Bishop T.D. Jakes, the Dallas-based megachurch pastor, was recovering after he experienced a “health incident” during his Sunday sermon, according to his church.
Videos that circulated on social media on Sunday showed Bishop Jakes, 67, preaching before the congregation at the church, Potter’s House, when he began to slump over in his stool and dropped an item he had been holding. Church members rushed to his side.
In a statement posted to social media on Sunday, Potter’s House said, “During today’s service, Bishop T.D. Jakes experienced a slight health incident and received immediate medical attention following his powerful hour long message.”
The statement continued, “Bishop Jakes is stable and under the care of medical professionals.”
It was not clear what happened to Mr. Jakes during the sermon. The Potter’s House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
In the sermon, Bishop Jakes was describing his love of preaching.
“I still love to preach, I ain’t tired of preaching,” he said. “Ever gone to the hospital to visit somebody and you thought you were going to encourage them and they encourage you? That’s what preaching is like. You think you’re giving out something but you’re getting back more than you gave.”
He then began to deliver a prayer: “Now Lord let the words from my mouth and the meditations in my heart be acceptable.” But his words began to trail off while finishing the prayer, saying, “oh Lord, my strength, my redeemer, let him go in peace,” before his mic began to fall and he started to slump and shake slightly.
In a video posted to Instagram Reels with her husband, Sarah Jakes Roberts, one of the pastor’s daughters, said late Sunday night that she was “grateful that he’s already beginning to improve.”
Ms. Roberts’s husband, Touré Roberts, said the outcome could have been different.
“Obviously today could have been a tragic day but it wasn’t by the mercy of God, by the grace of God, Bishop is doing well, he’s recovering well,” Mr. Roberts said. “He’s strong, we’re trying to get him to sit down, he is the strong bishop that we know.”
Mr. Jakes is one of the most prominent Black ministers in the United States, growing the Potter’s House from a nondenominational, multicultural Christian church in southern Dallas into a 30,000-member megachurch with other state outposts in North Dallas and Fort Worth, as well as an outpost in Denver, according to its website.
Beyond regular services, the ministries offer literacy programs, AIDS outreach, homeless assistance, male mentorship and a large prison ministry program.
Mr. Jakes founded the church in 1996 and became a businessman, novelist and playwright, with a theater production company, a music label and television shows on Trinity Broadcasting Network and B.E.T., according to his website.
“I grew up in five generations of entrepreneurs, and I think you can be involved in business without compromising your religious principles,” he told The New York Times in 2004. “I think historically the ministers who were portrayed as charlatans may have had only one revenue stream. You don’t have to fleece the church to be successful.”
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