ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (August 5, 2013) — If global saturation is any indication of the impact of a religious media outreach, then count TBN Russia, the Eastern European affiliate of Christian television giant Trinity Broadcasting Network, a certifiable success story.
Since TBN founders Paul and Jan Crouch first contracted with officials in St. Petersburg to launch a small local station there in the early 1990s, the Russian outreach has grown into a global Christian broadcasting powerhouse with an expanding stable of channels that includes its flagship TBN Russia network; Smile of a Child Russia, a Russian language version of TBN's popular kid's network; Juce, TBN Russia's youth channel; and TBN Baltia, broadcasting to Europe's Baltic region.
TBN Russia director Igor Nikitin explained that while the network began as a simple outreach to the former Soviet republics and surrounding Baltic states, over the past several years its impact has exploded across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and is even reaching throughout North and South America. “We know from the daily contacts we get by phone, e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook that viewers are watching our TBN Russia channels in just about every corner of the earth via cable, satellite, and through our iTBN online viewing portal,” Nikitin said.
He noted that TBN Russia's call centers receive tens of thousands of contacts every month from viewers in hundreds of locales, including such diverse countries as China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, China, and the United States. “Some contact us to say that their lives have been changed through our networks,” he said, “while others are in need of prayer and encouragement. And many just contact us to say thanks for programming that is touching them and their families.”
In 2012 TBN Russia was largely responsible for what Paul Crouch considers one of TBN's most significant victories: the launch of the TBN Shalom network in Jerusalem. “For many years we worked and prayed to have a broadcast presence in Israel, but the door remained closed,” said Dr. Crouch. “But through the efforts of Igor and TBN Russia we have been able to launch TBN Shalom, that is reaching the millions of Russian Jews who have made Israel their home.”
That effort paved the way for TBN to purchase a five-story facility in Jerusalem, where construction is moving ahead on a state-of-the-art studio that will serve the production needs of the Shalom channel, as well as TBN's al-Horreya Arabic language network and the Farsi-language TBN Nejat network.
TBN Vice President Matthew Crouch said TBN Russia is just one of the many successes that comprise TBN's forty years of global outreach. “Beginning with one small Southern California station on the air a few hours a day,” he recalled, “today we have, at our latest tally, 26 members in TBN's global family of networks, broadcasting Christian television 24 hours a day on every inhabited continent in every major language.”
He added that the network has enough requests for new stations around the earth to keep them busy for many more decades. “People everywhere are looking for hope and encouragement,” he said. “And TBN is in the business of meeting that need through life-changing TV.”
Media Contact
Colby May, E-Mail: cmay@tbn.org; Tel: 972-313-9500
About the Trinity Broadcasting Network
Trinity Broadcasting Network is the world’s largest and most watched faith-and-family broadcaster, reaching over 175 nations across the earth with inspirational and entertaining programming 24 hours a day in 14 languages and on 32 global networks. As the world’s most influential non-profit religious broadcaster, TBN has led the way in expanding the impact of faith-based television across the earth through the creation of innovative content designed to reach every viewer demographic with the life-changing message of hope and grace. To find out more about the TBN Networks, visit us at www.tbn.org.
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