Bishop T. D. (Thomas Dexter) Jakes (born June 9, 1957 in South Charleston, West Virginia) is an American televangelist. He currently is the pastor of The Potters House, a primarily African-American Pentecostal megachurch in Dallas, Texas, which has often been accused of Oneness Pentecostal doctrines. His church services and evangelistic sermons are broadcast on The Potters Touch, which airs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Other aspects of Jakes' ministry include an annual revival called "MegaFest", an annual women's conference called "Woman Thou Art Loosed", and gospel music recordings.

Bishop T. D. Jakes has become one of America's best-known pentecostal evangelical ministers. He has met many famous evangelicals, and many of them look to Bishop Jakes as a sort of Billy Graham. He has been called the "black Billy Graham" by TIME Magazine.

He founded The Potter's House in 1996, with about 50 families that had relocated with him from his former congregation, Greater Emmanuel Temple of Faith in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. By December 2002, it had 28,000 members.

Jakes lives in Dallas with his wife Serita and their five children.

For the 2006 PBS program African American Lives, Jakes had his DNA analyzed; his Y chromosome showed that he is descended from the Igbo people of what is now Nigeria.

Potter's House Christian Fellowship

Both Jakes

Controversy

Jakes lives in a 1.7 million dollar mansion in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. This issue has created controversy because some people do not think ministers should own such investments, although the majority of U. S. Christians support successful pastors and Christian leaders. In August of 2005, Jakes came under fire in Atlanta, Georgia when area newspapers provided advertising space for him and were only offered free tickets to T.D. Jakes MegaFest entertainment events in exchange. Many papers found this insulting.

Sociologist Shayne Lee recently wrote a book entitled "T.D. Jakes: America's New Preacher" which is published by New York University Press. This book is an intriguing look at Jakes' life, message and ministry. It is part biography and part socio-historical analysis of contemporary American religion. Professor Lee takes a very thorough look at the complexities of Jakes' life and delineates the postmodern aspects of his message and ministry. Jakes is presented as profoundly American in the tradition of Ben Franklin and Booker T. Washington.

Groups contend that Jakes is a supporter of Oneness Pentecostal views, which deny the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, and as such consider him a heretic. Others, however, point to