Jim Bakker, the televangelist who rose to global fame with ‘The PTL Club’ before his empire collapsed under scandal, has died at age 86.
The man who built a global evangelical empire, watched it crumble under the weight of scandal, and spent decades attempting to rebuild his public life has died. Jim Bakker, whose face and message defined a generation of Christian television, passed away on Monday at the age of 86.
His second wife, Lori Bakker, confirmed the news, though a cause of death was not immediately disclosed. The couple had resided near the Missouri entertainment hub of Branson. where they had filmed “The Jim Bakker Show” since its launch in 2003. While Bakker had suffered a stroke in 2020. his final years were spent out of the national spotlight that once defined his existence.
“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 in a statement.
Born in Muskegon. Michigan. Bakker’s path began at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. where he met his first wife. Tammy Faye. They married in 1961. leaving college behind to launch a traveling ministry that moved from church to church and tent revival to tent revival. He preached while she sang and played the accordion, a partnership that eventually caught the eye of Pat Robertson. By 1965. the Bakkers were producing a children’s show for the Christian Broadcasting Network. and by 1966. Jim Bakker was hosting “The 700 Club.”.
The pivot to his own venture came in 1974 with the formation of the PTL Satellite Network. “The PTL Club,” short for “Praise the Lord,” became a cultural juggernaut. Structured like a Christian “Tonight Show,” it featured upbeat sermons, celebrity guests, and music. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the program reached 13 million nightly viewers. The Bakkers became global icons. managing a sprawling complex south of Charlotte. North Carolina. that included the Heritage USA theme park and hotel.
Their rapid ascent and eventual fall remain a pivotal chapter in American media history. The couple’s lavish lifestyle and Tammy Faye’s signature heavy mascara became fodder for late-night comedy and “Saturday Night Live” sketches. cementing their place as cultural touchstones. That complexity was revisited in the 2021 film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”.
Ultimately. the rise and ruin of the PTL brand followed a singular. destructive trajectory: the same mechanisms that brought them millions of dollars in annual donations from a devoted audience also fueled the investigations into financial crimes and the sex scandal that dismantled their empire. The public trajectory of the Bakkers moved from the heights of televised influence to the depths of legal and cultural fallout. a transition that redefined the perception of televangelism for decades to come.
Jim Bakker PTL Club Tammy Faye Bakker televangelist obituary Branson Heritage USA