Jimmy Swaggart facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jimmy Swaggart
Swaggart in 2009
Born	Jimmy Lee Swaggart (1935-03-15) March 15, 1935 (age 89) Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Evangelist, singer, author, pastor, pianist
Years active	1955–present
Television	The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast (1971–present), SonLife Broadcasting Network (2007–present)
Spouse(s)	Frances Swaggart ​ (m. 1952)​
Children	Donnie Swaggart
Relatives	Mickey Gilley (cousin) Jerry Lee Lewis (cousin)

Jimmy Lee Swaggart (/ˈswæɡərt/; born March 15, 1935) is an American Pentecostal televangelist.

Jimmy Swaggart Ministries owns and operates the SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN). Swaggart is the senior pastor of the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

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Early life

Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana, to fiddle player and Pentecostal preacher Willie Leon (known as "Sun" or "Son") Swaggart and Minnie Bell Herron, daughter of sharecropper William Herron. They were related by marriage, as Son's maternal uncle was Elmo Lewis, who was married to Minnie's sister Mamie. The extended family had a complex network of interrelationships: "cousins and in-laws and other relatives married each other until the clan was entwined like a big, tight ball of rubber bands."

He is the cousin of rockabilly pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley. He also had a sister, Jeanette Ensminger (1942–1999). With his parents, Swaggart attended small Assemblies of God churches in Ferriday and Wisner.

In 1952, aged 17, 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. They have a son named Donnie. Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs to support his young family and also began singing Southern Gospel music at various churches.

According to his autobiography “To Cross a River”, Swaggart, along with his wife and son, lived in poverty during the 1950s as he preached throughout rural Louisiana, struggling to survive on an income of $30 a week (equivalent to $310 in 2022). Being too poor to own a home, the Swaggarts lived in church basements, homes of pastors, and small motels. Sun Records producer Sam Phillips wanted to start a gospel line of music for the label (perhaps to remain in competition with RCA Victor and Columbia, who also had gospel lines at the time) and wanted Swaggart for Sun as the first gospel artist for the label.

His cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, who had previously signed with Sun, was reportedly earning $20,000 per week at the time. Although the offer meant a promise for significant income for him and his family, Swaggart turned Phillips down, stating that he was called to preach the gospel.

Career

Ordination and early career

Preaching from a flatbed trailer donated to him, Swaggart began full-time evangelistic work in 1955. He began developing a revival-meeting following throughout the American South. In 1960, he began recording gospel music record albums and transmitting on Christian radio stations. In 1961, Swaggart was ordained by the Assemblies of God; a year later he began his radio ministry. In the late 1960s, Swaggart founded what was then a small church named the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the church eventually became district-affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

In 1971, Swaggart began transmitting a weekly 30-minute telecast over various local television stations in Baton Rouge and also purchased a local AM radio station, WLUX (now WPFC). The station broadcast Christian feature stories, preaching and teaching to various fundamentalist and Pentecostal denominations and playing black gospel, Southern gospel, and inspirational music. Swaggart sold many of his radio stations gradually throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Shifting to television

By 1975, the television ministry had expanded to more stations around the United States, and he began to use television as his primary preaching forum. In 1978, the weekly telecast was increased to an hour.

In 1980, 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 (Swaggart's church) or an on-location crusade in a major city. In the early 1980s, the broadcasts expanded to major cities nationwide. By 1983, more than 250 television stations broadcast the telecast.

Promotion of RENAMO

Throughout the 1980s, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was one of many American Evangelical leaders who promoted the South African-backed Mozambican National Resistance, aka RENAMO, which was accused of committing systematic war crimes during Mozambique's 15-year-long civil war. In addition to moral support and publicity, Swaggart Ministries was repeatedly accused of providing funding and material support to the group. In September 1985, government forces supported by Zimbabwe captured RENAMO's main headquarters inside Mozambique, Casa Banana. Among the materials left behind by retreating rebels were piles of Swaggart's 1982 publication, "How to Receive The Baptism in the Holy Spirit", translated into Portuguese. During the 1988 trial of Australian missionary Ian Grey, who coordinated much of the private support to RENAMO, it was claimed by the defendant that Swaggart Ministries worked through Shekinah Ministries to provide support to RENAMO. ..... In 1991, Covert Action Magazine and the government of Zimbabwe both accused Swaggart ministries of continuing to fund RENAMO.

Later career

As of 2007^[update], Jimmy Swaggart Ministries mainly comprised Family Worship Center, The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast, radio and television programs called A Study in the Word, SonLife Radio Network, a website, and a 24/7 cable and satellite television network, SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN).

Swaggart in 2011

Swaggart's wife Frances hosts a television program, Frances and Friends, shown daily on SBN. Swaggart also hosts a daily Bible study program on SBN, The Message of the Cross. His son, Donnie Swaggart, preaches at Family Worship Center and also preaches in churches across America and abroad. Donnie's son, Gabriel Swaggart, has served as the ministry's youth pastor who leads Crossfire, Family Worship Center's youth ministry. SBN also delivers live broadcasts of all of its weekly services at Family Worship Center, as well as live broadcasts of all of its camp meetings.

Swaggart's son, Donnie, preaching in Florida in 2018

As of 2023, Swaggart remains senior pastor of Family Worship Center.

Ministries

Radio

Swaggart started SonLife Radio on the noncommercial FM band. Unlike his previous stations, SonLife was commercial-free and it did not sell time to outside ministries; the preaching and teaching were all produced in-house. The music which it played was primarily Southern Gospel. SonLife Radio is also streamed on the Internet.

List of radio stations

The network's flagship station is WJFM in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Notes:

Translators

Television

In 1973, 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. They accepted, and within weeks the Jimmy Swaggart Telecast was being broadcast around the United States.

In 1981, Swaggart launched a daily television program titled A Study in the Word. From the beginning, the primary cable channels which the program was aired on were CBN Cable (now Freeform), TBN, and the old PTL Network (now the Inspiration Network).

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Jimmy Swaggart Bible College

In autumn 1984, Swaggart opened Jimmy Swaggart Bible College (JSBC). The college originally provided education and communication degrees. It flourished during the 1980s.

In 1986, Ray Trask is appointed as president of JSBC.

In the fall of 1987 enrollment peaked at 1,450 students.

JSBC enrollment dropped drastically in 1988 when students left as a result of Swaggart's scandal followed by accreditation issues. In 1988 the enrollment at the Bible college was projected to drop 72% that year but the school was planning to proceed with plans to open a theological seminary. Enrollment in August 1988 was projected to be about 400 students, compared to 1,451 students last year in 1987. The estimate was based on the number of students who had registered and the inquiries from potential students.

In 1988, Ray Trask, leaves his position as president of JSBC. That July the college dormitories were re-branded and listed as apartments.

In 1991, JSBC was renamed to World Evangelism Bible College and enrollment dropped to 370 students. The college shut down programs in music, physical education, secretarial science, and communications that October and disbanded its basketball team. In November "the college laid off three Bible professors and an English professor, effective at the end of the fall semester."

In 1992, Bernard Rossier resigns as president of Jimmy Swaggart's World Evangelism Bible College and Seminary.

In 2019, JSBC offered Associate of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees, both in Biblical Studies. The College was not accredited but was seeking accreditation at that time.

In 2020, Ray Trask, former JSBC President at Jimmy Swaggart Bible College died. Mr. Trask served as JSBC president from 1986 to 1988.

In 2021, Gabriel Swaggart, grandson of Jimmy Swaggart, is the President of JSBC. JSBC stopped offering online classes around 2020 in one of many steps to seek accreditation. JSBC lists a total of six faculty/staff members.

In 2022, Gabriel Swaggart still remains as President of JSBC. Under "accreditation" the college website states "JSBC is a corresponding institution with The Transnational Association of Christian Schools (TRACS)." JSBC lists five college administrators, six faculty, and one staff member.

Print

Swaggart has written about 50 Christian books offered through his ministry. He is the author of the Expositor's Study Bible, 13 study guides and 38 commentaries on the Bible. The ministry also publishes a monthly magazine, The Evangelist.

Swaggart published Religious Rock n Roll: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, in 1987.

Music

In 1980, Swaggart received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Gospel Performance, Traditional for his album Worship.

Family

Since October 10, 1952, Swaggart has been married to Frances Swaggart (née Anderson, born August 9, 1937). They have one son, Donnie (born October 18, 1954), named after Jimmy Swaggart's brother who died in infancy. He has three grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

Donnie Swaggart and his son, Gabriel Swaggart, are also preachers, making four generations of the Swaggart family to have become involved in ministerial work.

See also

In Spanish: Jimmy Swaggart para niños