Bishop T.D Jakes is here

Bishop T.D Jakes is finally on the Island of Jamaica to preach. This internationally acclaimed minister has warmed his way in the hearts of Many Jamaicans as one of their favourite Tele-Evangelist. They are deeply moved by his soul stirring messages, and many will finally get the oppurtunity to hear him preach live in person. The Daily Gleaner caught up with him at the hotel he is staying in Montego Bay, and published a very intersting interview with him on Monday 8th December 2008. The content of part one of this Interview is as follows.

A 'you-can-do-it' kind of preacher

Published: Monday | December 8, 2008

Mark Dawes, Religion Editor

Bishop T.D. Jakes responds to a question posed by The Gleaner, during an interview last Saturday, while vacationing at a Montego Bay resort. - photo by Claudia Gardner

Internationally acclaimed preacher Bishop T.D. Jakes, 51, will be the main speaker at 'The Way Forward' conference which has been organised by Pastors In Action - a group of local clergy led by well-known Pentecostal/Charismatic Renewal leaders Pastor Merrick 'Al' Miller, Bishop Herro Blair and Bishop C. Everton Thomas.

Bishop Jakes arrived in Jamaica last week for a brief holiday before fulfilling engagements associated with the conference. Bishop Jakes will speak at a public meeting to be held at the National Stadium, tomorrow and Wednesday. Both events will begin at 6 p.m. On Thursday, he will address specially invited pastors and their spouses at a meeting scheduled for the National Indoor Sports Centre.

Bishop Jakes last weekend, while vacationing in Montego Bay, shared his perspectives with The Gleaner on a number of issues. Below is part one of that interview.

Gleaner: Is this your first visit to Jamaica?

Jakes: No, I have been here before. I hosted a cruise that stopped in Jamaica. Then I came here on a personal vacation about nine or 10 years ago.

In a nutshell, what do you hope to share with the Jamaican people when they come to hear you at the National Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

It is twofold. One is to encourage the people of Jamaica. And the other one is to challenge them through this difficult time. I find that people right now are going through some unusually tough times. I am very sensitive to that and I just want to try to encourage them to hold on to God and to hold on to the hope that we have of better and stronger days.

Perhaps that message would resonate more favourably with the Christian community. But for unbelieving people who might be there to hear you, would your message still be relevant to them?

It would be very relevant because, first of all, unbelievers need to be fortified in their faith and all of us need to be people of vision. This is a challenging time for a people to really accomplish the dreams and vision that they have in life. I have always ministered a message that was practical and pragmatic. I am not the kind of minister that just ministers about the sweet by and by. I have always been focused on challenging people to allow their faith to motivate them to move forward in life, and to withstand the challenges that all people face.

Your ministry is strongly geared towards persons who are on the margins - hurting people. Is that so by design?

Yes, from the very beginning - because I relate to them. I understand them. I am a motivator. I am a 'You can do it!' kind of preacher. I believe you can pull yourself up and that you can change your life. Your past does not control your future. I think it is important that we understand that - because all of us did not come from ideal situations. And in spite of the vicissitudes of life, I believe we still have a chance every morning that we arise to better ourselves and to evolve as a people.

You get your share of criticism as a public figure. But you have not spent a lot of time answering your critics. Why is that?

You know if you focus on the negative, you cease to be a positive person. I believe there are far more people who are with me than there are that are against me. If I sacrifice my time to respond to the minority of people who are critical, I will lose the momentum of encouraging the people who are not.

You have been pastoring for more than 30 years. With the benefit of hindsight, what would you do differently, if you were just now stepping into ministry as a pastor?

I am going to be completely transparent on that with my answer. I think it is very important. I probably would have started my ministry later in life. I started ministering when I was in my teens. In retrospect I would have allowed myself the luxury of humanity - a little bit longer without saddling such a young man with so many responsibilities. The second thing is, I would have spent more time with my children. They grew up when I was busy. In retrospect I realise that you only have one chance with them. And you cannot recreate that time. And so I think those are the two things that I would have done differently. I don't know that we always do young people a service when we saddle them down at an early age with the deep discipline that ministry requires. They miss a very important part of human development. They are trying to be something that is better to grow into, than to come into prematurely.

Do you have a sense of what might be a good age for someone to step into pastoral ministry?

I think it varies from person to person. I did my first funeral when I was 19 years old. It depends on how developed they are and how precocious they are. I shied away from pushing my children into ministry. I think that you can do the work that the pastor does (while in early adulthood), but later on, you miss a part of life that as an individual you will never have again. Ministry is about service and servitude. For in the midst of any kind of service you have to be careful that you don't allow what you do to cannibalise who you are.

Seminaries train people in traditional courses such as homiletics, hermeneutics, and systematic theology. If you were to become president of a seminary tomorrow, and you had to shape the curriculum, what would you make sure to include in the training of future pastors.

I think the seminaries do a good job in providing the things that you listed. I think I would include more people to teach who have actually done the work. The vast majority of seminaries are taught by people who have never pastored a church. While they are adept at church history, Greek and Hebrew and hermeneutics and what have you, what I find is that they don't have the experience, the hands-on of doing the work. So, the student comes out very well prepped in terms of information, but they don't have practical applications. The other thing is, I think a strong psychology background would be important today. I find particularly among blacks, we do not seek psychology and practical theological help. And a lot of times we are oppressed in a way that is not spiritual, and many times it is psychological for example post-traumatic stress disorders and bipolar conditions. So for a pastor to be more adept at evaluating if this is a spiritual problem or an emotional problem - it would be beneficial. The third thing that I think is lacking is a strong business acumen. While you might have the spiritual aptitude to lead a body of people, if you don't have a business acumen, where will you place them, how will you build the building. How would you fortify them in a society today where you cannot amass them and have them leaning under a tree like Jesus did. You have to have facilities. You have to understand laws. You have to understand international ministry, you have to understand how the laws change from country to country. Some business acumen I think would be beneficial.

What you have said about business acumen soundsto me more like leadership acumen?

You are right. There is a difference between being a great preacher and being a great leader. I have known great people who were great preachers but who were not great leaders. And I have known people who were great leaders who were not great preachers. If you have both you become very effective at leading the people. But if you lead the people, where will you keep them. What about the quality of education, what about the Internet, - that requires some business aptitude to be able to forge ahead in a way we have never seen before. Also, because there is such a close association between politics and religion, I think that you need some understanding of the political structure, zoning, and how to help your people as they face crisis from a political perspective. The pastor today is not just a spiritual leader. He finds himself engaged in helping people get out of legal trouble, and many many things are involved today with helping people, beyond prayer. I think the person who can just pray for them and that's it, doesn't really serve the people as effectively as he would like to.