On the stage of First Baptist Church of Glenarden International, Bishop T. D. Jakes didn’t spend much time preaching from the lectern at center stage of the megachurch.
Instead, the televangelist walked back and forth in his dark suit and striped tie, switching a handheld microphone from his left to his right hand, sometimes facing the predominantly Black congregation of thousands gathered for an annual revival at the start of the year, other times turned toward the clergy and the choir members sitting on the large stage.
“The Holy Spirit sent me all the way to the DMV to tell you this is your year to pivot,” the Dallas-based Pentecostal minister said to cheers and applause from the Washington, DC-area crowd, many on their feet on January 5. “You have to surround yourself with people who can pivot because they’re following who you used to be. Now they’ve got to follow who you have become.”
As he expounded on the biblical story of Joshua succeeding Moses, it was not readily apparent that two weeks before, rumors of the kind that might have led to his own succession had gone viral on social media. While some of his many ministries and businesses issued statements in response, Jakes appeared to be treating the rumors as a bit of turbulence rather than lasting turmoil.
The prosperity gospel preacher, entertainment executive, and ministry entrepreneur has grown exponentially since his early days as a storefront pastor in West Virginia. Jakes moved to the Dallas area in 1996 and founded The Potter’s House, now a nondenominational megachurch with multiple locations and more than 30,000 members, according to the Dallas Morning News.
In 2001, Time magazine featured the traveling evangelist on its cover, asking, “Is This Man The Next Billy Graham?” He now sits at the helm of numerous ministries and businesses and keeps the company of high-powered executives and A-list celebrities.
But those connections have spawned criticism and prompted salacious rumors.
