Tour\u00e9 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\u2019s House. <\/p>\n
\u201cFar more than a ceremonial handoff, this moment signals the beginning of a bold new era for The Potter\u2019s 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,\u201d the church said in a statement before Sunday\u2019s service. <\/p>\n
The Potter\u2019s House is also marking its 29th anniversary Sunday. Jakes moved to Dallas and founded the nondenominational megachurch in 1996. The church says<\/a> it has 30,000 members. <\/p>\n In April, Jakes announced he would hand over leadership of the church to his daughter and son-in-law.<\/p>\n Breaking News<\/p>\n \u201cI know the crown is heavy,\u201d he said during an April service. \u201cBut I also know that if God is for you, who can be against you?\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Jakes\u2019 announcement comes about seven months after what he described as a \u201cmassive heart attack\u201d while delivering a sermon on stage last November.<\/p>\n That same month, Jakes filed a lawsuit against a former minister who accused Jakes of alleged attempted sexual assault.<\/p>\n Philanthropy, local impact<\/b><\/p>\n As he hands off leadership of his church, Jakes is set to focus more on his philanthropic ventures. <\/p>\n In 2020, Jakes founded the T.D. Jakes Foundation, a nonprofit focused on \u201cconnecting underserved communities to life-changing opportunities,\u201d according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n The foundation\u2019s partners include<\/a> The Coca-Cola Company, the Dallas Mavericks and Goldman Sachs. In 2023, the foundation said<\/a> it awarded $9 million in grants to 16 organizations with a focus on economic advancement.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> helping to power e-commerce for underrepresented and underresourced entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Potter\u2019s House\u2019s Dallas location became a mass vaccination site. The News reported<\/a> in 2021 that the church had administered close to 54,000 shots.<\/p>\n Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson described The Potter\u2019s House as a community institution in a video celebrating its 25th anniversary<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cI suspect that no matter what happens next in our city, The Potter\u2019s House and Bishop Jakes will be around to help because that\u2019s what you do,\u201d Johnson said in the video.<\/p>\n Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs controversy, lawsuits<\/b><\/p>\n Jakes has often made headlines in the past year. He was mentioned once in a February 2024 federal lawsuit filed against producer Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, and was described as a potential \u201cpublic image\u201d fixer for Combs.<\/p>\n Combs has been the subject of several recent lawsuits that accused him<\/a> of sexual assault and sex trafficking. <\/b>He was convicted Wednesday<\/a> on two prostitution-related counts and acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. <\/p>\n As public scrutiny of Combs\u2019 behavior grew in 2023, unverified rumors about Jakes\u2019 alleged ties to Combs spread on social media. Snopes, an online fact-checking site, said it found evidence<\/a> that videos about Jakes and Combs on TikTok and YouTube were at least partially created with artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n Last fall, a Pennsylvania former minister alleged in videos on the YouTube talk show Larry Reid Live that Jakes attempted to sexually assault him.<\/p>\n On Nov. 24, Jakes suffered a health incident<\/a> at his church. He later told The Today Show<\/a> the incident was a \u201cmassive\u201d heart attack.<\/p>\n On Nov. 25, Jakes filed a lawsuit against the former minister<\/a> who accused Jakes of alleged attempted sexual assault. The minister\u2019s brother then alleged in a sworn affidavit filed in the case that Jakes also attempted to sexually assault him.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s allegations were part of \u201ca carefully orchestrated attempt to destroy me\u201d and contributed to the Dallas pastor\u2019s November health incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Jakes filed a lawsuit against disgraced former minister and convicted child predator Duane Youngblood and other conspirators in response to Mr. Youngblood\u2019s calculated disinformation campaign aimed at destroying Mr. Jakes\u2019s reputation, extracting millions from Mr. Jakes, and launching a new career for himself,\u201d Dustin Pusch, a lawyer for Jakes, wrote in a February statement to The News on the ongoing lawsuit.<\/p>\n What to know about Sarah Jakes Roberts and Tour\u00e9 Roberts<\/b><\/p>\n In the late 2010s, Sarah Jakes Roberts started Woman Evolve, now a women\u2019s empowerment brand with a podcast, weekly devotional newsletter and book club.<\/p>\n Jakes Roberts has written several books and study guides, including the New York Times bestseller<\/a> 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\u2019s love.<\/p>\n