Affluenza evangelism in America did not begin with smiling megachurch moguls Joel and Victoria Osteen, aspirationalists with heavenly hair. Christ-selling satellite TV tycoon Janice “Jan” Crouch had already been there and done that, having built, along with her co-host and husband, Paul, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a pulpit they used to peddle a “gospel of prosperity” to cable audiences. Their loud wardrobe and crazy coiffures made them seem like missionaries just returned from saving souls in Dollywood, and it worked wonderfully well, if you discount the multiple pending lawsuits charging financial malfeasance and a rape cover-up that dogged Janice to the end of her life this week. Not so shocking for onetime business partners of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.
From her New York Times obituary penned by Daniel E. Slotnik:
Mrs. Crouch was a convivial and colorful presence on the air, typically appearing in a bouffant frosted pink or champagne. Speaking with a singsong lilt, she referred to herself as Mama as she delivered an uplifting version of Scripture that included personal encounters with the divine and linked spirituality to material success.
A donation to their church, the Crouches said, would be repaid with divinely ordained riches. …
Twice a year, the Crouches held “Praise-a-thons,” fund-raising drives in which they appealed for donations to keep programs like “Praise the Lord” on the air.
The Crouches were criticized for using those donations to finance a luxurious lifestyle, including the use of private jets. The family was reported to have multiple homes, among them his-and-hers mansions in Newport Beach, Calif.
In 2007, TBN purchased Holy Land Experience, a religious theme park in Orlando, Fla., for $37 million. Mrs. Crouch became Holy Land’s president and creative director and began a major remodeling of the park, renting adjacent rooms in a luxury hotel for nearly two years. One was used to house clothing and her two Maltese dogs, which otherwise occupied a motor home.•
