Jim Bakker, the American televangelist who built a multimillion-dollar Christian broadcasting empire in the 1970s and 1980s only to see it collapse amid scandal and a federal fraud conviction, has died. He was 86.
Bakker died Monday evening, according to a statement from his wife, Lori Bakker, shared on “The Jim Bakker Show” Facebook page. The New York Times first reported the death, citing the family announcement. At the time of publication, a cause of death had not been publicly disclosed. Bakker had suffered a stroke in 2020, but no official link between that health event and his death has been confirmed.
Bakker’s wife described losing not just a public figure but a personal partner. “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.
Bakker died on October 5, 2026, according to multiple reports citing his family. He was 86 years old. The location of his death was not immediately disclosed by family representatives, though Bakker had lived near Branson, Missouri, where he filmed his television program for more than two decades.
His wife, Lori Bakker, announced the death in a social media post Monday evening. “It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening,” she wrote. In a separate statement, she added that “Jim finished his race with faith”.
Jay Bakker, Jim Bakker’s son from his first marriage to Tammy Faye Bakker, also confirmed his father’s passing on social media. In a candid post, Jay Bakker said: “My father passed away today and it’s very difficult. We had a very complicated relationship, and he was also my father and a grandfather, and I need to mourn in my own time”.
A cause of death had not been publicly disclosed at the time of publication. Neither Lori Bakker’s statement nor family social media posts included an official cause.
Bakker had experienced significant health challenges in recent years. He suffered a stroke in 2020, and his wife had previously described the toll his work had taken on his health. In a May 2025 broadcast, Bakker referenced his medical challenges, including multiple strokes, while appealing to viewers for financial support.
Newz18 will update this article if the family, a representative, or another authoritative source releases additional information about the cause of death.
James Orsen Bakker was born in 1940 and rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most recognizable figures in American Christian television. He met his first wife, Tammy Faye LaValley, at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, and they married in 1961.
The couple began their broadcasting careers working with Pat Robertson at the Christian Broadcasting Network before launching their own ministry. In 1974, they founded the PTL Club, which grew into one of the most-watched religious programs in the United States.
At its peak, the PTL ministry claimed more than 500,000 followers and employed approximately 2,000 people. The Bakkers became household names, with their show combining talk-show format with evangelism and fundraising appeals.
The partnership between Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker was central to their public identity. They co-hosted “The PTL Club” together, with Tammy Faye’s emotional on-air appeals becoming a defining feature of the program.
Their marriage of more than 30 years produced two children, Jay and Tammy Sue. Tammy Sue later worked as a producer on her father’s later television show.
The couple divorced in 1992, while Jim Bakker was serving his prison sentence. Tammy Faye went on to marry Roe Messner and reinvented herself as a pop-culture figure, appearing on talk shows and in a documentary about her life. She died of cancer in 2007 at age 65.
At the time of her death, Jim Bakker issued a statement saying his ex-wife “lived her life like the song she sang, ‘If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make Lemonade'”.
The PTL Club—the name stood for “Praise the Lord” or “People That Love”—became the foundation of a sprawling evangelical enterprise. At the heart of the ministry’s ambitions was Heritage USA, a 2,500-acre Christian theme park and resort in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Heritage USA featured a 500-room hotel, shopping mall, convention center, water-amusement park, and television studio. The ministry sold “lifetime partnership” packages for $1,000 each, promising purchasers annual vacations at the resort for life.
The scale of the operation was unprecedented in American religious broadcasting. PTL employed around 2,000 people, and the Bakkers presided over a ministry that claimed half a million followers.
The PTL empire began to unravel in March 1987 when Bakker resigned after admitting to a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary. The scandal was compounded by revelations that PTL had paid Hahn $265,000 in hush money.
Federal prosecutors subsequently investigated the ministry’s finances. They found that Bakker had sold more lifetime partnerships than Heritage USA could accommodate, defrauding followers of approximately $158 million. Prosecutors also alleged that Bakker diverted $3.7 million for personal use, including luxury vehicles and an air-conditioned doghouse.
In October 1989, Bakker was convicted on all 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison and fined $500,000. The sentence was later reduced to eight years on appeal, and Bakker ultimately served nearly five years before being paroled in 1994.
A federal bankruptcy judge later ruled that the tens of thousands of “partners” who had paid for lifetime vacations would likely receive no repayment from the sale of Heritage USA.
After his release from prison, Bakker gradually returned to Christian broadcasting. In 2003, he launched “The Jim Bakker Show,” filmed near Branson, Missouri. The program became the centerpiece of his later ministry.
His second wife, Lori Bakker, whom he married in 1998, co-hosted the program and appeared alongside him in broadcasts. The show maintained a loyal audience, though its scale was far smaller than the PTL empire of the 1980s.
In his later years, Bakker’s broadcasts increasingly focused on End Times prophecies and the sale of survival products, including food buckets and preparedness supplies. This shift reflected both his theological evolution and the financial pressures facing his ministry.
Bakker remained a recognizable figure in American religious broadcasting well into his 80s, though his public profile was defined as much by his scandals as by his ministry. He faced renewed legal scrutiny in 2020 when Missouri authorities took action over claims that a health supplement sold through his show could cure COVID-19. His ministry was ordered to pay $156,000 in restitution.
In May 2025, Bakker made an emotional appeal to viewers, saying he needed $1 million to save his ministry and warning he could lose his home. “If they foreclose on this ministry, they will take my house too, so I will be on the street,” he said.
Critics pointed to the continuity between Bakker’s 1980s fundraising practices and his later appeals, while supporters emphasized his decades of ministry and his resilience after prison.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Name | James Orsen Bakker |
| Age at death | 86 |
| Profession | Televangelist / Christian broadcaster |
| Known for | “The PTL Club” and later television ministry |
| Former spouse | Tammy Faye Bakker (married 1961, divorced 1992) |
| Current spouse | Lori Bakker (married 1998) |
| Major ministry | PTL (Praise the Lord / People That Love) |
| Later program | “The Jim Bakker Show” |
| Date of death | October 5, 2026 |
| Cause of death | Not publicly disclosed at time of reporting |
Bakker is survived by his wife, Lori Bakker, and his children from his marriage to Tammy Faye. His son, Jay Bakker, became a well-known progressive evangelical pastor whose theology diverged significantly from his father’s. His daughter, Tammy Sue, worked as a producer on “The Jim Bakker Show”.
In his social media statement, Jay Bakker asked for privacy and acknowledged the complexity of their relationship: “I need the freedom to feel anger and feel loss and not have other people add their two cents”.
Jim Bakker’s career traced the rise and fall—and partial resurrection—of televangelism in American life. He helped pioneer a format of religious broadcasting that combined entertainment, emotional appeals, and direct fundraising, reaching audiences far beyond traditional church settings.
At the same time, his fraud conviction became a defining example of the excesses and accountability failures that critics associated with televangelist ministries. The PTL scandal prompted broader scrutiny of religious broadcasters’ financial practices and contributed to public skepticism about high-profile Christian fundraising.
In his final years, Bakker maintained a dedicated following even as his ministry operated on a far smaller scale than its 1980s peak. His death closes a chapter in American religious broadcasting that he helped write—one marked by both extraordinary reach and extraordinary controversy.
Jim Bakker was an American televangelist who, along with his first wife Tammy Faye Bakker, founded the PTL Club in 1974. He built a multimillion-dollar Christian broadcasting and resort empire before being convicted of fraud in 1989.
Jim Bakker was 86 years old at the time of his death.
Jim Bakker died on Monday, October 5, 2026, according to his wife, Lori Bakker.
A cause of death had not been publicly disclosed at the time of reporting.
Yes. Jim Bakker married Tammy Faye LaValley in 1961. They divorced in 1992. Tammy Faye Bakker died in 2007.
Bakker was famous for hosting “The PTL Club,” building the Heritage USA theme park, and later for his fraud conviction and imprisonment. He returned to television with “The Jim Bakker Show”.
PTL collapsed in the late 1980s amid scandal and financial investigations. Bakker resigned in 1987, and the ministry’s assets were eventually liquidated.
Heritage USA, the Christian theme park and resort in Fort Mill, South Carolina, was sold after PTL’s bankruptcy. A judge ruled that lifetime partnership buyers would likely receive no repayment.
Bakker was convicted in 1989 of 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy for selling lifetime partnerships at Heritage USA that the ministry could not honor, defrauding followers of approximately $158 million.
“The Jim Bakker Show” was a Christian television program Bakker launched in 2003, filmed near Branson, Missouri. It focused on End Times themes and survival preparedness products.