Jim Bakker, PTL Televangelist Convicted of Fraud, Dies at 86

Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built a multimillion-dollar Christian broadcasting empire before being convicted of fraud, died Monday at age 86. His second wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death without disclosing a cause. Bakker’s rise and fall defined an era of American televangelism, from commanding 13 million nightly viewers to serving federal prison time for defrauding followers.

From traveling preacher to TV icon

Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and met his first wife, Tammy Faye, at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. They married in 1961, dropped out of college, and began a traveling ministry across churches and tent revivals. Televangelist Pat Robertson noticed them in 1965, and Bakker launched a children’s show on Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network. By 1966, he was hosting The 700 Club, a Christian talk show that established his national profile.

Building a multimillion-dollar empire

In 1972, Bakker left Robertson’s network and formed the PTL Satellite Network two years later. The PTL Club, short for Praise the Lord, became the flagship program. At its peak in the mid-1980s, the show drew up to 13 million nightly viewers. The Bakkers built Heritage USA, a 2,300-acre Christian theme park and hotel complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, employing 2,000 people. They lived lavishly, owning a private jet, multiple homes, luxury cars, and even an air-conditioned dog house.

Sex scandal and fraud conviction

In 1987, Bakker resigned from PTL after a 1980 sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary, became public. Hahn received a $265,000 payoff from ministry funds, resulting in Bakker being defrocked. Two years later, Bakker was convicted in Charlotte, North Carolina, of 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy involving the theme park. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison but served just over four years. Judge Robert Potter told Bakker at sentencing, “Those of us who do have a religion are sick of being saps for money-grubbing preachers and priests.”

A second act and lasting legacy

Bakker remarried in 1998 and launched The Jim Bakker Show in 2003 near Branson, Missouri, with his second wife Lori. He suffered a stroke in 2020. His first wife, Tammy Faye, divorced him in 1992 and was never charged in the fraud scheme. She died in 2007. A 2021 film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, revisited their story. Their rise and fall inspired comparisons to the fictional corrupt preacher Elmer Gantry, and they were frequently parodied on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s and 1990s.

Final Thoughts

Bakker’s death closes a chapter in American religious broadcasting marked by extraordinary wealth, public scandal, and partial redemption. His conviction shaped how courts and the public viewed televangelism fraud.

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