TD Jakes is perhaps the most watched pastor in the world, certainly the United States. In addition to being a megachurch pastor, in 2021 8 of the top 10 most watched sermons on YouTube were TD Jakes. On Sunday, TD Jakes “passed the torch” to his daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts in an anointing ceremony, accompanied by oil and being “slain in the spirit.” In a women’s event, titled “Woman, Thou Art Loosed!” an event sponsored by Coca-Cola, TD Jakes commissions his daughter to continue the legacy of the Woman Evolve conference.
Sarah Jakes Roberts and her husband Touré Roberts are pastors at The Potter’s House in Los Angeles. They recently shut down one of their franchises as a result of the location never recovering from lockdowns. This church has over 641K subscribers on YouTube and Sarah Jakes Roberts has over 565K subscribers on YouTube, indicating a large potential to grow to the 2.04 million that TD Jakes has.
Though TD Jakes tries to dress the occasion up as anything but nepotism, the theatrics, including but not limited to being “slain in the spirit” do not lend credence to the merits of the Roberts’ legitimacy in ministry. Additionally, TD Jakes claims that no one could fill stadiums without the anointing of God, proclaiming that audience size is a legitimate measure of how biblical a ministry is.
The scope is seemingly small compared to how TD Jakes clickbaited the event, yet this can be seen of a sign of what is to come. TD Jakes is sending a signal that his vast ministry empire will pass on to Sarah Jakes Roberts and her husband Touré Roberts in the event of his death or retirement. This would be a major occurrence for megachurchianity in the United States.
