Jimmy Lee Swaggart is an American Pentecostal televangelist, gospel music recording artist, pianist, and Christian author. His television ministry, which began in 1971, and was originally known as the “Camp Meeting Hour”, has a viewing audience both in the U.S. and internationally. The weekly Jimmy Swaggart Telecast and A Study in the Word programs are broadcast throughout the U.S. and on 78 channels in 104 countries, and over the Internet. At the height of his popularity in the 1980s, his telecast was transmitted to in excess of 3,000 stations and cable systems each week. During the 1970s and 1980s, he sold in excess of 17 million LP albums. The Jimmy Swaggart Ministries owns and operates the SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN). Swaggart is the senior pastor of the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.