Jim Bakker, the controversial televangelist who rose to national fame alongside his first wife, Tammy Faye, as the face of the hugely successful television ministry The PTL Club, has died at 86.
Bakker’s death was announced Monday by his wife, Lori Bakker, who shared the news on social media. She described her husband as someone who had “gone home to be with the Lord.” A cause of death had not been immediately released.
FROM TRAVELING MINISTRY TO TELEVISION FAME
Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Bakker met Tammy Faye while both were students at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. The couple married in 1961 and soon left college to begin a traveling ministry together.
Their television career took off after they came to the attention of televangelist Pat Robertson. In 1965, they began working on a children’s program for Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network.
Bakker later became host of The 700 Club before leaving the network in the early 1970s.
In 1974, he launched the PTL Satellite Network, with The PTL Club — short for “Praise the Lord” — becoming its signature program.
THE RISE OF THE PTL CLUB
By the 1980s, The PTL Club had become a television phenomenon, attracting millions of viewers and generating millions of dollars in donations.
The program combined religious programming with celebrity guests, interviews, music and entertainment, creating a format that helped turn Bakker and Tammy Faye into household names among evangelical audiences.
But the success would not last.
THE SCANDAL THAT BROUGHT DOWN THE EMPIRE
In 1987, Bakker acknowledged a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn. He resigned from PTL and handed control of the ministry to fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell.
Tammy Faye remained publicly supportive of her husband during the scandal, becoming an emotional figure as the couple’s empire began to collapse.
The troubles soon went beyond the sex scandal.
An investigation into PTL’s finances led to federal charges against Bakker, including mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison, although the sentence was later reduced to eight years.
Tammy Faye remained a visible presence throughout the ordeal. In one of the most memorable moments following his conviction, she appeared before reporters and sang “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand.”
A COMPLICATED LEGACY
Bakker and Tammy Faye divorced in 1992, nearly 31 years after their marriage. Tammy Faye later remarried and continued her career in television and ministry.
She died of colon cancer in 2007.
Jim Bakker eventually returned to television and continued preaching for decades, building another ministry and maintaining a presence in evangelical media.
His life became one of the most dramatic stories in American televangelism: a spectacular rise to fame, the collapse of a multimillion-dollar religious empire, prison, divorce and an eventual return to broadcasting.
Bakker was 86 when he died. His cause of death had not been publicly disclosed at the time of the announcement.