Jakes, Thomas Dexter Sr. (T.D.)

Impact on the world

Founded The Potter's House in Dallas in 1996 with 50 founding families, building it into a congregation of more than 30,000 members with satellite campuses across Texas and in Denver, while his ministries expanded into GED and literacy programs, addiction and reentry support for the formerly incarcerated, and large-scale conference series including the long-running 'Woman, Thou Art Loosed'; in April 2025 he announced he would step down as senior pastor following a near-fatal heart attack suffered on stage months earlier, transferring leadership to his daughter and son-in-law, though he has also faced unresolved lawsuits alleging sexual assault, which he has denied and countersued over.

Life & background

Born in South Charleston, West Virginia and raised in a Baptist household, Jakes began preaching as a child despite being warned that a lisp might hold back his career, later leaving school to help support his parents and earning his GED before founding his first church, a ten-member storefront congregation in Smithers, West Virginia, in 1982. His ministry's national profile grew through a 1990s television show and his bestselling book 'Woman, Thou Art Loosed,' which addressed trauma and healing and was later adapted into both a stage play and a 2004 film; in 1996 he relocated to Dallas with 50 founding families to establish The Potter's House, which grew over the following decades into one of the largest megachurches in the country, with weekly attendance estimated at well over ten thousand. He led the early morning prayer service for President Obama's first inauguration in 2009, received the NAACP's President's Award, and won a Grammy for Best Gospel Choir or Chorus Album in 2004, while building a media and publishing enterprise, TDJ Enterprises, encompassing dozens of books and several films. In November 2024 he suffered a massive heart attack while delivering a sermon on stage, later saying doctors told him he would have died had he arrived at the hospital five minutes later; the experience led him to announce in April 2025 that he would step down as senior pastor, transferring leadership to his daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and her husband, Touré Roberts, while remaining chairman of the church's board. That same period, Jakes faced lawsuits from two men alleging sexual assault, allegations he has categorically denied while filing a countersuit of his own, and was briefly named in unrelated litigation involving music executive Sean Combs; as of this writing, none of these allegations have been resolved by any court.

Sources

1. The Potter's House); Encyclopædia Britannica; Baptist News Global; NBC News; The Potter's House official website