BRANSON, Mo. – Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built a massive evangelical ministry with his first wife, Tammy Faye, before a sex scandal and financial crimes brought their empire down, has died at 86.
Bakker died Monday, according to a statement from his second wife, Lori Bakker. No cause of death was immediately disclosed.
The couple lived near Branson, Missouri, and produced “The Jim Bakker Show” there after launching it in 2003. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.
“He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry,” Lori Bakker said.
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker became cultural icons through their evangelical television program, attracting so much attention that their flamboyant image was repeatedly mocked by late-night comedians and “Saturday Night Live.” Their lives were later dramatized in the film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” released in September 2021.
At the ministry’s height in the mid-1980s, “The PTL Club” reached as many as 13 million viewers each night. The Bakkers’ Christian empire also included Heritage USA, a theme park and hotel complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met Tammy Faye. They married in 1961, left college and began a traveling ministry of their own. Bakker preached while Tammy Faye sang and played the accordion during church services and tent revivals across the country.
Televangelist Pat Robertson took notice of the couple, and in 1965 they began hosting a children’s program on Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. The following year, Bakker became host of “The 700 Club,” the network’s Christian talk show.
Bakker left CBN in 1972. Two years later, he established the PTL Satellite Network, whose signature program was “The PTL Club.” The initials stood for “Praise the Lord.”
The program reached its peak during the 1980s, drawing millions of viewers and generating millions of dollars each year through contributions from supporters.
Often described as a Christian counterpart to “The Tonight Show,” “The PTL Club” featured celebrity guests, Christian performers and conversations. Bakker delivered energetic sermons, while Tammy Faye, known for her warm personality and distinctive heavy mascara, performed songs. Most episodes were recorded at the couple’s sprawling complex south of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Their celebrity status made them frequent targets of television satire, particularly jokes about their extravagant lifestyle and Tammy Faye’s famously dramatic makeup.
The ministry began unraveling in March 1987, when Bakker acknowledged a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a church secretary. He resigned from the organization he had built, and control passed to pastor and broadcaster Jerry Falwell.
Tammy Faye remained loyal to Bakker, often appearing in public with tears streaking her mascara. To many observers, however, his collapse came to represent the greed and hypocrisy associated with the televangelist culture of the 1980s.
The setbacks soon deepened.
In 1988, a federal investigation into PTL’s finances led to Bakker’s indictment on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. He was convicted and initially sentenced to 45 years in prison, but that sentence was later reduced to eight years.
After Bakker was found guilty, Tammy Faye appeared at a news conference and sang the hymn “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand” in front of reporters.
Their marriage did not survive the scandal and imprisonment. Tammy Faye divorced Bakker in 1992, just before their 31st anniversary, while he remained behind bars. She later married Roe Messner, a building contractor whose projects included Heritage USA. Messner was convicted of bankruptcy fraud in 1995 and served roughly two years in prison.
Tammy Faye died from colon cancer in 2007.
Bakker was released on parole in 1994 and married Lori in 1998. Five years later, the couple launched “The Jim Bakker Show” on the PTL Satellite Network.
In June 2021, Bakker and his Morningside Church Productions Inc. settled a lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming the health supplement Silver Solution could cure COVID-19. The settlement called for $156,000 in refunds to people who paid money or gave contributions to obtain the product in the early days of the pandemic.
The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March of 2020.
Bakker and Tammy Faye had two children. He and his second wife adopted five children in 2002.
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