Ordination and early career Preaching from a flatbed trailer donated to him, Swaggart began full-time evangelistic work in 1955. He began developing a revival-meeting following throughout the
American South. In 1960, he began recording gospel music record albums and transmitting on
Christian radio stations. In 1961, Swaggart was ordained by the Assemblies of God; a year later he began his radio ministry. 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. In 1971, Swaggart began transmitting a weekly 30-minute telecast over various local television stations in Baton Rouge and also purchased a local AM radio station, WLUX (now
WPFC). The station broadcast Christian feature stories, preaching and teaching to various
fundamentalist and Pentecostal denominations and playing
black gospel,
Southern gospel, and inspirational music. Swaggart sold many of his radio stations gradually throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Shifting to television By 1975, the television ministry had expanded to more stations around the United States, and he began to use television as his primary preaching forum. In 1978, the weekly telecast was increased to an hour. In 1980, Swaggart began a daily weekday telecast featuring Bible study and music, and the weekend, hour-long telecast included a service from either Family Worship Center (Swaggart's church) or an on-location crusade in a major city. In the early 1980s, the broadcasts expanded to major cities nationwide. By 1983, more than 250 television stations broadcast the telecast.
Promotion of RENAMO Throughout the 1980s, Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was one of many American Evangelical leaders who promoted the South African-backed Mozambican National Resistance, aka
RENAMO, which was accused of committing systematic
war crimes during
Mozambique's 15-year-long civil war. In addition to moral support and publicity, Swaggart Ministries was repeatedly accused of providing funding and material support to the group. In September 1985, government forces supported by
Zimbabwe captured RENAMO's main headquarters inside
Mozambique Casa Banana. Among the materials left behind by retreating rebels were piles of Swaggart's 1982 publication, "How to Receive The Baptism in the Holy Spirit", translated into Portuguese. During the 1988 trial of Australian missionary Ian Grey, who coordinated much of the private support to RENAMO, it was claimed by the defendant that Swaggart Ministries worked through Shekinah Ministries to provide support to RENAMO. That year, extensive media coverage of Swaggart and his businesses in the wake of a sex scandal largely excluded these allegations. In 1991, Covert Action Magazine and the government of Zimbabwe both accused Swaggart ministries of continuing to fund RENAMO.
Prostitution scandals In 1988, Swaggart was accused of patronizing a prostitute. He was suspended and ultimately
defrocked by the Assemblies of God. Three years later, he was implicated in another scandal involving prostitution. As a result, Swaggart's ministry became non-affiliated, nondenominational, and significantly smaller than it had been in the ministry's pre-scandal years. Swaggart's sex scandals received national media attention.
1988 prostitution scandal Swaggart's first prostitution scandal occurred in retaliation for an incident in 1986 when he accused fellow Assemblies of God minister Marvin Gorman of having several affairs. Gorman was defrocked from the Assemblies of God, and his ministry was all but ended. Gorman filed a successful lawsuit against Swaggart for defamation and conspiracy to ruin his reputation; he was awarded damages amounting to $10 million in 1991. After an appeal, the parties settled the matter for $1.75 million. As a retaliatory measure, Gorman hired his son Randy and son-in-law Garland Bilbo to watch the
Travel Inn on
Airline Highway in
Metairie, a suburb of
New Orleans. At the Travel Inn, the two men photographed Swaggart outside Room 7 with Debra Murphree, a local prostitute. Gorman arrived at the Travel Inn a short while later and confronted Swaggart. According to
Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist, Gorman secured a promise from Swaggart that he would publicly apologize to Gorman and begin the process of Gorman's reinstatement to the Assemblies of God. Gorman offered to remain silent if Swaggart would publicly say that he lied about Gorman's affairs. Gorman waited almost a year, then hand-delivered a note to Swaggart informing him that his time was up; Swaggart did not respond. On February 16, 1988, Gorman contacted James Hamil, one of the 13-man Executive Presbytery of the Assemblies of God, to expose Swaggart's assignation with the prostitute. The presbytery leadership of the Assemblies of God suspended Swaggart from broadcasting his television program for three months. According to the
Associated Press, Murphree failed a
polygraph test administered by a
New York City Police Department polygraph expert. 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. Murphree failed questions about whether she was paid or promised money to "set up" Swaggart, and whether she made up the story to make money from it. In place of Murphree's interview,
Enquirer editor Paul Levy published an accounting of Swaggart's family where they allegedly expressed their fears over Swaggart's health. Murphree, who blamed her failed polygraph on "
cocaine use" the day before the test was given, was interviewed in
Penthouse magazine. On February 21, 1988, without giving any details regarding his transgressions, Swaggart delivered what came to be known as his "I have sinned" speech on live television. He spoke tearfully to his family, congregation, TV audience, and ended his speech with a prayer: "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 forgetfulness never to be remembered against me anymore." The national presbytery of the Assemblies of God extended Swaggart's suspension to their standard two-year suspension for sexual immorality. His return to the pulpit coincided with the end of the three-month suspension originally ordered by the denomination. Believing that Swaggart was not genuinely repentant in submitting to their authority, the hierarchy of the Assemblies of God
defrocked him and therein removed his credentials and ministerial license. Swaggart then became an independent and non-denominational Pentecostal minister, establishing Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, based at the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge and the SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN) which broadcasts in the United States and other countries.
1991 prostitution scandal On October 11, 1991, Swaggart was found in the company of a prostitute for a second time. He was pulled over by a police officer in
Indio, California, for driving on the wrong side of the road. With him in the vehicle was a woman named Rosemary Garcia. According to Garcia, Swaggart had stopped to propose sex to her on the side of the road. She later told reporters: "He asked me for sex. I mean, that's why he stopped me. That's what I do. I'm a prostitute." This time, rather than confessing his sins to his congregation, Swaggart told those at Family Worship Center, "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business." He then temporarily stepped down as head of his ministry for "a time of healing and counseling". ==Ministries==