Christmas is an extra special season for Laurie and me, just as I am sure it is for you and your family.
Though this year has been difficult for many, and our holiday celebrations may look a little different from past years, there’s still so much to love and cherish. From the beautiful decorations in neighborhoods across our communities, to the joy of getting together with family and friends for good food and great fellowship, there’s nothing like the Christmas season to warm and encourage our hearts.
Throughout our worldwide TBN family, there’s always a sense of excitement as we have the privilege of producing and airing outstanding Christmas programming that cheers the hearts and homes of our many TBN viewers.
While traditions may change from culture to culture, one thing seems to be constant wherever we’ve been: there is something about Christmas that touches even the coldest of hearts, that causes people to be a little kinder, a little more generous —a little better — if just for a while.
You and I know what that something — or someone — is. His name is Jesus. And while popular culture has reduced so much of the season to shopping, Santa Claus, Christmas trees, tinsel, toys, and a frenzy of non-stop “celebration”— believers still universally realize that at the heart of Christmas is Jesus and the love of God He came to bring the world.
Jesus is the reason we all mist up a little when we hear the clear voices of little children softly singing “Silent Night” or “Away in a Manger.” He’s the reason moms, dads, and grandparents pack into church auditoriums on a winter Sunday evening to see their little ones in bed sheets and bathrobes with their heads wrapped in household towels, portraying Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and wisemen at the stable in Bethlehem, re-enacting the first humble chapter of the “greatest story ever told.”
Jesus is why, in the waning hours of a Christmas Eve, untold millions of faithful believers gather across the earth in grand cathedrals, rustic chapels, white clapboard country churches — and dark, snowy forests in secret, forbidden worship. They all gather to celebrate the birth of the one and only Son of God, this baby Jesus who grew up to bear the sin, suffering, and sickness of all humanity, to die in agony and humiliation — and to rise victorious for our salvation and restoration to our heavenly Father.
“At the heart of this sacred season is our gratefulness to God for sending us His greatest gift, His Son Jesus....”
One year, Laurie and I found ourselves on just such a Christmas Eve far from home, worshipping Jesus in the village of Bethlehem with thousands of other believers gathered for a Christmas service at the Church of the Nativity, located at the site tradition holds that Jesus was born (Luke 2).
Looking out across the sea of men, women, and children from all walks of life and nearly every continent on that Bethlehem evening, I was reminded of the verse in the book of Revelation that describes “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7: 9-10).
That passage, friend, is the best explanation I’ve ever heard for the annual celebration we call Christmas. As wonderful as it is to decorate our homes, gather with friends and family, give and receive gifts, and behold the wonder on the faces of children as they gaze upon a glowing Christmas tree piled high with presents — that’s really not the reason we celebrate Christmas. At the heart of this sacred season is our gratefulness to God for sending us His greatest gift, His Son Jesus, our gratefulness to Jesus for His completed work at Calvary, and our inexpressible joy that we can be part of that “great multitude which no one could number,” who will worship God for all eternity.
This “great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) has always been what your TBN is all about. Since TBN’s humble beginnings nearly fifty years ago, our unending goal has been to create and broadcast programming that brings individuals and families to Christ and encourages them in their daily walk of faith.
Today, through the prayer and financial commitment of you and other friends and partners of this ministry, TBN is doing that more effectively than ever, with more than thirty global TBN networks reaching billions of hearts and homes on every inhabited continent twenty-four hours a day in over a dozen languages.
As we all join together with family and friends to celebrate this blessed Christmas season, Laurie and I— along with the entire TBN team — want to thank you for your partnership with us throughout this past year, filled with both unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Your commitment to stand with us in this Kingdom outreach has made all the difference.
May God bless you and yours this Christmas, and may this next year be one of joy and fruitfulness as we join together to make the name and love of Jesus famous across the earth.
All our love to you,
Matt and Laurie Crouch