• Faith: Christian
• Career: Televangelist
• Birthday:  January 02, 1940
• Date of Death:  October 05, 2026

Jim Bakker was an American televangelist best known for building the PTL television ministry and Heritage USA Christian theme park with his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker. One of the most recognizable figures in American televangelism during the 1970s and 1980s, Bakker's career was derailed by sex and financial scandals that led to his resignation from PTL, a fraud conviction and nearly five years in federal prison. He later returned to Christian broadcasting with a ministry increasingly focused on biblical prophecy and end-times preparation.

James Orsen Bakker was born January 2, 1940, in Muskegon, Michigan, to Raleigh and Furnia Bakker. Raised in a strict Pentecostal Christian household, he attended North Central Bible College, now North Central University, an Assemblies of God school in Minneapolis. There he met Tamara "Tammy Faye" LaValley. They married in 1961, left college and became traveling evangelists, with Jim preaching and Tammy Faye singing and playing music.

The couple eventually moved into Christian television. In the 1960s, they joined Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, where they hosted children's programming featuring puppets and comedy. Bakker later became an early host of "The 700 Club." After leaving CBN in 1973, the Bakkers briefly worked with Paul and Jan Crouch during the early development of the Trinity Broadcasting Network before establishing their own ministry.

Bakker's greatest success came with "The PTL Club," a Christian television program combining preaching, music, interviews and fundraising. PTL, commonly understood as "Praise the Lord," grew into a major television ministry and satellite network. Bakker and his organization also developed Heritage USA, a sprawling Christian resort and theme park in South Carolina that attracted millions of visitors during its peak years.

His ministry collapsed in the late 1980s. In 1987, Bakker resigned from PTL after revelations that ministry funds had been used for a $279,000 payment to church secretary Jessica Hahn following a sexual encounter. Hahn accused Bakker of sexual assault; Bakker maintained that the encounter was consensual. Scrutiny of PTL's finances soon widened, particularly around the ministry's fundraising and sale of lifetime partnerships connected to Heritage USA.

In 1989, Bakker was convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy and initially sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. An appeals court upheld his convictions but overturned the sentence, which was later reduced to eight years. He was paroled in 1994 after serving nearly five years.

While Bakker was incarcerated, Tammy Faye filed for divorce, ending their marriage in 1992. They had two children, Tammy Sue "Sissy" Bakker and Jamie Charles "Jay" Bakker. In 1998, Bakker married Lori Beth Graham, a former televangelist. The couple later adopted five children.

After prison, Bakker gradually returned to ministry. He relaunched his television career with "The Jim Bakker Show" in 2003 and later established Morningside, a Christian community and ministry center near Blue Eye, Missouri. His later broadcasts placed considerably more emphasis on biblical prophecy, apocalyptic events and emergency preparedness. Bakker also drew renewed controversy for selling survival products and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting a silver product that authorities said was improperly marketed as a treatment for the virus.

Jim Bakker's Religious Beliefs

Bakker's religious identity was rooted in Protestant evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity. Raised in a Pentecostal home, he became an ordained Assemblies of God minister and remained affiliated with the denomination until he was defrocked following the PTL scandal.

During the height of PTL, Bakker became closely associated with prosperity theology, emphasizing the idea that God's favor could include financial success and material blessings. After his imprisonment, however, Bakker publicly rejected much of his earlier prosperity teaching. In his 1996 book "I Was Wrong," he wrote about reconsidering his interpretation of Scripture and acknowledged that his ministry had placed too much emphasis on wealth and success.

His later ministry remained firmly Christian but shifted toward repentance, biblical prophecy and the end times. "The Jim Bakker Show" frequently addressed the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, political and cultural events through a biblical lens, and the need for Christians to prepare spiritually and practically for difficult times. Despite the scandals that defined a major chapter of his public life, Bakker continued to identify his life's work with Christian ministry and evangelical broadcasting.