Getting to Know.. TBN

Trinity Broadcasting Network..
• Programming on over 6,000 stations in 75 countries
• Audience of 5 million houses each week in the US
• Programs are dubbed in 11 different languages
• 3 spinoff channels:Enlace USA a Spanish-language, channel JC-TV offers youth-oriented Christian programs, The Church Channel broadcasts church services
• Headquarters: Costa Mesa, California (a similar complex is located in Texas)
• Owns Trinity Music City USA, near Nashville (paid more than $13 million to acquire)
• TV Stations: 23 full-powered, 252 low-powered
• Yearly Revenue: $170 million (surpluses averagedabout $60 million a year since 1997)
• 400 employees
• The board of directors: Paul & Jan Crouch, & Ruth Brown (Paul's sister)
• Pastors on the network can solicit donations only during the last 30 seconds of a half-hour show or the last 60 seconds of a one-hour show

Paul Crouch..
• 77 years old
• Salary: over $400,000
• Parents: Pentecostal missionaries
• Homestate: Missouri• Bible College: Central Bible Institute(Springfield, Missouri)
• Former Employer: Assemblies of God in Springfield, Missouri
• Duties: Overseeing a Film Library

Jan Crouch..
• 73 years old
• Maiden name: Bethany
• Father: Assemblies of God pastor
• Salary: more than $360,000 Perks..
• The Crouches use TBN's $7 million Turbo jet to fly around the world
• The Crouches use 2 mansions in Newport Beach & about 30 other ministry-owned houses

Family..
• Paul Crouch, Jr (their oldest son) makes about $91,000 as TBN's administrative VP
• Matthew Couch (son) has gotten more than $30 million to make movies like The Omega Code

Getting to Know.. Jay Sekulow

Jay Sekulow hosts a daily radio program and heads up the Pat Robertson founded American Center For Law & Justice. Here are some of his court victories:

1987: Wins the right for religious groups to distribute material in airports if other organizations are grantedsuch access

1990: Wins the right for students to form voluntary Bible clubs in public-schools

1993: Wins the right of religious organizations to use public school facilities after-hours

1997: Wins ruling that declares unconstitutional the creation of movable classes zones around abortion clinic clients where protesters are banned

The Rapture Profiteers

Business Week takes a look at the apocalypse industry in an article here.

Getting to Know.. What is an Evangelical?

When conducting surveys The Barna Group defines an Evangelical as those who:
• Say they are "born again" Christians*
• Say their faith is very important in their lives today
• Believe they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs about Christ with non-Christians • Believe that Satan exists
• Believe that eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works
• Believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on Earth
• Describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today

* Barna says: A "born again" Christian is one who has "made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today" and who believes that "when I die, I will go to heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior."

Church Disfellowshipped

A North Carolina Baptist group is expelling one of its members for picking a woman to serve as pastor. The Surry Baptist Association in North Carolina is dropping Mount Airy' Flat Rock Baptist Church for installing 28 year old Bailey Nelson as pastor last month.

Getting to Know.. Church-State Legal Decisions

Some major church-state US Supreme Court decisions:

• 1947: Everson v. Board of Education A state may not pass laws "which aid one religion" or "prefer one religion over another."

• 1948: McCollum vs. Board of Education Rules against religious instruction in public schools

• 1971: Lemon v. Kurtzman A test for determining violations of the First Amendment prohibition of any law establishing religion.

• 1980: Stone v. Graham Struck down a Kentucky law requiring 10 Commandments displays in public classrooms

• 1983: Marsh v. Chambers Legislative prayer ruled constitutional

• 1984: Lynch v. Donnelly Allowed a nativity scene to be included in a city's multifaceted holiday display

• 1989: County of Allegheny v. ACLU Prohibited the display of a nativity scene at a county courthouse

• 1992: Lee v. Weisman Invocations and benedictions at public school graduation ceremonies declared unconstitutional

• 2002: Zelman v. Simmons-Harris Religiously affiliated schools may participate in taxpayer-funded tuition voucher programs

• 2004: Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow The court ruled that Newdow had no standing to bring the lawsuit asking whether the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance recited at public schools violated church-state separation

Meryer's Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Joyce Meyer's insurance company, Essex Insurance, says it will not pay her legal bills related to a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of murder victims, killed by one of her former bodyguards. The family of the victims is suing the televangelist, saying she and her ministry are liable in the deaths. Meyer's former security chief and personal bodyguard, Christopher Coleman, was convicted for murder in the deaths of his wife and their two sons. Coleman had used the phone and computer provided by the ministry to threaten his wife. He's now serving life in prison

Bible Ministries Merge

The Bible League International and the World Bible Translation Center are merging. The Bible league will keep its headquarters in Illinois while the World Bible Translation Center will continue its translation efforts in Fort Worth, Texas. The employees will come under the Bible League.

Getting to Know.. Rick Warren

• Born: 1954, San Jose, California
• Childhood: Raised a Southern Baptist in Redwood Valley, CA
• Residence: Trabuco Canyon, California.
• Family: 4th generation pastor, married, 3 adult children
• Dress: wears Hawaiian shirts and sandals when he preaches
• Education: Bachelor of Arts from California Baptist College in Riverside; Master of Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California
• Church: Pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California; More than 23,000 people attend Saddleback regularly and the church has baptized more than 14,000 people in the past decade; it has more than 20 services that feature different styles of live music from heavy metal to reggae
• Books: The Purpose Driven Church (1995) has sold a half million copies and The Purpose Driven Life (2002) has more than 30 million in English-language sales
• Profits: Gave 90% of his profits from The Purpose Driven Life to his church
• Warren has given "purpose-driven training" to more than half-a-million pastors. One out of 20 US churches have taken the 40 Days of Purpose exercises.
• Favorite Bible verse: Acts 13:36, "He served God’s purpose for his generation. And then he died."

Cyrus Tattoo

Miley Cyrus has angered some of her Christian fans. The singer sent out a photo on Twitter showing her newly tattooed finger. It says "All LOVE is equal." Some people responded to her with Bible verses against homosexuality. She tweeted back, "Where does it say in the Bible to judge others? Oh right. It doesn't. GOD is the only judge honey. 'GOD is love.'"

Getting to Know… Church of Christ Doctrine

• Recognized in 1906
• It is the most conservative of the three Restorationist streams (the other two being the Disciples of Christ and the Christian Churches)
• Baptism by immersion is an integral part of salvation
• Many in the denomination believe Bible prohibits instrumental music in worship services (only a cappella singing)
• Emphasis on New Testament Christianity, congregational independence, weekly observance of the Lord's Supper and the necessity of baptism for salvation.

Women and Faith Poll

Pollster George Barna says women are attending church and reading the Bible less over the last two decades. At the same time, the number of women reporting that they've undergone a spiritual change that remains important to them is up to 44% from 38% twenty years ago. Here are some other findings about American women.

• Do you believe in a personal God? - yes, 70%
• Do you believe in a personal devil - yes, 56%
• Is your religious faith very important to you? - yes, 63%
• Do you attend church at least once a week? - yes, 44% (For men, it's 42%. Two decades ago it was 55% for women and 48% for men)
• Do you read the Bible during a typical week? 40% (For men, its 41%. Two decades ago it was 50% for women and 40% for men)

Getting to Know.. Kenneth Copeland

Kenneth Copeland is a 74-year-old Texas televangelist who had a Top 40 hit in the late 50’s called Pledge of Love and sang on American Bandstand. Copeland later attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. His ministry sits on a 1500-acre campus near Forth Worth and includes:

• 500-employees and a budget in the tens of millions of dollars
• a private airstrip
• an airplane hangar
• a $17.5 million jet and other aircraft
• a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion
• an oil and natural gas company with reserves valued at $23 million last year
• Copeland maintains veto power over anything his board of directors decides.
• More than a dozen of his relatives were on the church's payroll 14 years ago.