Where is Lori Bakker now? All we know about disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker’s wife as he dies at 86

Televangelist Jim Bakker died on October 5, aged 86. The cause of death was not immediately available. His wife and fellow evangelist Lori Bakker announced the death on a Facebook post. She began:

“It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening. For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry.”

Lori Bakker, who now hosts her own show Life with Lori, continued her statement:

“Jim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry, and he loved the friends and partners who stood with him throughout the years. Even in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world. Our family is grieving and we ask for your prayers and privacy during this time. Jim finished his race with faith. His voice, his vision, and his legacy will never be forgotten.”

Lori Bakker married Jim Bakker in 1998. She was his second wife. Jim is survived by Lori and his seven children.

All you need to know about Lori Bakker amid Jim Bakker’s demise

Lori Bakker was born and raised in a middle-class family in Phoenix, Arizona. Her maiden name was Lori Beth Graham. By the age of 22, she had five abortions while enjoying a life of partying and drug use.

In the mid-1980s, Lori came out of an abusive decade-long marriage. Later, in 1989, she made the decision to join Phoenix First Assembly of God and embarked on a journey of spiritual growth. For nearly a decade, Lori Bakker served with the Master’s Commission discipleship program and became an ordained minister in 1991.

Over the years, Lori volunteered in various ministry outreach programs across cities, nursing homes, prisons, youth centers and more. She also traveled to El Salvador and Mexico on church missions.

In 1994, she founded Mourning to Joy Ministry to help women deal with post-abortion trauma and other relevant issues.

Lori Bakker spoke at The Dream Center, also known as The Los Angeles International Church, in 1998, where she came across Jim Bakker, a pastor serving at the inner-city outreach. They had a “fairytale courtship” and soon tied the knot in September of that same year.

Lori detailed her romance with Jim in her 2000 memoir More Than I Could Ever Ask.

Over the years, the couple made several TV appearances on shows such as Good Morning America, Larry King Live, The TODAY Show, and James Robison’s Life Today.

In 2002, Lori and Jim Bakker expanded their family by adopting five children from the inner-city of Phoenix. Soon, they were doing ministry work in Camp Hope, Florida, when Jim got the offer to host his self-titled show in Branson, Missouri.

The family moved to Missouri in 2003, converted a restaurant into a café-studio and began filming The Jim Bakker Show that aired nationwide daily for an hour. Five years later, they moved to a new location called “Morningside” in Blue Eye, MO.

The couple also founded a maternity home/residential center for women in crisis pregnancies called Lori’s House. Today, Ms. Bakker continues to be its President. Additionally, she hosts Life With Lori.

Like Lori Bakker, Jim Bakker had also been married once before to fellow televangelist and The PTL Club co-founder Tammy Faye Messner. They shared a daughter, Sissy, and a son, Jay. Jim was portrayed in the 2021 Oscar-winning film The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Jim’s first wife died in 2007.

During his first marriage and the height of his career, Jim Bakker faced a s*x scandal and spent prison time for wire fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy for bilking church donors.

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More than six years before his death, Jim Bakker suffered a “minor” stroke in May 2020 and was on a two-month sabbatical from his eponymous program. Back then, Lori blamed the illness on her husband’s “nonstop, hard work.”

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