Jimmy Swaggart is a televangelist from the United States. Lately, people have been asking Is Jimmy Swaggart Still Alive?

Jimmy Swaggart fans were curious and wanted to know how is he doing now. Keep reading to learn about Jimmy Swaggart and discover if he is still alive.

Who is Jimmy Swaggart?

Jimmggart is currently 88 years old and was born on 15 March 1935. The American state of Louisiana’s Ferriday is where Jimmy was born. 

The established Willie Leon and Minnie Bell Herron family raised him. Jeanette Ensminger was one of his sisters. 

Additionally, he is friends with Mickey Gilley and rockabilly pioneers Jerry Lee Lewis.

At the time of his 17th wedding to Frances Anderson, his wife was just 15 years old. At the Wisner church, they both met.

After marriage, he had to start working part-time jobs to support his family.

His singing has also been heard in several churches, and the genre is Southern gospel. 

He’s known for his gospel singing career and also played piano.  He is a prominent figure in the piano and gospel music worlds.

Early Life

Jimmy Swaggart was born to Minnie and Willie in Ferriday, Louisiana, on 15 March 1935. His father was a Pentecostal preacher and fiddler. 

Swaggart’s sister Jeanette is a cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. 

He performed at churches as a child, singing Southern Gospel tunes and playing music with his father.

Career Beginnings

During the 1950s, Swaggart lived in poverty with his wife Frances, whom he married while they were both teenagers and preached around rural Louisiana. 

They resided in church basements, modest hotels, and pastors’ homes because they were too impoverished to own a home.

Swaggart began full-time evangelization in 1955, and in 1960 he started his gospel music recording career. 

He received his Assemblies of God ordination the following year, after which he launched his radio ministry.

Jimmy Swaggart Televangelism

Swaggart began broadcasting “Camp Meeting Hour,” a once-weekly 30-minute Christian webcast in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Additionally, he acquired the local AM radio station WLUX, which he used to broadcast Christian preaching, gospel music, and other content. Swaggart extended his weekly television program to one hour in 1975. 

Later, he created “A Study in the World,” another weekday television program, and a weekend program containing a church service. 

Swaggart’s popularity peaked in the 1980s when his programs got regularly seen on over 3,000 stations.

Later in his career, Swaggart founded SonLife Broadcasting Network, a 24-hour cable and satellite television network on which he hosts the daily Bible study program “The Message of the Cross.” 

In the meanwhile, the network’s “Frances and Friends” daily program is hosted by his wife. All of SBN’s camp meetings and weekly services at the Family Worship Centre  got aired live as well

Jimmy Swaggart Bible College

Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, which first provided degrees in education and communication, was established by Swaggart in 1984. 

The school’s enrollment reached a high of over 1,500 students in 1987 but fell precipitously the following year due to Swaggart’s sex scandal. The institution changed its name to World Evangelism Bible College in 1991.

Jimmy Swaggart’s Career in Music

Swaggart is a gospel singer and pianist who has recorded several albums. 

He sold over 17 million albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Performance for Traditional Gospel in 1980.

Jimmy Swaggart Scandals

Swaggart has been a part of several significant scandals. The Assemblies of God suspended and defrocked him in 1988 when he was caught with a prostitute at a hotel. 

Swaggart’s ministry shrank and disaffiliated after another prostitution-related sex scandal a few years later. 

Ironically, Swaggart had accused Marvin Gorman, a fellow pastor, of having adultery, leading to Gorman’s defrocking in 1986. Gorman was instrumental in revealing Swaggart’s personal affairs as payback.

In addition to the sex scandals, Swaggart caused controversy by supporting and sponsoring the Mozambican National Resistance in the 1980s, backed by South Africa.

RENAMO got accused of committing systematic war crimes during the protracted civil war in Mozambique. 

The Zimbabwean government and Covert Action Magazine both charged Swaggart and his ministry with continuing to fund RENAMO in 1991.

Family and Marriage

1952 when Swaggart was 17, he married Frances Anderson, a 15-year-old he had met at church. 

Donnie, the couple’s son, is a preacher at the Family Worship Centre and in other churches worldwide. 

Gabriel is Donnie’s son, the head of his grandfather’s World Evangelism Bible College, and the youth pastor at the Family Worship Centre.

Is Jimmy Swaggart Still Alive?

American televangelist Jimmy Swaggart practices Pentecostalism. His television ministry, which he began in 1971 and dubbed initially “Camp Meeting Hour,” has a large following domestically and abroad. 

The 1980s saw him at the height of his fame. He is currently 87 years old and still going strong.

Jimmy Swaggart’s Net Worth

Jimmy Swaggarts estimated US net worth is $10 million. 

He began his television ministry in the 1970s, which is still in operation today.  When he was at the height of fame in 1987, his business made 150 million dollars.