Sacred Love Songs
Thomas Jakes is one of the most popular Christian preachers in America and a best-selling author. Bishop T.D. Jakes began recording in 1997 with a live version of his most popular book, Woman, Thou Art Loosed!. Born in 1957 in West Virginia, Jakes was raised as a Baptist, but an experience at a Apostolic church gave him a sense of purpose to preach the unity to a disparate Christian America. He attended West Virginia State University and studied psychology, though he later earned a master's as well as a doctorate in the ministry. After marrying in 1980 and working for several years at Union Carbide, he moved into a full-time ministry role with the founding of Charleston's Temple of Faith in 1986.
Although "T. D." was the part-time music director at the Baptist church where he grew up and had been preaching part-time since college, it wasn't until 1982 that he began full-time ministry. Two years earlier, Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith had opened its storefront doors to an initial congregation of 10 with Bishop Jakes as its Founder and Pastor. In a short time, his fresh and inspiring messages transcended racial lines, spread word-of-mouth, and drew a large and growing integrated congregation in a historically divided community.
Bishop Jakes' style has always been intensely his own. From the pulpit, his Pentecostal fervor blazes most frequently on the subjects of restoration, reconciliation and healing. His sermons are dense with poetic commentary, startling insights, and contemporary applications of the Bible's timeless message. In the audience, his words are punctuated by passionate praise, worship and spontaneous dancing.
Charisma Magazine's Ken Walker wrote that Bishop Jakes' message, "Is about God's supernatural ability, bestowed by a Lord who is color-blind and cares about each person. . . . [Bishop Jakes] delivers the Word in such a lightning-rod fashion that he makes you believe that all things really are possible with God."
T.D. Jakes' renown grew during the rest of the decade as he gave several high-profile sermons around the nation, including the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship's convention before 45, 000 people. By 1993, he had begun writing Christian books, and in 1995 his Woman, Thou Art Loosed! became the second best-selling Christian book of the year. In early May 1996, Bishop Jakes relocated his family and 50 other families to Dallas. He founded and now serves as senior pastor of The Potter's House, a multiracial, non-denominational church with more than 17,000 members. The facility is situated atop 28 acres of rolling hills in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. In less than two years, his ministry has earned a national reputation for deep healing and changed lives.
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