TD Jakes Books and Ministry

Bishop TD Jakes is the founding pastor of The Potter's House, a nondenominational mega-church in Dallas, Texas with an average weekly attendance of over 28,000 people. His sermons are broadcast to a potential audience of over one billion people. In his own words, Bishop TD Jakes' ministry reaches out to people "who've been abused, molested, in jail, ostracized, or criticized." Those people "can come to Christ, need not hide who they were, can be rehabilitated, can become productive--and God has grace to receive them."

Thomas Dexter Jakes was born on June 9, 1957 in South Charleston, West Virginia to Ernest Sr., a businessmen and entrepreneur, and Odith, an educator. In 1979, with little money and only ten initial members, he founded Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith as a storefront church in Montgomery, West Virginia. Initially, TD Jakes dug ditches as his day job in order to be able to preach Sundays. During the next decade, attendance at Jakes' church grew to over 1,000.

TD Jakes is perhaps best known for his "Woman, Thou Art Loosed" products, including a book, audiobook, film, play, and national conference. In 1992, he first taught a Sunday School lesson called "Woman, Thou Art Loosed" aimed to free women from the pain of past abuse and hurts. The following year, Bishop TD Jakes wrote and self-published a book called "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," which eventually exploded into a national bestseller with over 1.5 million copies sold.

In 1996, TD Jakes founded The Potter's House in Dallas. The church grew from 50 families to over 28,000 people in just seven years. TD Jakes has received numerous honors, including several honorary doctorates. He has also received Grammy and Dove Award nominations for Gospel album "Live at The Potter's House." PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly named TD Jakes among America's "Top 10 Religious Leaders." Plus, TD Jakes was featured on the cover of the September 17, 2001 issue of Time Magazine, which named him "America's Best Preacher" and "the next Billy Graham." In his typical style, T.D. Jakes responded to that by saying, "I'm not the next Billy Graham. Why be a cheap copy of a great original? I'd rather produce new great originals -- people of accomplishment, working in the trenches of life, touching others."

In addition to pastoring The Potter's House, TD Jakes hosts several national conferences, including "Woman, Thou Art Loosed," "ManPower," and "God's Leading Ladies." Recently, Jakes combined those into a single event called "Megafest." TD Jakes regularly draws capacity crowds at his conferences and ministry events.

Bishop TD Jakes has written more than twenty books, including He-Motions, Woman, Thou Art Loosed, So You Call Yourself a Man?, Maximize the Moment, Cover Girls, The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord, Can You Stand to Be Blessed?, and many others. TD Jakes lives in the Dallas area with his wife and childern.

Christ Notes is not affiliated with or sponsored by TD Jakes Ministries or The Potter's House Church. For the official website of those organizations, see: www.tdjakes.org and www.thepottershouse.org.