News

The Trouble with TBN

Amid a flurry of scandalous accusations, ministries again face the question of whether to abandon or reform the broadcaster.

The Trouble with TBN

The Trouble with TBN

Ray Tamarra / Everett Collection / Newscom

Amid the latest drama surrounding the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), should mainstream ministries seek reform or pull their programming?

Brittany Koper, the granddaughter of TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch and its chief financial officer until September 2011, has accused network directors of illegally distributing "charitable assets" worth more than $50 million for their personal use. In response, TBN has filed half a dozen lawsuits nationwide accusing Koper and her husband of engaging in a smear campaign to divert attention from their own financial sins.

The filings recently prompted a California federal judge to threaten to brand the network a "vexatious litigant" because its lawsuits seemed designed to "overwhelm the courts … so as to avoid a rational decision on the merits."

The Trinity Foundation, a group long critical of TBN, publicly called for ministries associated with evangelical icons such as Billy and Franklin Graham, Charles Stanley, Ron Luce, Jack Graham, and the late Adrian Rogers to withdraw from the network's airwaves.

"It's a spiritual and moral snake pit," said Trinity founder Ole Anthony. "TBN uses these legitimate preachers to justify [its] existence."

Another donor advocacy group, MinistryWatch.com, has issued warnings about "widespread abuse of ministry funds by TBN directors." But founder Rusty Leonard does not think pressuring ministries to leave the network solves the problem.

"We decided long ago that we did not want to try to embarrass the legitimate ministries that were broadcasting on TBN," he said. "Instead, we decided to try to get TBN's management and board changed so that there could be more good, biblically based teaching."

Evangelical ministries that appear on TBN declined to comment.

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, points out that evangelical television ministries have always faced an airwaves quandary. "Unless you own your network, you're facing the fact that you're on with people who do not share your worldview," he said. "Billy Graham had to buy one-hour specials … on the same channel as soap operas and everything else."

But like Anthony, Mohler sees a difference with TBN: the expectation that the network is Christian.

"It's increasingly awkward for the mainstream ministries to stay on the network," he said. "Every new allegation, every new headline, makes it more difficult."

Also in this series

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

Honoring Faith in the Public Square

The Mystic Baptist

Review

How to Remove Our Bible-Reading Blinders

Excerpt

Why Love Never Ends

Review

The Need for Creeds

Shari'ah's Uphill Climb

God Did It

The Key to a Purposeful Life

'Fringe' Has Always Been About Playing God

What Is the Biggest Change Evangelical Seminaries Need to Make Right Now?

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Church and State for the Homeless

How Gabriel Wilson Discovered his Paternal Roots—and Made a Record About It

Jamie Grace Is Holding On

The Truth About World War II's True Shepherds

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Should Seminary Professors Be Granted Tenure?

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Christians Fight Israel's Marriage Ban

Editorial

How to Unfreeze the Middle East

What to Watch For on Election Night

This (Ambiguous) Political Life

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Doubting China's One-Child Policy Change

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Crisis of Faith Statements

Review

Review: The Church In An Age of Crisis

Review

Review: Amplifying Our Witness

Wilson's Bookmarks

My Top 5 Books on Homosexuality

Sacrilege Is Real

Letters to the Editor

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Go Figure

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Quotation Marks

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Gleanings

Our 'Call'

Questions That Drive Us

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