Televangelist Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church, a megachurch in Houston, Texas

Televangelism is television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine.^[1] “Televangelists” are Christian ministers who devote a large portion of their ministry to television broadcasting. The term is also used derisively by critics as an insinuation of aggrandizement by such ministers.

Origins[link]

Televangelism began as a peculiarly American phenomenon, resulting from a largely deregulated media where access to television networks and cable TV is open to virtually anyone who can afford it, combined with a large Christian population that is able to provide the necessary funding. However, the increasing globalisation of broadcasting has enabled some American televangelists to reach a wider audience through international broadcast networks, including some that are specifically Christian in nature, such as Trinity Broadcasting Network and The God Channel. Domestically produced televangelism is increasingly present in some other nations such as Brazil. Some countries have a more regulated media with either general restrictions on access or specific rules regarding religious broadcasting. In such countries, religious programming is typically produced by TV companies (sometimes as a regulatory or public service requirement) rather than private interest groups. Some televangelists are also regular pastors or ministers in their own places of worship (often a megachurch), but the majority of their followers come from their TV and radio audiences. Others do not have a conventional congregation as such and solely work through television.

History[link]

Christianity has always emphasised preaching the gospel to the whole world. Historically, this was achieved by sending missionaries and the distribution of bibles and literature. Some Christians realised that the rapid uptake of radio beginning in the 1920s provided a powerful new tool for this task, and they were amongst the first producers of radio programming. Radio broadcasts were seen as a complementary activity to traditional missionaries, enabling vast numbers to be reached at relatively low cost, but also enabling Christianity to be preached in countries where this was illegal and missionaries were banned. The aim of Christian radio was to both convert people to Christianity and to provide teaching and support to believers. These activities continue today, particularly in the developing world. Shortwave radio stations with a Christian format broadcast worldwide, such as HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, Family Radio's WYFR, and the Bible Broadcasting Network (BBN), among others.

In the U.S., the Great Depression of the 1930s saw a resurgence of revival-tent preaching in the Midwest and South, as itinerant traveling preachers drove from town to town, living off donations. Several preachers began radio shows as a result of their popularity. One of the first ministers to use radio extensively was S. Parkes Cadman, beginning in 1923.^[2][3] By 1928, Cadman had a weekly Sunday afternoon radio broadcast on the NBC radio network, his powerful oratory reaching a nationwide audience of five million persons.^[4]

Aimee Semple McPherson was another pioneering tent-revivalist who soon turned to radio to reach a larger audience. Radio eventually gave her nationwide notoriety in the 1920's and 1930's and she even built one of the earliest megachurches.

In the 1930s, a famous radio evangelist of the period was Roman Catholic priest Father Charles Coughlin, whose strongly anti-Communist and anti-Semitic radio programs reached millions of listeners. Other early Christian radio programs broadcast nationwide in the U.S. beginning in the 1920s–1930s include (years of radio broadcast shown): Bob Jones, Sr. (1927–1962), Ralph W. Sockman (1928–1962), G. E. Lowman (1930–1965), The Lutheran Hour (1930–present), and Charles E. Fuller (1937–1968).^[5][6] Time magazine reported in 1946 that Rev. Ralph Sockman's National Radio Pulpit on NBC received 4,000 letters weekly and Roman Catholic archbishop Fulton J. Sheen received between 3,000–6,000 letters weekly. The total radio audience for radio ministers in the U.S. that year was estimated to be 10 million listeners.^[7]

Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California

Although television also began in the 1930s, it did not become widespread until after World War II. Jack Wyrtzen and Percy Crawford switched to TV broadcasting in the Spring of 1949. Another television preacher of note was Fulton J. Sheen, who successfully switched to television in 1951 after two decades of popular radio broadcasts and whom Time called "the first 'televangelist'".^[8] Sheen would win numerous Emmy Awards for his program that ran from the early 1950s, until the late 1960s.

After years of radio broadcasting in 1952 Rex Humbard became the first to have a weekly church service broadcast on television. By 1980 the Rex Humbard programs spanned the globe across 695 stations in 91 languages and to date the largest coverage of any evangelistic program. Oral Roberts's broadcast by 1957 reached 80% of the possible television audience through 135 of the possible 500 stations.^[9] The 1960s and early 1970s saw television replace radio as the primary home entertainment medium, but also corresponded with a further rise in evangelical Protestant Christianity, particularly through the international television and radio ministry of Billy Graham. Many well-known televangelists began during this period, most notably Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jerry Fallwell, and Pat Robertson. Most developed their own media networks, news exposure, and political influence. In the 21st century, the televised church services of Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, and Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, continue to attract large audiences.

Pastor Sam teaching

Controversies and criticism[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (November 2010)

Televangelists frequently draw criticism from other Christian ministers. For example, well-known preacher John MacArthur published a number of articles in December 2009 that were highly critical of televangelists.

Someone needs to say this plainly: The faith healers and health-and-wealth preachers who dominate religious television are shameless frauds. Their message is not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing spiritual or miraculous about their on-stage chicanery. It is all a devious ruse designed to take advantage of desperate people. They are not Godly ministers but greedy impostors who corrupt the Word of God for money's sake. They are not real pastors who shepherd the flock of God but hirelings whose only design is to fleece the sheep. Their love of money is glaringly obvious in what they say as well as how they live. They claim to possess great spiritual power, but in reality they are rank materialists and enemies of everything holy.

—John MacArthur, online article at http://www.gty.org/Blog/B091207

A proportion of their methods and theology are held by some to be conflicting with Christian doctrine taught in long existing traditionalist congregations. Many televangelists are featured by "discernment ministries" run by other Christians that are concerned about what they perceive as departures from sound Christian doctrine.

• Many televangelists exist outside the structures of Christian denominations, meaning that they are not accountable to anyone.

• The financial practices of televangelists are frequently unclear. A 2003 survey by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch indicated that only one out of the 17 televangelists researched were members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.^[10]

• The prosperity gospel taught by many televangelists promises material, financial, physical, and spiritual success to believers.

• Some televangelists have significant personal wealth and own large properties, luxury cars, and various transportation vehicles such as private aircraft or ministry aircraft. This is seen by critics to be contradictory to traditional Christian thinking.^[11]

• Televangelism requires substantial amounts of money to produce programs and purchase airtime on cable and satellite networks. Televangelists devote time to fundraising activities. Products such as books, CDs, DVDs, and trinkets are promoted to viewers.

• Televangelists claim to be reaching millions of people worldwide with the gospel and producing numerous converts to Christianity. However, such claims are difficult to verify independently and are often disputed.^[12]

• Several televangelists are very active in the national or international political arena (e.g., Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, John Hagee), and often espouse conservative politics on their programs. Such televangelists may occasionally arouse controversy by making remarks deemed offensive on their programs or elsewhere, or by endorsing partisan political candidates on donor-paid airtime, at which point some have been threatened that they may have their tax-exempt status taken away if they reside in the United States.

Televangelists often strongly dispute these criticisms and say they are doing God's work. They cite declining attendance at traditional church services and the growth of global mass media as factors necessitating the use of television to 'fulfill the "Great Commission" of the Gospel of Jesus to the generation of the 21st Century.'

See also[link]

• List of American televangelists
• National Religious Broadcasters
• List of Christian evangelist scandals
• List of televangelists in Brazil
• Category:Television evangelists
• Jesus He Knows Me
• Prosperity Gospel
• Holy God TV

References[link]

v t e History of Christianity Centuries:1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st Eras: Early Roman Medieval Modern Jesus & Apostolic Age Background Ministry Good News Crucifixion & Resurrection Holy Spirit Gospels Acts The 12 Paul Acts 15 Ante-Nicene Period Judaism split Justin Martyr Ignatius Persecution Fathers Irenaeus Marcionism Canon Tertullian Montanism Origen Christian Empire Constantine the Great Monasticism Councils: Nicaea I Creed Athanasius Arianism Jerome Augustine Councils II III IV Eastern Christianity Orthodoxy Greece Church of the East Oriental Orthodoxy Coptic Nestorianism Syria Armenia Ethiopia Chrysostom Iconoclasm Bulgaria Great Schism Fall Ottoman Russia America 20th century Middle Ages Pelagianism Gregory I Celtic Germanic Scandinavian Kievan Rus' Investiture Anselm Abelard Bernard of Clairvaux Crusades Inquisition Scholasticism Dominic Francis Bonaventure Aquinas Wycliffe Avignon Papal Schism Hus Conciliarism Protestant Reformation Protestantism Erasmus Five solas Eucharist Calvinist v. Arminian Arminianism Dort Wars Lutheranism Martin Luther 95 Theses Diet of Worms Melanchthon Orthodoxy Eucharist Book of Concord Reformed Zwingli Calvin Calvinism history Scotland Knox TULIP Dort Westminster Anglicanism Timeline Henry VIII Cranmer Settlement 39 Articles Common Prayer Puritans Civil War Anabaptism Radical Reformation Grebel Swiss Brethren Müntzer Martyrs' Synod Menno Simons Smyth Catholicism Primacy development Papacy Timeline Lateran IV Trent Counter-Reformation Thomas More Leo X Guadalupe Jesuits Jansenists Xavier Monastery dissolution Wars Teresa Vatican I & II Modernism Modern Christianity and Revivalism English denominations Baptists Congregationalism Great Awakening Methodism Millerism Pietism Neo- & Old Lutherans Restoration Movement Jehovah's Witnesses Mormonism Seventh-day Adventism Industrial Age Camp meeting Holiness movement Independent Catholic Churches Second Great Awakening Third Great Awakening After World War I Azusa Revival Ecumenism Evangelicalism Jesus movement Mainline Protestant Pentecostalism Charismatics Liberation Theology Christian Right Timeline Missions Timeline Martyrs Theology Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy Protestantism Catholicism

Robert Gibson Tilton (born June 7, 1946, in Dallas, Texas) is an American televangelist who achieved notoriety in the 1980s and early 1990s through his infomercial-styled religious television program Success-N-Life, which at its peak in 1991 aired in all 235 American TV markets (daily in the majority of them), brought in nearly $80 million per year, and was described as "the fastest growing television ministry in America."^[1][2] However, within two years after ABC's Primetime Live aired an expose into Tilton's fundraising practices, which started a series of investigations into the ministry, Tilton's program was no longer being broadcast.

Tilton later returned to television via his new version of Success-N-Life airing on BET and The Word Network.

Biography and the early years[link]

According to Tilton's autobiographical materials, he had a conversion experience to Christianity in 1969^[3] and began his ministry in 1974, taking his new family (including wife Martha "Marte" Phillips, whom he married in 1968) on the road to, in his words, "preach this gospel of Jesus."^[1] Tilton preached to small congregations and revivals throughout Texas and Oklahoma.^[4] Tilton and his family settled in Dallas, Texas, and built a small church in Farmers Branch, Texas, called the "Word Of Faith Family Church" in 1976.^[4] The church also started a local television program then known as Daystar (not related to the Daystar Television Network, though both were started in the Dallas area).

The church was growing steadily, but Daystar failed to expand beyond the Dallas area until Tilton went to Hawaii—his self-described version of Jesus's forty days in the wilderness^[5]—and spent time fishing, drinking, and watching an increasingly popular new form of television programming: the late-night infomercial.

Tilton was particularly influenced by Dave Del Dotto, a real estate promoter who produced hour-long infomercials showing his glamorous life in Hawaii (which he constantly stressed anyone could achieve just by following the principles set up in his many "get rich quick" books) as well as "interviews" with students who were brought out to his Hawaiian villa for said interviews, specifically for their on-camera testimonials about the success in life they were now enjoying thanks to his teachings.^[5] Upon his return from Hawaii in 1981, Tilton, with the help of a US$1.3M loan from Dallas banker Herman Beebe,^[1] revamped Daystar into an hour-long "religious infomercial" with the title Success-N-Life.^[5]

[edit] Success-N-Life

In Success-N-Life, Tilton regularly taught that all of life's trials, especially poverty, were a result of sin. Tilton's ministry consisted mainly of impressing upon his viewers the importance of making "vows"—financial commitments to Tilton's ministry. His preferred vow, stressed frequently on his broadcasts, was $1,000.^[6] Occasionally, Tilton would claim to have received a word of knowledge for someone to give a vow of $5,000 or even $10,000. When a person made a vow to Tilton, he preached that God would recognize the vow and reward the donor with vast material riches.^[7] The show also ran "testimonials" of viewers who gave to Tilton's ministry and reportedly received miracles in return, a practice that would be used as the basis for a later lawsuit from donors charging Tilton's ministry with fraud.^[8] A Dallas Morning News story published in 1992 observed that Tilton spent more than 84% of his show's airtime for fundraising and promotions, a total higher than the 22% for an average commercial television show;^[9] other sources put the total fundraising time during episodes of Success-N-Life closer to 68%.^[7] Some of Tilton's fundraising letters were written by Gene Ewing, who heads a multimillion-dollar marketing empire writing donation letters for other televangelists like W.V. Grant and Don Stewart.^[10]

As a result of Tilton's television success, the membership of the Word of Faith Family Church (renamed "Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center") grew to become an 8,000-member megachurch.^[4]

Tilton is the author of several self-help books about financial success, including The Power to Create Wealth, God's Laws of Success, How to Pay Your Bills Supernaturally, and How to be Rich and Have Everything You Ever Wanted. Most of Tilton's books were published in the 1980s and distributed via promotion on Success-N-Life and through the many mailings Tilton's ministry sent his followers. The books were republished in the late 1990s to be used as centerpieces of his 1997 infomercial series and are now promoted on his current (as of 2010^[update]) daily live internet broadcast.^[11]

Exploitation of vulnerable people[link]

In 1991, Diane Sawyer and ABC News conducted an investigation of Tilton (as well as two other Dallas-area televangelists, W.V. Grant and Larry Lea). The investigation, assisted by Trinity Foundation president Ole Anthony and broadcast on ABC's Primetime Live on November 21, 1991, alleged that Tilton's ministry threw away prayer requests without reading them, keeping only the accompanying money or valuables sent to the ministry by viewers, garnering his ministry an estimated US$80 million a year. Ole Anthony, a Dallas-based minister whose Trinity Foundation church works with the homeless and the poor on the east side of Dallas, took an interest in Tilton's ministry after some of the people coming to the Trinity Foundation for help told him they had lost all of their money making donations to some of the higher profile televangelists, especially fellow Dallas-area minister Robert Tilton. Curious about the pervasiveness of the problem, the Trinity Foundation got on the mailing lists of several televangelists, including Tilton, and started keeping records of the many types of solicitations they received almost daily from various ministries.

Former Coca-Cola executive Harry Guetzlaff came to the Trinity Foundation for help and told Anthony that Guetzlaff had been turned away from Tilton's church when he found himself on hard times following a divorce. He had been a longtime high-dollar donor and gave up his last $5,000 as a "vow of faith" just weeks earlier. Guetzlaff's experience, combined with the sheer magnitude of mailings from Tilton's ministry, spurred Anthony, a former intelligence officer in the United States Air Force and licensed private investigator, to start a full investigation of Tilton's ministry. Guetzlaff joined Anthony in the task of gathering details on Tilton's operation and later did much of the legwork in finding and following the paper trail for the ABC news investigation.^[12]

Undercover investigation[link]

ABC producers, who had begun their own investigation into a number of televangelists in early 1991, contacted the Trinity Foundation for information on Tilton. After comparing their accumulated notes, data and details, the two groups decided to pool their efforts and began planning the undercover portion of the story. Anthony agreed to portray himself, a Dallas-based minister with a small church looking into the ways televangelist ministries could grow so quickly, and ABC producers would pose as Anthony's "media consultants." The team, armed with hidden cameras and microphones, arrived for a meeting at Response Media, the Tulsa-based marketing firm handling Tilton's mass mailings, to discuss a proposal sent by Anthony to Response Media about fundraising for a religious-based TV talk show. The director of Response Media, Jim Moore, described for Anthony and the hidden cameras (concealed in the undercover Primetime Live producers' glasses and handbags) many techniques used by Tilton to raise funds for his ministry. Moore also said that Tilton was doing "far better than anyone knows" and described the main strategy Tilton employed for such a high return rate on his mailings—that is, send the recipient a "gimmick" that compelled the recipient to mail something back in return, and most recipients would include some money along with it. Moore declined to disclose how much Response Media was paid for its services or how much money the mailings were generating for the Tilton ministry.

However, as part of his sales pitch to Anthony, Moore disclosed that the response letters generated by the fundraising mailings Response Media sends out for its clients were never delivered to the client; instead, they were sent unopened to the client's financial institution or other institutions of choice. "You never have to touch it," Moore added in response to a clarification question from Ole Anthony about dealing with the gimmick objects sent to the potential donors in the mailers. One ABC producers asked whether this was a standard practice—"So the mail goes straight to the bank?"—and Moore asserted that it was: "The mail goes to the bank, and they put the money in your account. We just get the paper with the person's name and how much they gave."

The Apple of God's Eye[link]

Trinity Foundation members, acting on this information, started digging through dumpsters outside Tilton's many banks in the Tulsa area as well as dumpsters outside the office of Tilton's lawyer, J.C. Joyce (also based in Tulsa). Over the next 30 days, Trinity's "garbologists", as Anthony dubbed them,^[12] found tens of thousands of discarded prayer requests, bank statements, computer printouts containing the coding for how Tilton's "personalized" letters were generated, and more, all of which were shown in detail on the Primetime Live documentary, now titled "The Apple of God's Eye".^[1] In a followup broadcast on November 28, 1991, Primetime Live host Diane Sawyer said that the Trinity Foundation and Primetime Live assistants found prayer requests in bank dumpsters on 14 separate occasions in a 30-day period.^[13]

Denial[link]

Tilton vehemently denied the allegations and took to the airwaves on November 22, 1991, on a special episode of Success-N-Life entitled "Primetime Lies" to air his side of the story. Tilton asserted that the prayer requests found in garbage bags shown on the Primetime Live investigation were stolen from the ministry and placed in the dumpster for a sensational camera shot, and that he prayed over every prayer request received, to the point that he "laid on top of those prayer requests so much that 'the chemicals actually got into my bloodstream, and... I had two small strokes in my brain."^[13] Tilton remained defiant on claims regarding his use of donations to his ministry to fund various purchases, asking, "Ain't I allowed to have nothing?" with regards to his ownership of multiple multimillion-dollar estates. Tilton also claimed that he needed plastic surgery to repair capillary damage to his lower eyelids from ink that seeped into his skin from the prayer requests.^[14]

Further revelations[link]

After Trinity Foundation members spent weeks poring over the details of the documents they and ABC had uncovered, sorting and scrutinizing each prayer request, bank statement, and computer printout dealing with the codes Tilton's banks and legal staff used when categorizing the returned items, Ole Anthony called a press conference in December 1991 to present what he described as Tilton's "Wheel of Fortune," using a large display covered in actual prayer requests, copies of receipts for document disposition, and other damaging information that demonstrated what happened to money and prayer requests that the average viewer of Tilton's television program sent him.^[15] When both Tilton and his lawyer J.C. Joyce reacted to the news by claiming that the items Anthony was displaying had somehow been stolen by "an insider," Anthony responded in a subsequent interview that "Joyce was our mole—a lot of this stuff came from the dumpster outside his office."^[15]

Primetime Live's original investigation and subsequent updates included interviews with several former Tilton employees and acquaintances. In the original investigation, one of Tilton's former prayer hotline operators claimed that the ministry cared little for desperate followers who called for prayer, saying that Tilton had a computer installed in July 1989 to make sure the phone operators were off the line by seven minutes. The former employee also revealed that very specific instructions were given to them in terms of how to talk with callers and that they were told to always ask for a $100 "vow" at a minimum. Also in the original report, a former friend of Tilton's from college (who remained anonymous and was shown in silhouette) claimed that both he and Tilton would attend tent revival meetings as a "sport" and would claim to be anointed and healed at the meetings. He added that the two had often discussed the notion that after graduation they would set up their own roving revival ministry "and drive around the country and get rich." In a July 1992 update to the investigation, Primetime Live interviewed Tilton's former maid, who claimed that prayer requests that were sent to Tilton's house by the ministry were routinely ignored until he told her to move them out of the house and into the garage; according to the maid, "they stacked up and stacked up" in Tilton's garage until he had them thrown away. In the same interview, Tilton's former secretary came forward and claimed that Tilton lifted excerpts from "get rich quick" books and used them in his sermons, and that she never saw him perform normal pastoral duties such as visiting with the sick and praying with members.^[13]

Government involvement[link]

Despite Tilton's repeated denials of misconduct, the State of Texas and the federal government became involved in subsequent investigations, finding more causes for concern about Tilton's financial status with each new revelation. After nearly 10,000 pounds of prayer requests and letters to the Tilton ministry were found in a disposal bin at a Tulsa area recycling firm in February 1992, along with itemized receipts of their delivery from Tilton's main mail-handling service in Tulsa rather than from the church offices in Farmers Branch, Tilton admitted in a deposition given to the Texas Attorney General's office that he often prayed over computerized lists of prayer requests instead of the actual prayer requests themselves, and that prayer requests were in fact routinely thrown away after categorization.^[15]

As each revelation became increasingly more damaging, viewership and donations declined dramatically. When Tilton announced the cancellation of Success-N-Life in 1993, viewership had fallen 85% and monthly donations went from $8 million to $2 million. The last episode aired nationally on October 30, 1993.^[16]

Failed libel action[link]

In 1992, Tilton sued ABC for libel because of its investigation and report, but the case was dismissed in 1993. Federal Judge Thomas Brett, in his July 16, 1993 dismissal of the case, stated that information in the Trinity Foundation's logs on prayer requests reportedly found in dumpsters on September 11, 1991, "could not have been found then because the postmark date was after September 11, 1991", but also noted that Ole Anthony had recanted the erroneous entries in a subsequent affidavit.^[17] Tilton appealed the decision in 1993; although the findings of the original court were upheld in 1995, Federal Judge Michael Burrage's opinion criticized ABC and the Primetime Live producers for their editing of the story and noted that ABC had been warned by their own religion editor, Peggy Wehmeyer (who knew Ole Anthony from her work as a religion reporter at WFAA in Dallas, Texas), that "Mr. Anthony could not be trusted and was obsessed with his crusade against [Tilton]."^[17] Tilton once more appealed the decision, this time to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996, but the court refused to hear the case.^[18]

Tilton sued for fraud[link]

Several donors to Tilton's television ministry sued Tilton in 1992-93, charging various forms of fraud. One plaintiff, Vivian Elliott, won $1.5 million in 1994 when it was discovered that a family crisis center for which she had made a donation (and recorded an endorsement testimonial) was never built or even intended to be built.^[8] The judgment was later reversed on appeal.^[19]

As part of the defense strategy to the fraud cases, Tilton sued Ole Anthony, Harry Guetzlaff and four plaintiff's lawyers who had filed the fraud cases against him in federal court in Tulsa. The tactic is known to critics as a "SLAPP" (strategic litigation against public participation) suit. Tilton claimed that the individuals conspired to violate his First Amendment rights under a post-Civil War federal statute designed to protect blacks from the Ku Klux Klan. (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1985.) Defense attorneys Martin Merritt of Dallas and ACLU lawyer Michael Linz, also of Dallas, with others successfully won dismissal for the six defendants in federal district court. On appeal, in Tilton v. Richardson, 6 F.3d 683 (10th Cir.1993), the 10th Court of appeals affirmed the dismissal on the grounds that 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1985 did not protect a nonminority individual against a purely private conspiracy, if one existed. The fraud cases continued until the Texas Supreme Court eventually ruled that the plaintiffs could not prove damages because they could not show that, if Tilton had actually prayed over the prayer requests, the prayers would have been answered.

The decline of Success-N-Life also led to the end of Tilton's 25-year marriage to wife Marte, who had been administrative head of the Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center, in 1993. Dallas lawyer Gary Richardson, who represented many of the parties suing Tilton for fraud, attempted to intervene in the Tiltons' divorce, citing the potential for the divorce settlement to be used to hide financial assets that were currently part of the many fraud cases; Richardson's petition to have the divorce action put on hold until after the fraud cases were settled was denied.^[15] Marte intervened in Tilton's second divorce from Leigh Valentine, who had asked the court to include the church and all its property as community property in the proceedings. Under Texas law, property accumulated during a marriage is considered community property and thus subject to division between the parties in a divorce. The jury eventually ruled against the request. ^[20]

Transitional ministry[link]

Tilton returned to television in 1994 with a new show called Pastor Tilton, a show with an emphasis on "demon blasting" exorcism practices usually involving Tilton shouting as loudly as possible at demons supposedly possessing people suffering from pain and illness. However, this program was far less successful than its predecessor, and was cancelled by the end of the year.

[edit] Reviving Success 'N' Life

After moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1996, Tilton returned to the airwaves in 1997 with a new version of Success-N-Life, buying airtime on independent television stations primarily serving inner-city areas. The new version of Success-N-Life returned to Tilton's previous message of asking for "vows of faith" from viewers instead of exorcisms. In 1998, the program began airing on Black Entertainment Television (BET) as part of the two-hour late night umbrella rotation block of religious programming entitled BET Inspiration. In 2008, Success-N-Life usually occupied the first hour of the programming block and also ran on The Word Network.^[21] Most of the episodes of Success-N-Life shown on BET Inspiration were taped in the late 1990s—with testimonials from 1980s-era episodes interspersed throughout the episodes^[7]—but Tilton also recorded infomercials for his books at least once a year from 2003 to 2007, often appearing with his third wife, Maria Rodriguez, and their four French poodles. These infomercials also appeared under the title of Success-N-Life on BET Inspiration.^[22]

The Word of Faith Family Church and World Outreach Center was finally formally dissolved by Tilton in 1996. Though Tilton was still listed as the church's senior pastor, he had not preached at the church since March 16, 1996, when he named Chattanooga, Tennessee, minister Bob Wright as senior associate pastor,^[7] and its membership had declined to less than 300.^[15] The church building was purchased by the city of Farmers Branch in 1999 for use as a future civic center; however, the economy suffered a downturn and the plans were scrapped, and the building was finally demolished in 2003 to make room for a new youth hockey center.

In March 2005, Tilton started a new church in Hallandale, Florida, not far from his home in Miami Beach. The church had already existed for some time under the pastorship of former televangelist David Epley. Tilton's new church, now called "Christ the Good Shepherd Worldwide Church," had approximately 200 members in 2007. On Sunday, May 13, 2007, the church moved into a new location in Miami and was officially renamed "Word of Faith Church," much like his original church in Dallas. Tilton also established a church in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2005, also originally named Christ the Good Shepherd Worldwide Church. It has also been officially renamed "Word of Faith Church." The Las Vegas church's resident pastor is Natalie Vafai and holds its services at the Henderson Convention Center.

Current ministry[link]

When Tilton returned to television in 1997, he established his ministry's headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his lawyer J.C. Joyce's offices were located, and set up a post office box as its mailing address. A woman employed by Mail Services, Inc., a Tulsa-area clearinghouse that handled mail sent to Tilton's ministry, said that when she worked for Mail Services, Inc. in 2001, prayer requests were still routinely thrown away after donations and pledges were removed.^[19] However, Tilton dropped the Tulsa address in late 2007 and now uses a Miami Post Office box to receive responses to his fundraising mailings.

In 1998, the Washington Post reported that Tilton's following disappeared after the investigations but he had "joined dozens of other preachers to become fixtures on BET."^[23] Consequently, Tilton, along with Don Stewart and Peter Popoff received "criticism from those who say that preachers with a long trail of disillusioned followers have no place on a network that holds itself out as a model of entrepreneurship for the black community."^[23]

Steve Lumbley, who worked for Tilton's ministry in 1991 when the original Primetime Live investigation took place, told a reporter for the Dallas Observer in 2006 that reports of prayer request disposal that were the centerpiece of the 1991 Primetime Live exposé were highly exaggerated. In an article for the dallasobserver.com blog "Unfair Park," Lumbley asserted that "[t]he mailings all had some kind of gimmick. They weren't godly at all. But the primary allegation that came out of that—that prayer requests were thrown away—was categorically untrue, and I can guarantee you that was not a normal practice." However, Lumbley, who now runs a Christian watchdog website called ApostasyWatch.com, does credit ABC and the Trinity Foundation for exposing Tilton's unethical fundraising tactics, noting that "God was using Ole and ABC to chastise Tilton and bring him down."^[17]

The Trinity Foundation still monitors Tilton's television ministry as part of Trinity's ongoing televangelist watchdog efforts. In a 2003 interview published in Tulsa World, Ole Anthony estimated that with none of the Word of Faith Family Church overhead and with television production costs at a fraction of the original Success-N-Life program, Tilton's current organization was likely grossing more than US$24M per year tax-free.^[19]

Satire[link]

In 1985, two men began distributing a video they compiled lampooning Tilton and his ostensible conversations with God. The video exploits Tilton's facial expressions and preaching style. Entitled Pastor Gas, the video featured a medley of footage from Success-N-Life overdubbed with well-timed sound effects of flatulence. Unofficial VHS copies of the video circulated in the United States through the late 1980s under such titles as Heaven Only Knows, The Joyful Noise, and The Farting Preacher. After the hosts of The Mark & Brian Show, a radio program in Los Angeles, mentioned the video on the air, the video's authors saw the market potential and began selling official copies of their creation. Similar videos have since been made in more recent times using more recent footage of Tilton and are distributed throughout the internet, all under the Farting Preacher name. The video distribution (including digital bootlegs distributed online) expanded public awareness of Robert Tilton and his controversial television ministry.^[15]

The stand-up comedy material of Ron White also includes mention of Robert Tilton. In the opening to White's act in the first Blue Collar Comedy Tour movie, Ron claims that "while sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetos," he finds Tilton on TV and believes Tilton is talking specifically to him: "Are you lonely?" "Yeah." "Have you wasted half your life in bars pursuing sins of the flesh?" "This guy's good..." "Are you sitting in a beanbag chair naked eating Cheetos?" Ron gapes in horror before squeaking, "...Yes sir!" "Do you feel the urge to get up and send me a thousand dollars?" (pause for effect) "Close! I thought he was talking about me there for a second. Apparently, I ain't the only cat on the block (who) digs Cheetos!"^[15]

In the early 2000s, the Trinity Foundation put together a number of news broadcasts, including the initial Primetime Live piece, from the years surrounding the investigations into Tilton's ministry on a DVD entitled The Prophet of Prosperity: Robert Tilton and the Gospel of Greed. The DVD also includes segments from The Daily Show's "God Stuff" (hosted by Trinity Foundation member John Bloom, a.k.a. Joe Bob Briggs), excerpts from the Pastor Gas videos, and a number of mocking music videos, as well as moments from Success-N-Life showing Tilton's more outrageous claims of "visions from God."^[15]

A comedian on BET's ComicView once made fun of Success-N-Life, mainly because BET usually aired it immediately following their explicit music video show Uncut.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, several Youtube users created videos of him supposedly "farting". The Youtube users added farting sound effects to several clips of his show Success-N-Life to bitterly satire him. The original video was called "Farting Preacher- Spiritual Gas", but then many other Youtube users began making their own "farting preacher" videos. These videos have now become a popular internet meme.

See also[link]

• Christian evangelist scandals
• Prosperity gospel

Bibliography[link]

• How to Be Rich & Have Everything You Ever Wanted
• How to Pay Your Bills Supernaturally
• Strike It Rich
• How To Receive & Keep Your Healing
• God's Miracle Plan For Man
• Oh Lord I Pray, Send Now Prosperity
• Fear No Evil
• How to Kick The Devil Out Of Your Life
• God's Million-Heirs

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Robert Tilton's official ministry website
• CRI Journal Article, includes section on Robert Tilton
• Success-N-Life Episode Guide
• Tilton wins a victory in divorce court

Articles[link]

• Rowe, Sean. "Second Coming" - Dallas Observer, November 6, 1997
• Rowe, Sean. "The Resurrection of Robert Tilton." Miami New Times January 1, 1998.
• Branstetter, Ziva. "Robert Tilton: From downfall to windfall: Living on a prayer." Tulsa World May 4, 2003.
• Bender, Stephen. "Oh God, you devil." Salon.com November 21, 2000.

Benny Hinn
Born	Toufik Benedictus Hinn (1952-12-03) December 3, 1952 (age 59) Jaffa, Israel[1]
Occupation	Televangelist Author Speaker
Spouse	Suzanne Harthern (m. 4 August 1979, Divorced)
Children	three daughters, one son

Toufik Benedictus "Benny" Hinn (Greek: Τουφικ Βενέδικτος "βενι" Χιν, Arabic: توفيق بندكتوس "بني" الحن‎, Hebrew: תאופיק בנדיקטוס (בני) הין; born December 3, 1952) is a televangelist, best known for his regular "Miracle Crusades" – revival meeting/faith healing summits that are usually held in large stadiums in major cities, which are later broadcast worldwide on his television program, This Is Your Day.^[2]

History[link]

Hinn was born in Jaffa, in 1952, in the then newly-established state of Israel^[3] to Palestinian Christian parents. He was raised within the Eastern Orthodox tradition.^[4]

Soon after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War (a.k.a. "The Six-Day War)", Hinn's family emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he attended but later prematurely left the Georges Vanier Secondary School. In his books, Hinn states that his father was the mayor of Jaffa at the time of his birth, and that as a child, he was socially isolated and was handicapped by a severe stutter, but was nonetheless a first-class student.^[5] These claims, however, have been disputed by critics of Hinn.^[6] As a teenager in Toronto, Hinn converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Pentecostalism, eventually joining a singing troupe made up of young evangelicals. According to a 2004 CBC report on Hinn, his newfound religious devotion during this period became so intense that his family became concerned that he was turning into a religious fanatic. Hinn was taught the bible and mentored by Dr. Winston I. Nunes of Broadview Faith Temple in Toronto.^[7]

He has written that on December 21, 1973, he traveled by charter bus from Toronto to Pittsburgh to attend a "miracle service" conducted by evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. Although he never met her personally, he often attended her “healing services” and has often cited her as an influence in his life.^[5]

Upon moving to the United States, Hinn traveled to Orlando, Florida, where he founded the Orlando Christian Center in 1983. Eventually, Hinn began claiming that God was using him as a conduit for healings, and began holding healing services in his church. These new "Miracle Crusades" were soon held at large stadiums and auditoriums across the United States and the world, the first nationally televised service being held in Flint, Michigan, in 1989. During the early 1990s, Hinn launched a new daily talk show called This Is Your Day, which to this day airs clips of supposed miracles from Hinn's Miracle Crusades. The program premiered on the Trinity Broadcasting Network of Paul Crouch, who would become one of Hinn's most outspoken defenders and allies. Hinn's ministry began to rapidly grow from there, winning praise as well as criticism from fellow Christian leaders. In 1999, he stepped down as pastor of the Orlando Christian Center, moving his ministry's administrative headquarters to Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, while hosting This Is Your Day from a television studio in Orange County, California, where he now lives with his family. His former church was renamed Faith World Church under the leadership of Clint Brown, who merged his Orlando church with Hinn's.

Ministry and theology[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Benny Hinn

Benny Hinn is a well-known Christian evangelist and Bible teacher who practices faith healing. He is the author of a number of best-selling inspirational Christian books. His thirty-minute TV program This Is Your Day is among the world’s most-watched Christian programs, seen on various Christian television networks, including Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar Television Network, Revelation TV, Grace TV, Vision TV, INSP Networks, and The God Channel.

Hinn conducts regular "Miracle Crusades" – revival meeting/faith healing events held in sports stadiums in major cities throughout the world. Tens of millions attend his Holy Spirit Miracle Crusades each year.^{[citation needed]} Benny Hinn claims to have spoken to one billion people through his crusades, including memorable crusades with attendance of 7.3 million people (in three services) in India, the largest healing service in recorded history.^[8][9][10] Notable individuals have credited their healing to Benny Hinn, such as Evander Holyfield, who was diagnosed with a non-compliant left ventricle, and stated that through God working through Hinn, he was healed as he had "a warm feeling" go through his chest as Hinn touched him.^[11][12]

Hinn's teachings are Evangelical and charismatic, accepting the validity of spiritual gifts, and Word of Faith in origin, with a focus on financial prosperity. Some doctrine and practices that Hinn teaches would be thought unusual in mainstream Christianity.^[13] The charismatic Christian community (who, according to a recent study by The Barna Group, make up 46% of United States Protestants and 36% of United States Catholics),^[14] is very diverse, and Hinn's ideas would only be accepted in some constituencies.^{[citation needed]}

Missions[link]

Benny Hinn Ministries claims to support 60 mission organizations across the world and several orphanages around the world, and claims to house and feed over 100,000 children a year and support 45,000 children daily because of his donors. ^[15][16]

Benny Hinn Ministries donated $100,000 for Relief Supplies to Hurricane Katrina Victims in 2007, and $250,000 to Tsunami Relief Effort in 2005.^[17]

Criticism and controversy[link]

A controversial aspect of Hinn's ministry is his teaching on, and demonstration of, a phenomenon he dubs "The Anointing"—the power purportedly given by God and transmitted through Hinn to carry out supernatural acts. At Hinn's Miracle Crusades, he has allegedly healed attendees of blindness, deafness, cancer, AIDS,^[18] and severe physical injuries. However, investigative reports by the Los Angeles Times, NBC's Dateline, the CBC's The Fifth Estate, and the Nine Network's 60 Minutes have called these claims into question.

Hinn has also caused controversy for theological remarks and claims he has made during TV appearances. In 1999, Hinn appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, claiming that God had given him a vision predicting the resurrection of thousands of dead people after watching the network—laying out a scenario of people placing their dead loved ones' hands on TV screens tuned into the station—and suggesting that TBN would be "an extension of Heaven to Earth".

False Prophecies[link]

Hinn is notable for his mistaken prophecies relating to the end times, including the destruction of homosexuals in the USA, the death of Fidel Castro in the 1990s, and the end of the world in 1992 and 1999.^[19]

[edit] A Question of Miracles

In April 2001, HBO aired a documentary entitled A Question of Miracles that focused on Hinn and a well-documented fellow Word-of-Faith German minister based in Africa, Reinhard Bonnke.^[20] Both Hinn and Bonnke offered full access to their events to the documentary crew, and the documentary team followed seven cases of "miracle healings" from Hinn's crusade over the next year. The film's director, Antony Thomas, claimed to CNN's Kyra Phillips that they did not find any cases where people were actually healed by Hinn.^[21] Thomas said in a New York Times interview that "If I had seen miracles [from Hinn's ministry], I would have been happy to trumpet it...but in retrospect, I think they do more damage to Christianity than the most committed atheist."^[22]

"Do You Believe in Miracles"[link]

In November 2004, the CBC Television show The Fifth Estate did a special titled "Do You Believe in Miracles" on the apparent transgressions committed by Benny Hinn's ministry.^[3] With the aid of hidden cameras and crusade witnesses, the producers of the show demonstrated Benny's apparent misappropriation of funds, his fabrication of the truth, and the way in which his staff chose crusade audience members to come on stage to proclaim their miracle healings.^[3] In particular, the investigation highlighted the fact that the most desperate miracle seekers who attend a Hinn crusade—the quadriplegics, the brain-damaged, virtually anyone with a visibly obvious physical condition—are never allowed up on stage; those who attempt to get in the line of possible healings are intercepted and directed to return to their seats. At one Canadian service, hidden cameras showed a mother who was carrying her Muscular Dystrophy-afflicted daughter, Grace, being stopped by two screeners when they attempted to get into the line for a possible blessing from Benny. The screeners asked the mother if Grace had been healed, and when the mother replied in the negative, they were told to return to their seats; the pair got out of line, but Grace, wanting "Pastor Benny to pray for [her]", asked her mother to support her as she tried to walk as a show of "her faith in action", according to the mother. After several unsuccessful attempts at walking, the pair left the arena in tears, both mother and daughter visibly upset at being turned aside and crying as they explained to the undercover reporters that all Grace had wanted was for Benny to pray for her, but the staffers rushed them out of the line when they found out Grace had not been healed.^[3] A week later at a service in Toronto, Baptist evangelist Justin Peters, who wrote his Masters in Divinity thesis on Benny Hinn^[23] and has attended numerous Hinn crusades since 2000 as part of his research for his thesis and for a seminar he developed about the Word of Faith movement entitled A Call for Discernment,^[24] also demonstrated to the hidden cameras that "people who look like me"—Peters has cerebral palsy, walks with arm-crutches, and is obviously and visibly disabled—"are never allowed on stage[...]it's always somebody who has some disability or disease that cannot be readily seen." Like Grace and her mother, Peters was quickly intercepted as he came out of the wheelchair section (there is one at every crusade, situated at the back of the audience, far away from the stage, and never filmed for Hinn's TV show) in an attempt to join the line of those waiting to go onstage, and was told to take a seat.^[3]

This segment was later edited with new footage and shown on Dateline: NBC in November 2005.

Ministry Watch issues "Donor Alert"[link]

In March 2005, Ministry Watch, issued a Donor Alert against the ministry.^[25] Benny Hinn Ministries is not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.^[26]

BHM raises funds for a Gulfstream jet[link]

In December 2006, BHM sent out a mailing asking for donations towards a new Gulfstream G4SP jet valued at an estimated US$36 million and costing over US$600,000/year to maintain and operate.^[27] The 22-seat craft was purchased in 2007 and christened "Dove One".

Senate investigation[link]

On November 6, 2007, United States Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa announced an investigation of Hinn's ministry by the United States Senate Committee on Finance. In a letter to BHM,^[28] Grassley asked for the ministry to divulge financial information^[29] to the Senate Committee on Finance to determine if Hinn made any personal profit from financial donations, and requested that Hinn's ministry make the information available by December 6, 2007. The investigation also scrutinized five other televangelists: Paula White, Kenneth Copeland, Eddie L. Long, Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar.^[30][31] On December 6, 2007, Hinn told the Associated Press that he would not respond to the inquiry until 2008.^[32] Hinn's ministry has since responded to the inquiry, and Senator Grassley commented that, "... Benny Hinn [has] engaged in open and honest dialogue with committee staff. They have not only provided responses to every question but, in the spirit of true cooperation, also have provided information over and above what was requested."^[33]

Personal life[link]

Hinn married Suzanne Harthern on August 4, 1979.^[34] The couple have four children together. Harthern filed papers in Orange County (California) Superior Court on February 1, 2010, seeking a divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences".^[35][36]

In July 2010, both Hinn and fellow televangelist Paula White denied allegations in the National Enquirer claiming that the two were engaged in an affair.^[37] In February 2011, Hinn was sued by the Christian publishing house Strang Communications, which claimed that a relationship with White did occur and that Hinn had violated the morality clause of his contract with the company.^[38]

Bibliography[link]

• Benny Hinn. Kathryn Kuhlman: Her Spiritual Legacy and Its Impact on My Life. W Pub Group. ISBN 0-7852-7888-5. 
• Benny Hinn. Good Morning, Holy Spirit. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7176-7. 
• Benny Hinn. He Touched Me an Autobiography. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7887-7. 
• Benny Hinn. The Anointing. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7168-6. 
• Benny Hinn. Welcome, Holy Spirit How You Can Experience The Dynamic Work Of The Holy Spirit In Your Life. Nelson Books. ISBN 0-7852-7169-4. 
• Benny Hinn. This Is Your Day for a Miracle. Orlando, FL: Creation House. ISBN 0-88419-391-8. 
• Benny Hinn. The Biblical Road to Blessing. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 0-7852-7517-7. 
• Benny Hinn. Miracle Of Healing. Nashville, Tenn: J. Countryman. ISBN 0-8499-5399-5. 
• Benny Hinn. The Blood. Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House. ISBN 0-88419-763-8. 
• Benny Hinn. Going Deeper with the Holy Spirit. Benny Hinn Ministries. ISBN 1-59024-039-1. 
• Benny Hinn. Lord, I Need a Miracle. Nashville, Tenn: Thomas Nelson Inc. ISBN 0-8407-6251-8. 
• Benny Hinn. Total Recovery, Supernatural Restoration and Release. Dallas, Texas: Clarion Call Marketing, Inc. ISBN 1-59574-038-4. 

See also[link]

• Charismatic movement
• Kathryn Kuhlman
• Prosperity Gospel
• Televangelism
• Word of Faith

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Benny Hinn on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Benny Hinn Ministries – Official website
• Faith World – Official website Hinn's former church
• Ministry Watch Report on Benny Hinn
• Videos

Steve Bridges
Bridges and George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
Born	(1963-05-22)May 22, 1963 Dallas, Texas[1]
Died	March 3, 2012(2012-03-03) (aged 48) Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Genres	Stand-Up, Impressionist

Steve Bridges (May 22, 1963 – March 3, 2012) was an American comedian, impressionist, and actor who "developed a repertoire of over 200 impressions, including TV characters Barney Fife and Homer Simpson, broadcasters Tom Brokaw, Paul Harvey and Rush Limbaugh ... and political leaders Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Arnold Schwarzenegger".^[2]

In 2006, he appeared alongside the real President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, mimicking the president by voicing the president's inner thoughts during Bush's presidential speech.^[3]

Bridges was a Biola University alumnus.

Filmography[link]

• Nurses (1994) as Torrance
• The District (2000)
• ER (2001) as Leone
• Lange Flate Ballær 2 (2008) as General of the U.S. Navy

As George W. Bush[link]

• JAG episode "Dangerous Game" (2002)
• NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service episode "Yankee White" (2003)
• Whoopi episode "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" (2003)
• George Lopez (2003)
• Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy (2005)
• Merry F#%$in' Christmas (2005)
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• White House Correspondents Dinner (2006)
• Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road (Yankee Doodle Dandy segment)
• The View (May 29, 2006)
• Larry King Live (2006)
• Lange Flate Ballær II (2008) (Norwegian movie)
• I Love the New Millennium (2008)

Death[link]

He was found dead on March 3, 2012, by his maid in his Los Angeles home, after he failed to return a call the day before. The cause of death was not immediately known, and an autopsy has been scheduled. According to his agent, Bridges had just returned from performing in Hong Kong and went to bed complaining that he felt "super-jetlagged". ^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steve Bridges at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Bridges at AllRovi
• Comedy Central Bio
• Steve Bridges Official Site
• Bridges impersonates Bush with Bush
• Steve Bridges Profile Page - Video clip, speaking topics
• "George W. Bush impersonator Steve Bridges dies at 48"

Jimmy Swaggart
Jimmy Swaggart, 2009
Born	Jimmy Lee Swaggart (1935-03-15) March 15, 1935 (age 77) Ferriday, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation	Televangelist, preacher, singer, musician, writer
Religion	Pentecostalism
Website
www.jsm.org

Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935) is a Pentecostal American pastor, teacher, musician, author, television host, and televangelist. He has preached to crowds around the world through his weekly telecast. According to the official website for Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, his 1980s telecast was transmitted to over 3,000 stations and cable systems each week.^[1]

Swaggart's television ministry, which began in 1975, continues airing nationally and internationally. The weekly Jimmy Swaggart Telecast and A Study in the Word programs are seen nationwide and abroad on 78 channels in 104 countries as well as live over the Internet.^{[citation needed]}

Swaggart is also known as the cousin of controversial rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley.

Early life[link]

Swaggart was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, to Willie Leon (a.k.a., "Son") and Minnie Belle (née Herron) Swaggart. He is the cousin of rock'n'roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music star Mickey Gilley. With his parents, Swaggart attended a small, 25-member Assemblies of God congregation in Ferriday. At the age of nine, he began to preach on street corners and lead congregations in singing.^{[citation needed]} On October 10, 1952, Swaggart married Frances Anderson. Their son, Donnie, was born in 1954. Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs in order to support his young family and also began singing Southern Gospel music at various Baptist and Pentecostal churches.

According to his biography, Swaggart, along with his wife and son, lived in poverty during the 1950s as he preached throughout rural Louisiana, struggling to survive on US$30 a week. Being too poor to own a home, the Swaggarts lived in church basements, pastors' homes, and small motels. Sun Records producer Sam Phillips wanted Swaggart to take part in a gospel line of music for Sun as the label's first gospel artist. Swaggart's cousin Jerry Lee Lewis, who had previously signed with Sun, was reportedly making $20,000 per week at the time. Although the offer meant a promise for significant income for him and his family, Swaggart turned him down, stating that he was called to preach the gospel.^[2]

Ordination and early career[link]

Preaching from a flatbed trailer donated to him, Swaggart began full-time evangelistic work in 1955. It was then that Swaggart began developing a revival-meeting following throughout the American South. Swaggart began attending Bible college in 1957. In 1960, he began recording gospel music record albums while building up another audience via Christian radio stations. In 1961, after graduating from Bible college, Swaggart was ordained by the Assemblies of God; one year later, Swaggart began his radio ministry. By 1969, Swaggart's radio program, “The Camp Meeting Hour,” was being aired over numerous radio stations throughout the American Bible Belt.^{[citation needed]} 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. The Family Worship Center grew from barely 40 members in 1970 to over 500 by 1975 and over 1000 by 1980.^{[citation needed]} During the 1970s the church grew from a one room church to a more modern building with new additions being built every couple years.

In the late 1960s, Swaggart began airing a weekly 30-minute telecast over various local television stations in that city and also purchased a local AM radio station WLUX in Baton Rouge (now WPFC). The station broadcast Christian features stories, preaching and teaching from various fundamentalist and Pentecostal denominations and played a blend of black gospel, Southern gospel, and inspirational music. As Contemporary Christian music became more prevalent, the station avoided playing it. Swaggart would ultimately sell his radio stations gradually throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.

Shifting to television[link]

By 1975, Swaggart's television ministry had expanded to more stations around the US; it was at this time that he decided to use television as his primary preaching venue. In 1978, Swaggart's weekly telecast was expanded to an hour.

In 1980, Swaggart began a daily weekday telecast featuring Bible study and music while the weekend, hour-long telecast would feature a sermon from either the Family Worship Center or an on-location crusade. In the early 1980s, Swaggart's crusades expanded to major cities nationwide. By 1983, more than 250 television stations featured Swaggart's telecast. Multitudes of people around the world were converted to Christianity, 'receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord.'

Controversies, scandals and criticisms[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009)

In 1988, Swaggart was implicated in a sex scandal involving a prostitute that resulted initially in his suspension and ultimately Swaggart was defrocked and removed from the ministry by the Assemblies of God. Three years later, Swaggart was again implicated in a sex scandal involving a prostitute. As a result, Swaggart's current ministry is non-affiliated, non-denominational and considerably smaller than before the scandals were revealed.^[3]

1988 scandal[link]

Background[link]

Swaggart's exposure came as retaliation for an incident in 1986 when Swaggart exposed fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman, who had been accused of having several affairs. Once exposed, Gorman was defrocked from the Assemblies of God, with his ministry all but ended. As a retaliatory move, Gorman hired his son Randy and son-in-law Garland Bilbo to stake out the Travel Inn on Airline Highway in New Orleans. A camera with a telephoto lens was placed in the window of the motel's Room 12 and draped with a black cloth. When Swaggart arrived, he reportedly went into Room 7. Randy Gorman and Garland Bilbo proceeded to let the air out of Swaggart's tires and called Marvin Gorman, whose church was located nearby. The two had taken photos of Swaggart outside of Room 7 with Debra Murphree, a local prostitute. Gorman showed up at the Travel Inn a short while later and asked Swaggart what he was doing there.

According to, Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist by Ann Rowe Seaman, Gorman secured a promise from Swaggart that he would publicly apologize to Gorman and start the process of Gorman's reinstatement to the Assemblies of God. Gorman offered to remain silent if Swaggart would state publicly that he lied about Gorman's affairs. Gorman waited almost a year, then hand delivered a note to Swaggart informing him his time was up, but Swaggart did not respond. On February 16, 1988, Gorman contacted James Hamil, one of the 13-man Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God. Hamill in turn called Raymond Carlson, the Assemblies Superintendent. He summoned Hamill and Gorman to fly to Springfield and arranged for an emergency meeting of the presbyters. Carlson was shown photos of several men coming in and going out of Room 7 at the Travel Inn Motel in New Orleans. This was done in order to establish the fact that the room was being used for prostitution. One of the men seen leaving Room 7 was Jimmy Swaggart. The presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God decided that Swaggart should be suspended from broadcasting his television program for three months.

According to the Associated Press, Murphree, who claimed to have posed nude for Swaggart, failed a polygraph test administered by a New York City Police Department polygraph expert.^[4] The test administrator concluded that Murphree had failed to tell the truth on all key questions concerning her statement. The test was administered after Murphree offered to sell the story to the National Enquirer for $100,000. Paul Levy, senior editor for the Enquirer, stated that the polygraph examiner had concluded Murphree was not truthful on six key questions, including one in which she was reportedly asked if she had fabricated the story. Levy stated that the Enquirer decided not to print her story due to the test results, her drug use, and the fact that she had arrest warrants in three states. Murphree failed questions about whether she was paid or promised money to "set up" Swaggart, and whether she made up the story in order to make money from it.^[5] Both times she answered no; this was determined by the polygraph examiner to be a lie.

Swaggart's confession and fallout[link]

On February 21, 1988, without giving any details regarding his transgressions, Swaggart gave his now infamous "I Have Sinned" speech as he tearfully spoke to his family, congregation, and TV 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."^[6] On a New Orleans morning news show four days later, Murphree stated that while Swaggart was a regular customer, they had never engaged in sexual intercourse.^[7] The clip of Swaggart's confession was played repeatedly on news and tabloid television programs.

The Louisiana presbytery of the Assemblies of God initially suspended Jimmy Swaggart from the ministry for three months. The national presbytery of the Assemblies of God soon extended the suspension to their standard two-year suspension for sexual immorality. His return to the pulpit coincided with the end of a three-month suspension originally ordered by the Assemblies. Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in not submitting to their authority, the hierarchy of the Assemblies of God immediately defrocked him, removing his credentials and ministerial license. It was then that Swaggart decided he would be an independent, non-denominational Pentecostal minister and the Family Worship Center would become non-denominational. The Jimmy Swaggart Bible College (now World Evangelism Bible College) would lose many of its students by the end of May 1988.

1991 scandal[link]

On October 11, 1991, Swaggart for a second time was found in the company of a prostitute, Rosemary Garcia,^[8] when he was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Indio, California, for driving on the wrong side of the road. 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."^[9][10] Rather than confessing to his congregation, Swaggart told those at Family Worship Center that "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business."^[11][12][13] Swaggart's son 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."

Criticism of Christian rock and metal music[link]

Swaggart wrote a book criticizing the Christian rock and metal movements titled Religious Rock n' Roll – A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing in 1987. The book criticized the scene for using heavy metal music to preach the gospel of Christianity, calling rock music the music of the devil.^[14][15] Swaggart also criticized Larry Norman (the "father of Christian rock"), Petra, Mylon LeFevre, Steve Taylor and other notable Christian rock and metal bands.^[16]

In 1986, Swaggart called rock music "the new pornography."^[17]

Ministries[link]

Jimmy Swaggart Ministries mainly comprises the Family Worship Center, The Jimmy Swaggart Telecast,^[18] radio and television programs called A Study in the Word, (SonLife Radio Network),^[19] and a website, JSM.org.

Swaggart's wife Frances hosts a television program Frances and Friends which is seen daily on the SonLife Broadcasting Network.^[20] His son Donnie preaches at the Family Worship Center and also preaches in churches across the US and abroad.^[21] Donnie's son Gabriel is a youth pastor who leads Crossfire, Family Worship Center's youth ministry.^[22]

Music ministry[link]

Swaggart's first album, Some Golden Daybreak, was created to give people at his early revivals. Swaggart's wife began encouraging him to contact radio stations. Disc jockey Chuck Cossin is credited with playing the first Jimmy Swaggart recording on WMUZ in Detroit.^{[citation needed]}

In 1974 Swaggart was voted Favorite Gospel Music Artist by readers of the magazine Singing News. In 1977 Record World magazine honored him as Male Vocalist of the Year. In that same year Swaggart was a Dove Award finalist in three categories: Male Vocalist of the Year, TV Program of the Year, and Instrumentalist of the Year. Again in 1978 Swaggart became a Dove finalist as Instrumentalist of the Year. In 1980, Swaggart became a Dove Award finalist in four categories: Children's Album of the Year for Color Me a Story, Instrumentalist of the Year, Year's best Traditional Album for Homeward Bound, and Best Gospel Album of the Year for Worship. The secular Grammy Awards nominated Swaggart's album Live from Nashville for Best Gospel Album in 1976. And again in 1980, Swaggart's album, Worship, became a Grammy finalist.

Radio ministry[link]

Swaggart originated Sonlife Radio on the noncommercial FM band. Unlike his previous stations, Sonlife was commercial free and would not sell time to outside ministries and the preaching and teaching would all be produced "in house". The music played was primarily Southern Gospel. Sonlife Radio is heard in 22 states and streamed on the internet.^[23]

Television ministry[link]

In 1973, Swaggart wanted to create a television program which would include a fairly large music segment, a short sermon, and time for talking about current ministry projects. After two faltering attempts to tape the half-hour program in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, Swaggart went to television producers in Nashville, Tennessee with his proposal. They accepted and within weeks the Jimmy Swaggart Telecast was being broadcast into television markets around the United States.

In 1981 Jimmy Swaggart launched a daily television program titled A Study in the Word. In the 1980s the program was aired on over 160 channels throughout the U.S., Canada and abroad and is still seen today on over 78 stations in 104 countries.^{[citation needed]} From the beginning, the primary cable channels the program was aired on were CBN Cable (now ABC Family), TBN, and the old PTL Network (later the Inspiration Network). Jimmy Swaggart Ministries now airs programming 24/7 over its own Sonlife Broadcasting Network (SBN), on DirecTV channel 344, Dish Network channel 257, Glorystar channel 125, IPTV Sky Angel channel 125, and various cable TV providers and broadcast stations.

World Evangelism Bible College[link]

In the fall of 1984, Swaggart opened Jimmy Swaggart Bible College - now known as World Evangelism Bible College, or WEBC. The college began as a means of preparing young men and women for Christian ministry, including education and communication degrees, and is still considered by Swaggart to be a vital extension of Jimmy Swaggart's World Wide Ministry. Many students never returned for the fall semester after the scandal in 1988. Currently, WEBC offers three levels of degrees: (1) Intensive short term certificate programs, (2) Associate of Arts degree programs, and (3) a four year Bachelor's Degree program.

Print[link]

Swaggart is the author of about 20 Christian books offered through his ministry.^[24] He is the author of the "Expositor's Study Bible,"^[25] 13 Study Guides and 30 Commentaries on the Bible.

Family[link]

Swaggart is married to Frances (née Anderson) Swaggart and has one son, Donnie Swaggart. Donnie was named for Swaggart's brother who died in infancy. He has three grandchildren, Jennifer, Gabriel and Matthew Swaggart, and five great-grandchildren, Samantha, Abby, Lola, and Ryder Swaggart.^[26]

See also[link]

• List of Christian evangelist scandals

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jimmy Swaggart

References[link]