Profile
Jim Bakker
Televangelist + Minister + Preacher
Male
Born
Jan 2, 1940
Age
73
Hometown
Muskegon, Michigan
James Orsen "Jim" Bakker is an American televangelist, a former Assemblies of God minister, and a former host (with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker) of The PTL Club, a popular evangelical Christian television program. A sex scandal led to his resignation… Read More
Photos
View newly released photos of Jim Bakker.
Romance
Check out the latest love interests for Jim Bakker.
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Lori GrahamMarried 1998
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Jim Bakker.
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Kate Bowler: Sexual Misconduct And The American Prosperity GospelHuffington Post - Oct 08, 2012
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Tanya Young Williams: Bishop Charles Blake Reveals Mega Churches Political Impact And Social ResponsibilitiesHuffington Post - Sep 04, 2012
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America's Confidence In Organized Religion Hits An All Time LowBusiness Insider - Jul 13, 2012
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American Confidence In Organized Religion At All Time LowHuffington Post - Jul 12, 2012
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Jim Bakker.
CHILDHOOD
1940
Birth
Born on January 2, 1940.
TWENTIES
1960
20 Years Old
Bakker was born in Muskegon, Michigan, the son of Raleigh Bakker and Furnia Lynette "Furn" Irwin. Bakker attended North Central University, a Bible college affiliated with the Assemblies of God, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where in 1960 he met fellow student Tammy Faye LaValley.
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1966
26 Years Old
In 1966, the Bakkers began working at Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, which at the time barely reached an audience of thousands.
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FORTIES
1984
44 Years Old
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From 1984 to 1987, Bakker and his PTL associates sold $1,000 "lifetime memberships", which entitled buyers to a three-night stay annually at a luxury hotel at Heritage USA.
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On March 19, 1987, following the revelation of a payoff to Hahn to keep secret her allegation that Bakker and another minister had raped her, Bakker resigned from PTL.
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In 1988, Falwell said that the Bakker scandal had "strengthened broadcast evangelism and made Christianity stronger, more mature and more committed".
FIFTIES
1991
51 Years Old
In February 1991, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld Bakker's conviction on the fraud and conspiracy charges, but voided Bakker's 45-year sentence, as well as the $500,000 fine, and ordered that a new sentencing hearing be held.
Jim and Tammy Bakker were divorced on March 13, 1992.
In August 1993, Bakker was transferred to a minimum security federal prison in Jesup, Georgia, and was subsequently granted parole in July 1994, after serving almost five years of his sentence.
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1996
56 Years Old
Bakker has renounced his past teachings on prosperity theology, saying they were wrong. In his 1996 book, I Was Wrong, he admitted that the first time he actually read the Bible all the way through was while he was in prison, and that it made him realize he had taken certain passages out of context - passages which he had used as "proof texts" to back up his prosperity teachings.
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1998
58 Years Old
In 1998, he and Lori Graham were married.
LATE ADULTHOOD
2000
60 Years Old
Bakker released another book that same year, Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse ISBN 978-0-7852-6987-8, and, in 2000, he published The Refuge: The Joy of Christian Community in a Torn-Apart World ISBN 978-0-7852-7459-9.
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2001
61 Years Old
Bakker's son, Jay, wrote in 2001 that the Bakkers felt betrayed by Falwell, whom they thought, at the time of Bakker's resignation, intended to help in Bakker's eventual restoration as head of the PTL ministry organization.
2003
63 Years Old
In January 2003, Bakker began broadcasting the daily Jim Bakker Show at Studio City Cafe in Branson, Missouri, with his second wife, Lori.
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2008
68 Years Old
In January 2008, Bakker's ministry moved into a new television studio near Branson, in Blue Eye, Missouri The studio is housed in a development that resembles Bakker's former location, Heritage USA.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bakker.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.