Jimmy Swaggart Net Worth

Xzavier Stiedemann 16 Jun 2025

What is Jimmy Swaggart's Net Worth?

Jimmy Swaggart is an American Pentecostal pastor, author, and televangelist who has a net worth of $5 million. He launched his television ministry in 1975, and over the decades, it has remained a fixture on religious broadcasting networks across the United States and internationally. Swaggart rose to national prominence in the 1980s, when his weekly telecast aired on more than 3,000 stations and reached millions of viewers. At the height of his influence, he was one of the most recognizable and powerful figures in American evangelicalism.

In 1987, Jimmy Swaggart World Ministries and its affiliated Bible college reportedly generated $150 million in annual revenue, which worked out to more than $500,000 per workday. Roughly $135 million of that total came from viewer donations. The ministry employed approximately 1,200 people, including more than twenty members of Swaggart's extended family, with a total payroll of $11.5 million.

Swaggart's empire suffered a dramatic fall beginning in 1988, when he was implicated in a high-profile sex scandal involving a prostitute. The Assemblies of God ultimately defrocked him and stripped him of his ministerial credentials. A second scandal in the early 1990s further damaged his reputation and forced him to temporarily step down as head of his ministry.

Despite these setbacks, Swaggart has continued preaching and broadcasting. Today, his programs "Jimmy Swaggart Telecast" and "A Study in the Word" air on 78 U.S. channels and in more than 100 countries. His ministry, now independent and non-denominational, remains active but operates on a significantly smaller scale than it did during its 1980s peak.

Early Life

Jimmy Swaggart was born on March 15, 1935 in Ferriday, Louisiana to Minnie and Willie. His father was a fiddle player and Pentecostal preacher. Swaggart had a younger sister named Jeanette, and is a cousin of famous singer-songwriters Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. Growing up, he played music with his father and sang Southern Gospel songs at churches.

Career Beginnings

With his wife Frances, whom he married when they were both teenagers, Swaggart lived in poverty during the 1950s and preached throughout rural Louisiana. Too poor to own a home, they lived in church basements, small motels, and houses of pastors. In 1955, Swaggart started evangelizing full-time, and in 1960 launched his gospel music recording career. The year after that, he was ordained by the Assemblies of God; he subsequently started his radio ministry.

Televangelism

In 1971, Swaggart started transmitting "Camp Meeting Hour," a weekly 30-minute Christian telecast in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He also bought the local AM radio station WLUX, through which he broadcast Christian stories, gospel music, and fundamentalist teachings. In 1975, Swaggart expanded his weekly telecast to an hour. He later introduced another weekday telecast, "A Study in the World," and began a weekend telecast featuring a church service. Swaggart reached the height of his popularity in the 1980s when his broadcasts were being shown on more than 3,000 stations each week.

Later in his career, Swaggart launched the 24/7 cable and satellite television network SonLife Broadcasting Network, on which he hosts the daily Bible study program "The Message of the Cross." Meanwhile, his wife hosts the daily show "Frances and Friends" on the network. SBN also delivers live broadcasts of all its weekly services at the Family Worship Center, as well as all of its camp meetings.

Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart preaching in Nicaragua. (Photo by Cindy Karp/Getty Images)

Jimmy Swaggart Bible College

In 1984, Swaggart opened Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, which originally offered degrees in education and communication. The school's enrollment peaked at around 1,500 students in 1987, and then dropped drastically the following year amid Swaggart's sex scandal. In 1991, the school was renamed World Evangelism Bible College.

Music Career

A pianist and gospel singer, Swaggart has released several recordings of his music. In the 1970s and 80s, he sold over 17 million albums, and in 1980 earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Performance for Traditional Gospel.

Scandals

Swaggart has been involved in some major scandals. The most heavily publicized occurred in 1988 when he was caught with a prostitute in a hotel, resulting in his suspension and defrocking by the Assemblies of God. Less than a year earlier, Jimmy was a very vocal and public critic of preacher Jim Bakker, who had experienced his own sex scandal with a church secretary, Jessica Hahn. Jim had also previously accused fellow minister Marvin Gorman of having affairs, resulting in Gorman's defrocking in 1986. As retaliation, Gorman played a central role in exposing Swaggart's own affairs.

After being caught by a fellow minister, he publicly confessed to "moral failure" in a tearful televised address but provided few details. The Assemblies of God, the denomination under which he was ordained, suspended him for two years. Swaggart initially agreed to the discipline but returned to the pulpit after just three months, prompting the denomination to permanently revoke his credentials.

In 1991, he was caught with another prostitute, this time in California, and again refused to step down permanently, declaring to his congregation, "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business." These incidents led to a steep decline in his public reputation, a loss of financial support, and a major reduction in the size and influence of his ministry.

Beyond the sex scandals, Swaggart earned controversy for promoting and funding the South African-backed Mozambican National Resistance in the 1980s. RENAMO was alleged to have committed systematic war crimes during Mozambique's long civil war. In 1991, both the government of Zimbabwe and Covert Action Magazine accused Swaggart and his ministry of continuing to support RENAMO.

Marriage and Children

At the age of 17 in 1952, Swaggart married 15-year-old Frances Anderson, whom he had met in church. The couple has a son named Donnie, who preaches at the Family Worship Center and in churches around the world. Donnie's son Gabriel leads the youth ministry at the Family Worship Center and also serves as the president of his grandfather's World Evangelism Bible College.

Despite his sexual escapades, Frances remained with Jimmy. Today, they live on a 12-acre property in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that features an 8,000-square-foot mansion.