Touré Roberts and his wife Sarah Jakes Roberts, the daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, are being installed Sunday as co-senior pastors of Dallas megachurch The Potter’s House.
“Far more than a ceremonial handoff, this moment signals the beginning of a bold new era for The Potter’s House, as Bishop T.D. Jakes shifts from senior pastor to legacy builder, expanding his global influence and redoubling his efforts to address economic, cultural, and spiritual needs through the T.D. Jakes Group,” the church said in a statement before Sunday’s service.
The Potter’s House is also marking its 29th anniversary Sunday. Jakes moved to Dallas and founded the nondenominational megachurch in 1996. The church says it has 30,000 members.
In April, Jakes announced he would hand over leadership of the church to his daughter and son-in-law.
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“I know the crown is heavy,” he said during an April service. “But I also know that if God is for you, who can be against you?”
He will continue in his role as chairman of the T.D. Jakes Group, which includes his real estate company, social impact holding company and T.D. Jakes Foundation.
Jakes’ announcement comes about seven months after what he described as a “massive heart attack” while delivering a sermon on stage last November.
That same month, Jakes filed a lawsuit against a former minister who accused Jakes of alleged attempted sexual assault.
Philanthropy, local impact
As he hands off leadership of his church, Jakes is set to focus more on his philanthropic ventures.
In 2020, Jakes founded the T.D. Jakes Foundation, a nonprofit focused on “connecting underserved communities to life-changing opportunities,” according to its website.
The foundation’s partners include The Coca-Cola Company, the Dallas Mavericks and Goldman Sachs. In 2023, the foundation said it awarded $9 million in grants to 16 organizations with a focus on economic advancement.
The megachurch pastor has a real estate company, T.D. Jakes Real Estate Ventures, involved in affordable housing and senior living development projects. He also created a social impact holding company, T.D. Jakes Enterprises, which in 2024 acquired a tech company helping to power e-commerce for underrepresented and underresourced entrepreneurs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Potter’s House’s Dallas location became a mass vaccination site. The News reported in 2021 that the church had administered close to 54,000 shots.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson described The Potter’s House as a community institution in a video celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2021.
“I suspect that no matter what happens next in our city, The Potter’s House and Bishop Jakes will be around to help because that’s what you do,” Johnson said in the video.
Sean “Diddy” Combs controversy, lawsuits
Jakes has often made headlines in the past year. He was mentioned once in a February 2024 federal lawsuit filed against producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, and was described as a potential “public image” fixer for Combs.
Combs has been the subject of several recent lawsuits that accused him of sexual assault and sex trafficking. He was convicted Wednesday on two prostitution-related counts and acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
As public scrutiny of Combs’ behavior grew in 2023, unverified rumors about Jakes’ alleged ties to Combs spread on social media. Snopes, an online fact-checking site, said it found evidence that videos about Jakes and Combs on TikTok and YouTube were at least partially created with artificial intelligence.
Last fall, a Pennsylvania former minister alleged in videos on the YouTube talk show Larry Reid Live that Jakes attempted to sexually assault him.
On Nov. 24, Jakes suffered a health incident at his church. He later told The Today Show the incident was a “massive” heart attack.
On Nov. 25, Jakes filed a lawsuit against the former minister who accused Jakes of alleged attempted sexual assault. The minister’s brother then alleged in a sworn affidavit filed in the case that Jakes also attempted to sexually assault him.
Jakes responded to the allegations of attempted sexual assault in his own sworn affidavit, filed in February. In the affidavit, Jakes said the minister Duane Youngblood’s allegations were part of “a carefully orchestrated attempt to destroy me” and contributed to the Dallas pastor’s November health incident.
“Mr. Jakes filed a lawsuit against disgraced former minister and convicted child predator Duane Youngblood and other conspirators in response to Mr. Youngblood’s calculated disinformation campaign aimed at destroying Mr. Jakes’s reputation, extracting millions from Mr. Jakes, and launching a new career for himself,” Dustin Pusch, a lawyer for Jakes, wrote in a February statement to The News on the ongoing lawsuit.
What to know about Sarah Jakes Roberts and Touré Roberts
In the late 2010s, Sarah Jakes Roberts started Woman Evolve, now a women’s empowerment brand with a podcast, weekly devotional newsletter and book club.
Jakes Roberts has written several books and study guides, including the New York Times bestseller Woman Evolve. In that book, Roberts talks about relating to and learning from the Biblical character of Eve, who disobeyed God and plunged humanity into sin. She shares the message that no one is beyond God’s love.
Jakes Roberts told The News in 2023 that growing up as Bishop Jakes’ daughter, she didn’t feel like she belonged at church. She dreamed of becoming a rock star or a rapper and felt even more out of place when she got pregnant at 13.
She felt she disappointed her dad and God, but told The News she’s since found comfort in the promise of God’s love.
“I have learned that I never disappointed God or my dad to a point where I was not able to receive their love,” she said. She eventually had the idea to create a women’s ministry inspired by Eve: Someone who was flawed, but whom God had a plan for anyway.
Woman Evolve has since hosted women’s conferences that draw tens of thousands of attendees. In 2023, over 40,000 people registered for the three-day Woman Evolve conference at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.
In 2022, Jakes hosted the final edition of his long-running women’s conference Woman, Thou Art Loosed. He encouraged his followers to attend his daughter’s Woman Evolve conference the following year.
Touré Roberts has written three books, titled Purpose Awakening, Wholeness and Balance.
He also founded ONE | A Potter’s House Church, and co-leads the church with Jakes Roberts. “ONE began in the heart of Pastor Touré in 2004 and has since become a global movement reaching 100s of thousands of people every month through transformational teachings and local outreach,” according to the church’s website.
Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.