Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built the Praise the Lord ministry into a major Christian broadcasting operation with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker, died Monday, Oct. 5, at 86, his family said. His wife, Lori Bakker, announced his death in a post shared on the Jim Bakker Show’s social media account and the PTL website. She wrote that he “went home to be with the Lord” and had “finished his race with faith.” His son Jay Bakker also confirmed his death. The family asked for privacy. No cause of death was announced. The Bakkers launched the Praise the Lord Club in 1974. Its television program and ministry grew into a far-reaching enterprise that included a theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina, just south of Charlotte. The ministry’s former Fort Mill site remains part of the region’s physical and cultural landscape. The empire unraveled in 1987 amid financial and sexual scandals. Bakker was later convicted of mail and wire fraud for a scheme that used his television program and the mail to sell partnerships. He served prison time before returning to religious broadcasting. In later years, Bakker hosted a daily program on the PTL Network and sold survivalist products. In 2021, he and his Missouri church agreed to pay $156,000 in restitution to settle a lawsuit over claims that a health supplement could cure COVID-19. Bakker’s rise and fall left a complicated legacy in the Charlotte region: a religious media enterprise that shaped Fort Mill and drew viewers nationwide, followed by a scandal that exposed how the ministry’s fundraising operation had been built.