Jamie Charles "Jay" Bakker (born December 18, 1975) is an American pastor, author, and speaker. He is the son of televangelists Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. During his young adult years, Bakker became disillusioned with mainstream Christianity, becoming particularly critical of Christian fundamentalism and the Christian right. He later adopted a much more liberal form of Christianity and became a co-founder of Revolution Church, which was created in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona. Bakker then preached at Revolution's Atlanta location before pastoring the New York City branch of Revolution Church, which held services at the bar and venue Pete's Candy Store, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn until Bakker relocated to Minneapolis in 2013 and began pastoring another iteration of Revolution Church there. Much of Bakker's story was retold in a documentary on Sundance Channel called One Punk Under God: The Prodigal Son of Jim and Tammy Faye. His story has also been chronicled in Time Magazine.
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Tammy Faye’s Son Jay Bakker Says New Elton John Show About Her Is ‘Like Having All Your Trauma in a Musical’ After seeing Tammy Faye, the biographical musical about the late American evangelist Tammy Faye Messner, her son, Jay Bakker, hopped on a video call with Elton John, who wrote the music for it. Jay, 48, recalled in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE what the “Candle in the Wind” singer, 77, asked him on that call, and he revealed what he thinks of the stage production about his famous mother’s life as a traveling preacher’s wife to his dad, Jim Bakker. “[Elton] was like, ‘Have I caught your mom’s spirit?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you did,’ ” Jay, a pastor and author, told PEOPLE at an Oct. 2 dress rehearsal in New York City before Tammy Faye’s Oct. 19 Broadway debut. (People Oct 13, 2024) READMORE>>>>> Aug 16, 2021: POZ: Representation Matters
Her son, Jay Bakker, and I have talked the last couple of years, and he tells me that my interview changed her, and it changed the whole family. Dec 17, 2014: Ora TV: Christian Fundamentalists: "Ignorance Is Bliss"
Are Christian fundamentalists judgmental? Pastor Jay Bakker says that fundamentalists "look down on learning" and that their faith is built like a house of cards. Nov 4, 2014: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church: Let’s Talk about Sandbox Cooperative with Jay Bakker Let’s Talk about Sandbox Cooperative with Jay Bakker Sunday, November 9 at 10 am in the Worship Center June 11, 2014: Huffington Post: North Korea, Hillsong and the Denial of Denial
This is why people should support Jay Bakker's strategy of asking Christian leaders where they stand. For years now Bakker has used the Twitter platform to publicly ask Christian leaders where they stand (using the hashtag #AreYouGayAffirming). This anxiety inducing strategy, if supported by enough people, can cause a movement to respond in order to achieve homeostasis. Jan 15, 2011: NPR: Son Of Jim And Tammy Faye Finds His Own 'Grace'
Jay Bakker has a very famous last name. The reputation of his parents -- disgraced evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker -- usually precedes his own. |
October 15, 2024: Christianity Today reported: Have Jim and Tammy introduced a whole new strain of culture embracing, one never envisioned by H. Richard Niebuhr? Whatever the world around them does, they can do better. Don’t settle for a Chevrolet, Jim used to say—if you really want a Cadillac, pray for a Cadillac! Some people felt a sense of shock, even betrayal, over the disclosures of a Rolls Royce, million-dollar salaries, six luxury homes, and the infamous air-conditioned doghouse. But why? You can read about similar American lifestyles in any issue of Fortune or Vanity Fair. The shock comes from our instinctive belief that Christians should somehow be different from the world around them. Joan Collins may indulge herself conspicuously, but a minister of the gospel? A television evangelist supported by charitable contributions? The Bakkers evidently saw no such contradiction. Once, Tammy blurted out that she deals with stress by going on shopping binges. These people incarnate the American dream. Rising spectacularly from poverty, they have embraced in triumph a society that honors wealth and fame. It is no accident that a replica of Main Street USA anchored the center of their theme park. |
March 29, 2015: Mountain Express reported: Organizers of “Out to the Nations Transformational Conference” will kick off this year’s event with a message of inclusivity for Christians from controversial religious speaker, Jay Bakker.
December 14, 2015: In an episode of American Scandals with Barbara Walters aired for Investigation Discovery. Bakker was interviewed by Walters about growing up amidst the intense criticism that followed the fall of his famous father