c. 1998 Religion News Service
CLEVELAND _ Bishop T.D. Jakes spins left, spins right, his arms a whirlwind of motion as his voice rises and falls, then rises a little bit higher the next time in a rapid-fire exhortation about the crosses all individuals bear in life.
The husky preacher glides across the stage as he talks of the woman who had to borrow her sister’s dress and cousin’s shoes to come to the Cleveland Convention Center that night and the parents of a retarded child who were afraid to take their son with them on Sunday morning because their church doesn’t want to hear about real problems.
“Can we be real tonight?” he shouts amid a chorus of “Alleluias” and whistles and stomping feet that loses none of its frenzy in the last rows of the huge convention center ballroom. Up front, scores of stiff-backed preachers smile at each other sheepishly and give each other high-fives each time Jakes pauses long enough for them to realize they are as caught up partying “in the Holy Ghost” as their flocks.
“I sure didn’t come here to play church,” Jakes declares, before allowing his voice to reach a climax. “I came here to declare war on the enemy.”
It is a long way from Vandalia, W.Va., to the packed hall of 2,800 attending the annual convocation of the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ, which is based here. It is one of nearly 300 preaching appearances scheduled this year for Jakes, 41. He has exploded in popularity in recent years with a powerful preaching style and a message of empowerment that resonates with the growing men’s and women’s movements in Christianity.
The former high school dropout and ditch digger began pastoring in a storefront church in 1980 in West Virginia with 10 members. He now heads a multimillion-dollar enterprise based in Dallas that includes his 16,000-member Potter’s House church, where such prominent congregants as Dallas Cowboys stars Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith worship.
His television show “Get Ready With T.D. Jakes” airs three times a week on Black Entertainment Television and Trinity Broadcasting Network, and his latest book “The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord”(G.P. Putnam’s Sons) is on top of Christian best-seller lists.
Some 1,000 people had to be turned away from the convention center during his mid-August appearance because there were not enough seats. Hundreds of people showed up at his book signings in the Cleveland area last month.
“Jakes is just about the best preacher in America,” said the Rev. Darrell Scott of New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights. “Jakes’ a bad boy, man. Can’t nobody preach like T.D. Jakes.”
The man in the banker’s gray, chalk-striped suit did not disappoint at the Pentecostal convocation. Although they had to wait three hours after the scheduled 7 p.m. meeting start for Jakes to appear _ because his flight from Dallas was delayed _ the crowd was still yelling and whistling and shouting “Alleluia” as midnight approached.
“I’m ready to get into this word tonight! Are you ready for some word?” Jakes says, giving one of many “Holy Ghost jumps” to the crowd.
For about two hours, Jakes strides up and down the stage. He excites his audience with dramatic gestures and a compelling cadence that rises in intensity as he makes the connection between Scripture and individuals’ lives. In poetic language, he paints portraits of ancient believers hanging off rooftops to listen to Jesus, then the image of his mother walking into church for the first time after a series of brain surgeries.
The message this evening is that God stands by the faithful with all their troubles, even if the church sometimes doesn’t.
“You have to be rejected if you’re going to be selected. … It is the rejection of men that gives the direction we seek _ to the face of God,” Jakes proclaims.
Forget about the idea that if people really have faith, they don’t have to suffer, he declares.
“We have to act like everything is wonderful all the time. Everything is happy all the time,” Jakes says. “But in the life of every real Christian, there is a cross.”
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For some people, the cross may be poverty. For others, it may be the pain of a failing marriage, or an unwed pregnant daughter or the heartbreak of learning a son is HIV positive, he said.
“Look around you ladies and gentlemen, there are as many crosses in this room as there are people,” Jakes says.
That’s where Jesus comes in.
“Who could stand those nails without him? Who could stand this pain without him? Who could raise their children without him? Who could balance their checkbook without him?” Jakes asks, his voice taking on increasing urgency. “Anybody will be with you when you come up. But I need somebody who will be nailed down with me.”
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As they left, conference participants marveled at Jakes’ preaching.
“It was wonderful. It was magnificent,” said Darlene Snipes, 41, of Akron, Ohio. “There may be a thousand people in the room, but he’s speaking right to you.”
They also appreciated his recognition of the challenges women face.
“I think the Christian woman has a lot to contend with,” said Naomi Rycker of William Temple Church of God in Christ, in Cleveland. “Bishop Jakes seems to recognize that. He seems to be able to reach the woman and encourage her at this time.”
While black church leaders have paid increasing attention to getting men back into the pews, Jakes has had particular success reaching the core congregation of most churches.
In his latest book and other best-sellers such as “Woman, Thou Art Loosed,” he attempts to help women come to terms with the struggles in their lives. In July, some 50,000 women attended a “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” conference in Atlanta.
In an interview, Jakes said the way many women are treated in church reminds him of the old South African system of apartheid.
“While they do dominate the congregations, they’re always controlled by men,” Jakes said. “Just because you’re more doesn’t mean you’re mighty.”
Although some were molested as children or face issues from spousal abuse to AIDS, when they enter the sanctuary doors, many are expected “to be prima donna Aunt Bea-type ladies.”
If Jakes has come in for criticism, it is for a lavish lifestyle. Not all of the millions from his media empire go back into the ministry. In 1996, he bought a $1.7 million home. His expensive clothes and cars also raise eyebrows among critics who say it is inconsistent with a biblical message critical of the gulf between the wealthy and the poor.
Jakes does not apologize for his personal wealth, saying it would be discriminatory for a Christian not to be able to make money simply because of his religion.
But wealth isn’t everything, he says. People who are rich have other crosses to bear, and it is that message that plugs into the needs and hurts of the middle- and upper-middle class as well as the poor that has contributed to his mainstream appeal.
“How dare you be jealous of me while I’m bleeding on my cross?” Jakes shouted at one point during his sermon here, to a crowd that was standing in recognition of his reflections that people suffer “up under the hat, up under the suit, up under the bishop’s collar.”
In his life, Jakes said in an interview, that reality has hit hardest in recent months in feeding spoonfuls of mush to his mother, who had to undergo seven brain surgeries in 12 weeks this year.
“Somewhere in the tears and the faithfulness and the faithlessness . . . comes a grace to deal with things that you would have thought would drive you over the edge,” Jakes said. “And that’s the absolute truth.”
DEA END BRIGGS
