Jim Bakker built a multimillion-dollar evangelical broadcasting empire out of the Carolinas before it came crumbling down due to scandal.
Bakker was a longtime televangelist who built a broadcasting empire out
of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a Christian theme park in South Carolina before falling from grace amid sex and financial scandals. His death was announced by his wife, Lori Bakker, via Instagram on Monday, Oct. 5. He was 86.Before his fall, Jim Bakker rose to national prominence as a pioneer of Christian television alongside his then-wife Tammy Faye. The couple, who met at North Central Bible College in Minneapolis and married in 1961, built a television empire known as "The PTL (Praise the Lord) Club" just south of Charlotte at their
complex during the 1980s and 1990s and also ran a theme park and hotel just over the state line in South Carolina.
Find out more about the rise and fall of Jim Bakker in the Carolinas.
How did Jim Bakker die?
Lori Bakker did not disclose where or how Jim Bakker died in her social media post about his death.
When did Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye start PTL?
Jim Bakker founded the PTL organization, also known as "Praise The Lord" or "People That Love," in 1974. Through PTL and its television programs, the couple became household names and among the most recognizable figures in evangelical media.
Where was Jim Bakker's Christian-themed park and hotel? Is it still in operation?
The now-defunct Christian-based Heritage USA theme park and hotel used to draw visitors from along the East Coast and across the nation to Fort Mill, South Carolina, during Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye's height of popularity in the 1980s.
Originally opened in 1978, the park sat on the edge of South Carolina, not far from the North Carolina border and the Bakkers' sprawling compound south of Charlotte. According to a 1986 Washington Post article, it was a "place somewhere between the Land of Oz and a strait-laced Club Med."
And it was popular too.
At the height of its popularity, Heritage USA had around 4.9 million people visit annually, making it the country's third-largest theme park behind Disneyland and Disney World, according to the publication Islands.
Heritage USA shut down after Jim Bakker's sexual and financial scandals came to light in 1989.
The fall of Jim Bakker
In 1987, allegations became public that Jim Bakker had raped his former New York church secretary, Jessica Hahn. He said the encounter was consensual.
Not long afterward, Jim Bakker was dismissed from the Assemblies of God denomination for what church officials described as "conduct unbecoming of a minister," according to previous reporting from the Springfield News-Leader, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Financially, it came to light that money he raised via PTL was being used to fund an exorbitant lifestyle; he was convicted on 24 federal counts of fraud and conspiracy related to his ministry's fundraising practices and sentenced to 45 years in prison. In 1991, Jim Bakker's sentence was vacated, and he only served nearly five years in prison.
When did Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye divorce?
The famed evangelical couple, in the 1980s and 1990s, divorced after Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud and sentenced to decades in prison.
Tammy Faye died in 2007 after a long battle with cancer. She was 65.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Before scandal, Jim Bakker built an empire, theme park in the Carolinas
