T. D. Jakes

T. D. Jakes
Personal details
Birth name Thomas Dexter Jakes
Born (1957-06-09) June 9, 1957
South Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
Nationality United States
Spouse Serita Ann Jakes
Occupation Pastor, author, filmmaker

Thomas Dexter "T. D." Jakes, Sr. (born June 9, 1957) is an American pastor, author and filmmaker. He is the bishop of The Potter's House, a non-denominational American megachurch, with 30,000 members. T. D. Jakes' church services and evangelistic sermons are broadcast on The Potter's Touch, which airs on Lightsource.com, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Black Entertainment Television,[1] the Daystar Television Network, The Word Network and The Miracle Channel in Canada. Other aspects of Jakes' ministry include an annual revival called "MegaFest" that draws more than 100,000 people, an annual women's conference called "Woman Thou Art Loosed", and gospel music recordings.

Early life

Jakes grew up in Vandalia, West Virginia, attending local Baptist churches. He spent his teenage years caring for his invalid father and working in local industries. Feeling a call to the ministry, he enrolled in West Virginia State University and began preaching part-time in local churches, but he soon dropped out of the university. He took a job at the local Union Carbide and continued preaching part-time. During this time he met his future wife, Serita Jamison. The couple married in 1981. In 1982, Jakes became the pastor of the Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith, a small, Montgomery, West Virginia independent Pentecostal church with about ten members. Over the next few years, the church grew, drawing an integrated congregation that helped increase Jakes' renown as a speaker and pastor. He moved the church twice - from Montgomery to Smithers and then to South Charleston, where the congregation grew from about 100 members to over 300. During this time, he began a radio ministry The Master's Plan that ran from 1982-1985. He also became acquainted with Bishop Sherman Watkins, founder of the Higher Ground Always Abounding Assembly (an association of over 200 Pentecostal churches). Watkins ordained Jakes as a minister of the Higher Ground Assembly and encouraged him to start a church in the Charleston Area. Jakes also used this time to continue his education by studying through correspondence courses from Friends International Christian University, an unaccredited online university. Jakes completed a B. A. and M.A. in 1990, and a Doctor of Ministry in Religious Studies from Friends International Christian University in 1995.

After the 1990 move to Charleston, as his congregation grew, T. D. Jakes began to focus on the spiritual needs of the women in his church who had been abandoned and abused in their lives. He began a Sunday School class for them, "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," in which he encouraged the women to use their past pain as a foundation for new growth. He later started a similar class for men, which he called "Manpower." In 1993, Jakes self-published his first book, drawing on his experiences working with the women of his congregation. Woman, Thou Art Loosed would become Jakes' signature work and a national religious bestseller. He also began a new television ministry, Get Ready, which aired on Black Entertainment Television and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Also in 1993, Jakes moved his church yet again, to Cross Lanes, West Virginia.

His ministry continued to expand, prompting the founding of the T. D. Jakes Ministries organization to oversee his work beyond the church itself. He continued to write and to publish, spreading his message of spiritual healing to new audiences. In 1994 he held the first of what would become a series of conferences for ministers and their spouses, "When Shepherds Bleed." In May 1996, Jakes moved his family and his ministry again, as well as fifty other families involved in his work, to Dallas, Texas. There he purchased Eagle's Nest Church, a large Dallas church. Renaming the church The Potter's House, Jakes continued his work. The Potter's House, which was a 5,000 seat auditorium and a 34-acre campus, had grown to a congregation of 30,000.

Career

In 1980, at age 23, Jakes became the pastor of Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith, a storefront church in Smithers, West Virginia with ten members. The congregation grew to encompass 100 members and was notable because it was racially integrated.

In 1990, Jakes moved to South Charleston, West Virginia, and his congregation grew again, to 300 members. In 1993 he moved to Cross Lanes, West Virginia, where the congregation grew to more than 1,100 people, of whom 60 percent were African American and 40 percent were Caucasian.

In 1994, T.D. Jakes Ministries was established as a non-profit organization that produced televised sermons and conferences. From 1995 to 1996, Jakes hosted "Get Ready," a weekly radio and television show with national distribution through syndication.

In 1996 Jakes, his wife, children, and a staff of 50 employees relocated to Dallas, Texas, where Jakes founded the Potter's House, a non-denominational megachurch. Located on a 34-acre hilltop campus, the Potter's House features a 5,000-seat auditorium, as well as offices for employees and staff. Between 1996 and 1998, church membership grew from 7,000 congregants to 14,000.

In 2005, Jakes accompanied President George W. Bush on his visit to the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. In his book Decision Points, President Bush describes Jakes as "a kind of man who puts faith into action."

On January 20, 2009, Jakes led the early morning prayer service for President Barack Obama at St. John's Church in Washington, D.C., according to NBC News.

In 2009, Jakes partnered with Dr. Phil McGraw, Jay McGraw, and CBS Television Distribution to launch a syndicated, secular talk show; however, due to economic issues within the syndicated television market, the program never premiered.[2][3]

In July 2015, Tegna, Inc. and Debmar-Mercury announced that a new secular talk show hosted by Jakes would air as a test run on Tegna stations in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, and Minneapolis from August 17 to September 11, 2015.[4][3]

Beliefs

Although Jakes was converted and ordained within Oneness Pentecostalism, he revealed in an interview with Mark Driscoll in 2012 that he affirms the Trinity, although Jakes did not affirm the eternality of the individual persons of the Trinity which is denied by Oneness churches.[5][6]

Jakes is a strong advocate of abstinence and has made appearances on the subject ranging from Good Morning America to Dr. Phil.[7]

Awards and accomplishments

Jakes has received numerous honors, including 13 honorary degrees and doctorates. His album A Wing and a Prayer won the "Best Gospel or Chorus Album" at the 46th Grammy Awards in 2003.[8] He has also received Grammy and Dove Award nominations for the gospel album "Live at The Potter's House." PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly named Jakes among America's "Top 10 Religious Leaders." Time magazine featured Jakes on the cover of its September 17, 2001 issue with the provocative question, "Is This Man the Next Billy Graham?"[9]


On the PBS program African American Lives, Jakes had his DNA analyzed; his Y chromosome showed that he is descended from the Igbo people of Nigeria.[10][11] According to his family history, it was suggested that he is also descended from them through his grandmother.[12][13]

Writings

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "T.D. Jakes (Washington Post)". trinityfi.org.
  2. ↑ "Troubled Syndie Market Takes Its Toll". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Tegna, Debmar-Mercury to Test Talker Starring T.D. Jakes". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "T.D. Jakes Talk Show Gets Summer Test Run in Heartland Markets". Variety. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Foust, Michael (January 27, 2012). "T.D. Jakes Embraces Doctrine of the Trinity, Moves Away from 'Oneness' View". Christianity Today. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  6. ↑ Menzie, Nicola (January 26, 2012). "TD Jakes Breaks Down the Trinity, Addresses Being Called a 'Heretic'". Christian Post. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Dr. Phil.com - Shows - Teens and Sex with the Bishop". drphil.com.
  8. ↑ Cusic, Don (ed.). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. p. 221. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Christ Notes". christnotes.org.
  10. ↑ "T.D. Jakes, D.Min., Alumnus". FICU Alumni Pages. Friends International Christian University. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
  11. ↑ EthnicLoft — Sharing and celebrating the treasures of our heritage and culture at the Wayback Machine (archived November 25, 2006)
  12. ↑ "Unknown Forum". websitetoolbox.com.
  13. ↑ Oprah Winfrey's ancestry traced to Liberia
  14. ↑ "Woman Thou Art Loosed". Internet Movie Database Inc. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  15. ↑ "Not Easily Broken". Internet Movie Database Inc. Retrieved 2007-12-23.

Further reading

External links

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