BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana native and Evangelical pastor Rev. Jimmy Swaggart has died at the age of 90.
His family announced on Tuesday, July 1, that Swaggart “finished his earthly race and entered into the presence of His Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Funeral services for Swaggart will take place at the Family Worship Center Church. There will be a public viewing/wake on Saturday, July 12, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A celebration of life service will take place on Sunday, July 13, at 6 p.m.
Swaggart, one of the most well-known televangelists in the world, was rushed to a hospital on June 15 after going into cardiac arrest at his Baton Rouge home.
A native of Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart founded Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, located on a vast campus off of Bluebonnet Boulevard in Baton Rouge.
He was the senior pastor of Family Worship Center, located on the same campus.
Jimmy Swaggart became a full-time evangelist in 1958 and was ordained by the Assemblies of God three years later. He was defrocked by the Assemblies of God in 1988 following a prostitution sex scandal.
His television ministry, which is broadcast internationally, started in 1975. Just ten years later, his broadcasts were reaching nearly two million households in the country.
He wrote nearly 50 Christian books and, as a gospel artist, sold over 15 million records worldwide.
The cousin of rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and country music singer Mickey Gilley, Swaggart’s music earned him a Grammy nomination.
Swaggart was married to Frances Swaggart, who hosts the “Frances and Friends” Christian radio program. Their only child, Donnie, is also a minister with the same church.
Through the SonLife Radio and Broadcasting Networks, the Swaggart family continues to broadcast its church programs internationally.
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