{"id":134,"date":"2013-12-10T22:34:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T22:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/?p=134"},"modified":"2013-12-10T22:34:54","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T22:34:54","slug":"td-jakes-just-an-ordinary-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/td-jakes-just-an-ordinary-person.html","title":{"rendered":"TD Jakes \u2013 Just an Ordinary Person"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bishop_BIO_Photo\"<\/a>A short time ago I was given the chance to interview Bishop T.D. Jakes at a recent press junket for the movie Black Nativity. Though not in the movie, Jakes is one of the forces behind it. The room that they placed the pastor in was incredible in size \u2013 a lot bigger than was necessary for a short interview. In addition to the room, Jakes has a large personality and a deep baritone voice. I felt like I was meeting with royalty. However, within seconds, I was put to ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re one busy guy,\u201d I began. <\/p>\n

\u201cTell me about it,\u201d he replies chuckling.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you ever think in your wildest dreams that you\u2019d ever be involved in so much responsibility?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, not at all. I didn\u2019t really set out to be.\u201d Says Jakes. \u201cI set out to discover what was in me. That was a big curiosity for me. I knew that there was something in me and I think you spend your life unpacking what God has put inside of you and how interesting that is. And to have the courage to do that is important because sometimes people go the most simplistic route possible, but I think that all of us have things that we don\u2019t always tap into.\u201d Already I\u2019m inspired. It took less than two minutes.
\nWhat inspired Jakes to live life to the fullest was watching his father get ill when he was only ten. He later died when Jakes was just sixteen. \u201cIt made me anxious to see what life was all about and not to take life for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

T.D. Jakes is a full time pastor, a writer, movie-backer and television host. Where most of us would have settled for one or two of these, this over-achiever does it all. \u201cIt looks like a lot of different things, but to me, it\u2019s all just communication,\u201d he says. \u201cWhether it\u2019s in print of film or in the pulpit, everything I do is somehow and some way connected to communication and messages. The apostle Paul didn\u2019t have blogs or Faithbook or Twitter or movies. They moved by camels and foot, but we are blessed to live in an age where we can communicate our messages in different languages and reach a broader audience and I really believe that Jesus said to go unto all of the world and to all of the world systems.\u201d
\nSo, just how does he do it all? \u201cFirst of all, I have a great team of people around me. I think that is the most critical thing,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s having people around you who have your rhythm. I don\u2019t micro-manage people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you describe a typical day in the office?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no typical day and I love that because I bore easily. Routine gets monotonous to me. My day can go from East to West. Yesterday I spoke for a Presbyterian Hospice benefit in the morning then flew out here in the afternoon for Black Nativity. I\u2019ve been on the phone this morning talking to people who lost loved ones in a car wreck and now here I am talking to you. Every day is different and challenging and I\u2019ve learned not to expect to finish. To live with an understanding that you will never do everything that needs to be done, but you make a dent into it every day.\u201d Again, I\u2019m inspired.
\nThe more I talk with the man, the more relaxed he seems. I ask him about that. \u201cThe weird thing about it is I consider myself to be a very ordinary person. That\u2019s my big secret. People see me and think that I should act some sort of way you know? But I did everything in my life. My father taught me how to mop floors when I was a kid. I\u2019ve worked construction. I\u2019ve cut grass. I\u2019ve done just about everything imaginable and I\u2019ve never lost sight of that sense of normalcy.\u201d
\nJakes thinks of himself as rather calm but spirited person, but he also admits that is also a workaholic. \u201cMy base spirit is calm and I work from a place of peacefulness but I am also kind of energetic for my age too.\u201d<\/p>\n

What drew Jakes to back the Black Nativity project was his mother. \u201cMy mother was a huge fan of Langston Hughes, so, I grew up listening to her quote some of his works.\u201d But the major reason was because he likes the story about a pastor trying to raise a family and run a church. \u201cThat\u2019s me!\u201d he says. \u201cI thought that a very attractive point to bring out was that what makes you successful in church doesn\u2019t always make you successful at home. And learning that and trying to figure out. I\u2019ve raised five children so I deeply related to all of that. I think that people don\u2019t understand it. They think that if you\u2019re talented in one way, they think that you know everything. Just because you\u2019re a great speaker doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re a great dad or make you good at balancing your checkbook because you can sing. Those assumptions lead people to think of lofty expectations that nobody can live up to. So I thought that was good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s also about a family, a single mother struggling, which is a large percentage of our population today. What I liked about it was that the family was not so \u201cnice\u201d and \u201cneat\u201d and predictable. They struggle to find a way to love each other and I thought that that was a good message for the holidays. When people look at TV and they see these perfect families and then they have just hung of the phone from yelling at somebody and they think that they don\u2019t have it. This [movie] destroys that myth that in order to be successful. You have to find ways to love each other and to jump overcome hurdles to confront problems. Families are work. And yet there\u2019s hope and it\u2019s got a message of redemption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not too long ago, Jakes added television host to his resume, Mind, Body Soul, airing at noon on the BET Network. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to communicate and listen. I\u2019m a great listener and observer of people. I started making a few appearances with Dr. Phil and Oprah it was a natural progression for me to have my own show. I think that a lot of people don\u2019t realize that though I am predominately known as a pastor, that doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m not a person. That doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m not interested in politics and food and health and life,\u201d says Jakes. \u201cI just did a show on gun violence. I can\u2019t do that from the pulpit. I needed a venue for which I could communicate a wider array of subjects and I also think that it\u2019s an opportunity to bring selected people of faith into a secular environment and expose them beyond the parameter of Christian television to a broader audience of people who are really hungry and I find fairly receptive to faith if it comes across in an intelligent way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A short time ago I was given the chance to interview Bishop T.D. Jakes at a recent press junket for the movie Black Nativity. Though not in the movie, Jakes is one of the forces behind it. The room that they placed the pastor in was incredible in size \u2013 a lot bigger than was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":558,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[123,94,17,122,109],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bet-network","tag-black-nativity","tag-interview","tag-mind-body-and-soul","tag-td-jakes"],"yoast_head":"\nTD Jakes \u2013 Just an Ordinary Person - Peanuts and Popcorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2013\/12\/td-jakes-just-an-ordinary-person.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TD Jakes \u2013 Just an Ordinary Person - Peanuts and Popcorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A short time ago I was given the chance to interview Bishop T.D. 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