Be Present In Your Light
Bishop T.D. Jakes Speaks At First Baptist Church Of Glenarden
By Hamil Harris // Photos And Video: HAMIL HARRIS
Despite frigid temperatures and ice glazed parking lots, the worship center of the First Baptist Church of Glenarden was packed with several thousand congregation members, guests, VIPs and gospel celebrities Jan. 6 as Bishop TD Jakes closed out the 2018 New Year’s Revival with a workshop for church leaders. First Baptist Church of Glenarden is led by Pastor John K. Jenkins and First Lady Trina Jenkins.
The church recently celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2017.
“We wanted to start off the New Year afresh,” said Phyllis Williams, 79, as she and her friend walked from a grass field used for overflow parking and up to the church. Despite heavy snow and ice in Philadelphia, Williams and her friend Kathy Rashid came to the revival Friday night to hear Jakes and they came back Saturday for the leader’s conference.
“Good leaders visit areas that are dark to bring light to it,” said Jakes whose comments mirrored his sermon Friday night where he preached that people are the light of God. “Anything you don’t put time into goes. Darkness doesn’t exist. It is absence of your light.”
(l-r) TV Anchor Roland Martin, Motivational Speaker Willie Jolley and Journalist Hamil Harris.
The New Year’s Revival was a joint effort between First Baptist Church of Glenarden and Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church of District of Columbia. It featured Pastor Wess Morgan, Bishop Rudolph McKissick, Jr., Pastor Charles Jenkins, Evangelist Joyce Rodgers, J.J. Hairston, and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
Even though the event was scheduled from 10 to 12, Jakes preached, talked, joked, spoke in tongues and laid hands on people up and down the aisle in a service. At one point he thanked Pastor John K. Jenkins and Bishop Alfred Owens of the Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church for supporting his ministry over the years.
While Jakes message Saturday morning was tailored for church leaders the Upper Marlboro sanctuary and the overflow rooms were completely filled with cars loaded with men, women and children that came in cars with license plates up and down the East Coast.
Dr. Kim Lee King and Pastor Dante King
Rev. Donte King, Pastor of Forward Church in Clinton, came to the event with his wife Dr. Kim Lee King, celebrity make-up artist and host of The Beauty Spot on Praise 104.
“The most important part of Bishop Jake message was being the light. Light is not dictated by time. This year my hope is that church will shine bright like a diamond. A diamond is made under pressure and today the more pressure the church is put under the brighter it will shine.”
Jakes told the ministers that many of the churches they trained for and fought to lead no longer exist. “I went back to West Virginia and the place where one church was located is now a 7-11.” He also said that the modern day church goer is looking for more than just hooping and screaming. “They don’t want Superman. They are looking for Clark Kent.”
Jakes, 60, has been preaching for more than four decades, has been doing revivals in the Washington area since was pastoring in West Virginia. Today, he is a best-selling author, playwright, filmmaker and pastor of the 30,000 member Potters House in Dallas.
One of the reasons his message that resonated with Millennials is that he talked about real issues. He had people crying with laughter as he talked about taking his wife to Europe and all she wanted to do is rest at the hotel. Dancing on the stage, he said “I was ready to go!
But then things got quiet when Jakes admonish parents to spend more time at home raising their children. Many parents smiled and hugged their small children when Jakes said, “They don’t want your money. They want your time.”
Jakes said the difference between a great preacher and an average minister is after he has prepared a sermon “he will look back over the text and just stare at it. You need to stare at your life.” He also said no one is perfect. “I have never seen a talented person who wasn’t a little twisted.”
Jeremy White, Director of the Young Adult Ministry at Reid Temple AME, said. “I like what he said about being Clark Kent instead of Superman which means that it’s okay for a minister to be different than a 4th generation son of a preacher. Look at Jesus, he went after fishermen to lead.”
