Jim Bakker, Televangelist Behind PTL Club, Dies at 86

Jim Bakker, a prominent figure in the televangelism movement whose career with his first wife, Tammy Faye, saw the creation of the hugely popular “The PTL Club” television show and the Heritage USA theme park, died Monday. He was 86.

His death was announced by his second wife, Lori Bakker, who stated that his cause was not immediately clear. “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,” she said.

The Bakkers rose to national prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. They began their ministry careers after meeting at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, marrying in 1961, and leaving college to start a traveling ministry.

They gained visibility through Christian Broadcasting Network, where Jim Bakker hosted “The 700 Club” starting in 1966. By 1972, they had left CBN to form the PTL Satellite Network, with “Praise the Lord” — PTL — becoming their flagship program.

At its zenith in the mid-1980s, “The PTL Club” attracted an estimated 13 million viewers nightly. The ministry also encompassed Heritage USA, a Christian-based theme park and hotel complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The Bakkers became cultural figures, known for their on-air interactions, Christian entertainment, and Tammy Faye Bakker's distinctive makeup and vocal style. Their lavish lifestyle and public persona were often subjects of satire on shows like “Saturday Night Live.”

The empire began to unravel in March 1987 when Bakker admitted to a sexual encounter with a church secretary, Jessica Hahn. He resigned from his ministry, with operations handed over to Jerry Falwell.

Further legal troubles followed. In 1988, Bakker was indicted on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. He was convicted and initially sentenced to 45 years in federal prison, a sentence later reduced. His first wife, Tammy Faye, stood by him through the initial scandal but later divorced him in 1992 while he was still incarcerated. Tammy Faye Bakker died of colon cancer in 2007.

Bakker was released on parole in 1994. He married Lori Bakker in 1998, and the couple launched “The Jim Bakker Show” in 2003 from near the entertainment town of Branson, Missouri. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.

More recently, in June 2021, Bakker and his production company settled a lawsuit over claims that a health supplement, Silver Solution, could cure COVID-19. The settlement required refunds totaling $156,000 to customers who purchased the product early in the pandemic, after Bakker and a guest allegedly made such claims on his show in February and March 2020.