By 1986, PTL employed 2,500 people around the world and was taking in $129 million in annual revenue, according to John Wigger‘s The Rise and Fall in Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire. Their Christian-themed resort, Heritage USA, was the third-most-visited attraction in the U.S. that year, behind only Disneyland and Disney World, and the PTL Network reached 14 million homes. The Bakkers reportedly owned multiple residences, two Rolls Royces, a 55-foot houseboat and a private jet.
Jim quit PTL on March 19, 1987 after serving as church secretary. Jessica Hahn alleged that the pastor had sexually assaulted her in December 1980. Jim insisted the encounter was consensual and he was never charged with a crime, but he admitted to paying Hahn $265,000 from the church’s funds to stay quiet. An investigation into the ministry’s finances found that Jim had also been selling so-called “lifetime memberships” to their Heritage Grand hotel—to more people than there were rooms—for $1,000 a pop. Moreover, PTL couldn’t account for $92 million in revenue.
Already at work launching a new TV-driven ministry in Orlando, Fla., Tammy Faye told a reporter ahead of Jim’s trial on fraud charges, “If our case is tried on truth, we will win. It is my prayer that all people will tell the truth. “I pray for the truth from all men.”
She said that Jim was not only on trial but people, and the church she knows is also on trial. Jim enters the courtroom and everything that is related to Christian TV will be on trial.
Jim was sentenced in 1989 to 45 years imprisonment for pleading not guilty to the 24 counts of wire and mail fraud. His sentence was reduced by appeal and he served five terms. After his release, the author of his autobiography wrote it. This was my experience It’s a mistakeIn which he made his revelations When he was eleven years old, he was molested at his home by a member of his family’s clergy. He had no idea what his sexuality was. He married in 1998. Lori Beth GrahamThey have five children and he preside over Morningside Ministry in Blue Eye, Mo.