Christian Broadcasting Network

Ben Kinchlow, co-host of the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club" and the network's executive vice president for ministry, resigned Tuesday, saying he is "going home to seek the Lord." "Over the past several months, he has been speaking to me," Kinchlow said on Tuesday morning's program. "I believe he really wants me to spend some time searching for his direction. "At this point, I need to set aside some time to seek his face." His resignation is effective March 1.

The Rev. Pat Robertson said Monday that his son, Gordon, had succeeded him as chief executive of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Robertson, 77, announced the transition on "The 700 Club," the network's flagship show, with Gordon, 49, on air with him. "I thought that some of this day-to-day operation was important to pass down the line, especially to somebody a little more adept at figuring out the new technologies coming at such a bewildering speed to all of us," the elder Robertson said.

Television evangelist Pat Robertson said that he is resigning as a Southern Baptist minister and cutting ties to his broadcast empire as he prepares to run for the Republican presidential nomination. In a statement from his headquarters in Chesapeake, Va., Robertson called the decision to leave the ministry "one of the most painful I have ever been required to make."

Political reporter David Brody is punching his keyboard with two fingers, checking the Web for mentions of his stories. Up pops a liberal blog quoting one of his recent interviews. He's delighted -- until he sees the snippet is attributed to "Pat Robertson's CBN." "Pat Robertson's CBN," Brody says in frustration. "We take that as a dig." Brody does work for Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, and mostly he's proud of that fact.

The Christian Broadcasting Network has settled a 12-year-old dispute with the Internal Revenue Service by agreeing to surrender its tax-exempt status for two years in the 1980s and pay an undisclosed fine. In exchange, CBN retains its current tax-exempt status.

The 18th annual Dove awards for gospel and Christian music will be presented in Nashville on Thursday night amid the TV ministry's so-called "Pearlygate" scandal. Among the Gospel Music Assn.'s "Artist of the Year" nominees: contemporary Christian star Amy Grant, black inspirational singer Larnelle Harris, the contemporary group Petra. The awards will be broadcast nationally Saturday night on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Pat Robertson Resigns as President of CBN: The 63-year-old television evangelist who launched an unsuccessful bid for President in 1988 is stepping down from the Christian Broadcasting Network Inc., CBN said. Robertson retains his role as chief executive and chairman of the company, which he founded. But he is relinquishing control of day-to-day management due to a heavy workload.

The Christian Broadcasting Network said today it will cut 145 people from its payroll and slash spending by $9 million in an attempt to balance its budget. It was the third round of layoffs in two years for the television ministry founded by Pat Robertson, who is pursuing the Republican presidential nomination. Pledges have been dropping since 1985, the first year Robertson said publicly that he might run for President. CBN's fall telethon raised less than $1 million--a drop from the $2.

Facing what it said is an unprecedented financial crisis, the Christian Broadcasting Network has mailed pleas to donors asking for emergency contributions. "CBN is dangerously close to eliminating many areas of our vital ministry," said the letters, which were signed by Timothy Robertson, CBN president and son of Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson. Contributions to the Virginia Beach, Va.

Two weeks after a state appeals court overturned the sale of Orange County's PBS television station to a private foundation, one of the losing bidders -- a Christian broadcasting network -- asked the court Friday to give it the station. Dallas-based Daystar Television Network maintained that it should be awarded ownership of KOCE-TV because the court ruled its $25.1-million offer was the highest.

The Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by televangelist and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson, has settled a 12-year tax dispute, an Internal Revenue Service spokeswoman said this week. The IRS retroactively revoked the Christian programmer's tax-exempt status for 1986 and 1987, when three of its affiliates became active in politics. As a result, CBN agreed to make a "significant" undisclosed payment to the IRS, said spokeswoman Patty Silverman.

Pat Robertson Resigns as President of CBN: The 63-year-old television evangelist who launched an unsuccessful bid for President in 1988 is stepping down from the Christian Broadcasting Network Inc., CBN said. Robertson retains his role as chief executive and chairman of the company, which he founded. But he is relinquishing control of day-to-day management due to a heavy workload.

A Christian Broadcasting Network technician was convicted in federal court in Norfolk of interrupting soft-porn movies with religious messages. Thomas Haynie, 38, of Virginia Beach, was accused of using a CBN satellite in 1987 to send unauthorized messages over the Playboy and American Exxxtasy cable television channels.

A bomb in a package addressed to the Rev. Pat Robertson exploded Friday at his Christian Broadcasting Network's mail room, injuring a security guard, network officials said. Authorities confirmed that there was a bombing, but did not release any details. The package had a North Carolina postmark and was thought to be suspicious, said Frankie Abourjilie, a CBN spokeswoman. Security guard Scott Scheepers was summoned, and the bomb exploded when he opened the package.

Former television evangelist Jim Bakker will be moved to the Federal Medical Center here to serve out his 45-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy, officials said Friday. Bakker, who met his wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, when they were students at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, will be moved from a prison in Alabama to the prison in this southeastern Minnesota city of 60,000, center spokesman John Chreno said. Tammy Bakker grew up in International Falls.

Nearly 80% of college students in a recent survey said religion is important but has relatively little influence on their sexual behavior or attitudes. About half the 539 students the Gallup organization polled for the Christian Broadcasting Network said they read the Bible at least occasionally, and 55% said they had attended church or synagogue in the last month. Only 6% identified themselves as atheists or agnostics, 42% viewed religion as "very important" and 37% called it "somewhat important."