Swaggart's parents were related by marriage, as Son Swaggart's maternal uncle, Elmo Lewis, was married to Minnie Herron's sister, Mamie. The extended family had a complex network of interrelationships: "cousins and in-laws and other relatives married each other until the clan was entwined like a big, tight ball of rubber bands".
In , aged 17, Swaggart married year-old Frances Anderson, whom he met in church in Wisner, Louisiana while he was playing music with his father, who pastored the Assembly of God Church there. They have a son named Donnie. Swaggart worked several part-time odd jobs to support his young family and also began singing Southern Gospel music at various churches. Being too poor to own a home, the Swaggarts lived in church basements, homes of pastors, and small motels.
Sun Records producer Sam Phillips wanted to start a gospel line of music for the label perhaps to remain in competition with RCA Victor and Columbia , who also had gospel lines at the time and wanted Swaggart for Sun as the first gospel artist for the label. Although the offer meant a promise for significant income for him and his family, Swaggart turned Phillips down, stating that he was called to preach the gospel.
Preaching from a flatbed trailer donated to him, Swaggart began full-time evangelistic work in He began developing a revival-meeting following throughout the American South. In , he began recording gospel music record albums and transmitting on Christian radio stations. In , Swaggart was ordained by the Assemblies of God; a year later he began his radio ministry.
In the late s, Swaggart founded what was then a small church named the Family Worship Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ; the church eventually became district-affiliated with the Assemblies of God. The station broadcast Christian feature stories, preaching and teaching to various fundamentalist and Pentecostal denominations and playing black gospel , Southern gospel , and inspirational music.
