In an emotional video posted Wednesday evening, Bishop T.D. Jakes thanked his medical team and all those who prayed for him after he fell ill during services Sunday at his Dallas church.
In the video posted to Instagram, the influential megachurch pastor was sitting in a wheelchair and appeared to be in front of a hospital. He said in a statement with the video that he was thankful to God that it was not a stroke, however the event could have been fatal if it weren’t for God’s intervention. He didn’t specify what had happened.
“I’m so grateful. So grateful to y’all,” he said, his voice breaking as he motioned to medical personnel in blue scrubs.
“All the people who prayed. All the people who texted. All the people who had prayer vigils. All the people who were concerned and sent love and notes. Just grateful. Thank you,” he said. “I’m not afraid to die. I don’t want to hurt my kids and the people who love me and my church that needs me. The world who called me and the God who sent me. Sometimes you just got to be grateful.”
Jakes, 67, was speaking to churchgoers Sunday when he sat down and began trembling as several people gathered around him, with one person asking for prayers. The broadcast of his sermon was quickly ended.
The church has not indicated when Jakes might return to the pulpit. “My job is to recuperate and reflect on God’s protection,” Jakes said in the Instagram statement. “I owe it to my amazing family and church members to rest and ruminate as He restores me towards His service.”
Jakes’ daughter Sarah Jakes Roberts and her husband Touré Roberts said in a social media video late Sunday that Jakes was improving. “Bishop is doing well. He’s recovering well. He’s under medical care. He’s strong,” Touré Roberts said. The couple did not say where Jakes was taken or the nature of his illness.
In a social media statement released Sunday, The Potter’s House wrote, “During today’s service, Bishop T.D. Jakes experienced a slight health incident and received immediate medical attention following his powerful hourlong message. Bishop Jakes is stable and under the care of medical professionals. The entire Potter’s House family is grateful for the outpouring of love, prayers and support from the community.”
Jakes’ nondenominational church, The Potter’s House of Dallas, was founded in 1996 and has more than 30,000 members, according to its website.
The Potter’s House has more than 50 ministries, according to his website. His sermons from The Potter’s House are broadcast and his ministries have hosted several annual conferences that drew tens of thousands of people, including the revival MegaFest, the women’s conference “Woman Thou Art Loosed” and the men’s conference “ManPower.”
Some Atlanta pastors issued statements of support for Jakes this week.
“Bishop Jakes is a global figure, not just to the Black Church but to the Church at large in Christendom,” said Pastor Jamal H. Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest. He said when people learned of the incident they “immediately went into prayer” for Jakes.
Bryant said Jakes has been a pillar in his life and also at New Birth, having preached at the dedication of the sanctuary and delivering the first sermon after COVID-19. As a 29-year-old preacher, Bryant was invited to speak at MegaFest in Atlanta, which was the biggest stage for the Baltimore native at that time.
Pastor Jentezen Franklin, pastor of Free Chapel, posted well wishes on X, saying, “Join me in prayer for Bishop T.D. Jakes. Let’s agree in prayer for his fast and complete recovery in Jesus’ name.”
Jakes is a well-known and influential religious figure with strong ties to Atlanta.
His official feed on X features a photograph of him with former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young in front of a banner for the ministry’s International Leadership Summit that was held in Dallas earlier this year.
The last “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” religious and empowerment conference was held in Atlanta in 2022 at the Georgia World Congress Center, where Jakes announced it would be his last. The hugely popular conference launched in 1996.
He’s also a real estate mogul. In 2023, he announced plans for redevelopment of a portion of Fort McPherson, a former Army post in southwest Atlanta. The Fort Mac Village is a subset of T.D. Jakes Real Estate Ventures and plans were announced for more than 900 apartments, 200 townhomes, 181 detached houses, a charter school, a senior living facility and commercial and office space.
In February, the T.D. Jakes Foundation announced that, in collaboration with Wells Fargo, it would be making a philanthropic investment of $9 million in grants to 16 community-based organizations across the U.S. Those organizations include the Community Foundation of Central Savannah River Area, which was to get $500,000 to establish a grocer in the Laney Walker neighborhood of Augusta, and $500,000 to Westside Future Fund in Atlanta.
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