

By 1983, he had become the most popular television preacher in the United States. In the early 1980s, he expanded his crusades nationwide, visiting major cities. His weekend hour long telecast was either a sermon from Family Worship Center or from a travelling crusade. His weekday telecast featured Bible study and some music. In 1980, he began a daily weekday telecast. In 1978, his weekly telecast was expanded to an hour.

He also began to preach to large audiences by travelling around the southern region of the Unites States. It was at this time that Swaggart decided to use television as his primary preaching medium. By 1975, his television ministry had expanded to still further stations. In the 1970s, his radio ministry grew and he purchased several more stations. Henry Hock Guan Teh, a well-known Christian writer described the debate in his article "The Law of Evidence" ] as: In 1986, Swaggart debate with Ahmed Deedat, a well known Muslim scholar of the Bible on the topic "Is The Bible the Word of God" ] which was witnessed by about 8,000 people. In September 1985, in a broadcast sermon Swaggart said He also purchased a local AM radio station. He also began airing a weekly 30 minute telecast over various local television stations in that city. He also founded a church called Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which was also under the Assemblies of God. By 1969, his radio program, “The Camp Meeting Hour,” was being aired over numerous radio stations throughout the American Bible Belt. In 1961, after attending bible college, he was ordained with the Assemblies of God. In 1960, Swaggart began recording gospel music record albums while he was building up another audience via Christian-themed radio stations. He became a licensed minister in the Assemblies of God in 1959. In 1958, Swaggart became a full-time travelling preacher and began developing a substantial revival-meeting following throughout the south. They have one son, Donnie, who has also become a minister. In 1952, aged seventeen, he married Frances Anderson. Jimmy began to preach on street corners and led congregations in singing, aged nine. His father was a deacon in their small fundamentalist church. Jimmy Swaggart's parents, Sun and Minnie Belle, had been fundamentalist Baptists. All were born within a year of one another. The three share the same middle names - though Gilley is actually "Leroy" - and play the piano. Swaggart is first cousin of recording artists Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. Jimmy Lee Swaggart (born March 15, 1935, in Ferriday, Louisiana) is a Pentecostal preacher and pioneer of televangelism who reached the height of his popularity in the 1980s. The Delta Music Museum in his native Ferriday puic|1=īirth_date = birth date and age|mf=yes|1935|3|15 Caption = Jimmy Swaggart as he appears on a poster at
