At the final Women, Though Art Loosed! conference, which concluded on September 24 in Atlanta, Bishop T.D. Jakes handed the reins of his successful women’s-empowerment ministry to his daughter, Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts.
The 65-year-old Bishop T.D. Jakes called his daughter to the stage, saying she was “walking into her destiny.” He emphasized that he was anointing her not through DNA, birth order, favoritism, or nepotism. “If I did not know that the hand of the Lord was upon you, I would never do this,” he said.
As Jakes poured oil on his daughter’s head, he prayed that God would bless her with strength and power. She then collapsed and remained on the stage as her father told all the attendees he was declaring “a new season in your life.”
On social media, her proud father writes: “I have watched you grow from my baby girl into a leader, changemaker, and influencer with a reach far beyond generations of women. You’ve touched the lives of so many, and as your earthly father, I’ve never been prouder! It is my distinct honor to pass the torch to you. You’ve earned it and will excel wherever God takes you for women’s empowerment!” Jakes vows to “always be there to put my coat over you for as long as I live, and gladly so. For as I decrease, I will watch God increase you!”
After 30 years of conferences and 45 years of preaching, Bishop Jakes said to his daughter, “The time has come that I must decrease, and you must increase.” He describes the leadership transition as a beginning, not an ending, and he refutes the notion that it’s “weak” for a man to empower a woman.
Although he’s passing the torch of his conference ministry, Bishop Jakes will remain a senior pastor of his flagship Potter’s House church in Dallas.
