Men of God Spotlight
TD Jakes

Who he is:
In our society, we are at a rare time where there seems to be more and more people who “stand out� in various areas. One man “stands out� because he strove to step out in faith and obey the call of his Father. What has resulted is a life time of achievement, not by his own strength nor for his glory, but rather by the power of God and for the glory of God. The Holy Spirit leads TD Jakes even today, as he helps to reshape the world through the power of the One who gave him a voice to lead a generation.

TD Jakes grew up in South Charleston, WV and had parents who instilled in him the values that would help him grow into the man that God had designed him to be. His parents were benefactors in their communities and well respected. TD Jakes gives credit to his parents for who he is now. He recognizes the power and the influence that they had on him while he was growing up and sees the way that God used them for TD’s development.

TD began to fulfill the call of God in his life when he began a church in West Virginia. Though a small congregation, only 10 members at the start, TD saw the bigger picture…the fact that God had called out this group and more to follow into a worldwide movement. The church would eventually relocate from West Virginia to Dallas and now has more than 20,000 members. The church, The Potter’s House, is multiracial, a blessing in and of itself, and has more than 50 outreach ministries. As God leads TD Jakes, he follows, and though the church was a large accomplishment, God had much more in store for TD Jakes.

What can we learn from him:

As with any other large movement of God, controversy has come about in the teaching of Bishop Jakes. In the face of criticism and controversy, Bishop Jakes continues to reach out to those who are hurting and downtrodden, those who the “church� today have forgotten about in this era of in-home back scratching, make me feel good church services directed to those who are already in church. Jesus once said that you do not send a doctor to someone who is already healthy, but rather a doctor comes for those who are sick. TD Jakes believes this teaching and reaches out to the sick and the hurting, hoping that a word from the Lord will change their lives.

In 1992, Bishop Jakes preached a message “Woman, Thou Art Loosed� and what started as a simple, yet moving message, has turned into a movement that has touched the hearts and lives of hundreds of thousands of women in the United States and abroad. Speaking on the hurts that women experience from sexual abuse, to verbal abuse and even the hurt of being a single mother or having a failing marriage, Bishop Jakes offers hope through conferences and books. The conferences gives Bishop Jakes a chance to spread the message that the Lord has laid on his heart and the books allows the message to spread to even more remote areas where hurting women may not ever have the chance to attend a conference.

Bishop Jakes also began the Manpower conference which reaches out to the call of Lord for men. In the Manpower conferences, Jakes addressed the spiritual issues as well as the responsibilities of men into today’s world. Striving to transform men into being men of God who succeed in the eyes of the Lord has been influential in the lives of many men worldwide. We live in a world where men are no longer taking the lead in the homes and furthermore, lack the responsibility to be true “men of God� and the manpower ministry is seeking to change that fact, one man at a time.

The Potter’s House Ministry has donated large sums of money to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, to building homes for Habitat for Humanity, and to digging wells in Africa, as well as other humanitarian organizations that strive to help people who are hurting. The Potter’s House has reached out to AIDS victims, those who battle alcohol and drug addictions, and even those who are illiterate. Bishop Jakes has a vision to improve the lives of all of those he comes into contact with and to reach those who he may never meet in a physical sense.

We live in a world that needs people to rise up and make a difference. Many have attacked Bishop Jakes due to his theological stances and for some of the people whom he has shared a stage with, but what needs to be looked at is the effort to be Christ to those who need Christ the most. If we all spent less time trying to destroy the difference makers in this world and spent more time trying to make a difference, then we would all accomplish something.

No matter where you stand on the theological stances of Bishop Jakes, no one can deny that the Lord is using TD Jakes to change this world, to be the difference maker that God has called him to be. In reaching out to those who are hurting, TD Jakes is trying to transform lives through the love and message of Jesus Christ. May we all have that kind of drive in our lives to reach out to the lost and hurting for Jesus.

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