. She is also the President and manager of The Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Awards and honors

• 1990: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Oral Roberts University
• Golden Angel Award – Excellence in Media
• Two-time Parents Television Council Entertainment Seal of Approval recipient (for TBN and Smile of a Child).

Charity Navigator ratings

Charity Navigator, a national evaluator of charities, gives TBN an overall rating of 2 out of 4 stars. It reported that for the FYE 12/2008, Paul F. Crouch Sr., President of TBN earned $419,500, Janice Crouch, Vice-President, earned $361,000, and Paul F. Crouch Jr., Vice-President, earned $214,137. Crouch has produced products for TBN such as videos that account for a portion of her income.

Controversy

In March 2012, Crouch was accused, by her granddaughter, a former employee and chief finance director of the network (a registered charity) of misappropriating network funds to spend on a lavish lifestyle. Expenditures included expensive homes, private jets, and a $100,000 air conditioned mobile home solely for her dogs. The New York Times wrote that Crouch, for nearly two years, rented adjoining rooms for herself and her two Maltese dogs, at the deluxe Loews Portofino Bay Hotel while she was building the Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Crouch is famous, or infamous, for the enormous wigs she often wears.

External links

• Smile of a Child television network
• Jan Crouch at the Internet Movie Database