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Posted: 10/3/03

Jakes' novel targets spiritual secrets

By Greg Garrison

Birmingham Post Herald

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) –Although he's an old-fashioned, pulpit-pounding preacher who frequently has to wipe the sweat from his brow, evangelist T.D. Jakes brings the biblical message into a modern context.

In his books and sermons, Jakes tackles issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, unhealthy sexual relationships and changing gender roles.

He knows how to reach an audience in a church, a civic center, on TV–or in a book store.

On a recent trip to Birmingham, Jakes signed books for fans at a local book store and talked about the success of his ministry.

He's pastor of the Potter's House, a church in Dallas that draws 8,000 worshippers to each of its two Sunday services. The services are featured in Jakes' weekly TV shows on Black Entertainment TV and Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Jakes was in Birmingham to promote his latest book, “Cover Girls,” about working women with spiritual issues.

“It's my first novel,” Jakes said. “It depicts the life of four women in a workplace. All of them are hiding something. They have problems in their lives they haven't faced. Until they do, they don't find the peace they're looking for.”

It's yet another way Jakes has found to guide Christians–especially women–on their spiritual journey. Most of his 16 books have been self-help guides.

“Woman, Thou Art Loosed!” sold 1.25 million copies and tied into his nationally touring women's conferences of the same name.

Now called “God's Leading Ladies,” Jakes continues his enormously popular road-show conferences for women.

“It teaches women how to grow spiritually, how to manage their finances and careers,” he said.

Jakes also has held men's conferences, such as the 1998 Manpower crusade featuring Dallas Cowboys football players Deion Sanders and Emmitt Smith, both of whom he had baptized the year before.

But his conferences and books targeted at women have been his most successful. Most of those waiting in line at his book signing were women.

It's not about dealing with gender issues so much as reaching people where they are hurting, Jakes said. His ministry has focused on motivational messages for people who have survived traumas, helping them turn their pain into spiritual power.

“The gender roles are being redefined,” Jakes said. “The day of women being limited to housewives whose only concern is getting biscuits made and kids off to school is not the reality anymore. Women are balancing careers and family and the pursuit of a spiritual life.”

Jakes talks about women having “soul scars and broken hearts” that no man–only God–can fill.

“Only God can reach into a woman's heart and stitch up the scars,” he said. “He is the foundation from which all other relationships emerge.”