Marcus D. Lamb | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 7, 1957 Cordele, Georgia |
| Education | B.A. Lee College (Tennessee) |
| Spouse(s) | Joni Trammell, 1982-present |
| Children | 3 |
| Church | Christianity (Pentecostal) |
Congregations served | Word Of God Fellowship, Montgomery, Alabama |
Offices held | Co-Founder, CEO, and President, DayStar Network |
Marcus Lamb (born October 7, 1957) is an American televangelist, prosperity theology, minister and Christian broadcaster. He is the co-founder, president, and CEO of the Daystar Television Network, the second-largest Christian television network in the world. The estimated value of the network is $230 million.[1]
Early life
Marcus was born October 7, 1957 in Cordele, Georgia and raised in Macon, Georgia. He grew up attending the East Macon Church of God. He became a Christian at the age of five and continued in church attendance and work as he grew older. He began to preach as an evangelist at age fifteen. He graduated from high school and enrolled at age sixteen in Lee University (then known as Lee College), Cleveland, Tennessee-based Christian university. He graduated three years later.[2] In 1982, four years after graduation, he married Joni Trammell of Greenville, South Carolina. The couple spent their early years of marriage as traveling evangelists, visiting churches in the Southeast to teach the gospel.[3] Marcus was ordained as a Bishop with the Church of God of Cleveland, Tennessee.
Media ministry
In 1980, the same year that Marcus met his wife Joni, he founded The Word of God Fellowship, the company that would eventually start the Daystar Television Network. In 1984 Lamb moved to Montgomery, Alabama to begin WMCF-TV. This was the first full power Christian station in the state. The Lambs sold the station to Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1990 and moved to Dallas, Texas. Lamb launched the Daystar network at the end of 1997.[3]
Personal life
In November 2010, Lamb admitted on the Daystar Network that he had an extramarital affair that had ended several years before.[4][5] In his admission, Lamb took "100 percent responsibility" for his actions. He and his wife were able to fully reconcile with the help of marriage counselors. Due to the advice of their marriage counselors, the decision was made to keep this matter private as long as they could, in order to heal adequately.[1] The Lambs decided to publicly disclose the infidelity shortly after they claimed that three women asked for US $7.5 million in exchange for silence on the matter. The Lambs shared their story publicly on television and refused to pay anything. No criminal charges were filed,[6] although Civil suits and counter-suits between Daystar and the three former employees were filed over the matter.[7][8] By December 2011, all three employee claims had either been dropped or thrown out. Daystar subsequently dismissed its countersuits against each of the women.[9]
Marcus and his wife reside in Dallas, Texas with their three children.[10]
References
- ^ a b [1] Archived December 30, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [2] Archived March 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "About Daystar Television with Marcus Lamb and Joni Lamb". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "TJB - SC" (PDF). Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ Heller, Matthew. "Woman Sues TV Preacher for Failing to Disclose Affair - Employment". Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "Bedford police: No laws broken in alleged televangelist extortion plot". star-telegram.com. 2010-12-09. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
- ^ "Former employee sues Daystar over affair". Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "Daystar countersues former employee, alleges extortion attempt - News - Dallas News". 4 December 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "High-profile sexual harassment lawsuits against Christian broadcaster Daystar quietly withdrawn - News - Dallas News". 21 March 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "Daystar Ministries Founder, President And Chief Executive Officer Is Marcus Lamb". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05.