Uganda blessed to host TBN’s ‘Praise the Lord’

Oct 09, 2005

IT is historic. America and the world’s leading Christian television network, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) will telecast live its Praise the Lord programme at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole on October 14, 2005 to the rest of the world.

By Raphael Okello
and Flavia Nawaguna

IT is historic. America and the world’s leading Christian television network, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) will telecast live its Praise the Lord programme at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole on October 14, 2005 to the rest of the world.
Praise the Lord is a TBN inspirational programme watched by millions of viewers in America and across the globe.
It will be the first time Praise the Lord is hosted out of America since the formation of TBN in 1973.
In Uganda, viewers watch TBN courtesy of Light House Television. The programme features major Christian events like concerts, faith-based interviews and testimonials from the pastors of America’s leading churches, international celebrities and war heroes.
TBN president and founders, Paul and Jan Crouch, will arrive in the country on October 13, for the historic event. Their son, Matthew Crouch and his wife Lorie plus about eight to 10 members of the TBN television crew will accompany them on the six-day visit.
With the help of their state-of-the-art equipment, every proceeding at Namboole will be telecast live to the rest of the world.
“It is a big opportunity for Uganda,” said pastor Jessica Kayanja of Miracle Centre Cathedral, Rubaga. “Usually, we are the recipients, but this time, we are the ones ministering to the world.”
According to Kayanja, the event dubbed Miracle Overnite and Praise the Lord, will be highly charged with prayers, preaching and lots of music.
It is going to be a special night. “Different clergy, church choirs and gospel artistes will perform. It will be a celebration of Christianity and the good things that God has done for this nation,” Kayanja says.
Indeed, there is quite a bit for which Uganda should praise the lord. Before 1980, during tense political eras, Uganda hardly hosted Christian evangelists from Europe or America.
But from the early 1980s, there was a sudden flurry of evangelical crusades held by renowned American and European evangelists.
Crusades by T L. Osborne and later Reinhard Bonnke curved a path for many more foreign evangelists, who either came to visit or held crusades.
In a way, TBN’s decision to host the first Praise the Lord out of the US can be attributed to God’s favour that has made Uganda accessible to foreign evangelists.
“This is a good opportunity for everyone to participate. The international media’s portrayal of our country has been towards different things, but this is an opportunity for them to see what is happening in Uganda,” Kayanja says.
If there was ever a time we wanted the world to listen to us, then there is perhaps no better moment than having Praise the Lord hosted live from our backyard.
The 24-hour television is not only America’s leading Christian station, but also the world’s largest Christian television network using 33 satellites to relay images to more than 4,000 television stations, the Internet and thousands of cable systems around the world.
Yet the conception of TBN was like a dream.
In 1973, the founders, Paul and Jan Crouch, dreamt of reaching out to millions of people all over the world with the word of God; 32 years down the road, they are living that dream. Millions through out the world watch TBN programmes.
The programmes, which are tailored to bestow hope and encouragement, are translated into numerous foreign languages at TBN’s state-of-the-art facilities at the International Production Center at Irving, Texas in the US. TBN has gone a step further to explore cinema as a vehicle to spread gospel.
There cinematic achievements include China Cry, The Revolutionary (The Life of Jesus), The Revolutionary II, The Emissary (The Life of Paul), The Omega Code and The Heart Of a Champion.
Currently, One Night with a king (a film about Queen Esther in the bible) is in production.
Because of TBN’s unparallel coverage, lives have been and continue to be changed and hearts are being touched. Miracle Centre’s pastor Arthur Nsamba said TBN’s visit is not just a church event, but it is a national event.
“TBN’s coming to Uganda is not a one church event, but it is for the voices of this nation as Christians. It is time for all of us to rejoice,” he said.
“We invite everybody to come and use an opportunity of a life time and let the whole world know that there is a God in this country. The event starts at 10:00am on October 14,” Kayanja says.
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