"Our dear friend for over forty years has gone home to glory. Pastor Chuck Smith was one of TBN's earliest ministry partners. He was a keen student of Bible prophecy and Scripture, and his Bible study programs blessed many of our early viewers as we broadcast throughout Orange County and Southern California. I know my good friend has finally heard the words, 'Well done thou good and faithful servant.' We will miss him, but we know that Pastor Chuck is now home with the Lord."

LOS ANGELES (September 20, 2013) — The news out of Syria and Egypt has been bleak the past several months. Conflict, violence, destruction, and death have continued non-stop in these Middle East hot spots as religious and political factions fight it out in bloody clashes, while the rest of the world looks on in alarm.

But in the middle of this chaos a shining light of hope and healing is beaming into the darkness 24-7. Lunched in 2005 by Christian television leader Trinity Broadcasting Network, today TBN's Al-Horreya network is reaching into the homes and hearts of Arabic speaking individuals, families, and communities throughout the intensely Muslim Middle East.

And with a new high-definition studio in California, a freshly updated website with live streaming broadcast, and the power to air up-to-the-minute programming anywhere in the world, Al-Horreya is reaching more of the estimated 400 million Arabic speaking people throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world.

“We are excited by the tremendous response from viewers across the Arabic speaking world, including Egypt and Syria,” said Dr. Raafat Girgis, Al-Horreya’s program director. “Al-Horreya means 'freedom,' and despite the unrest and uncertainty that permeates so much of the Middle East, millions of viewers are finding true freedom through Al-Horreya TV.”

Dr. Girgis said that for many in Muslim countries where the Bible is outlawed, Al-Horreya is the only connection they have to God’s Word. “We receive many letters and e-mails from areas where you cannot imagine that anyone is watching,” he said. “But people are watching and people are coming to Christ.”

He said that the network is regularly contacted by Arabic speaking viewers not only in the Middle East, but from across Europe, Africa, Canada, and the U.S. “They are asking for prayer, they are asking how to know God, and they are expressing their excitement for this new channel they never knew existed.”

While Egypt is predominantly Muslim, it also has a population of an estimated 16 million Coptic Christians, and among Al-Horreya's most popular programs is a call-in and teaching show with Father Makary Younan, a popular Coptic priest in Egypt. Dr. Girgis noted that God has used Father Makary in powerful manifestations of miracles, including one amazing healing, posted on YouTube, of a blind Egyptian Muslim youth.

Father Makary's reputation as a man of God has prompted many non-Christians to tune in to his program on Al-Horreya, said Dr. Girgis. “When they see the power of God at work, they are compelled to respond,” he said.

Father Makary emphasized that “the greatest miracles are those who respond to Jesus,” noting that thousands are coming to salvation through Al-Horreya all over the world.

TBN founder and President Dr. Crouch, whose own parents were missionaries in Egypt, said that in the midst of increasing unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere, TBN remains committed to covering the earth with the only true hope for humanity. “Our fervent prayers go out for those impacted by the unrest in Syria and Egypt — that God will bring His peace to this troubled region,” said Dr. Crouch. “And as we have for the past forty years, TBN will continue to pour its every resource into broadcasting this gospel of peace and hope to every corner of the world.”

He added that each week thousands of individuals across the earth contact TBN and its 26-plus global networks to tell about changed lives and answered prayer. “Every letter, every call, every e-mail we receive is a confirmation that God is blessing the outreach of TBN and networks like Al-Horreya,” he said. “Lives are being transformed for eternity, and that is what matters.”

Log on to the Al-Horreya website to learn more about TBN's exclusive Arabic language network. And to find out more about all 26 (and growing) members of the Trinity Broadcasting Family of Networks, visit us online at www.tbn.org.

Media Contact

Colby May, E-Mail: cmay@tbn.org; Tel: 972-313-9500

Global Christian television leader Trinity Broadcasting Network continues to donate thousands of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite dishes in key areas around the world, enabling individuals, families, and communities without access to cable or traditional broadcast television to receive TBN's 24-hour life-changing programming. “There are literally hundreds of millions of people throughout the earth who have little or no access to the blessing of television that we take for granted,” said TBN Vice President Matthew Crouch. “Several years ago we realized that by installing these inexpensive DTH satellite dishes in areas where other broadcast options were limited, we could take Christian programming to large numbers of people at one time.”

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.

Enlace, Trinity Broadcasting Network's global Spanish-language Christian television affiliate, is expanding its reach throughout Central and South America with the introduction of a special, inexpensive decoder-receiver that will allow cable companies throughout the region to provide viewers with Enlace free of charge. Enlace president Jonas Gonzalez Jr. said that the network has committed to purchasing approximately 1,500 of the receivers at a cost of around $50 per unit, providing them to cable providers who have agreed to offer Enlace, one of Latin America's most popular television networks, to their viewers at no charge.

Trinity Broadcasting Network, America's most-watched faith channel, and the Miracle Channel, Canada's premier Christian television network, have announced a major partnership agreement that will allow the two broadcasters to share their most popular programs as well as collaborate on an innovative new weekly Christian show.

Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest religious broadcaster with 24-plus networks and affiliates airing Christian television on every inhabited continent, announced that it is partnering with Christian leaders in Pakistan to expand the broadcast outreach of the nation's only Christian network, Jesus Christ Television.

Europe is a hot spot of exciting activity for Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world's largest Christian broadcaster with 24 global networks touching every inhabited continent. The network recently added seven full-power stations in Spain, a major hub for TBN Europe, and is in the final stages of construction on a state-of-the-art studio in London, TBN's other European network center.

As Trinity Broadcasting Network celebrates forty years as a trailblazer in faith and family television, leaders and legislators from around the nation are weighing in with their own congratulations. Among them is the State Senate of Hawaii, which passed an official resolution commending TBN on the historic milestone and noting the importance of the network's broadcast presence throughout the state. Noting that TBN is the largest Christian broadcaster in the world with 20-plus global networks and 18,000 television and cable affiliates worldwide, the resolution acknowledges TBN's impacting presence across the Big Island, as well as on Oahu and Maui.

Trinity Broadcasting Network, America's premier Christian broadcaster, announced that several programs airing on TBN's Smile of a Child kid's channel and the JCTV youth channel have been nominated for coveted Crown Awards, presented annually by International Christian Visual Media (ICVM). Each year ICVM, an organization of Christian visual media professionals, presents the Crown Awards to recognize the best in films and videos that reflect Christian values to a secular world.