After roughly three decades as one of the most prominent faces of American faith, Bishop T.D. Jakes is leaving his leadership position months after a health scare.
The 67-year-old megachurch pastor announced that he is retiring as senior pastor of The Potter’s House, a non-denominational Pentecostal megachurch in Dallas, Texas, which has grown into a political and cultural powerhouse.
“I’ve seen too many men build something and stay so long that they kill what they build,” Jakes said during a recent Sunday service.
Over the years, Jakes’ influence has ballooned beyond the walls of his 30,000-member congregation. While creating an institution with various campuses across the globe that prides itself on community outreach and investing millions into affordable housing and anti-poverty programs, Jakes has become a multimillionaire businessman in part as an author and playwright.
Bishop Jakes has advised many high-profile individuals in the business, entertainment and civil rights world, but especially noteworthy has been close relationships with presidents across party lines.
When Bill Clinton admitted to having “sinned” in his relationship with the former White House intern Monica Lewinsky almost 30 years ago, for example, the Texas megachurch leader was among the clergy the then-president called upon when seeking the nation’s forgiveness.
During the George W. Bush era, Jakes sought to maintain his bipartisan reputation even as more liberal supporters questioned his proximity to the conservative evangelical, saying he was a “minister to both sides of the bird.” He petitioned the White House to boost funding in aid to African nations and drew attention to the lack of sufficient federal disaster response for the victims devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Barack Obama embraced Jakes early in his ascension to the Oval Office after cutting ties with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, during the 2008 campaign. He later invited the Texas pastor to his inauguration in 2009, and the two had several prayer counsels via phone and in person.
Outside of the megachurch, part of the reason Jakes became a household name was a slate of original TV movies and a short-lived talk show that was a hit among Black audiences in particular.
He produced a series of Lifetime films in his “Seven Deadly Sins” anthology based on books by Christian fiction author Victoria Christopher Murray. The films starred Michelle Williams, Tina Knowles, Keri Hilson, Kandi Burrus, Romeo Millo, LisaRaye McCoy and Eric Benét.
A 2009 film based on his 2006 novel “Not Easily Broken” starred Academy Award-nominee Taraji P. Henson and Morris Chestnut. He also has pursued business ventures together with family friend and billionaire Tyler Perry, including Jakes’ 2021 land purchase near the Hollywood megaproducer’s Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. It’s been reported that the pair purchased over 130 acres of land at shuttered Army base Fort McPherson in the city.
For Jakes’ supporters, the decision to retire is just as startling as the bishop suffering a heart attack last November while delivering a sermon. The footage posted on social media showed Jakes pausing and suddenly shaking as parishioners gathered around him. Potter’s House initially downplayed what had occurred as a “slight health incident,” but he later revealed how close he had come to death. “You’re looking at a miracle,” Jakes said in a video address a month after the medical emergency.
Long seen as heir apparent to her family’s legacy, Sarah Jakes Roberts will take the helm of Potter’s House alongside her husband and author Touré Roberts, whom she married in November 2014.
Observers noted the significance of Jakes passing the torch to his daughter, which many believe will add to his legacy among Black churchgoers.
Jakes Roberts, a quasi-social media influencer, showcases fitness workouts, sermons and styled looks to her 4 million Instagram and TikTok followers. Touré, too, boasts hundreds of thousands of social media fans. They share five children from previous marriages and one together.
Named a Time100 Next honoree in 2023, Jakes Roberts is CEO of Women Evolve, which hosts a popular women’s empowerment conference each year attended by thousands of women. The 2025 edition is slated for this summer in Atlanta.
At just 14, the second-generation pastor was pregnant with her first child, revealing the news to her powerful parents.
“I thought that (the pregnancy) was just the worst thing in the world that could possibly happen to me. And now that same daughter is ministering all over the world,” her dad told ABC’s Paula Faris in 2019.
