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