Last Updated on October 6, 2026 5:57 am
Jim Bakker, the television preacher who co-founded “The PTL Club” and built one of the largest religious broadcasting operations in the country before it collapsed in scandal, has died at age 86.
His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death Monday evening, Oct. 5, in a post on Instagram. “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. A cause of death has not been disclosed. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.
Rise of the PTL ministry
Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye, launched “The PTL Club” in the 1970s. At its mid-1980s peak, the program reached millions of viewers each night. The ministry's operations were based near Charlotte, and it built the Heritage USA theme park and resort in nearby Fort Mill, South Carolina, which drew visitors from across the Carolinas and beyond.
Scandal and prison
The ministry unraveled in 1987 after Bakker admitted a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn and an investigation into the ministry's finances followed. Bakker was later convicted of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy for defrauding followers. He was sentenced to a lengthy prison term, which was later reduced, and was paroled in 1994. He and Tammy Faye divorced in 1992 while he was incarcerated.
Return to broadcasting
Bakker returned to television in 2003 with “The Jim Bakker Show,” produced near Branson, Missouri, which he hosted for more than two decades. In 2021 he settled a lawsuit over claims that products sold on his show could cure COVID-19, agreeing to provide refunds totaling $156,000.
Survivors
Bakker married Lori in 1998. He is survived by his wife and their children, along with the two children he had with Tammy Faye.
