Thomas Dexter Jakes

Thomas Dexter Jakes

While still in his teens, Jakes attended Center Business College (1972) and then West Virginia State College (1976). He later received a B.A. (1990), an M.A. (also 1990), and a Doctorate of Ministry (1995) from Friends University in Kansas, a private college that does not indicate any accreditation at its website, //www.friends.edu/. While earning his degrees, Jakes worked for business and industry (1976-1982) to support himself and his wife, Serita (married in 1980), with whom he has five children: Jamar, Jermaine, Cora, Sarah, and Thomas Jakes, Jr (Northhouse, 2008).

Meanwhile, in 1979, Jakes was called to the ministry. At first, he ministered part-time out of a storefront he called the Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith in West Virginia. He grew his small, interracial congregation from just 10 members in 1980 to a congregation large enough to support him as a full-time pastor. Part of his attraction was his ability to attract an integrated congregation of members crossing racial lines that had previously divided his community (Maccoby, 2003).

Jakes also moved from his small storefront to a larger church in another West Virginia town (1990) and then to a still-larger church in yet another West Virginia town (1993). In 1996, he and his family along with about 50 other families in his congregation left Virginia to found a church near Dallas, Texas. There, they founded The Potter's House, a nondenominational, multiracial Christian church. Within two years, 14,000 congregants were attending various services in his megachurch's 5,000-seat auditorium. Since then, his congregation has grown to exceed 30,000 members.

While enlarging the flock in his church, Jakes was also extending his ministry beyond the church. He started his “The Master's Plan” radio program, on which he was both the producer and the host (1982-1985); his “Bible Conference” ministry (1983-); and his Get Ready with T.D. Jakes TV show, which he hosts, aired on both Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and Black Entertainment Television (BET) (1993-). Soon after, Jakes founded T.D. Jakes Ministries, a nonprofit conference and television ministry (1994-). His televangelist The Potter's House church services and sermons can now be seen both on TBN and on The Word Network (TWN). For a time, Jakes also wrote a column for Ministries Today (1996-1997). Before the end of the millennium, Jakes also extended his ministry directly into prisons by creating the Prison Satellite Network (1999), enabling prisoners to view live conferences, church services, and bible study while incarcerated.

In the early 1990s, Jakes added another dimension to his ministry with his book Woman, Thou Art Loosed! Healing the Wounds of the Past (1993/1996). It was soon the second-best-selling Christian book (in 1995) and the third-best-selling religious book (1996), selling more than 800,000 copies by 1996. In 1997, the book was adapted into a musical recording, Woman, Thou Art Loosed: The Songs of Healing and Deliverance, nominated for a Grammy and honored with the Gospel Music Association's prized Dove Seal (both 1997). It was also adapted to the stage (produced in 1999), to television (2001), ...