Televangelist Jim Bakker, founder of the PTL Club empire, dies at 86

Jim Bakker, the American televangelist who built the PTL broadcasting network before serving time in federal prison for financial fraud, died on Monday at the age of 86. His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death in a post on his official Instagram account. The statement did not list a cause of death or specify the location of his passing. Bakker had suffered a stroke in 2020. His death concluded a six-decade career in religious broadcasting that blended prosperity preaching, entertainment, and extensive fundraising.

For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 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.

Early ministry and the rise of PTL

Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Bakker attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, where he met his first wife, Tammy Faye. The couple married in 1961, left college, and traveled across the country conducting revival services where he preached and she sang. Televangelist Pat Robertson hired the couple in 1965 for his Christian Broadcasting Network, where Bakker hosted "The 700 Club" beginning in 1966. Bakker parted ways with Robertson in 1972 and established the PTL Satellite Network in 1974. "The PTL Club", taped south of Charlotte, North Carolina, grew into a daily broadcast reaching up to 13 million households and generating annual revenues as high as $129 million. Tammy Faye became widely recognized for her singing and heavy mascara, while Jim delivered sermons and directed regular fundraising telethons.

Heritage USA and financial opulence

During the peak of the ministry in the 1980s, the Bakkers expanded their operations by building Heritage USA, a 2,300 to 2,500-acre Christian theme park and lodging complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The park attracted approximately six million visitors each year, trailing only Disney World and Disneyland in domestic attendance. Bakker funded the project in part by selling lifetime partnerships for $1,000 each, raising at least $150 million with promises of annual lodging stays. The couple used ministry revenue to finance personal assets, including a 55-foot houseboat, luxury vehicles, high salaries, and multiple residences across South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, and California. Their spending also included gold-plated bathroom fixtures and an air-conditioned dog kennel.

Scandals, prison, and television return

The PTL empire collapsed in 1987 following revelations regarding a 1980 sexual encounter between Bakker and church secretary Jessica Hahn, which involved hush-money payments. Denominational leaders from the Assemblies of God defrocked Bakker, and he resigned from PTL leadership. Federal prosecutors indicted Bakker on fraud and conspiracy charges, resulting in a 1989 conviction and a 45-year prison sentence, of which he served five years before his release. Tammy Faye divorced him during the 1990s and died in 2007. Bakker returned to broadcasting in 2003, launching "The Jim Bakker Show" alongside his second wife from a studio near Branson, Missouri.