The death of evangelist Jimmy Swaggart was not only among the top Baton Rouge-area religion stories for 2025, but it also garnered national and international headlines.
Swaggart, who died at age 90 on July 1, days after suffering cardiac arrest in Baton Rouge, rose to prominence as one of the most popular televangelists of the 1980s.
From humble beginnings as the son of a sharecropper in Ferriday, Swaggart made his way to Baton Rouge and eventually built Jimmy Swaggart World Ministries into one of the nation’s largest broadcast operations. He reached millions around the world behind his powerful preaching, distinguished gospel singing voice and books…