MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Churchgoers were left shocked this past Sunday, watching one of the most prominent pastors in the country as he went through an apparent medical emergency. Videos shared online showed people rushing to help Bishop T.D. Jakes onstage at The Potter's House - that's his nondenominational megachurch in Dallas. Jakes was slumped over, trembling, moments after he had asked for a chair to sit in. Well, this evening, the church posted new video of Jakes, seeming to exit a medical facility, getting choked up and thanking everyone who'd prayed for him.
At 67 years old, T.D. Jakes maintains a massive and unique place in the megachurch world. Adelle M. Banks has covered Jakes for years. She's a reporter with Religion News Service, and I spoke with her earlier today.
What have you learned about what happened to Bishop T.D. Jakes this last Sunday?
ADELLE M BANKS: Well, Bishop Jakes' representatives are saying it was a health incident that was minor, and he's receiving medical care. We really don't know much more at this point about that, other than there has been a statement reported that medical experts have ruled out the possibility of a stroke. Other than that, we have to listen to what his family members have said. His daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts, who is also a pastor herself, said on Sunday night she was grateful that he seemed to be beginning to improve. And her husband, Toure Roberts, who's also a pastor, shared a health update on Sunday on a video that was posted to Instagram.
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TOURE ROBERTS: Obviously, today could have been a tragic day, but it wasn't by the mercy of God, by the grace of God. Bishop is doing well. He's recovering well. He's under medical care. He's strong. We're trying to get him to sit down (laughter). He's the strong bishop that we know.
KELLY: Adelle, I want you to give us a sense of the scope of his ministry. I said he leads a megachurch - 30,000 members. And on top of that, he is also a movie producer, an author, a businessman. Give us a sense of his importance to American Christians.
BANKS: He has a really wide-ranging ministry. He both reaches average folks, as well as government leaders. He's led conferences that are dedicated to spiritual improvement, but also dedicated to leadership development.
KELLY: So has this incident raised questions about the future of his leadership?
BANKS: Well, most of the comments I saw on social media after the church's statement on Sunday were basically people seemingly in his church or outside of it offering prayers for him. But I did see a couple people suggesting, you know, the need to consider retirement, specifically for him, or in general, the need for faith leaders to have a chance to rest. As I've covered him over the years, this topic has come up just a little bit. And I asked him when he turned 60, which was seven years ago, about his plans to retire, and he said it just wasn't in his purview.
And I also heard him speak at a revival in Maryland in January, and he was preaching in a way where he talked about expectations of the people who were listening to him. He talked about what he would do or what he wanted to hear from them when he returned a year later. So he hasn't really talked about this publicly, as far as what he might do about stepping away from the pulpit. But there is one instance where he's passed the torch to his daughter, Sarah Jakes Roberts. And this massive women's conference that he used to have, she now leads under the name Women (ph) Evolve.
KELLY: Hey, I want to just step back. You just raised the question about the need for faith leaders to have the chance to rest. And we have heard a lot about clergy burnout in recent years - pastors saying they are just overwhelmed by their responsibilities. Bishop Jakes, as we nodded to, is known to keep just a relentless schedule. In your reporting, are you hearing from pastors, from religious leaders talking about the need to rest, to take a sabbatical?
BANKS: Yes, there definitely is a general drumbeat about this in recent years, that in some way, whether it's a sabbatical or something else, that clergy want to take a break and need to take a break. And T.D. Jakes himself joined mental health and faith leaders for that a year ago, to launch a curriculum to help them have mental health tools and not just rely on slogans like too blessed to be stressed.
T.D. Jakes is a Black minister. There are other Black ministers who are especially feeling stressed because of just all of the various issues they deal with, including sometimes leading disadvantaged communities where people do not have as much access to food and jobs and housing as other people, and it sometimes is kind of relentless. In fact, one Black megachurch pastor I talked to has cut short a sabbatical he was going to take because he felt called to help his congregation.
KELLY: Adelle M. Banks, thank you.
BANKS: Thank you so much for having me.
KELLY: And this reporting was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
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