10/06/2026
I am still in Africa and I got the news this morning that Jim Bakker had passed away. I had the privilege of doing a concert with the James Blackwood Quartet at the Federal Correction Center in Jessup, GA that he coordinated while he was serving his sentence. Before the concert held on the loading dock of the prison, he reminded me that he had hosted many pianoramas at PTL and asked if I would play him an old hymn. I don't often play to an audience of one, but I'll never forget as he stood there with tears streaming down his face. In that prison, they didn't earn money but they would earn a voucher for a day's work. He worked for five days so he could buy each of us a Coke when we arrived. The guards allowed him to get on our bus and deliver them. I am definitely not an advocate of the prosperity gospel he preached before that, but that day I saw a man who had been stripped of everything as he clung to those old hymns for his very survival. Whether or not we have every jot and tittle of our theology 100% right and even if we have nothing else, I'm glad that we can still cling to the Old Rugged Cross ... and exchange it someday for a crown.
