29 Facts About Jimmy Swaggart

Jimmy Lee Swaggart is an American Pentecostal televangelist.

Jimmy Swaggart Ministries owns and operates the SonLife Broadcasting Network.

Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born on March 15,1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, to fiddle player and Pentecostal preacher Willie Leon Swaggart and Minnie Bell Herron, daughter of sharecropper William Herron.

Jimmy Swaggart's parents were related by marriage, as Son Jimmy Swaggart's maternal uncle, Elmo Lewis, was married to Minnie Herron's sister, Mamie.

Jimmy Swaggart is the cousin of rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley.

In 1952, aged 17, Jimmy Swaggart married 15-year-old Frances Anderson, whom he met in church in Wisner, Louisiana while he was playing music with his father, who pastored the Assembly of God Church there.

Jimmy Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs to support his young family and began singing Southern Gospel music at various churches.

Jimmy Swaggart began developing a revival-meeting following throughout the American South.

In 1961, Jimmy Swaggart was ordained by the Assemblies of God; a year later he began his radio ministry.

In 1971, Jimmy Swaggart began transmitting a weekly 30-minute telecast over various local television stations in Baton Rouge and purchased a local AM radio station, WLUX.

Jimmy Swaggart sold many of his radio stations gradually throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

In 1980, Jimmy Swaggart began a daily weekday telecast featuring Bible study and music, and the weekend, hour-long telecast included a service from either Family Worship Center or an on-location crusade in a major city.

Jimmy Swaggart was suspended and ultimately defrocked by the Assemblies of God.

Three years later, Jimmy Swaggart was implicated in another scandal involving prostitution.

Gorman waited almost a year, then hand-delivered a note to Jimmy Swaggart informing him his time was up; Jimmy Swaggart did not respond.

The presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God suspended Jimmy Swaggart from broadcasting his television program for three months.

On February 21,1988, without giving any details regarding his transgressions, Jimmy Swaggart delivered what came to be known as his "I have sinned" speech on live television.

Swaggart then became an independent and non-denominational Pentecostal minister, establishing Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, based at the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the SonLife Broadcasting Network which can be seen in the United States and other countries.

Jimmy Swaggart was pulled over by a police officer in Indio, California, for driving on the wrong side of the road.

Donnie's son, Gabriel Jimmy Swaggart, has served as the ministry's youth pastor who leads Crossfire, Family Worship Center's youth ministry.

In 1973, Jimmy Swaggart proposed to television producers in Nashville, Tennessee a television program including a fairly large music segment, a short sermon, and time for talking about current ministry projects.

In 1981, Jimmy Swaggart launched a daily television program titled A Study in the Word.

In 1988, Jimmy Swaggart lost some of his broadcast and merchandise rights following his first prostitution scandal.

JSBC enrollment dropped drastically in 1988 when students left as a result of Jimmy Swaggart's scandal, followed by accreditation issues.

Jimmy Swaggart has written about 50 Christian books offered through his ministry.

Jimmy Swaggart is the author of the Expositor's Study Bible, 13 study guides and 38 commentaries on the Bible.

Jimmy Swaggart published Religious Rock n Roll: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, in 1985.

In 1981, Jimmy Swaggart received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Gospel Performance, Traditional for his album Worship.

Since October 10,1952, Jimmy Swaggart has been married to Frances Jimmy Swaggart.