T.D. Jakes

Thomas Dexter Jakes Sr. (born June 9, 1957), known as T. D. Jakes, is a pastor, author and filmmaker. He is the pastor of The Potter's House, a Nondenominational American megachurch. Jakes' church services and evangelistic sermons are broadcast on The Potter's Touch, which airs on Lightsource.com, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Black Entertainment Television, the Daystar Television Network and The Word Network. Other aspects of Jakes' ministry include the annual festival MegaFest which draws more than 300,000 people, the annual women's conference Woman Thou Art Loosed, and gospel music recordings. He hosted the T.D. Jakes Show, a nationally syndicated talk show produced by Tegna Media and distributed by NBC, until the show's cancellation in March 2017. 2Early life Jakes was born in South Charleston, West Virginia, and grew up in Vandalia, attending local Baptist churches. He spent his teenage years caring for his invalid father and working in local industries. Feeling a call to the ministry, he enrolled in West Virginia State University and began preaching part-time in local churches, but he soon dropped out of the university. He took a job at the local Union Carbide and continued preaching part-tim