Jim Bakker, who built 'PTL Club' televangelism empire, has died at 86

Televangelist Jim Bakker has died at 86, according to a statement from his second wife, Lori Bakker. He built an evangelical media empire around “The PTL Club,” alongside his first wife, Tammy Faye, before it unraveled amid a sex scandal and financial crimes. Bakker died on Monday; his cause of death was not immediately clear. The couple lived near Branson, Missouri, and filmed “The Jim Bakker Show” there after it launched in 2003. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020. At its peak in the mid-1980s, their ministry drew up to 13 million nightly viewers and included Heritage USA in Fort Mill, South Carolina, before the 1987 collapse.