Thomas Dexter (T. D.) Jakes was born on June 9th, 1957 in South Charleston, West Virginia. He has been married since 1981 to Serita Jakes and together they have five children and three grandchildren. They have three sons, Jermaine Jakes, Jamar Jakes, Thomas Jakes Jr. and two daughters, Cora Jakes, and Sarah Jakes. T. D. Jakes is an actor and producer for several known albums, movies and books that got on the New York Times bestsellers list such as Get Ready: The Best of T. D. Jakes (2000), Making Great Decisions, Reposition Yourself, Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004), and Woman Thou Art Loosed: On The 7th Day (2012). Woman Thou Art Loosed came from his 1st book which sold 2.5 million copies. T. D. Jakes is an entrepreneur and is the founder and …show more content…
D. Jakes and The Potter House church has over 50 different active outreach ministries. They are involved in numerous community outreach events both locally and internationally. Locally, the Potter’s House reaches out to AIDS victims through education and assistance and has a large outreach to prison inmates. Internationally, The Potter’s House launched “Faith for Africa,” which is a program to reach out to the physical and spiritual needs of people near Nairobi, Kenya. Jakes stated, “"Our goal was to bring life to Kenya. People in America take water for granted. In Africa, tens of thousands of families have to cook with and drink the same infested waters they use to bathe, water their livestock and wash their laundry.” On a recent trip there, he brought more than $200,000 of medical supplies and over $1 million dollars’ worth of food and construction equipment to bore holes of fresh water in the barren districts of eastern Africa. A skilled team of medical professionals flew to Kenya to meet more than 150 trained doctors and together, they started five medical camps in Nairobi and in surrounding areas. In February 2005, Bishop Jakes presented checks to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF from The Potter’s House and Clay Academy of $100,606.11. This donation became the largest tsunami relief donation ever received by UNICEF from a faith-based organization. Through his many charitable works, T.D. Jakes is known for extending a hand of help to the needy, a heart of compassion to the hurting, and message of inspiration to the disenfranchised. He is a winner of several prestigious awards such as the BET Honors, Stellar Award, NAACP Image Award, Keeper of the Dream Award and McDonald’s 365Black Award for his humanitarian