Jan Crouch died early Tuesday morning.

The co-founder and for decades, the face of the Trinity Broadcasting Network passed away at the age of 78, days after suffering a stroke. Known affectionately as “Momma Jan,” the televangelist with the towering hair and warm personality, was a monumental figure in Christian broadcasting.

Jan Crouch, known around the world as Momma Jan, has gone home. https://t.co/WHjsa8KL9f pic.twitter.com/uFqP89rSGM

— TBN (@TBN) May 31, 2016

“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,” The Crouch family said in statement on the TBN website announcing her death. The statement continued:

Those who battled for the Kingdom of God knew her as a fighter — someone who didn’t give up, someone who fought relentlessly to get the Gospel around the world. …

To thousands of orphans around the world, and those orphaned in spirit, she was Momma Jan, quick with a smile, a gift, and a word of encouragement.

To a select few she was not a television figure, but was sister, wife, Mom, or Grandma — an integral part of a family.

Paying Tribute

Reaction to the passing of Jan Crouch was swift. Hillsong senior pastor Brian Houston tweeted, “Today Jan Crouch enters heaven as @hillsongchannel commences tomorrow. It’s only possible because of her legacy.” Marcus and Joni Lamb, co-founders of the competing Christian broadcast network Daystar, wrote, “Jan Crouch dedicated her life to spreading the love of Jesus to this world, and now she is with Him face to face. Our hearts and prayers are with the entire Crouch and TBN family today. May the Comforter be with you all, and together may we continue this work of reaching every lost heart for the Lord.”

The Stream‘s Sheila Walsh made several appearances on TBN when starting out as a singer. “I will always be grateful for the kindness and support that Paul and Jan Crouch extended to me as a new contemporary Christian artist from the U.K.,” Walsh said. “Jan made me feel welcome and at home in her company. I am praying for her family today as they grieve her loss, yet celebrate her homecoming.”

Fellow artist Israel Houghton tweeted a similar sentiment, saying, “I knew Momma Jan for 25 years. She was always kind to me.” Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin said, “My heart is broken in several different ways.”

Someone whose history with Jan Crouch and TBN goes back decades is Stream publisher and LIFE Today co-host James Robison.

“We’ll miss Jan,” he said after hearing of Crouch’s passing. “I have many special memories of praying with them and praying for them over the years, and I am grateful that TBN did as other Christian networks have — give the Christian community and the Christian family the opportunity of hearing from the different streams within the church so that we can actually get to know each other by hearing them and seeing them ourselves.”

The TBN History

Jan and Paul Crouch started the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973 by renting air time on an independent California station. A major step in their network’s growth came in the early ’80s. Robison recalls being approached by Paul Crouch.“I want to put you on TBN,” Crouch said, “but I want you to help bring the evangelical and mainline church pastors and leaders on TBN. I want it to be beyond Pentecostal and Charismatic. I want it to encompass everybody.” Agreeing on the importance of the church coming together in spiritual unity and learning to work together, Robison agreed to help. Jerry Falwell and Charles Stanley were among those who came on board.

In the ensuing years, TBN would grow to become the world’s largest Christian television network, with a lineup that today includes Joel Osteen, John Hagee, T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer, along with the Crouch family’s own popular nightly show Praise the Lord. Said Robison, whose LIFE Today still airs on the network, “We are grateful for the way TBN has been an effective means of delivering God’s love and his Word.”

In addition to co-founding TBN, Crouch directed the Holy Land Experience, a Bible theme park that opened in Orlando in 2001. She was in the Orlando area when she suffered a stroke last week.

Leading a global media ministry is a far cry from New Brockton, Ala, where Janice Bethany was born in 1938. Her father Edgar was a preacher and official in the Assemblies of God denomination. It would be at a church event that she would meet her future husband and partner.

In a 2007 TBN newsletter, Paul Crouch described first laying eyes on Jan at a camp meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota. “Heads turned (especially the boys) as a slight, beautiful angel seemed more to glide than walk toward the front of the auditorium,” Crouch wrote. “Head down — timid it seemed to me — yet the bright red dress contrasted with the retiring, even shy, demeanor of this stunning young lady!” It turned out Jan was scheduled to start classes that fall at Evangel College in Crouch’s hometown of Springfield, Missouri.

Jan invited Paul to hear her sing at a youth event. The two began dating and were married in August of 1957. The couple had two sons, Paul Jr., and Matt. Matt Crouch currently serves as the president of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

In announcing his mother’s passing, he wrote, “Jan Crouch loved many things, but most of all she loved Jesus, and now has seen Him face to face and has experienced His grace in fullness.”