Bishop T.D. Jakes speaks during The Sound of 50, celebrating Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
As clips of Bishop T.D. Jakes preaching across five decades played Sunday inside The Potter’s House, the congregation heard the sermons that made the 69-year-old pastor one of the country’s most recognizable religious leaders.
For Jakes, the recordings also brought back what he had been thinking and enduring when he delivered them.
An overview off the church during The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Parishioners duringThe Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Parishioners duringThe Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins sits in the crowd during The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
A woman gets emotional during The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Cowboys Hall of Famer Michael Irvin sits in the crowd during The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Sarah Jakes Roberts, the daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, sits in the crowd during The Sound of 50, celebrating Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Performers duringThe Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Nigerian minister Paul Adefarasin speaks during The Sound of 50, celebrating Bishop T.D. Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
“When you all play those little messages, you hear what I said, but I hear what I thought,” he said. “I hear what I had to go through to preach it.”
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The clips, he said, reminded him of struggles that were never captured on camera.
He described beginning with a small West Virginia congregation and traveling to preach when the offering sometimes did not cover the trip. Money was so tight, he told the crowd, that he would put his car in neutral and coast downhill to conserve gasoline.
“It does not matter where you start,” he said. “It only matters where you finish.”
The remarks came during “The Sound of 50,” a service tracing Jakes’ path from a 19-year-old preacher in West Virginia in 1976 to a nationally known pastor, author, film producer and entrepreneur.
The program mixed archival footage, music and testimonials with video tributes from public figures including Oprah Winfrey, filmmaker Tyler Perry and civil rights leader and former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young.
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Winfrey said Jakes’ influence could not be measured solely through institutions.
“Legacy is one thing. It’s every life you’ve touched,” she told him. “You’ve touched mine.”
Jakes redirected much of the praise toward relatives, ministers, staff members and congregants. He asked his children and grandchildren to stand and thanked them for the sacrifices they made during his decades of travel.
“You sacrificed,” he said. “You put up with it while I traveled around the world, often helping other people, and you needed me to be at home.”
Jakes described his wife, Serita, as essential to building and sustaining the ministry. He thanked her for getting up at 3 a.m. to cook when he was sick and making sure he had his medication. Over the years, he said, they took turns caring for one another.
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Jakes experienced a medical emergency while preaching in November 2024. He later said he had suffered a “massive heart attack.”
In April 2025, he announced he would leave the day-to-day leadership of The Potter’s House. His daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and son-in-law, Touré Roberts, were installed as co-senior pastors on July 6, 2025. Jakes remains chairman of the church’s board and its spiritual overseer.
“The Potter’s House was never just Mr. Jakes,” he said Sunday. “It never was, and it never will be. What we built is more than one man.”
Related: Bishop T.D. Jakes is handing Potter’s House leadership to daughter, son-in-law
From West Virginia to Dallas
Bishop T.D. Jakes listens to speakers during The Sound of 50, celebrating Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Jakes preached his first sermon in 1976 and was ordained in 1979, according to The HistoryMakers, an archive documenting prominent Black Americans.
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He later led a storefront church in West Virginia before moving to Dallas in 1996. About 50 families formed the core of The Potter’s House, and more than 2,000 people attended its first service, according to the church’s history.
The nondenominational congregation grew into a megachurch as Jakes’ work expanded through conferences, books, gospel music, television and film.
In 2001, Time placed Jakes on its cover and asked, “Is This Man the Next Billy Graham?” The magazine described him as a religious “polymath” whose books, broadcasts and conferences carried his influence beyond Dallas.
Jakes later produced or executive-produced films including Jumping the Broom, Heaven Is for Real and Miracles from Heaven. He also served as an executive producer of Lifetime’s Seven Deadly Sins anthology.
Jordan A. Hora, executive director of public relations and communications for the T.D. Jakes Group, said those projects reached people who might never walk into a sanctuary.
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“People might not come to the church, but they’ll watch a movie,” Hora said. “People might not come to a Wednesday night Bible study, but they’ll listen to an album.”
Jakes also appeared with political leaders from both parties. In 2005, President George W. Bush publicly thanked him for mobilizing religious communities to help people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Jakes later preached at a national prayer service after the storm.
On Jan. 20, 2009, he delivered a sermon at a private service at St. John’s Episcopal Church before President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Hora said that willingness to appear with leaders from both parties widened Jakes’ reach.
“He’s not afraid to bring everybody together, Democrats, Republicans,” Hora said.
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Related: TD Jakes: My hope overflows when I can be a vessel of hope for others
A closer measure
Bishop T.D. Jakes sits in the crowd with his wife Serita, during The Sound of 50, celebrating Jakes’ five-decade impact, at The Potter’s House in Dallas, Texas, Sunday, September 13, 2026.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Longtime member Chris Howell offered a more personal measure of Jakes’ influence.
Howell first came to The Potter’s House on Dec. 28, 1997, when he and his wife were 23 and nearing divorce. He was a Blockbuster Video district manager making more money than he ever had, but his success at work had not carried into his home.
“Professionally, I was successful, but personally, I was a failure,” Howell said.
He, his wife and their three children went to the altar that day. Their children, now in their 30s, still call Jakes their “forever bishop,” Howell said.
Jakes’ combination of biblical teaching and practical counsel gave Howell a model he had lacked growing up, he said. Delivering church announcements later helped him move into broadcasting, including work for Christian radio station KCBI-FM and as an NBC 5 contributor.
Howell and his wife, Dominique Bryant Howell, later founded the Chris Howell Foundation.
“To hear everyone come and give him his flowers while he can still hear them and smell them, I really appreciated that,” Howell said.
Kelley Cornish, president and CEO of the T.D. Jakes Foundation, followed Jakes’ televised ministry for more than 30 years before being chosen to lead the foundation.
“He can take the word of God and make it apply to your life in such a practical way,” Cornish said. “It’s not just in a sanctuary. He is taking what he gives you and modeling it around the world.”
Billy Martin, a member since 2000, said he has spent 26 years participating in the church’s prison and juvenile outreach.
“I’ve seen the impact of what it does outside of what others can see,” Martin said.
Near the end of the service, Jakes spoke about his admiration for Dolly Parton and how Whitney Houston transformed Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” for another generation.
He then borrowed the song’s title for his final message to the congregation.
“I appreciate every last one of you,” Jakes said. “And once again, I will always love you.”
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