Jan Crouch

Jan Crouch, the religious broadcaster and co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, died May 31 following a massive stroke. She was 78.

The Crouch family released a statement on the network’s website.

“Laurie and I have just watched the transition of our precious Mother from this world to the next; watched her step into the presence of Jesus and into her heavenly reward. Jan Crouch, known around the world as Momma Jan, has gone home,” the statement said.

“Those who battled for the Kingdom of God knew her as a fighter – someone who didn’t give up, someone who fought relentlessly” to spread the Gospel message worldwide, the statement continued.

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Crouch, who was born Jan Wendell Bethany March 14, 1938, in New Brockton, Alabama. She grew up in Columbus, Georgia. She met Paul Crouch while enrolled in Evangel College in Springfield, Missouri. They married in 1957 and had two sons, Paul Jr. and Matthew Crouch, who survive their mother. Paul Crouch Sr. died in 2013.

In 1973, Crouch co-founded TBN along with her late husband, Paul Crouch, and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. A year later, the network bought its first television station, KLXA-TV, now KTBN-TV in southern California, and began distributing its religious programs through cable television in 1978.