TD Jakes: A story of faith tested, pain redeemed and legacy built.

By Kalu Okoronkwo

The pulpit stands more than wood and microphone, it carries the weight of legacy, sacrifice, vision, and the wounds of life. For decades, Bishop Thomas Dexter Jakes has held that pulpit with strength; but pressed by health, time, and God’s whisper of change, he has handed over leadership of The Potter’s House to the next generation.

Bishop Jakes built The Potter’s House in Dallas in 1996, saw its flock multiply, communities transformed and souls saved.  But ministry, like life, exacts its price. He has  faced accusations, been sued, suffered a health collapse from a massive heart attack while preaching in November 2024 and in that moment, Jakes realized his mortality, the fragility of his voice, body, time and perhaps for a second, he pondered on Proverbs 27:1, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  Even then, he would not let the work crumble.

One of Jakes’  greatest storms came when his daughter Sarah became pregnant at age 13/14.  For a pastor whose voice bears inspiration and speaks piety,  whose life is subject to scrutiny, this shock cut deep. As Sarah later shared: “the moment was traumatic, not simply for what it meant publicly, but what it did to my soul. Shame, fear, and grief”. For T.D. Jakes, it felt “like the worst thing in the world” given his public life.

In societies where shame often becomes a weapon, and girls are punished for mistakes, the impulse might be to disown, silence or completely erase her. In many parts of Africa and elsewhere, a girl in Sarah’s position may be rejected by family, community and sometimes even by faith institutions.

She could be made to marry hastily, labelled immoral, and excluded. The child may be born but the mother despised. But for Jakes and his wife, Serita, they saw a bigger picture of hope and after the initial grief, they chose love.

They did not abandon Sarah; they grieved the dreams they had for her, then worked with what was before them,  supporting her health, ensuring she stayed in school.

As a pastor’s daughter, Sarah’s pregnancy caused controversy when the news broke and the church faced a huge backlash from the media, but she was quick to share her belief that “individuals must make a choice about their own lifestyle, regardless of their family’s values”

Sarah’s story is not only one of pain, it’s also of faith reclaimed. She describes it as being “lost” in shame, in relationships that compounded hurt. But she found healing through honesty, writing and ministry.

There are stories that preach louder than sermons. They are lived out in tears, in scars, in triumphs born from trial. The life of Bishop Thomas Dexter Jakes (better known as T.D. Jakes)  is one of such story. It is a story where faith was tested, pain was endured and redeemed, and legacy was built not in the absence of suffering but through it.

From the beginning, Jakes’ path bore the fingerprints of struggle. Born in West Virginia, he grew up watching his father battle illness, eventually losing him when he was just 16. His mother would later succumb to Alzheimer disease,  as Jakes  held her frail hand as she slipped into eternity.

These experiences echoed the lament of Job: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). Yet rather than abandon his faith, Jakes leaned deeper into it. His grief became the seedbed of a voice that would one day comfort millions.

In the 1970s and 80s, when he began preaching, he was dismissed as too emotional, too Pentecostal, too unlikely to thrive in America’s polished religious establishment. But faith tested in fire produces endurance. As Paul wrote, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4).

No pain cuts as sharply as the one that touches home. Jakes’ household was struck by what he would later describe as one of the most devastating trials of his life. His daughter’s teenage pregnancy, for a global preacher was one crushing news.

Critics whispered, some mocked while others questioned his worthiness to lead. Jakes himself admitted he thought it was “the worst thing in the world” as his family grieved in silence.

However, Sarah’s story did not end at 13. She pressed forward graduating from high school early, writing books that bore witness to her detours and redemption, and stepping boldly into ministry alongside her husband, Pastor Touré Roberts.

Her journey embodies the gospel itself: that weakness does not disqualify, that shame can be exchanged for strength, and that grace writes new endings where the world insists the story is finished. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

For T.D. Jakes, this redemption was not abstract. It was the tangible evidence that his faith, though tested, had held and that his deepest pain could yet become a testimony.

Sarah herself once shared how her father, world-renowned church leader of a non-denominational megachurch with an estimated 50,000 members was rendered speechless when he found out.

“I remember my parents being completely silent for a really long time. I know that may not be a big deal in most homes, but when your father speaks for a living, to render him speechless is quite the task,” she said.

Sarah, who later became leader of the women’s ministry at The Potter’s House, noted that her parents were “extremely disappointed” to find that she was sexually active at such a young age, but that they were supportive of her as she made the transition to teen mother”.

“I was 14 years old and never in my parents dream that their daughter will have a child at that age. For a very long time they grieved the dream that they had for their daughter, but once we got through that and it was a process, then we started looking at the practical matters of healthcare, school and education,” she explained.

In her book, Lost and Found: Finding hope in the detours of life, she expands on her journey, including her four-year marriage and subsequent divorce from former NFL player Robert Henson. She shares the grace that she has found in a loving relationship with God.

“I always say that I considered finding the pieces that you gave away of yourself along the way. When I had my son at such an early age I dealt with a lot of shame and pressure and found myself in bad relationships and just giving myself away,” she told Good Morning Texas. “As I really desired to live my life for God I found the pieces that I gave away and I learned to love myself again.”

Bishop Jakes has spoken out about his daughter’s pregnancy in the past, saying that he and his wife were “shocked, crushed and emotionally devastated”, but decided to “rise above the trauma”. “Love overrides everything,” “It wasn’t about being embarrassed; it wasn’t about protecting my image. I cared nothing about that. I cared about Sarah.”, he said

But like the biblical Joseph, whose brothers meant evil but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20), Jakes family believed in redemption and indeed, things took a positive turn after the initial shock of teenage pregnancy with Sarah graduating from high school early; pursuing higher education; beginning to speak and write about her experiences,  leading  in ministry work.  Her voice became not just one of repentance, but of empowerment and service.

Time has a way of doing two things: exposing cracks, and shaping character. After surviving a massive heart attack in 2024, Jakes realized the time had come to prepare the flock for continuity. But this is no ordinary hand over, it is the crescendo of a life lived in agony and triumph, shame and redemption, death and resurrection.

On April 27, 2025, in a moment thick with emotion, Jakes announced he would step aside as senior pastor and pass the mantle of leadership to Sarah and Touré Roberts, while he will still retain the role of chairman and continue preaching occasionally.  This is more than a role shift, it is a story anchored in faith, enduring pain and choosing legacy over prejudice.

He told the congregation: Sarah and Toure were not being appointed because of blood alone, but because “they’ve immersed themselves into the DNA of this church for years… What you didn’t know from November forward, they’ve been running the church anyway.”

In a world where many would demand silence as a sign of failure,  Jakes insists on speaking still and ensures those who follow can speak louder. His choice to hand over leadership to his daughter, a woman who has withstood scrutiny, expectations, and her own journey, is an evidence to the power of grace over judgment.

This is more than passing the baton. It is an act of faith in future fire, of trust that what has been built in tears and trials will not be diminished but multiplied.

T.D. Jakes’ journey from the weight of early loss, through shock and disappointment, to a legacy of leadership reminds us that suffering is not the end  of the story. It can be the forge of compassion, the womb of powerful voices.

Today Sarah Jakes Roberts stands behind her own pulpit, no longer just “the preacher’s kid,” but a woman who bore rejection, shame, fear and transformed them into service, testimony and love.

The microphone was never dropped, it was passed with faith, with pain turned to power, with legacy entrusted to one who knows what it cost.

In mostly Africa and elsewhere, the girl who becomes pregnant outside wedlock at a very young age  may be stigmatized, forced out of school, married off to escape shame, without opportunity for voice or choice.

She may be shunned by, community, her own family and may also carry the burden of inter-generational shame.

The faith institutions may not respond with grace, but with condemnation while the mother of the girl may be blamed and the girl herself considered “damaged.”

But Sarah’s story, and her father’s response shows a pathway for faith, love and leadership. To borrow from Proverbs 31:8-9: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.” T.D. Jakes, by refusing to silence his daughter, has spoken for many especially women who cannot yet speak and offered justice to those crushed by shame.

It is an affirmation that one’s worst chapter need not be one’s final one as grace does not end where public humiliation begins. And to every young girl in Africa (or anywhere) smudged  by shame by religious and societal imposition, your story is valid and your voice matters.

From the ashes of loss and the shock of disappointment, T.D. Jakes has built something enduring. His faith has been tested by death, by ridicule, by personal grief. His pain has been redeemed through love, through grace, through his daughter’s triumph. And his legacy has been built not on perfection, but on perseverance.

In a world quick to discard the fallen and shame the broken, Bishop Jakes chose believe in the possibility of redemption, even when it bore his own name and his own child. Today, as Sarah Jakes Roberts stands where her father once stood, the testimony resounds. The mic was not dropped, it was passed and with it, a legacy of faith, of grace, of love that will echo for generations to come.

Kalu Okoronkwo is a communications strategist, a leadership and good governance advocate dedicated to impactful societal development and can be reached via kalu.okoronkwo@gmail.com.