Jimmy Swaggart
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| Rev. Jimmy Swaggart | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 15 1935 Ferriday, Louisiana, USA |
| Website | www.jsm.org |
Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana) is a Pentecostal preacher and pioneer of televangelism who reached the height of his popularity in the 1980s. Swaggart is first cousin to recording artists Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. The sons of three sisters, all of them share the same middle name and play the piano. All were born within a year of each other.
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[edit] Early life and early ministry
Jimmy Swaggart's parents, Sun and Minnie Belle, became Pentecostal evangelists in 1943 while Jimmy began to preach on street corners and lead congregations in singing at age nine. In 1952, at age seventeen, he married Frances Anderson. They have one son, Donnie, who has also become a minister.
In 1958, Swaggart became a full-time traveling preacher and began developing a substantial revival-meeting following throughout the south. In 1960, Swaggart began recording gospel music record albums while he was building another audience via Christian-themed radio stations. By 1969, his radio program, “The Camp Meeting Hour,” was being aired over numerous radio stations throughout the American Bible Belt.
[edit] Ordination and a new focus
During the 1970s, Swaggart was ordained by and established a ministry under the Assemblies of God. It was at this time that Swaggart decided to use television as his primary preaching medium, and by 1980, he had become the most popular television preacher in the United States. Upwards of 200 television stations broadcast his program; “The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast” was regularly watched by two-million households. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, at this time headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, grew to include a local congregation at the Family Worship Center of more than four-thousand members, a printing and mailing production plant, a television production facility, a recording studio, and later a Bible college in 1984. The college had been formerly named Jimmy Swaggart Bible College ("JSBC"). Presently, it is renamed as the World Evangelism Bible College & Seminary. The Seminary opened in the fall of 1988.
[edit] Controversy and criticism
[edit] Sex scandals
In 1986, Swaggart exposed fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman, who was having an affair with one of his parishioners. The following year, Swaggart exposed televangelist Jim Bakker's sexual indiscretions and appeared on the Larry King Show, stating that Bakker was a "cancer in the body of Christ." As a retaliatory move, Marvin Gorman hired a private-detective to follow Swaggart. The detective found Swaggart in a Louisiana motel on Airline Highway with a prostitute, Debra Murphree, and took pictures of the tryst.[1] Gorman presented Swaggart with the photos in a blackmail attempt to force Swaggart to come clean, but Swaggart refused. Gorman then presented the pictures to the presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God, which decided that Swaggart should be suspended from broadcasting his television program for three months.
On February 21, 1988, without giving the details of his transgressions, Swaggart tearfully spoke to his family, congregation, and audience, saying, "I have sinned against you, my Lord, and I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgiveness."[2] (On a New Orleans morning news show four days later, Murphree stated that while Swaggart was a regular customer, they had never engaged in intercourse.)
Against the ruling of the governing body of the Assemblies of God, Swaggart returned to his television pulpit long before his three-month suspension expired. He stated, "If I do not return to the pulpit this weekend, millions of people will go to hell." Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in not submitting to their authority, the Assemblies of God immediately defrocked Swaggart, removing his credentials and ministerial license.
On October 11, 1991, Swaggart was found in the company of another prostitute, Rosemary Garcia,[3] when the pair was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Indio, California, for driving on the wrong side of the street. According to Garcia, Swaggart stopped to proposition her on the side of the road. When the patrolman asked Garcia why she was with Swaggart, she replied, "He asked me for sex. I mean, that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute." Rather than confessing to his congregation, Swaggart told his flock this time that "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business." His son Donnie then announced to the stunned audience that his father would be temporarily stepping down as head of Jimmy Swaggart Ministries for "a time of healing and counseling."
Following the scandals, Swaggart's ministry had been reduced by 85% as of 1995. While his ministry's annual revenue shrunk, his annual salary was still over $350,000 at that time.
[edit] Print and recorded media
Swaggart is the on-record author of several Christian works offered through his ministry, as well as an autobiography To Cross a River and a personal account of the 1988 scandal The Cup Which My Father Hath Given Me: A Biblical Revelation of Personal Spiritual Warfare.
He has also sold over 15 million Gospel albums.
[edit] Current ministry
Once a world-wide multi-million-dollar ministry, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries today mainly comprises The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast,[4] radio and television programs called A Study in the Word, (SonLife Radio Network),[5], and a website, JSM.org. Jimmy's wife, Francis (very much behind the scene); and son, Donnie, control the ministry's preaching and leadership. Jimmy's grandson, Gabriel, is a preacher, and leads the Family Worship Center youth ministry, "Crossfire".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "On this day: 21st February 1988 TV evangelist quits over sex scandal", BBC World News. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
- ^ Swaggart, Jimmy. Reverend Jimmy Swaggart: Apology Sermon. americanrhetoric.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
- ^ "Swaggart Plans to Step Down", The New York Times, October 15, 1991. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
- ^ Jimmy Swaggart Ministries - TV Programming. Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
- ^ Jimmy Swaggart Ministries - SonLife Radio. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
[edit] External links
- Jimmy Swaggart in Who2
- Jimmy Swaggart Ministries
- Jimmy Swaggart at the Internet Movie Database
- Jimmy Swaggart Quotes
- Debate - "Is The Bible God's Word" - Ahmed Deedat Vs Jimmy Swaggartar:جيمي سواجارت
es:Jimmy Swaggart simple:Jimmy Swaggart sv:Jimmy Swaggart
